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Jacob & Daniella
Thank you for taking the time to review our profile. As American diplomats, we have traveled, learned languages, and experienced many cultures. Our two young children speak English, Spanish and French, and they are involved in horseback riding, swimming, and soccer. We have always wanted to adopt to grow our family. Welcoming your child into our home would mean the world to us. We want to give our kids all the opportunities this big world has to offer. We hope you will consider us and wish you well in this journey.
How We Met
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.
Our Favorite Vacation Spot
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!
Education We will Provide
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.
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Our House and Neighborhood
Because of our work with the Foreign Service, we have the opportunity to live in different countries and expose our children to new cultures, languages and experiences. We are currently assigned to a large U.S. embassy in Africa with a welcoming and diverse community. We live in a luxury 4-bedroom apartment with amazing river views. Our building has its own pool, rooftop basketball court and children's playground.
However, the United States is our home and where we always come back to. In the U.S., we were lucky enough to buy a beautiful home in Maryland 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. 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. We have the perfect setting to create a healthy, happy childhood.
Our Extended Families
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.
From Us to You
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 married for nearly 10 years. We have two children, Helen age 6 and Daniel 4 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!
We have always wanted to adopt to complete our family. Both of us are children of divorced parents and we have benefitted greatly from the love and support of our stepparents. Daniella remembers her stepfather always being there for her. He would take her to her choir practice, drop her off to roller skate with friends on Friday evenings, and buy her clothes. He would joke that they shared the same genes because “I bought you those jeans!” Jacob’s stepfather taught him about craftsmanship as they worked to do repairs on Jacob’s childhood home. They also discussed personal finance decisions and he taught Jacob about saving and investing. He even bought Jacob a second-hand car when Jacob’s car died in college. We want to live by the example of our stepparents ?" we want to provide unconditional love and support for a child who needs us.
Our family is unique because we are diplomats with flexible job options. As part of our job, we have lived and worked in embassies in 10 countries. We have a special benefit where one of us can take time off while the other works. For example, when our first child Helen was born, Jacob was Helen’s primary caregiver for two years while Daniella worked in Milan, Italy. Jacob and Helen spent their days exploring cafés, bakeries, and pizzerias - yum! When our second child Daniel was born, Daniella was able to be with the kids full-time for three years while Jacob worked in Costa Rica. Daniella’s favorite memories of that time were playing with the kids in the sand at the many beaches nearby. Since we left Costa Rica, everyone in the family has been speaking Spanish fluently!
We are at a point in our lives when we are ready to add another member to our family. Our two children are young enough that a baby will have a small age gap, allowing all our kids to play together as they get older. We own a 5-bedroom house with a big, fenced-in backyard. Our home is located in one of the most diverse communities in the country and in one of the best public school districts in the nation. Jacob is taking two years off to be with the family during our current assignment in Africa. Our nanny has stayed with us during the transition, which we hope will help a new child become bilingual from the start. We want all our children to learn languages, experience different cultures, and see the many amazing things this world has to offer.
Even if we tried our hardest to give our newest family member everything in the world, it would not be possible without you. We would appreciate the opportunity to connect with you and allow you to develop a relationship with the child, if you are willing and able. We are happy to send letters with pictures as well as exchange emails and texts. We are open to phone calls and arranging future visits. We know that your decision is deeply private and personal. Please know we will respect your desires and try to accommodate your wishes should you want more or less communication.
We truly appreciate you reading our profile and this letter. We hope we have given you a good sense of who we are and how a new child will fit into our family. We wish you the best in your journey.
Warm regards,
Jacob & Daniella
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