We met at a friend’s wedding. Jacob had worked with the bride and groom in Ecuador, but he was closer on a personal level with the groom. Daniella worked with the bride in Washington, DC, and they had hung out several times outside of work. At the wedding, both the bride and groom were trying to play “matchmaker” with many of their guests. They did not succeed in “matching” us at the wedding (actually they tried to match us up with different people; little did they know!). A few weeks later we both attended a small gathering for the groom’s birthday at a rooftop restaurant. We chatted for a while and then Jacob took a picture of Daniella with the new bride and groom (also the birthday boy). Jacob asked Daniella if he could text her the photo – a slick way to get her number! We started talking on the phone, meeting up to go to museums and on walks, and a month later we officially started dating. We talked about adoption on our second date and agreed that it was something we wanted for our future. We were inseparable. We exchanged “I love you” within three months. We got married four years later and have had two children.

We both love to explore and go on adventures! Daniella prefers beautiful beaches with soft sand and water that is crystal clear and warm. She grew up visiting family in the Caribbean during the summers, so she is a beach snob!

Jacob is from Oregon and he loves to be in the mountains. He finds peace while surrounded by greenery, kayaking on a river or a lake, and listening to the sounds of nature. Even though we have our preferences, we love to see each other thrive in our favorite places and have learned to love the other’s preferred spots.

We are also passionate about exploring new places. We often go to a place we’ve never been before just to visit the tourist sites and see what it’s like. When we were first dating and living in Washington, DC, we found short lights to different places and made mini-vacations to adventure around. We went to Memphis to eat Tennessee barbeque and visit the Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum. We went to Miami to dance salsa and snorkel. We went to Virginia to see the leaves change in autumn in the Shenandoah Valley. No matter where we are, we find places to explore and experiences to be had!

We both hold advanced degrees that we achieved after our bachelor’s degrees from college, and we want to give our kids the best education possible. We believe a good education starts right away, which is why we decided that one of us would be home full-time to be the primary caregiver for all of our children during their first years of life. Jacob was a stay-at-home parent for our first child while Daniella worked in Italy, and Daniella took on that role in Costa Rica with our second child. We spent our days showing our children love and finding ways to promote their development. We also plan to do this for any new addition to the family. We understand that young children need social interactions to grow. To fill that social need, we started sending our children to a half-day preschool program that employs the Montessori method. We love how our kids have progressed with this methodology and we intend to use it again for a new child. While we are overseas, our employer pays for private school. Nonetheless, we bought a home in one of the best public school districts in the country. We both went to public school and have had excellent educational opportunities. While we live in the United States, we intend to send our children to high school at the highly rated high school in our district.

We are both American diplomats so we often live overseas. No matter where we are in the world, our parents, our extended family, and our friends visit us. We love to spend quality time with our people, but it's even better when we can plan an adventure for everyone to enjoy.

One Christmas while we were living in Italy, we took Jacob's dad to a town that had set up a Christmas market throughout the downtown area. It was like a holiday festival where vendors were selling warm treats, hot chocolate, beautiful crystal ornaments, and all kinds of crafts. Our oldest daughter was two years old at the time, and she was thrilled to see all the excitement. Jacob's father loved to carry around his granddaughter, buy her treats, and see her eyes grow wide at all the lights and decorations.

Afterwards, we went to a traditional Italian restaurant and we all ordered different types of delicious hand-made pasta. Luckily we agreed to share so that we could try all the dishes because our little girl seemed to like Grandpa's pasta the best - he hardly had any! We are really grateful that our family is so generous with us and our children. They are excited for a new addition to our family and can't wait for another grandchild to spoil.

We were lucky to buy a beautiful home with five bedrooms so that it has enough room for our family to grow and accommodate another child. Our favorite room is the open-kitchen and living room, a combined room where Daniella or Jacob can cook and still be with the kids playing. The kitchen overlooks the spacious backyard where the neighbors' kids often come to play on the swings.

We bought a house in a neighborhood where our multicultural family fits in perfectly. There are several families like ours and families from other countries. In a house across the street, a Honduran family has several children, some of them are our kids' ages and they play together. Another neighbor is from Sri Lanka, another from Portugal, another from Iran, and the list goes on...

We are thrilled with the diversity (which also translates to the yummiest restaurants!). However, we picked this community because it has some of the best public schools in all of the United States. Since the schools are so excellent, there is an incredible variety of extracurricular activities for kids of all ages. Our 5 and 3 year olds take swimming, music, and soccer classes. These activities are only 10 minutes drive from our lovely home. We have the perfect setting to create a healthy, happy childhood.

Thank you for reading our profile and considering us as potential parents. We’re happy to share some information about ourselves, our motivations, our family, and our hopes for a new addition. We have been together for more than 10 years and have been married 7 years. We have two children, Helen age 5 and Daniel 3 years old. We also have a live-in nanny who only speaks Spanish and helps us all maintain our bilingual skills. She gives us a break to have date night, too!