Luis and Paige

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From Us to You

Hello,

Thank you for devoting some of your time to learn about our family. We thought the best way for you to get to know us and the type of family we are is to take you through what some of our typical days are like.

The Basics: There are 3 of us: Luis, Paige and Natalia (Nat). Luis and Paige have known each other for over 15 years and been together as a couple for 5 years. Nat is 11 years old and is Luis’ biological daughter. Our family unit isn’t created out of biological ties, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Sunday Family Dinners: Every Sunday night we go to Paige’s parents’ house for family dinner with her parents and brother. Even during COVID-19 stay-at-home, we maintained video conference dinners. It is important for us to minimize the impact on Nat that being at home had.

Cartwheel Room: We definitely have a couple unique features of our house. When we were buying our house, we made sure to include Nat in the selection process. We wanted to help her develop long-term thinking and opinion forming skills. She said she absolutely needed a room to practice cartwheels. So, we made sure our house had a room with no furniture to practice cartwheels (carpeted of course). We bought a house that created future flexibility for our growing family.

Reading Tent: Sometimes reading isn’t a kid’s favorite subject. When we encountered this with Nat, we had to get creative. Our solution was to put a tent in the house and we called it the Reading Tent. Now reading seems more fun to Nat, plus having a dedicated space helps her to focus on the book she is reading.

Walk Wednesday: After dinner every Wednesday, we go for a walk as a family around the neighborhood. We have been doing this so long, we don’t even remember when we started.

Family Game Night: Family game night started as a way to prepare Nat for her Friday spelling tests. As she got older, we expanded it to any subject that she was focusing on in school at the moment. We create a game where she competes against Luis or Paige to spell the most words correctly or get the most math problems correct.

Vacations: Every summer we take some dedicated family time to go on vacation with Paige’s parents. We have seen the Grand Canyon, state capitals, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, and Dominican Republic. We try to pick places where we can learn new things or be exposed to new cultures. Last Christmas we got a world map and US map where we can mark the places we have been.

A Note from Nat: Hello, my name is Natalia. I’m very active, very playful, and very helpful if anyone needs help. When I was about 6, Paige came along and we grew a great bond and I grew to love her. So, Paige and my dad are great parents and love everybody. I’m excited to be a big sister to a little brother or little sister and teach him or her everything I know.

Our Adoption Views: Whether we struggled with infertility or not, adoption was always part of the plan to expand our family. We want you to know that we value you and we acknowledge that you are making the most important decision, and a difficult one that takes strength and love. While we can’t ever imagine the extent of how you feel right now, we do want you to know that we are grateful to have the chance to be part of your experience and hope that you can become part of ours as well.

Not every day is perfect in our house, especially during non-pandemic times. Shoes get lost and time gets rushed, but we figure it out together and get creative. We are excited to continue our family traditions and develop new ones with our expanding family.

Thank you,
Paige, Luis, and Nat

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Why We're Choosing to Adopt

We are choosing to adopt because it is something that has been in our hearts from the beginning.

In 2015, when we started dating, Paige got to meet Luis’ daughter (Natalia), who was only six at the time. They hit it off right away and had lots of fun together building a relationship. Several years ago, when we starting discussing expanding our family, we decided to try to get pregnant first and then adopt after that. As much as we tried, getting pregnant just didn’t happen. We still wanted to expand our family and raise children together. Not getting pregnant was something that we had to overcome, however, we were fortunate to have each other and knew from the beginning that we wanted to adopt. We would love to share our lives with a little one and bring him or her into our family.

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About Luis

I am so fortunate to get to already see what Luis is like as a father. I get to see him with Natalia and they read together, they build robots, they go on Friday night dates, and mountain bike together. I also get to see him do the not so fun stuff when he sits with Natalia and helps her with her homework every day, when he wakes up earlier than anyone else so he can make our lunches, and when he stays up later than anyone else to pay the bills. I know that I can trust him as a partner and a father. When he tells me all the things he can’t wait to do with our children and how excited he is to get to know our newest family member, I just know he is meant for the life we have built together.

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About Paige

I believe that Paige is the most loving and caring person I know and I can’t wait to see her become the mother I know she can be. When I see her interacting with my daughter, Natalia, I see her care, love and patience. Nat often goes to Paige for advice because she feels that Paige is the only person who can help her solve a conflict or have the answer to a question. I see that special way that only she has to care and show love and patience. I love that about her. She likes to garden, bake with Nat, make up dinner recipes, and stay active. When we go on walks Paige is always saying what kind of stroller would be the best to go on jogs and long walks with our future baby. I am incredibly fortunate to share a life with such a wonderful person, and I know how excited we are to get to grow our family and raise our children together.

