Gabby and Yoni
Location: Ontario, Canada

You can reach us via e-mail: yoniandgabby@live.ca or call us collect at (613) 286-9270.

Hello there!
We are Yonatan (Yoni) and Gabrielle (Gabby) and we want to thank you for clicking on our profile. We appreciate the soul-searching and hardships that must come with reaching a decision to make an adoption plan. We hope that, by reading this, you will get to know a little bit about us, our family and our life, and about our deepest desire to become parents.

We have dealt with infertility and decided early on that adoption would be the most wonderful and natural way for us to build our family. The more we learned about open adoption, the more we realized this would be the best option for us.

We believe that, as they grow, it is essential for children to know that they have a stable home and that their future is secure and full of possibilities. But it is equally vital that they understand their ancestry and heritage: the roots that shaped who they are today. In this open adoption process, we hope that we can all work together to answer any questions about identity, while assuring the child that he or she is loved by everyone.

We see the family as a group of people who care deeply for a child, who will provide that child with unconditional love, support and devotion, and a safe and healthy environment in which to grow. We want to give the loving, nurturing safe and happy home that you dream of for your child. And we hope that you can be part of our family as well.

Who is Yoni?
Yoni is 28 years old and was born in Toronto, but moved to Ottawa to attend Carleton University. After meeting and falling in love with Gabby, he decided never to leave! He is a writer and editor at the Office of the Governor General, and he enjoys working on a variety of projects, including writing his first novel and achieving his goal of reading as many books as humanly possible in one lifetime.

On Yoni by Gabby
Yoni is simply an amazing, caring, funny, smart and all-around wonderful guy. We met as students at university, where we were introduced one morning outside a lecture hall. I immediately thought he was really cute and sweet. Who isn’t a sucker for dimples?! I saw him again a few days later and said hello, but he clearly had no clue who I was. I reminded him we had met earlier through our mutual friend and decided to give him a free pass that time. Good thing! Yoni joined my group of friends to celebrate my birthday and asked me out the very next day. We’ve been together ever since!

Yoni was so supportive when we realized we wouldn’t be able to have children. We started to talk about adoption and his feelings on it, and he became very excited with the idea.

I know he will be a terrific father because he comes from a warm, loving and supportive family who has always encouraged him to reach for the stars. Yoni is also an incredibly talented writer who loves comic books, science fiction and comedies. I can’t wait to hear the stories he will invent for our kids!

Who is Gabby?
Gabby is 28 years old and a graduate of both Carleton University (Law) and Algonquin College (Human Resource Management). Gabby is bilingual and works in the federal government as a junior HR Officer. She loves to read mysteries and “chick lit”, enjoys fashion, baking and watching TV (including shows such as Lost, 24, Big Bang Theory, Chuck and other comedies and dramas).

Gabby Musings by Yoni
What can I possibly say about the woman who puts up with my shenanigans day after day? She’s quite patient, I can tell you that! She is also kind, loving, caring, generous, supportive and, all in all, my very best friend (in addition to being, you know, my wife!)

Gabby is a connoisseur of fashion and purses; I sometimes think that she is quite capable of going into any store and not only outlining the pros and cons of any given object, but its history as well! Gabby has talked with great excitement about being home on parental leave to care for our new baby. She is going to be such a wonderful mother!

In our photos, you may also have noticed our height difference. With me being 6’ and Gabby being 4’7, I’ve had to bend down for plenty of hugs, but it’s never bothered me. In fact, when we were first dating, someone had to point out that I was so much taller: I had hardly noticed! Gabby’s stature has never kept her from accomplishing anything. Her determination and drive to succeed is part of what pushes me to try harder, no matter what I do!

Oh, and I have to finish by talking about Gabby’s lemon cake, for which she is famous (and by famous, I mean that all our friends ask for it). A good mother should be able to make at least one wonderful cake, and Gabby’s will be known as the best birthday cake in the neighbourhood.

Gabby’s Family
I was raised in the west end of Ottawa and I am very close to my family; we all still live in the same neighbourhood! I have one sister, Sarah, who is three years older then I am. We are in constant contact, talking on the phone and e-mailing several times a day; we always know the ins and outs of each others lives. Yoni and I spend a lot of with her and my brother-in-law, Jeff. The boys will go see movies together and the girls will go shopping. We always love having a barbeque or tex-mex night together and playing Scrabble. Sarah is a branch manager at a bank and Jeff is a mechanical engineer.

We were blessed to have a new addition to the family this past December, our niece Abbie! Yoni and I are very proud to be uncle and aunt to the cutest baby girl and we are learning a lot about newborns and how they develop. We can’t wait to see her grow up!

I hope that our child can be close in age to my niece, who we visit with quite often. I can just see me taking the baby over for play dates, the four of us doing arts and crafts, building a snow fort, or even all of us walking together to the park.

I am also very close to my parents; I speak with and see them quite often. My mother is retired and has already offered to help in whatever way possible. My father is a vice-president at a large Crown corporation, and is also excited to have a second grandchild.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time together. We watched movies, took vacations and celebrated holidays. Family dinners we a daily tradition in my home, something Yoni and I plan to continue. My parents instilled in me a strong sense of morality, of the difference between right and wrong, of the value of family togetherness and of the reward of generosity. These are just some of the values that I intend to pass down to our child.

I really see the family unit as a team, because that is how I grew up. If something happened to one family member, everyone went through it together. My family continues to be a huge support system to Yoni and me. They all look forward to welcoming a new child into our family.

