About Scott
Scott was born on January 13, 1976 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was the first of two sons. In
my younger years, my mother was the only parent I knew. We never had much, but she always made
sure that she gave us all that she could.
I cannot remember a meal that was not home-cooked. My clothes were never 'cool' but they
were always clean and well kept.
Our home was modest, but she took great pride in it. As a child, my brother and I were inseparable. There was a wooded lot
behind our house where my brother and I spent most of our time. We built forts and cleared a bike
trail. We built our own bikes from
collections of parts we got from our grandfather's junkyard. We built dams in the creek to form our
own swimming holes.
In elementary school, I was a good student and received good grades. I had perfect attendance through sixth grade. As I reached middle school, my parents could no longer afford to keep me in private school and there was a great deal of conflict at home. My grades dropped and my attendance suffered. By high school, my parents were divorced, I was working a great deal and valued my education minimally. I graduated high school, but was hardly a remarkable student.
I did not begin to value education until I was out of my mother's house and started seeing the limits on the uneducated first hand. I started taking classes at a community college and discovered that if I made an effort, I was actually a very capable student. My grades were excellent and I was able to transfer to Dickinson College. At Dickinson, I gained an even greater appreciation for education, worked even harder and graduated Magnum Cum Laude.
By my graduation, I already planned on graduate school but wanted a year to decide between an MBA or JD, so I moved from Pennsylvania to the silicone valley during the 'Tech Boom'. I secured a customer service position on the drive to California and spent that year learning how good school life was and studying for and taking both the GMAT and LSAT. Though I performed well on the GMAT, I performed very well on the LSAT. I took this as an indication that my natural aptitude would serve me well in law school and gained admission to my first choice school at Villanova. I received my Law degree from Villanova in 2002 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar that same year. Though my educational path began poorly, the entire set of experiences has given me an extremely high perception of the value of education.I work to live and do not live to work. Balance in my life and family is important. I have had jobs working for other people, but at heart I have always been an entrepreneur. I worked for two very different law firms before I started my own mostly seeing it as continuing my education so I would have the competence to represent my own clients. Being self-employed gives me the flexibility to control the amount of work I take on and when I do it. I have enough control to make sure I am there to have dinner every night with my wife and family when that time comes. When we finally do find that precious gift to complete our family, I plan to scale back my law practice and be the "stay-at-home" dad until our child is in school.
My greatest personal strength is the ability to learn from mistakes, mine or of others. I have learned a great deal by seeing what not to do. My father ignored his family and applied minimal effort to most of the things he did unless it was something he enjoyed. Both are mistakes I have learned not to duplicate. My personal fulfillment is derived from being attentive to my family and those close to me and doing a superior job at things that need to be done, even if they are not my favorite tasks. My mother underestimated herself and never got anywhere because of an unwillingness to reach beyond her past experiences. I would rather try and fail and try again with the information from the prior failure. If you start with an assumption that if it can be done, I can learn to do it competently, most things are achievable. I have made plenty of mistakes and tried and failed many times. It is not our failures that define us, it is what we take from those failures and how we apply them to our future attempts that make us who we are.
In elementary school, I was a good student and received good grades. I had perfect attendance through sixth grade. As I reached middle school, my parents could no longer afford to keep me in private school and there was a great deal of conflict at home. My grades dropped and my attendance suffered. By high school, my parents were divorced, I was working a great deal and valued my education minimally. I graduated high school, but was hardly a remarkable student.
I did not begin to value education until I was out of my mother's house and started seeing the limits on the uneducated first hand. I started taking classes at a community college and discovered that if I made an effort, I was actually a very capable student. My grades were excellent and I was able to transfer to Dickinson College. At Dickinson, I gained an even greater appreciation for education, worked even harder and graduated Magnum Cum Laude.
