CONTACTS:

Feel free to contact us directly at:
Email: barry_katharine@rogers.com
or by phone (please call collect) at:
Tel: (519)432-1038
Text: 226.235.4993

We’re Barry, Katharine and Ethan – a fun-loving family who is passionate about living every day to its fullest and filling it with adventure, love and lots of laughter. We’ve been blessed to have adopted our son Ethan three years ago. It has been such an incredible and positive experience that we would like to do it all over again.

Selecting a family for your child must be the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make. Our thoughts are with you as you search for the ideal family for your child.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us. We hope this profile and our website give you a clear picture of who we are and the type of life we can provide to your child.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

We met by accident the summer before Katharine headed to University and have been together ever since.

A friend and I had just moved to Ontario and we were out at a local restaurant getting to know the city. Katharine had just graduated from high school and was getting ready to leave the city to head to University.

I spotted her the second I walked into the restaurant and I knew she was “the one”. We noticed she was getting ready to leave so we quickly sent a drink to her table and I crossed my fingers. I’ll let Katharine take over from here...

My friend and I were just paying our bill when the waiter brought us drinks and explained that the drinks were from the fellows at the table across the way. When we glanced over to see who had sent the drinks, I was thrilled to see the tall, dark and handsome fellow sitting there that I locked eyes with as he strutted into the restaurant moments earlier.

My friend and I accepted the drinks and headed to their table to thank them. We immediately hit it off, exchanged numbers and the rest is history!

ALL ABOUT BARRY

I once heard someone say that the best gift her husband gave her was…laugh lines. When I heard this I could completely relate. Barry has given me some pretty terrific gifts over the years, but one of the best would have to be the gift of laughter. If you were to ask anyone who knows Barry to describe him, his outstanding sense of humour would definitely be one of the first things they mention. One of Ethan’s first phrases was actually “Daddy’s funny!”. Barry is the funniest, most loving and sincere person I have ever met.

Barry grew up in a small town in northern Manitoba. He comes from a very close-knit family where adoption is very much a part of their history. In addition to our son being adopted, Barry’s sister has also adopted two children from birth.

When I met Barry I was instantly drawn to his kind eyes and smile. He exuded a confident, fun-loving energy that won me over. We’ve been married for 13 wonderful years and he is an amazing husband. What’s even more amazing is seeing Barry as a dad.

Barry is a definitely a family man. He is an involved, hands-on, loving dad and wouldn’t dream of having it any other way. He loves being a dad and always makes his family his number one priority. Barry has a wonderful spirit, is adventurous and enjoys being active. I love being in another room and hearing Barry and Ethan’s laughter booming through the house. Their laughs are completely contagious!

ALL ABOUT KATHARINE

The day our lives crossed paths, I knew Katharine was the one for me. Her dynamite smile caught my eye the moment I saw her.

Katharine grew up on a farm outside of London. She is the only girl of five siblings. You can imagine how much fun it was dating a girl who has four brothers. They definitely kept me on my toes and made things even more interesting.

Katharine is smart, funny and affectionate with a huge heart and strong character. She has always been a warm and generous person, putting the needs of her family and friends ahead of her own. Katharine has a way of making everyone feel special and always senses when someone needs an encouraging word.

Katharine has always wanted to be a mom. When we adopted Ethan, Katharine chose to make a career change that allows her to stay home full-time with Ethan. She now works from home for a .com company. Katharine being able to be at home to share in all of Ethan’s firsts has been everything we imagined it would be. She hasn’t missed a single moment or milestone. If we are blessed to adopt a second time, she is looking forward to continuing to be a stay at home mom and being able to share in all of those firsts with your child.

ETHAN – OUR LITTLE MAN

Adopting Ethan has been an absolutely amazing experience. Ethan is a happy, loving, outgoing and handsome 3-year-old boy who has a fantastic laugh and wonderful personality. He’s full of life, adventurous, beyond curious and is always on the go. He enjoys anything that can be done outdoors and if it means he can get dirty while doing it…the messier the better! In fact, his favourite shirt says “My favourite colour is DIRT!”.

Ethan is also quite a performer. He l.o.v.e.s. to sing and dance, and especially enjoys playing Wii’s Just Dance. He even holds the high score in our house for “Who Let The Dogs Out”.

Ethan recently started preschool and is loving it! He goes three mornings per week and can’t wait to tell us everything he learned at school that day. His teacher told us that he made friends the very first day. He’s quite the social butterfly.

Over the last few months Ethan has starting asking for a baby brother or sister. We both grew up with siblings and remember the crazy things we did with our brothers and sisters...things that only siblings can do with each other...some things we doubt our parents even know about to this day! We know he will make an excellent big brother…a big brother for your child to share toys, secrets, laughs, hopes and dreams with…and a big brother who is also adopted and can share in that life experience with your child as well.

