We are Wendy & Darren from Monterey, California. Thank you so much for considering us! We are humbled by your love, selflessness, and strength. Because of your heart and your courage, we have an opportunity to build the family we’ve been dreaming of. We hope that these next few pages will show our dedication to giving your child a life filled with a ton of love, a healthy lifestyle, education, travel, art, and joy.
We met while Wendy was working at Unitel Video part-time in college. Wendy worked with Darren’s Aunt Sue who kept saying “you both need to know each other.” After several months, we finally met and there was an instant connection. Aunt Sue was so intent on our meeting, she invited Wendy to her wedding, just so we would have the opportunity to ‘bump’ into each other. We became friends at 19 and by 23 we were committed to each other. So much so that when Wendy was finishing college at the University of Hawaii, Darren came to visit her regularly from Los Angeles so that they could be together.
The secret to life? Family, friends, new experiences, and thoughtfulness. We believe in the power of love and laughter to heal and lift up.
I’ve lived in California all my life except for a year in Hawaii to finish College. It was a fantastic childhood filled with swimming, soccer, and bike riding – the weather was so warm we had year-round ‘summer’ living. Most days you’d either find me in the pool or in the ocean.
My family is very much ‘hands on’ kind of people, so early on they encouraged me to learn by doing things with them – everything from cooking to gardening, to building things around the house and going to my Dad’s business to learn ‘how to run an office.’ They also placed a strong emphasis on education. When it came time to start my university studies, I chose Geography. It was such a wonderful mix of learning about science and culture.
I started my career as a writer, which then eventually led to marketing. I now lead a Marketing department for a technology company in Silicon Valley. It gives me the ability to combine all my interests – meeting and working with different cultures, creativity, and a strong belief that mentorship if given, should always be given back. I am also currently learning to become a sailboat captain along with Darren, and as a hobby, I design prints for fabric. I look forward to sharing all of my learnings and experiences with our future child.
Wendy is the love of my life. She is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met. Every day she pushes herself to learn something new. Wendy loves to travel and has taught me to appreciate the world by going and seeing it. Simply, she makes me a better person by being a wonderful one. She is smart, beautiful, caring, and loving; my relationship with Wendy has been the highlight of my life.
Born in Hammersmith, England, I moved to the US when I was 6 years old. Through my teenage years, I continued my focus on technology, mostly how computers work and what can you do with them in the real world. In my early twenties, I really focused on how people and companies were using computers and set out to find a job in the computer industry. I started 20+ years ago working with computers and technology. I've now moved on to writing software, which I find really fun. It combines my years of experience with how people use computers with my creative side. It's almost like playing music and working with computers at the same time! Not to mention I get to work from home most of the time!
Still a kid at heart, I always make personal time to play video games, tinker with computer hardware, and write my own music. Balancing my work and personal life is always on my mind. These are also values and ideals I would love to pass on to a child.
Darren is thoughtful about how he treats people, how he approaches his life, and his loyalty knows no limits. He listens, and he cares about how his actions impact people. Darren is also incredibly smart – he has a brilliant mind for teaching, engineering, technology, math, and complex problem-solving. Darren is unbelievably funny and fun. He is also so wonderful with children - I am beyond excited to see him be a father.
We moved to Monterey, California in July of 2021. We purchased a home in this ocean-side community, with over 2 acres of land so that we’d have a beautiful place to raise a child. It’s an amazing place to live! We take walks by the ocean several times a week, we live next to a state part and go bike riding regularly, and the weather averages 70 degrees most days.
We have 3 small, young dogs. Quill, GoGo, and Katie. They are rescue dogs, or as we like to call them ‘fabulous mutts’ – we think they are Papillion and Corgis. They bring a ton of joy into our home and our lives – always keeping us active.
Our future child will have so much love from day one, we just can’t wait for the family to meet them. We spend a lot of time with both of our families on holidays, weekend trips, and our annual combined family summer vacation with everyone (Aunts, niece, nephew, moms). We have traditions on both sides of the family. Darren’s family is from the United Kingdom, originally from Scotland. Their traditions include lots of tea and sweet biscuits at any family gathering, a special love of Christmas, and they are always up for museums, plays, movies, and new restaurants.
Wendy’s family’s favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, they are all avid gardeners and swimmers – so time with their family is usually spent in the outdoors.
What can we say about our family other than that they are a wonderful group of caring, supportive, generous, funny, creative, goofy, smart, hard-working, genuine, and lovable people we know.