By my graduation, I already planned on graduate school but wanted a year to decide between an MBA or JD, so I moved from Pennsylvania to the silicone valley during the 'Tech Boom'. I secured a customer service position on the drive to California and spent that year learning how good school life was and studying for and taking both the GMAT and LSAT. Though I performed well on the GMAT, I performed very well on the LSAT. I took this as an indication that my natural aptitude would serve me well in law school and gained admission to my first choice school at Villanova. I received my Law degree from Villanova in 2002 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar that same year. Though my educational path began poorly, the entire set of experiences has given me an extremely high perception of the value of education.I work to live and do not live to work. Balance in my life and family is important. I have had jobs working for other people, but at heart I have always been an entrepreneur. I worked for two very different law firms before I started my own mostly seeing it as continuing my education so I would have the competence to represent my own clients. Being self-employed gives me the flexibility to control the amount of work I take on and when I do it. I have enough control to make sure I am there to have dinner every night with my wife and family when that time comes. When we finally do find that precious gift to complete our family, I plan to scale back my law practice and be the "stay-at-home" dad until our child is in school.
My greatest personal strength is the ability to learn from mistakes, mine or of others. I have learned a great deal by seeing what not to do. My father ignored his family and applied minimal effort to most of the things he did unless it was something he enjoyed. Both are mistakes I have learned not to duplicate. My personal fulfillment is derived from being attentive to my family and those close to me and doing a superior job at things that need to be done, even if they are not my favorite tasks. My mother underestimated herself and never got anywhere because of an unwillingness to reach beyond her past experiences. I would rather try and fail and try again with the information from the prior failure. If you start with an assumption that if it can be done, I can learn to do it competently, most things are achievable. I have made plenty of mistakes and tried and failed many times. It is not our failures that define us, it is what we take from those failures and how we apply them to our future attempts that make us who we are.
About Becky
Becky was born on June 10, 1977 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the second of three daughters. I grew up in a very close family. We had dinner most Sunday nights with my grandparents and saw my cousins at least once a month to celebrate a birthday or holiday. Family vacations were very important to us. Every other year starting when I was 3 up until high school, our entire family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, went to Disney World to celebrate New Years. I have some of the best memories from those trips and cannot wait until I am able share those types of experiences with my own children. During the summers, we spent time with our cousins and grandparents in Cape May, New Jersey (Jersey Shore) where my grandparents had a house.
As a child, I was very independent and driven to achieve my dreams. I worked hard in school and achieved straight A’s. I was very involved in school activities and developed close relationships with friends that I am still close with today.
I consider myself a very happy person with a great outlook on life. I am a very optimistic person. I think that everything happens for a reason and God has a different, better plan for me when something doesn’t end the way I originally thought. I always try to find the positive in every negative. A great example of this is our struggles with infertility. After many failed attempts at conceiving a child of our own, I know in my heart that we are meant to expand our family though adoption and give a child already desperately in need permanent home a home that includes all the love, support and nurturing we have to offer them.
I am a very giving person and love to give to other people and see how happy it makes them. When a family member is in need of help, I am always willing to do whatever I can. It makes me sad to see someone struggle or go without something they need.
I consider myself an intelligent person who loves to learn new things. I loved being a student learning about everything, and hope that my children one day share my love for learning. I am an ambitious person, not afraid to go after my dreams with the support of my family. I am driven and have the desire to try new things. However, I am not afraid of failing or making mistakes. Learning from your mistakes is one of the ways you continue to grow and develop as a person. I want my children to know that it is OK to make mistakes. However, I want them to learn from those mistakes and use that knowledge to try again and succeed. I live by the motto, “If at first we don’t succeed, try, try again.”
Growing up in a Catholic family, I attended private Catholic elementary school and high school. I attended St. Ignatius Catholic School in Yardley, Pennsylvania. As I mentioned above, both of my parents were heavily involved in activities at my school. I received straight A’s in elementary school and graduated 2nd in my class on June 12, 1991. I went on to attend Villa Joseph Marie High School, a private all-girls Catholic school. This is the same high school my mother attended and some of the teachers I had also taught my mother. In high school, I was very driven to achieve good grades. I was an honor student throughout my 4 years there, a member of the National Honor Society and Math Team, and graduated with a 3.7 GPA on June 4, 1995.