Yoni’s Family Circus
There was never a dull moment in my Toronto home! With three younger brothers, my mother running a day care at home, and my father making a career out of being a clown/children’s entertainer, there was very little quiet time growing up. My brothers, Oren, Jacob and Daniel, and I, grew up as typical boys do: we bugged each other, played games together and made sure to point the finger of blame at someone else if some hair-brained scheme went wrong. (With four boys, my parents never could figure out which one of us had done it!) Today, my brothers continue to be, to me, a source of pride, aggravation and amusement.

My mother gets along with anyone. She can meet someone on the street and five minutes later they are best friends: that’s my mom! She is also the one who taught me everything I need to know about children through the day care she managed. I have changed more diapers, given more bottles and played more games of peek-a-boo

then I can count. More importantly, she taught me about love and kindness.

My father passed down to me his wackiness, corny sense of humour and devotion to family. My parents have always been my biggest supporters and have encouraged me to pursue my dreams, including that of being a father! When we told my parents that we were planning to adopt, they were quick to lend their support and offers of help. My mother keeps her ear to the ground for any information, and my father, well, let’s just say that our child will never have a dull birthday.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the city of Toronto. This was a wonderful place in which to grow up, and I look forward to showing our child the sights and sounds of my childhood, including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto Zoo and the Toronto Blue Jays (even if they’re not winning). With a loving family, even the biggest city can feel cozy; mine was definitely a loving household. Gabby and I are committed to continuing that in our own home.

Our Life
We have built a life for ourselves in the quiet suburb of Barrhaven, in Ottawa. Our new town home sits on a street along side other young families, and is very close to a large number of amenities: parks, shopping, a movie theatre, and, most importantly, a Dairy Queen, to satisfy that all-important once in a while ice cream craving. Gabby has already envisioned herself pushing the stroller on a nice day to one of the neighbourhood coffee shops and chatting with other mothers while doting on our beautiful child’s every need, want and desire.

Sometimes, we day dream about what it would be like with a child in our lives. Yoni building Lego with a son (spaceships were his specialty!), Gabby playing Barbies with a daughter (she still has hers!); or even Gabby playing a game of catch with a son and Yoni learning how to braid a daughter’s hair! We’re excited to see him or her grow and to develop curiosity; we can’t wait for the day that we can wake up to a morning cuddle from the cutest baby ever.

Living in Ottawa, we know how beneficial it is to grow up learning both French and English, and we are thankful that we live close to several French immersion schools to which we can send our child. We are also pleased to live in an area with several child care options. Our dream is to place the child with a private, fully licensed day care. We know several friends who rave about their day care and the programs there that let the child play and learn at the same time.

Our jobs with the federal government allow us plenty of freedom to be the parents we want to be. We are both financially secure (and can quite comfortably support a child), have excellent job security and the very best health and vacation benefits. Neither of us will have to worry about the time we take off for appointments or for taking our child on field trips for school!

As you can probably tell by now, reading is a big part of our lives. Being avid readers, we think spending a weekend morning with a good book is a wonderful way to start the day. We look forward to reading to your child endlessly—every classic from Winnie the Pooh and Dr. Seuss to Berenstein Bears and Robert Munsch. We split the household tasks down the middle and look forward to the weekends where we can spend time with family and friends.

There is also a bit of the travel bug in us, and we have been on several memorable vacations since we got married. Disneyworld was a perfect way to spend our honeymoon, and we definitely can not wait to see Disney through the eyes of a child. San Diego was our next trip, where we took in the shopping, the perfect weather, and the insanity that is the Comicon (a comic book and pulp culture extravaganza that exceeded my expectations for grandeur, weirdness and free junk). This year, we experienced the “city that never sleeps”: New York, a perfect blend of history, shopping and culture.

The Jewish Household

We were both raised in conservative Jewish homes (meaning that we are not Orthodox, but follow the moderate branch of the faith). But what does a Jewish home mean for us and your child? It’s not simply the religious aspect of our faith, such as observing the major Jewish holidays or attending Synagogue (as we sporadically do), but it is sharing the culture, heritage and history of Judaism.

The Jewish people have rich traditions, such as a bris (for a boy) or naming ceremony (for a girl), when the child is born and is welcomed into the faith by family and friends; or a bar/bat mitzvah, where the child comes of age and becomes an “adult” in the eyes of the community. We want our child to share the traditions, experiences and beliefs with which we were raised.

Most importantly, our Jewish household means family. Growing up, we were both surrounded by family that were bound by being Jewish, no matter where we were. Dinners as a family, holidays as a family, experiencing tradition as a family—the root of our Jewish home is family. Whether in Ottawa, Toronto, or with you, we want our child to experience the food, music, laughter, prayers, language and stories of our faith.

In Closing
Whether through cooking, reading, TV, or walks, we share so much with each other; and we always knew that one day, we would also share in raising a child together. Both of us are excited to welcome him or her into our lives, to pass on our values and beliefs, our quirks and eccentricities, as well as witness and enjoy the traits and joys that come from you and yours.

We’ve often thought about what type of parents we would make. Like our parents before us, we don’t believe in physical punishment, but discussion and restrictions to resolve difficult behaviour. Most of all, we want to make sure that we provide our child with guidance, nurturing, love and support that will enable him or her to grow into the wonderful person we know they will become.

In our open adoption, we want you to be a part of our child’s life through pictures, letters, emails and periodic visits. We want you to be 100% comfortable with any arrangement and we look forward to meeting with you and talking about what your thoughts are on adoption.

We want to make every day for your child special, every day an adventure in learning and growing. We are parents at heart, and we hope that you will choose to meet with us, to get to know us, and finally, we wish to fulfill your dreams for this child; a dream of love, happiness and a wonderful life.

Are you pregnant and considering adoption for your child? If so, this loving couple would be thrilled to hear from you!

Contact Gabby and Yoni by sending them an e-mail at: yoniandgabby@live.ca or call them collect at (613) 286-9270.