Scott and Nina

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From Us to You

It is hard to put into words how incredibly grateful we are for you and are aware of the indescribably difficult choice you have to make. We have so much respect and empathy for you knowing that, for as happy and hopeful of a time it would be for us having your child join our family, that you would be feeling sadness and frustration. We honor that and will never forget it. Your child would forever be our greatest gift and your greatest sacrifice.

The gift of your child to us will ensure a future for them full of love, stability, and peace. They will have a home that is forever safe and welcoming. We will rock your baby to sleep in their room whispering to them how loved and cherished they are, play with them in the grass at the park while reminding them how special they are and send them off to school with a full belly and lots of hugs and kisses. Milestones both big and small will be celebrated with dance parties and cake and ice cream. Hard days will be met with grace and understanding and lots of snuggles. Not a day will pass that your child will not know how wanted they are and how thankful we are for adoption. We will speak of you with the highest respect and adoration and tell your child about you and how they came into our lives as the ultimate gift one person can make to another.

While we have always been open to the idea of adoption, we never considered that it could be our only path to becoming parents. Over the last 6+ years we have struggled with the loss of two pregnancies and multiple unsuccessful rounds of fertility treatment, and have come to the realization that we may never become biological parents. Through this process, we find ourselves here today, grateful, excited, hopeful, and blessed for you to consider us to become parents to your child.

In writing “Our Promise to You,” (which you’ll find at the bottom of our profile) we take those words very seriously and will ensure that your child’s life will be full of nurturing and stability as well as experiences and growth. By choosing us, you can be confident that your child will be surrounded by so much love from us as well as from family and friends. We are open to finding a path forward that allows for you to remain updated to your child’s growth, milestones, and achievements.

With warmest regards,
Nina and Scott

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Why We're Choosing to Adopt

As a couple, we have always been open and excited to the idea of adoption! Only recently have we learned that adoption is likely our only chance at expanding our family. We have tried to have a baby naturally and with the medical help of IVF for several years with no luck. We cannot imagine a life without children and are so humbled to have the opportunity to adopt. We look forward to the chance to love, teach and support a child.

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About Scott, by Nina

When I met Scott, it didn’t take long for me to know that he was the perfect person for me (and his amazing smile and eyes don’t hurt either!). He is kind, driven, intelligent and makes me laugh like no other. Not having a father around consistently growing up, my relationships with men had not been the healthiest but I recognized in Scott traits that I had previously not given the weight they deserve in a partner like respect, trust, and unconditional love. He holds me accountable as well as himself and we have built a life together that I didn’t even know was possible before him.

Watching Scott with our godchildren and other kids makes my heart melt and confirms to me that he will make an incredible father. He is so patient, loving and fun! Scott enjoys teaching and playing sports, instilling discipline, and tenacity for any interests/activities that our friends and family’s children share with him as well as being a safe person to confide in and share their feelings and uncertainties. I feel incredibly lucky to have met this man and know that our future together with a family will be bright.

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About Nina, by Scott

Nina is an incredible woman! She is fierce in her love for friends and family and beyond loyal. It wasn’t long after meeting Nina that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life being with her. She is passionate, fun to be around and beautiful both inside and out. I respect her willingness to try new things, explore new places and eat new foods. She pushes through any hesitations or fears and opens herself up to new experiences. Nina is almost always thinking about others; whether it is seeing something to get for a friend or family member as a small gift, remembering special dates or occasions or just reaching out to those closest to her to catch up.

Nina has made me a better man by being my partner. She encourages me to take risks, to work hard and strive to achieve and experience those things I desire. Nina has supported me unconditionally and made sacrifices to allow me to pursue my careers goals, including moving from North Carolina to Indiana and Pennsylvania.

While Nina’s love of friends and family are major parts to who she is, her desire to be a mother and the obstacles she is willing to overcome to achieve this goal are astounding. Nina made physical, emotional and mental sacrifices through IVF and fertility treatments in the hopes of becoming a mother. She (and we) endured the highs and lows this process entailed and continue to persevere even through the disappointment and heartbreak. Nina will be an incredible mother, who will not only pour herself into loving and supporting a child, but she will show compassion, acceptance and unconditional love. I couldn’t be prouder to have Nina as my wife and to share this journey with her.

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Our Home

Our home is an important and safe place for both of us. We love our time at home and have created spaces that are homie and welcoming but not stuffy. We thoughtfully chose a home that would give us space to expand our family with a bedroom and bathroom for your child as well as open loft space for play. We also thought through outdoor space and have a fenced-in yard with space to run, play and throw a ball.

We found our home in a newer neighborhood with many young families of diverse backgrounds and children of all ages. We look forward to utilizing the neighborhood playground and swimming pool as well as nearby greenways for fun and exploration with a child. There are also many museums and parks close by that we look forward to sharing as our family grows.

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Our Sweet Pets

We are both pet lovers and have grown up having pets our whole lives. Both of us coincidentally had hamsters when we were younger. Scott’s first pet was a rescued kitten at the age of 12. He had several cats while growing up and then once he moved out on his own, rescued a kitten who he named Maverick. Today Maverick is 15 years old and has had quite the life. Maverick has moved with Scott across the country from NY to California back to North Carolina with stops in several states in between. Maverick has also flown on an airplane once and had the privilege of doing so in First Class. Nina grew up having dogs her whole life and has an incredibly soft spot for any animal. Nina’s first dog as an adult came when she rescued/adopted a puppy from the state fair. Today, in addition to Maverick our cat, we have Indiana, our dog. He is a 12-pound mix of Maltese, poodle and Pekingese. We call him Indy, for short, after the city we got married in. Not only did we adopt Indy, but Nina’s mom and aunt adopted Indy’s 2 sisters. When you visiting our home, you will see that our pets are family to us. We have dog and cat toys throughout the house, a cat tower for Maverick in our living room and cool photos of both. Our photos on our phones are filled with random cute/funny pictures we take of our pets, and we love them so much.

