Our Story

Our story began on a dating website. Jason had this unbelievable picture of himself with his arms thrown open and his head thrown back in the middle of a field of flowers. And also a picture of he and his niece hugging each other tight. Tonya couldn’t resist the joy exhibited in both. We went dancing on the 4th date (80’s night that night), and the journey began. Three years later we got married on a beach in Mexico with our immediate and chosen family. A year and a half after that, our son was born.

Since the beginning, our plans have included adoption. Jason has always seen that passionately in his future, and Tonya loved the idea when it was presented. For now, we are a family of three, with a two-year-old son, who is our light in every way. We are an incredibly silly household who love to laugh. We live in Astoria, NY, a family friendly neighborhood in Queens. We spend a lot of time outside, playing and relaxing on our back patio and walking to the nearby park on the river. As active people, we are always looking for ways to get moving together — we go rollerblading (yes, rollerblading), biking, swimming. We also love getting out of the city to catch our breath in nature, often going hiking in the mountains just north of NYC. Keaton loves these hikes, demanding to be on the trail himself, exploring everything he can find. Travel is a constant for us, fitting it in whenever and wherever possible. We seek out new places, rarely visiting the touristy sites, preferring instead to walk the local neighborhoods, getting a sense of the real heart of each place.

Our strength comes from the love that binds us, a love which gives us the ability to work through challenges, to hold one another up, to support each other’s passions completely, to be good people, and most of all to be good parents. We can’t wait for the next chapter of our family’s story.

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