We both understand that no two children are alike and plan to keep that in mind when it comes to making educational decisions in the future based on the child's needs and areas of interest. We are very fortunate to live in the Bay Area which offers both traditional and non-traditional education options.

Something that is important to both of us is a bilingual education and we'd ideally like to enroll our child in a program where they will have the ability to learn a second language. Kendy is fluent in Spanish and plans to teach Spanish at home.

We both value education and plan to make ongoing learning outside of a traditional classroom a staple at home. We also plan on having an educational plan and financial resources for either college, trade school, or a business venture based on the interests that evolve with time and that will fulfill our child the most in the future.

In our 14 years together, we have introduced each other to traditions we each had growing up along with creating new traditions of our own. We're incredibly excited to share our diverse traditions and create new traditions with our child. One of our favorite traditions is attending Apple Hill, an apple festival with Jason's family, who has been attending regularly every fall for the past 18 years. Kendy introduced Dia de Los Muertos to Jason which is celebrated by setting out trinkets, pictures and food, to remember and honor our family, friends, and pets that have passed away. In October we watch a Halloween movie per day leading up to Halloween. For Thanksgiving Kendy has introduced Jason to her family's tradition of ordering takeout from a different local restaurant every year, rather than having a traditional dinner. Around the winter holidays we make tamales, tortillas, and buñuelos to share with family and friends a tradition that we both had growing up and have memories doing with our grandparents. Christmas morning we make breakfast and watch a Christmas story and Gremlins. We round out the New Year by continuing a tradition that Kendy's family has been doing her entire life by placing change under the front doormat, throwing water and rice out the door, and sweeping the porch to bring good fortune in the new year and by watching the Rose Parade and bowl on New year's day.

We plan to address cultural diversity by helping expose and expand our child's awareness of cultural differences through social events, books, songs, and other educational moments. Kendy, being Mexican American, brings a rich cultural heritage that we are eager to share and celebrate. We live in an incredibly diverse community and have friends and family of diverse backgrounds, including Kendy's Mexican heritage, which will provide no shortage of firsthand experiences to other cultures. By promoting acknowledgement and respect for others, along with providing an environment in which questions and conversations happen frequently, we will enable all of us to grow and become more aware together. We are both fortunate to have blended families and a very strong group of diverse friends, who have been incredibly inclusive, and we will be able to lean on for support and to create further awareness.

We purchased a home in Oakland, California, a vibrant and diverse city in the Bay Area. We are fortunate to have respectful and kind neighbors of different ethnicities and ages, several of which have children under the age of 4. Our neighborhood is quiet and safe, we spend a lot of time out walking our dogs, there are multiple parks, 2 different elementary schools, one of which offers bilingual options which we are very excited about, there is a very cute downtown with great restaurants and stores to which we enjoy walking to. Our downtown area also hosts many kid friendly events, farmers markets, live music and artisanal fairs.

Our home consists of 3 bedrooms one of which we have turned into a gym, 2 bathrooms with a living room and family room. The layout of our house is open with lots of natural light and a nice sized backyard. We have lots of plants both inside and out, they can be found in every single room of our home! A portion of our backyard has planter boxes where we grow fruits and vegetables too.

Our favorite places in our home are the backyard where we enjoy lounging on comfy chairs, BBQing, making s'mores over the fire, gardening or playing with the dogs and our living room where we enjoy listening to our vinyl collection, reading, playing board games or just relaxing.

We both have large blended and diverse families. We are fortunate enough to live within 2 hours of both of our direct families which we are both very close with and spend a lot of time with. With Jason's family we do a lot of activities such as going to concerts, sporting events, spending time on the lake and hosting each other. With Kendy's family we spend quality time relaxing and getting to enjoy traditional Mexican food, both cooking and eating. We have a tradition of going to Apple Hill which is an apple festival, we do this every year with Jason's siblings, nephews, parents. During the holiday season Kendy's family has a tradition of ordering takeout for Thanksgiving, every year we chose a different cuisine. We also do several new year rituals such as running down the street with a suitcase to welcome travel in the new year.

We are very fortunate to have a close group of friends all of which have been part of our lives for over 15 years. Most of our friends live within a 2 hour drive from us. We enjoy hosting, going to sporting events, traveling, concerts, game nights and smaller gatherings to enjoy time with our bonus nieces and nephews as many of our friends have young children.

Both our families and friends are very supportive of this journey we are taking to become parents and we are ecstatic to welcome your child into our very loving group.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and tell you about our family.

This is a difficult letter to write to someone you haven't met and equally difficult for you to gain insight into our lives. We can only hope that the same forces that have driven us all to this point in our lives will also see to it that we find each other. We don't know your situation or your circumstances but we can't thank you enough for the enormous gift of life you are giving and for the love and courage you are showing for your child.

We met 31 years ago in elementary school! Yes, you are reading that right, we have known each other our entire childhood and adult lives. Our friendship quickly blossomed through being part of a very close knit bilingual program through grade school. Too many memories of our childhood to write them all but some to highlight are searching for leprechauns in the vast green fields during recess, playing wall ball, singing our favorite songs and performing our favorite music videos during lunchtime with friends. Life happened and both of our families relocated but a few years later we reconnected via social media and kept in touch through high school and early college. Fast Forward to 2010 when we decided to meet in person after so many years of just keeping in touch online. Three months later Jason relocated to Chico, California and we moved in together, 14 years later, we are stronger than ever. We both graduated Chico State University and in 2016 we relocated to the Bay Area to pursue our careers. In 2018 Jason proposed while on a trip to our favorite city of Chicago and in 2019 we got married at Apple Hill which hosts an apple festival that we attend every year with Jason's family.

Jason is a Computer Scientist and currently works for an organization where he assists with climate modeling. He absolutely loves what he does, and is fortunate enough to be in a career he knew he wanted from a very young age. Outside of work, he spends a lot of time with Kendy and their pets, learning new subjects, 3D printing, and working on computer/electronic projects. Kendy currently works as a Senior Sales Manager for a tech company where she enables her team to hit their targets along with helping her reps improve their skill set and grow in their roles. Outside of work, she spends time with Jason and their pets, gardening, tending to the numerous indoor plants, listening to music and cooking. We are both fully remote which gives us a lot of flexibility throughout the day to step away and do errands or tend to other things which will be very helpful as our family grows.

In our 14 years together we have been fortunate to experience many exciting and fulfilling things, from graduating college together, growing our family by adding 3 pups and a cat, getting married, purchasing a home, extensive traveling, amazing concerts and live sporting events. We have experienced our family and friends finding their partners, tying the knot and growing their families, but the most beautiful experience is still missing for us, becoming parents. It has been a long road, from attempting to conceive on our own, various fertility treatments, surgeries and multiple losses. We are hopeful and excited for the future and to one day share the above experiences with a child but above all we can't wait to provide them with all the love we have to give. Our families and friends are equally hopeful and can't wait to welcome and shower this blessing with so much love.

We welcome the role you'd prefer to have in your child's life and will share with you their growth and experiences through photos, letters, emails and video calls. Please know that your child will always hold a place in their heart for you and will know of your selflessness and courage.

We thank you for the opportunity to share our story and consideration in becoming parents to your child.

With all our gratitude,

Jason & Kendy