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Our Family and Friends

Our family and friends are incredibly important to us. Scott is close with both his mother and father, who are divorced and have been remarried for 20+ years each. Scott’s brother Danny is 6 years younger and, while living in different states, the two can often be found talking about life and St. Louis sports several times per week. Scott has many aunts, uncles and cousins and 2 living grandmothers who he finds great joy in speaking to regularly. He also has a close group of friends, with his closest having been friends for 25 years. We are both the god parents to this friends’ children. These close relationships have shaped Scott into the person he is today.

Nina and her mom are incredibly close. Nina’s mom lives within 5 minutes of us, and we see her regularly for sharing meals, shopping and hanging out at one or the other’s house. We even have dogs from the same litter of puppies (Indiana and Luna). Nina’s aunt, uncle and cousins (Nina’s moms’ sister) also live nearby, and we can often be found celebrating holidays and birthdays together. Nina also has a small, tight-knit group of friends. Some of them live locally and she sees them regularly, while others live out of state so they frequently talk on the phone and take trips together whenever possible. Most of these friends have kids and Nina has been a part of their lives from their birth and has loved witnessing her friends turn into parents and cultivating relationships with their children as well.

All of our individual friends have become “our” friends over the 10 years we have been together as a couple.

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Our Hobbies

One of the things that attracted us to each other was our willingness to have fun and try new things. On our first date we went to an indoor amusement park and played games winning tickets. Together we still enjoy going to places like that, playing the coin games, competing against each other at basketball or working together to beat a shooting game. We enjoy visiting art shows, trying new restaurants, traveling to new places, exercising together and spending time outside during the summer.

Nina is an avid reader, keeps up on the latest beauty and fashion trends, loves hot yoga and enjoys self-discovery via yoga and meditation. Scott can often be found working out in our home gym, watching St. Louis Cardinal’s baseball during the season, or playing sports with friends. Scott loves basketball and wishes he had more time to play. Scott too, keeps up with fashion trends and you can often find us checking out a new outdoor shopping mall, a good outlet store or just making sure we approve of each other’s outfits.

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Our Lifestyle

Currently we both work full time, with Nina working from home and Scott working from home and traveling to see customers at times. Together we enjoy time with one another, our dog Indiana, our cat Maverick and spending time with friends and family. We both enjoy regular exercise either at our local gym or doing something outside like walking the greenway, going to the pool or spending a day on the lake with friends. Exploring new places both locally and through travel, eating at new restaurants, and checking out local shops, museums and art exhibits are also a big part of our life. Guilty pleasures are trips to Costco, watching a new show on Netflix, or traveling to a new tropical destination. We like having a few planned holiday trips per year to see family as well as taking a couple of vacations each year to relax or explore a new destination. We have been fortunate to travel to 9 different countries together so far.

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Family Traditions

Our traditions are a mix of the individual upbringings we have had and our preferences as a couple. Nina was raised Catholic/Christian and Scott was brought up Jewish. We have merged our religious upbringings with our spiritual way of life today, honoring each other’s heritage and family traditions.

Both of our families get together to celebrate holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other important milestones. These times together are so much fun and incredibly important for us to share in!

We try to rotate Thanksgiving each year between families in North Carolina, St. Louis and Indianapolis. Nina’s aunt loves to host Thanksgiving with a very traditional flair of a sit-down dinner while Thanksgiving in Indianapolis is a larger gathering more potluck in style. Thanksgiving in St. Louis is usually at Scott’s uncle’s house and includes family recipes and preparing together.

A more recent tradition we began is hosting Nina’s mom and Scott’s mom and stepdad in our home during Christmas. Given this has sometimes overlapped with Hannukah, we have been able to celebrate both families’ holidays at this time. We have combined both our individual family traditions by Nina’s mom preparing some traditional Italian recipes and Scott and his mom making their annual trip to Honey Baked ham.

Spending New Year’s Eve with our god children (Blade and Benny) and Scott’s best friend Jason has become another cherished tradition over the last few years. They have visited us in North Carolina, we have traveled with them to Chile or spent time in St. Louis celebrating together.

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Our Careers

Scott is incredibly driven to provide for his family and be successful in work. He finds great pride in putting in a hard day’s work and has found passion and meaning in becoming a successful businessperson. Having started working at age 14, Scott has always had a job, even during college. Today, Scott has found success in business and takes pride in having developed a strong background in both sales and operations leadership. Scott’s hard work ultimately allows for him to find comfort and security, knowing his family is provided for.

Nina has a more eclectic work background, starting in retail and branching into real estate and management. Nina enjoys building teams and helping others reach their goals. Her biggest calling is to be a mother and have a family with Scott.

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Our Promise to You

Our promise to you is something we take very seriously and will uphold with the highest levels of respect. We promise to love your child as our own. We will support and foster opportunities, learning and growth in all aspects of their life. We will educate them not only academically but with real world experiences. We will nurture their interests, instill principles and morals and be loving parents no matter what. We will teach them to be open minded and accepting as well as generous and humble. We will encourage them to go after their dreams and always support them in that process. We promise to share our journey, you and their heritage.