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About Us

We originally met as teenagers through Luis’s brother, who has been friends with Paige since high school. At the time we were just friends and eventually our paths went in different directions. Eventually Paige moved back to California, we reconnected, and our relationship grew. As adults we ended up having so much in common: we both love going to museums, trying new restaurants, hiking, walking, doing puzzles, and exploring new cities. We have been together for over 5 years now. We regularly make time for the two of us to connect on what the family has going on or just relax together. Even if it’s only for 20 minutes after Natalia goes to bed, or if it’s a date night, we make sure we are present and engaged with each other during that time.

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Our Home

Our house is a family house. We made sure that our house fit our current needs, but was flexible enough to grow with us. The most important thing to know about our house is that we make sure everyone has space they need to be creative and explore their interests. It’s important to us that everyone in the family feels safe and encouraged to explore new ideas or try new things at home. Within the neighborhood we have a pool that we use all the time in the summer and we have a beach lake in our city that we use for swimming, paddle boarding and boating. Every Halloween our neighborhood has a block party and then all the kids go Trick or Treating together.

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Our Families

We are so fortunate to live only 3 minutes away from Paige’s parents, so we get to see each other all the time and they make it a priority to attend all of Natalia’s softball games. Every Sunday, we have family dinner at their house. We love ending the weekend by coming together. Luis’ sister lives nearby and we see her regularly. She is also a regular at Natalia’s softball games. Our extended family is so excited to welcome a new member.

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Our Lifestyle

We have known each other since high school and reconnected in 2015 when we began our relationship, and were married in 2021. We live in a medium sized city in California. It’s nice, diverse, and most importantly, safe for kids to play outside. We like that the people are friendly and there are a lot of trees making it green year-round.

We like to visit museums, amusement parks, take walks by the beach, try new foods, and spend time with our families. We are fortunate that they also live in the same area.

We have a twelve-year-old daughter named Natalia. She is an awesome person who loves softball, archery, her friends, baking, and waterparks. Natalia is an extremely fun person and we are lucky to be part of her life and journey into adulthood.

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Racial and Cultural Diversity

We are a mixed family. Paige is white and Luis is Mexican-American. We know and have learned how different our cultures and backgrounds are. We believe that it’s important to learn and respect other cultures and customs as we embrace and coexist in this very multicultural world we live in.

We have taken classes that have taught us the importance of introducing and being involved and educated in your child’s racial and cultural background and look forward to learning all about your child’s background.

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Family Traditioins

We are close with our families and spend the holidays with them. Paige’s family lives 3 minutes away and Luis’ very large family lives within 20 minutes in any direction.

One of our most special traditions is family dinner on Sundays. Every Sunday, we go to Paige’s parents’ house for dinner. We all help out to make dinner and the night is very special to us all.

On Thanksgiving, we spend the day with Paige’s family. We watch football, play games, and most importantly, help prepare dinner as other family members arrive and join the fun. After dinner, we go to Luis’ parents’ house for dessert. Sometimes the food smells so good that we have dinner again!

For Christmas Eve, we have a fairly new tradition. A few years ago, when our families decided to go out of town for Christmas, we decided to go out on Christmas Eve to a nice restaurant. It was just us and Paige’s parents and we had such a great time that it became our new tradition. After dinner, we all come home to open our new Christmas pajamas. On Christmas morning, we open our stockings at home and then head over to Paige’s parents’ house for breakfast presents. Around lunch time, we head over to Luis’ family to celebrate.

Our most valued tradition is our dates with Natalia. We each spend time with her separately so that it is special. Luis and Natalia love to spend their time together practicing archery, watching movies, and eating pizza. Paige and Natalia love to spend their time together baking, making arts and crafts, and shopping. These one-on-one date nights are so important in building our relationship with Natalia and we are excited to continue them with our expanding family.

We can’t wait to enjoy these traditions, and form new ones, as we expand our family.

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Our Relationship with You

With your permission, we would like to share your story and your baby’s journey to our family with him or her. We are comfortable with an open adoption, but we want to be respectful of how you feel and what you want for the future.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to you that we will love and care for your child with all our heart and we will provide all that we can and more. We will always be there, ready with open arms. We understand that while this is one of the happiest times of our lives, that you may be experiencing something much more difficult. Just know that your baby will be loved so much by all of us.