Following high school, I began my college career in September 1995 at the University of Scranton, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I received a partial academic scholarship as a result of my excellent transcript from high school and lived on campus. There I majored in biology with the intention of one day attending medical school. After two semesters of biology & chemistry classes, I decided that medical school was not for me. I still wanted a career in health care, so at the beginning of my sophomore year, I changed majors to Health Care Administration. Unfortunately, I would only attend University of Scranton for 1 semester my sophomore year. Because of financial reasons, I was forced to transfer to West Chester University, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I spent one semester at West Chester in 1997 studying management. I knew West Chester was not the place for me half way through the semester due to issues with my roommate and recurrent health issues. I ultimately moved back home in May 1997 and transferred to Holy Family College (now Holy Family University), located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I lived at home with my mother and sisters and commuted to Holy Family College from September 1997 through December 1999. While at Holy Family College, I spent the summer of 1999 studying English Literature abroad in London, England. I graduated from Holy Family on February 2, 2000 with full division honors and a 3.8 G.P.A. I ultimately earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology for Business. Throughout my college career, I maintained a full class schedule and worked full-time. Although I had scholarships and grants to cover some of my tuition costs, I took out federal student loans to pay for the balance. Paying for a portion of my college education definitely gave me a greater appreciation for the education I was receiving and ultimately forced me to work as hard as I could to earn good grades and graduate with honors. Throughout the first 2 years of my college career, I lived away from home on campus and am thankful for that opportunity. During those years, I became even more independent and learned how to manage my entire life with minimal support from my parents.
I am fortunate to say that I love my job. I work as a Clinical Operations Lead, Manager for Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. I manage the day-to-day operations of clinical studies being conducted with the intent on submitting the data to FDA so that new treatments can be approved. I love knowing that I am doing my part to ultimately influence the quality of life for many people in the future. My job can be very challenging at times. I am the main liaison between Pfizer’s medical group and the physicians in the United States conducting the study. I have to develop and maintain a great relationship with the physicians and their staff while at the same time pushing them to complete the study quickly and efficiently. I can be viewed as the “bad guy” at times as I identify problem areas with the physician’s conduct of the study but quickly become the “good guy” as I develop successful resolutions for these issues.
Although my job does require some travel, I work 95% of the time out of my home office. This gives me a great amount of flexibility with my schedule and allows me to efficiently maintain my house and personal life while not having to take time away from work.
As a child, I was very independent and driven to achieve my dreams. I worked hard in school and achieved straight A’s. I was very involved in school activities and developed close relationships with friends that I am still close with today.
I consider myself a very happy person with a great outlook on life. I am a very optimistic person. I think that everything happens for a reason and God has a different, better plan for me when something doesn’t end the way I originally thought. I always try to find the positive in every negative. A great example of this is our struggles with infertility. After many failed attempts at conceiving a child of our own, I know in my heart that we are meant to expand our family though adoption and give a child already desperately in need permanent home a home that includes all the love, support and nurturing we have to offer them.
I am a very giving person and love to give to other people and see how happy it makes them. When a family member is in need of help, I am always willing to do whatever I can. It makes me sad to see someone struggle or go without something they need.
I consider myself an intelligent person who loves to learn new things. I loved being a student learning about everything, and hope that my children one day share my love for learning. I am an ambitious person, not afraid to go after my dreams with the support of my family. I am driven and have the desire to try new things. However, I am not afraid of failing or making mistakes. Learning from your mistakes is one of the ways you continue to grow and develop as a person. I want my children to know that it is OK to make mistakes. However, I want them to learn from those mistakes and use that knowledge to try again and succeed. I live by the motto, “If at first we don’t succeed, try, try again.”
Growing up in a Catholic family, I attended private Catholic elementary school and high school. I attended St. Ignatius Catholic School in Yardley, Pennsylvania. As I mentioned above, both of my parents were heavily involved in activities at my school. I received straight A’s in elementary school and graduated 2nd in my class on June 12, 1991. I went on to attend Villa Joseph Marie High School, a private all-girls Catholic school. This is the same high school my mother attended and some of the teachers I had also taught my mother. In high school, I was very driven to achieve good grades. I was an honor student throughout my 4 years there, a member of the National Honor Society and Math Team, and graduated with a 3.7 GPA on June 4, 1995.
