Hi, we’re Doris and Andy! 

We’ve been together since 2010. We met abroad and had adventures living in places like London and around the Middle East. We now live in a small town in the Hudson Valley, close to New York City.  

We’ve been trying to start a family since 2021. We tried the “old fashioned way” first, then a number of rounds of IVF. We always knew that if fertility treatment didn’t work, then adoption was the way we wanted to grow our family. The hard times we faced through infertility and IVF have made our relationship stronger. We think we’ll be better parents because of the patience, humility, and emotional resilience we’ve learned along the way.

Doris grew up in New Jersey and is proud to be from that great state. She grew up speaking Spanish at home and visiting her large family in Peru. 

After college, she wanted to see the world and worked for nonprofits in a few different countries. She’s a writer and designer for a music app, where she loves getting to be creative at work. 

Her favorite things have always been books and animals, passions which she hopes to share with a child one day.

Andy grew up in a little village in the English countryside. He studied international relations and was a diplomat for the British government. His assignments took him to countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. He works for a tech company. 

He likes to keep busy and has many hobbies, from standup comedy to barbecuing. He loves the outdoors and camping, and he can’t wait to play outside with a future child.

Doris has loved the TV show Gilmore Girls since she was little and always dreamed of living in a place like Stars Hollow, where the show is set. We think the small town we call home is a pretty close match. North of New York City, the town has a tight-knit community where neighbors help each other out. It has a local fire department (where Andy is a volunteer firefighter) that runs local traditions like a Halloween children's parade and a Christmas tree lighting every year.

Our home is an old house with a yard full of tall trees that backs up to a creek. We love opening our back door and seeing everything from deer to groundhogs to chipmunks. We have a dog, Ronnie, who was born in 2022, and a cat, Tally, who was born in 2017. On a Friday night, you’ll usually find us sharing the sofa with the pets and watching a movie.

Local downtown cafes, the library, and a farmer’s market are all just a short walk away. We enjoy the nearby hiking trails, where we take our dog every day, and a state park.

Doris’ dad and sister live in Delaware, and her brother lives in New York City. While her mom died from cancer when Doris was 14, we keep her memory alive as much as we can. We all get together every few months to eat Peruvian food and watch sci-fi movies. The family has just as many cats as there are people, and our family group chat is mostly just photos of our cats.

Andy’s family are all in England, and they come to visit multiple times a year. His parents still live in the same village where Andy grew up. They are devoted to our dog and cat. His sister and her husband have two young kids, who are both obsessed with Harry Potter.

Both our families are excited about our adoption journey and the prospect of welcoming a child into the family, and they have supported us every step of the way. They’re ready to help us raise the child, Doris’ sister will knit baby clothes, and Andy’s mom will come stay with us to help with the newborn phase!

Andy’s happy place is the outdoors. As a kid, he was a Boy Scout and often went on camping trips with his family. Today, he still loves long hikes, mountain climbs, and teaching Doris how to camp. He’s excited to one day show a child how to find the perfect spot for a tent and how to make the best trail mix. Andy also enjoys baking and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen. He’s our go-to chef, and Doris loves his cooking.

Doris enjoys a lot of cozy downtime. She loves reading thrillers, romances, and fantasy novels, and she still has her favorite childhood books set aside to share with a child someday. She’s often scribbling in a notebook, journaling her thoughts or dreaming up story ideas. Her most active hobby is swimming; in the summer, she spends as much time as she can at our local pool and can’t wait to take a child there to splash, play, and enjoy the sunshine.

We cherish our holiday traditions and usually spend them with our families. Halloween is Doris’s favorite holiday, and Andy dresses up each year out of love for her. We enjoy attending Halloween parades and can’t wait to take a child trick-or-treating. We usually spend Thanksgiving with Doris’s family, where the vibe is low-key—picking up pies from the bakery near her childhood home and visiting her mom’s grave. For Christmas, Andy’s mom hosts a wonderful family gathering. After a big lunch and far too many desserts, we take a walk around the village and through the nearby country fields.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and consider us as parents. We know that this decision may be really difficult. You are brave to consider this path.

We were blessed with great families, and we’ve learned a lot from them about how to be parents. We want to raise a child to be kind and curious, and we’ll always put the child’s needs first. 

We value open adoption and will work toward reminding the child of the loving choice their birth parent made for them.