We met on a dating website in Brazil. Brandon was living in Sao Paulo for work and we were both trying out online dating for the first time. After a few unsuccessful attempts on the site, we immediately realized our luck had changed on our first date. As Brandon had asked for book recommendations to improve his Portuguese language skills, Adonis suggested we meet at a famous bookstore in the heart of Sao Paulo. We spent time wandering the shelves, and our discussion of famous Brazilian authors turned to our other interests, our families, and deeper conversations like what we were looking for in a relationship. We really hit it off and didn't want the date to end, wandering the store for hours until being forced to leave at closing. We continued to meet up regularly after that, going to several iconic tourist places around the city. On one date, Adonis took us to the tallest building in Sao Paulo with spectacular views. At 550 feet, we had our first kiss and the connection was obvious. A few weeks later, on Halloween, Brandon took us to an American-style costume party. Dressed up as two vampires, with fake Dracula teeth and fake blood around our mouths, Adonis asked if we could officially be boyfriends. Brandon immediately said "yes," and the relationship quickly developed after that. Subsequent Halloweens have continued to mark important milestones in our relationship, including the day we got married.

Adonis Through Brandon's Eyes: I fell in love with Adonis' positivity. He has an infectious smile that brings so much happiness to life. After ten years together, I have obviously seen him in more challenging moments. However, even when the smile fades his perseverance and dedication highlight the brighter side and are incredibly reassuring. I love how he pushes himself every day to learn new hobbies and pursue a life of constant learning. He taught himself to play the piano, works long nights to meet his career and educational goals, and spends his free time seeking out potential areas for growth. Through it all, his big smile and positive outlook lift me up when I'm feeling down and keep me going. I know he'll make a great dad.

Brandon Through Adonis' Eyes: I love Brandon's curiosity and sense of adventure. He is one of the smartest people I know and challenges me to analyze my own thoughts every day. He pushes me to expand my horizons by proposing travel to different countries, learning new languages, and having unique experiences. I know he will challenge this child, just like he's challenged me, to live every day to its fullest because he truly sees an opportunity for growth in every new adventure.

Since we first met ten years ago, we have been very fortunate to have traveled to a variety of destinations such as Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Czech Republic, and Austria. While we love to travel together, Brandon's career as a diplomat takes our international journeys in life to another level. Working for the U.S. Department of State, Brandon's job gives our family the unique opportunity to serve the interests of the people of the United States on temporary assignments to Embassies all around the globe. The excitement of living in different countries makes for a much deeper exploration of new food, people, and cultures. Despite the excitement of travel, we also really love downtime on the weekend and just appreciating our community and spending time near home in order to meet with family and friends. Devoting time to rest and relaxation at home makes our journeys overseas all the more special. We love coming home to tell others about the great experiences we've had in different countries and we find that reconnecting with the most important people in our lives is even more precious than the travel itself. We are so excited to share these experiences with this child.

We live in a quiet, residential neighborhood within busy Washington, D.C., giving us all the benefits of local community while remaining just steps away from many activities of our nation's capital. We love the tree-lined streets around our home and the great courtyard behind our building as well as the many farmer's markets, parks and playgrounds, community centers and libraries, and numerous elementary schools all within walking distance. At the same time, Washington hosts incredible child-friendly museums, zoos, monuments, theaters, rivers, and nature trails.

We have a large two-story condo with a kitchen that opens into our living room, offering a lot of room for our dog, Bebop, to run around and an excellent space to host dinners with friends, family, and neighbors. We love to gather everyone together to celebrate birthdays, holidays, and special events at our place. Our outdoor stoop remains busy during the warmer, summer months with friendly neighbors meeting up with their children and dogs. We are also fortunate to have close friends living within walking distance, and our building's courtyard is a great place to grill and host outdoor dinners.

While Washington is our permanent home, Brandon's job as a diplomat takes us temporarily overseas to new countries and experiences we cannot wait to share with this child. The Embassy community abroad is very family-oriented, and the U.S. Department of State gives our family excellent housing, schooling, and other benefits that make sure we are well taken care of no matter where we live.

The shared importance of family brought us together as a couple and remains the single most fundamental value shaping our lives every day. Adonis comes from a huge Brazilian family and was raised as much by his grandmother, aunts, and uncles as by his own parents. As most of his extended family live within the same neighborhood, his closest friends growing up were his brothers and many cousins. Weekly Sunday lunches continue to bring everyone together and Christmas and New Years are celebrated as a family, without fail. Although we now live far from Adonis' family, we dial in weekly to the Sunday lunches and try to travel to Brazil once per year.

Brandon's family is much smaller, but equally connected. Brandon's greatest memories growing up are playing with his younger sisters, annual beach weeks with cousins, and Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Fourth of July celebrations with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Living within driving distance of Brandon's family, we continue to celebrate those holiday traditions together and visit his parents and sisters frequently. Now that Brandon's sisters have children of their own, we love sharing our family traditions with our new niece and nephew and take seriously our roles as uncles.

Both sides of our family in the United States and Brazil are extremely supportive of our adoption journey and will welcome this child into our family with open arms.

We are humbled you have taken time to consider us as potential adoptive parents, and we can only imagine your strength and selflessness at a moment filled with many choices and staggering decisions. With this letter we want to express our respect for you and your journey and promise we will never take your decision lightly.

Please know that after more than ten years together as a couple and seven years of marriage, our relationship remains strong. We have always wanted to expand our family through adoption, and we are ready to give this child all of our support, love, and attention. We will always offer a nurturing and secure home for him or her to grow into a happy, thoughtful, and empowered individual no matter what challenges life presents. Family is extremely important to us, so please know we will surround this child with a vibrant support network of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins spanning two continents.

As parents, we promise to always share our unconditional affection. We will teach kindness and compassion towards others. We also promise a life full of adventure and unique experiences traveling and living in different countries around the globe. While Washington is our permanent home, Brandon's job as a diplomat will take us temporarily overseas to new countries and experiences that we cannot wait to share. We will encourage this child to respect others and find beauty in differences. Already a multicultural family, we plan to enrich every day with meaningful experiences and a variety of traditions in a diverse way. We will share our passion for languages, cultures, and music, but also encourage the development of individual interests. We are committed to finding ways to celebrate what makes us different as much as what makes us the same. Above all else, our family in both the United States and Brazil will surround this child with constant love.

We know you also have a lot of love and joy to bring into this child's life and we promise to respect you and your level of openness. We will always share with you this child's growth and experiences through photos, letters, and emails, if desired. Although Brandon's job can move us temporarily to other countries, we will remain committed to meeting you in person as frequently as possible and to using technology to stay in touch regardless of where we live. We want to include you, your love, and your strength in his or her development, and we will always pursue the greatest level of honesty about this child's story. We will work every day to celebrate adoption in order to ensure a life full of pride and strength, and we will always see adoption as an amazing opportunity that expands the amount of love to fill this child's life.

Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know a little about us. We also hope for a chance to get to know you. Whatever you decide, please know we have tremendous respect for you and your bravery.

Thank you,

Brandon & Adonis