Following high school, I began my college career in September 1995 at the University of Scranton, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I received a partial academic scholarship as a result of my excellent transcript from high school and lived on campus. There I majored in biology with the intention of one day attending medical school. After two semesters of biology & chemistry classes, I decided that medical school was not for me. I still wanted a career in health care, so at the beginning of my sophomore year, I changed majors to Health Care Administration. Unfortunately, I would only attend University of Scranton for 1 semester my sophomore year. Because of financial reasons, I was forced to transfer to West Chester University, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I spent one semester at West Chester in 1997 studying management. I knew West Chester was not the place for me half way through the semester due to issues with my roommate and recurrent health issues. I ultimately moved back home in May 1997 and transferred to Holy Family College (now Holy Family University), located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I lived at home with my mother and sisters and commuted to Holy Family College from September 1997 through December 1999. While at Holy Family College, I spent the summer of 1999 studying English Literature abroad in London, England. I graduated from Holy Family on February 2, 2000 with full division honors and a 3.8 G.P.A. I ultimately earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology for Business. Throughout my college career, I maintained a full class schedule and worked full-time. Although I had scholarships and grants to cover some of my tuition costs, I took out federal student loans to pay for the balance. Paying for a portion of my college education definitely gave me a greater appreciation for the education I was receiving and ultimately forced me to work as hard as I could to earn good grades and graduate with honors. Throughout the first 2 years of my college career, I lived away from home on campus and am thankful for that opportunity. During those years, I became even more independent and learned how to manage my entire life with minimal support from my parents.
I am fortunate to say that I love my job. I work as a Clinical Operations Lead, Manager for Pfizer, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. I manage the day-to-day operations of clinical studies being conducted with the intent on submitting the data to FDA so that new treatments can be approved. I love knowing that I am doing my part to ultimately influence the quality of life for many people in the future. My job can be very challenging at times. I am the main liaison between Pfizer’s medical group and the physicians in the United States conducting the study. I have to develop and maintain a great relationship with the physicians and their staff while at the same time pushing them to complete the study quickly and efficiently. I can be viewed as the “bad guy” at times as I identify problem areas with the physician’s conduct of the study but quickly become the “good guy” as I develop successful resolutions for these issues.
Although my job does require some travel, I work 95% of the time out of my home office. This gives me a great amount of flexibility with my schedule and allows me to efficiently maintain my house and personal life while not having to take time away from work.
About Us
Scott and I are very alike. We have a systematic approach to how we do most things. We like to stick to a routine because that allows us to accomplish what we need to every day. We share responsibility for a lot of the chores around the house. I do joke and say that some things are “man-jobs” and he jokes that there are “women-jobs” but ultimately we work together as a team to get stuff done. For example, I will sort the laundry, Scott will put it in the Washer and Dryer, and I will fold and put it away. With dishes, I will clear the table, Scott will rinse the plates, wash the pots & pans and I will load the dishwasher. It is all about helping each other out to accomplish things that you both need to get done. Scott takes care of our cars and can fix just about anything around the house that may break. I am very lucky to have a husband who is so handy and knowledgeable about home and car repair. I have never had to call a maintenance man the entire time I have been with Scott. He is the best and I love him with all my heart.
One of the cornerstones of our relationship is open communication. We have the ability to discuss anything with each other without fear of judgment, ridicule or shame. We both know that we are other’s confidant and greatest supporter who always want to be there to listen and share all of life’s experiences. Now every couple has their disagreements. Scott and I are no different. We have our share of arguments, but we do our best to discuss our differences rationally and find a satisfactory compromise. We never argue in front of others. We do not like it when other couples fight when in our company, so we do not put our friends and family in that uncomfortable situation. We discuss our differences when we are alone. We try to have an intelligent debate about the issue, refraining from raising our voices, and come to a mutual understanding. Sometimes, we just agree to disagree and move on. I am also a believer in knowing when to pick your battles.
We have always known that we wanted children. I knew it wasn’t going to be very easy for me to have children biologically. Since I was a teenager, I have suffered from hormone deficiencies that affect my reproductive system. My doctor has always told me that through the use of minor medical intervention, I should not have any issues conceiving my own children. Well, that was not the case. After more than 14 months of failed fertility treatments, that included in vitro fertilization, we had come to the determination that we were meant to expand our family through adoption.