OUR ADOPTION EXPERIENCE

We share an open relationship with Ethan’s birth family. We meet with different members of his birth family each year, in addition to exchanging photos, texts, emails, and maintaining a private website for his birth family.

We are eternally grateful to Ethan’s birth family for entrusting us with him and we honour them fully.

YOUR ADOPTION PLAN

While we appreciate the benefits of an open adoption with Ethan’s birth family, we realize that type of openness may not be what you are seeking. If an open adoption is not something that you are comfortable with, we will respectfully support your wishes and always leave our door open if you ever want more communication in the future. We are open to whatever level of communication you are comfortable with and would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and hear about your hopes and dreams for your child.

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

We are a very active family and love to have fun.

Going to concerts is something that is high on our list of fun things to do. A few of the concerts we’ve been to recently are Michael Buble, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Harry Connick Jr., and Ethan’s favourite - The Wiggles. The last concert we caught was Michael Buble (for the second time) and the next show we have tickets for is Disney on Ice.

We enjoy the outdoors and like to head to the beach, the amusement park, go for walks, play at the park, the animal farm, ride our bikes, go tubing, snowmobiling – anything that is fun and allows us to spend time together.

Barry enjoys reading about Ancient Egypt and Astronomy. He has always wanted to visit Egypt and we hope to take a family trip to the pyramids one day. Barry’s interest in Astronomy is already starting to rub off on Ethan. On clear nights the two of them are in the backyard setting up the telescope.

Katharine can smell a bargain a mile away and enjoys hitting garage sales. She and Ethan are such early birds that it works out great. Through the summer I know exactly where to find the two of them on any given Saturday morning. When they’re not out garage saling, they’re in the kitchen baking up a storm. Ethan is a fantastic sous chef. When making their famous oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, Ethan’s favourite part is measuring the chocolate chips. They always end up with way more than the recipe calls for, but they taste so good!

Not all of our time together is spent being busy. We like to spend quiet time together cozying up with a good book or movie, or spending time with family and friends.

OUR HOME

We have lived in London, Ontario for over 10 years and we love it. London offers many opportunities for children – excellent schools, tons of parks, festivals, concerts, and fairs.

We live in a new subdivision of London which is filled with many young families. We have wonderful neighbours and have friends with young children who live only streets away.

Within walking distance of our home we have a brand new elementary school, a number of parks, and a new YMCA that we are anxiously awaiting the grand opening of so we can enroll Ethan in swimming lessons and preschool soccer.

In addition to enjoying all the benefits the city offers, we also enjoy the benefits of life in the country. A number of our family members live just outside the city. We like being able to head out and go snowmobiling or four-wheeling. Hands down, Ethan’s favourite part of country life is visiting Papa’s cows. By being able to spend time in both the city and the country, we get the best of both worlds.

CHRISTMAS AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS

Our profile wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Christmas and other celebrations. We know that everyone celebrates something, but we pride ourselves on going above and beyond. Whatever the occasion – birthdays, Halloween, Christmas – we go all out.

Christmas is a particularly exciting time in our home. We’re one of those families who start the countdown to Christmas the day after Halloween. The Christmas music and movies come out of storage, we decorate a tree on each floor, bake batches of Christmas goodies throughout the season, and have a revolving door of friends and family coming and going all season long. We’re often referred to as “The Griswold’s”. If you don’t know who The Griswold’s are, they’re from the movie Christmas Vacation.

OUR PROMISE

We love being parents and we promise that your child will be loved unconditionally. We know that parenting isn’t always easy, but we are very positive people and face challenges with humour, patience and optimism.

We promise to raise and nurture your child in a way that you will be proud of. Just as Ethan knows the story of his birth, so will your child. We plan on sharing your child’s special story with him or her right from the beginning. We will give your child an understanding of adoption and an appreciation of your loving plan to place them with us.

Your child will have a life full of love, security and opportunities. Whatever your child’s aspirations may be, we will give them the freedom to grow and develop in the direction their dreams lead them. We will encourage your child with all of the love, support and guidance they will need to be able to achieve their dreams.

We have an endless amount of love to offer your child, and family and friends who are just as anxious to open their hearts and homes to your child as we are. We are blessed to be surrounded by unwavering love and support from our family and friends.

We would like you to know how truly grateful we are for considering us. We hope it will give you peace knowing that we are devoted to giving your child the best life we possibly can…one filled with love, stability, opportunity, laughter and adventure. He or she will know from the start how we became a family and that this is truly a journey of love.

We wish you peace within your heart as you decide what is best for you and your child.

Sincerely,
Katharine, Barry and Ethan