Meet Julie, Abbie, Kate, & Tom from Boston, MA

Julie grew up in Clifton Park, New York and on Cape Cod. Tom grew up in Syracuse, New York. The couple met 36 years ago at Wheaton College in Chicago, Illinois during Sadie Hawkins weekend. Julie and her roommate asked out Tom and his roommate. They all went out to dinner and then to go see the movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Julie is a middle school Spanish Teacher and Tom is a Pastor. They have four beautiful children, three of whom are adopted. Two weeks ago, Tom officiated their eldest daughter’s wedding. Tom said, “She married the Youth Director, who works for me at the church. When our hired him, I didn’t realize that I was hiring my future son-in-law. There’s a pretty large age gap between our eldest and our two youngest, Abbie & Kate.” Julie said, “We weren’t opposed to adopting again, but we also weren’t really putting ourselves out there to do so. We were waiting for the opportunity to come to us. When the opportunity to adopt Kate and Abbie was presented to us we sat down and had a family meeting with our two eldest children. We wanted to make sure that everyone was comfortable and that we were all on the same page. It was a unanimous decision so we knew that we had to take the chance. We are very adamant about supporting the relationships between birth families and the children. Tom was part of the Abbie and Kate’s birth mom’s funeral. He also officiated their son, Johnathan‘s, birth mom‘s wedding. To them, it’s what they call, “Wrap Around Care.” The primary focus is loving and supporting foster children, foster families, adoptive families, and the families of the biological families. It’s like a blanket of love extended out to all those who are a part of the children’s lives. Tom said, “My favorite thing about Julie is she creates life experiences that are full of life! Instead of just traveling to my Mom & Dad‘s house for a visit, she decided that we would sleep in a castle and explore caves. She fills our lives with adventure.” Julie said, “My favorite thing about Tom is that he has deep integrity and love. He is steadfast leader.” The one thing the family wants to tell the world is, “Be brave and lead with love. Every child needs a home and a family, and every family has love to give. It doesn’t matter what your family looks like or where their journey started, as long as they are leading each other with love.” Thank you so much for visiting!