We both realized that we do not need to be biologically connected to a child to love that child and give them everything they need to grow and mature into healthy and happy adults. We have so much to offer a child both emotionally and physically. With so many children needing good, loving permanent homes, we have the burning desire to save, if not all of them, at least a few of them and give them the life they so very much deserve.
I am very lucky to say that Scott and I have a wonderful support system comprised of family and close friends. I am very close with my mother and sisters. We talk almost every day on the phone. My younger sister, Tarrah, lives just 4 miles away from us and is always there when I need her. My Mother and older sister, Courtney, live about an hour away in New Jersey, but are available anytime we need them. Scott’s parents live about 30 minutes away and are just waiting for the announcement that Scott and I are matched with a child. They want nothing more in the world than to be grandparents and have already told us that they will be available whenever we need them.
When Scott and I are not working you can usually find us planning or doing a project around the house. Both him and I have a great love of home renovations and love making our house our perfect home. Gardening is also a passion of ours – in the spring & summer you will often find us outside mowing the lawn (Scott) or planting flowers & weeding the gardens (me). During the spring and fall, we love to go hiking or ride our bicycles around the neighborhood. In the summer, day trips to the New Jersey Shore are a definite on the weekends.
We also love to cook and entertain. Whether it is hosting a family holiday dinner or dinner on any normal night of the week, having dinner together as a family is extremely important to us. It is a special time every day that we all get together, share a meal, and talk about our day. We cannot wait for the day when a child becomes part of our daily lives and enjoys all the special moments with us as a family.
One of the cornerstones of our relationship is open communication. We have the ability to discuss anything with each other without fear of judgment, ridicule or shame. We both know that we are other’s confidant and greatest supporter who always want to be there to listen and share all of life’s experiences. Now every couple has their disagreements. Scott and I are no different. We have our share of arguments, but we do our best to discuss our differences rationally and find a satisfactory compromise. We never argue in front of others. We do not like it when other couples fight when in our company, so we do not put our friends and family in that uncomfortable situation. We discuss our differences when we are alone. We try to have an intelligent debate about the issue, refraining from raising our voices, and come to a mutual understanding. Sometimes, we just agree to disagree and move on. I am also a believer in knowing when to pick your battles.
We have always known that we wanted children. I knew it wasn’t going to be very easy for me to have children biologically. Since I was a teenager, I have suffered from hormone deficiencies that affect my reproductive system. My doctor has always told me that through the use of minor medical intervention, I should not have any issues conceiving my own children. Well, that was not the case. After more than 14 months of failed fertility treatments, that included in vitro fertilization, we had come to the determination that we were meant to expand our family through adoption.
We both realized that we do not need to be biologically connected to a child to love that child and give them everything they need to grow and mature into healthy and happy adults. We have so much to offer a child both emotionally and physically. With so many children needing good, loving permanent homes, we have the burning desire to save, if not all of them, at least a few of them and give them the life they so very much deserve.
I am very lucky to say that Scott and I have a wonderful support system comprised of family and close friends. I am very close with my mother and sisters. We talk almost every day on the phone. My younger sister, Tarrah, lives just 4 miles away from us and is always there when I need her. My Mother and older sister, Courtney, live about an hour away in New Jersey, but are available anytime we need them. Scott’s parents live about 30 minutes away and are just waiting for the announcement that Scott and I are matched with a child. They want nothing more in the world than to be grandparents and have already told us that they will be available whenever we need them.
When Scott and I are not working you can usually find us planning or doing a project around the house. Both him and I have a great love of home renovations and love making our house our perfect home. Gardening is also a passion of ours – in the spring & summer you will often find us outside mowing the lawn (Scott) or planting flowers & weeding the gardens (me). During the spring and fall, we love to go hiking or ride our bicycles around the neighborhood. In the summer, day trips to the New Jersey Shore are a definite on the weekends.
We also love to cook and entertain. Whether it is hosting a family holiday dinner or dinner on any normal night of the week, having dinner together as a family is extremely important to us. It is a special time every day that we all get together, share a meal, and talk about our day. We cannot wait for the day when a child becomes part of our daily lives and enjoys all the special moments with us as a family.