Ryan and Rayleen

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From Us To You

Dear Expectant Mother:

We are very excited to write this letter to you. Thank you for taking the time to view our profile to get to know us. Words cannot express the respect and admiration that we have for you and the decision you are making. We know that we can never fully understand or imagine the emotions that you are feeling, but we pray for you and that you have the faith that you need to find the right family. If you consider us as parents for your child, they will know that your decision was made out of love.

We want to let you know a little bit about ourselves. We are Ryan, Rayleen, and Riviera. We met through mutual friends on a snowboarding trip to mammoth 25 years ago. We have been married for 19 years and we adopted our daughter almost 7 years ago. We love each other dearly and are best friends. We’ve learned that we can handle the good times and bad as long as we do it together.

We will give your baby an amazing life with endless love and the opportunity to live here at the beach, which is where we do most of our activities, from surfing/boogie boarding, walking on the beach, hiking, and riding bikes, to just spending time away from the fast paces of life. Things are a little bit simpler here and kids can be kids. Education is definitely a priority. Your child will be given amazing opportunities in life, from great schools and sports to whatever their dreams are. We have a great network of friends and family all around us who will always be there.

We were both born and raised in Southern California. Even though our family lives up in another county, we still spend a lot of time together. All of our nieces and nephews love to come down and spend time with us and play with Riviera on the beach. Ryan is self-employed and Rayleen is a stay-at-home parent. Riviera starts school soon and Rayleen plans on volunteering at her school. We are a very active family and love being outside doing our favorite activities. We are a family who likes to have fun and most importantly, laugh a lot.

We want you to feel as comfortable as you can knowing that your child is in good hands. We will provide the kind of warm home where a child knows unconditional love, respect, integrity, and honesty.

Thank you again for taking the time to view our profile. We look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,
Ryan & Rayleen

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Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

We tried to have children for a long time on our own with, unfortunately, no success. Although we cannot have biological children, we realize that having blood ties is not what makes a family. That is when we knew that God was showing us the path towards adoption. We were blessed with our daughter Riviera, and she is the light of our lives. She is so excited to be a big sister. We have so much more love to give and we are looking forward to sharing our hearts and home with your child.

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Our Relationship with You

We have a semi-open adoption with Riviera’s birth parents. While an adoption plan was being made, we all agreed that photos and updates are what would work best for everyone. We digitally communicate with a Shutterfly account, where we upload photos, updates, comments, and carry on conversations. Riviera does know that her birth parents were young and had to make a difficult decision out of their love for her. If there is a time she wants to meet her birth parents, we will support her.

In our adoption journey with you, we would like to pursue a semi-open adoption plan where we would provide photos and updates. We want you to have the ability to see that your child is thriving, well-loved, and living the life you chose for them. We would like to talk about what you are comfortable with us sharing with your child so that they can grow up knowing about their adoption story and birth family. Regardless of what you choose to share, we promise that your baby will always know how much you love them. We promise to give your baby the best life that we are able to give.

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About Rayleen, by Ryan

Since the moment I laid eyes on  Rayleen, I have been attracted to her.  She’s a very beautiful person who always lights up a room.  She loves to get out there and try new things to stay busy and active.  Rayleen is one of the most organized and clean people I’ve ever met. Now that we have our daughter, she is following in the same footsteps.  It’s so nice to see Rayleen be able to show her talents to our daughter Riviera as we watch her grow.  Rayleen is always there for others and will always lend you a hand.  She’s a very kind and caring person who has a very tender heart, especially around our daughter and all other children.  You see a glimmer in her eyes whenever she’s around the kids.  What makes Rayleen such a great mother is that she gives our daughter everything she needs, like consistency, cuddles, and conversations about feelings.  She is a multitasker.  She can cook, pick out schools, and organize playdates and vacations all at the same time.  The most important is the love and care she provides for our daughter. I know she will provide the same love and care to your child, too.

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About Ryan, by Rayleen

Ryan is a blessing.  He is handsome, kind, patient, and responsible.  He is such a great hands-on father who teaches our daughter everything from reading, sports, gardening, and the love for nature and flowers.  What makes Ryan a great father, is he never turns on the TV as a distraction.  He always engages our daughter with games and books instead.  He is never too lazy to take her on a walk or bike ride.  He will always choose healthy food.  He is always looking out for our daughter’s best intentions.  Ryan gives me compliments all the time and always makes sure to ask me how my day was.  He encourages me to do what makes me happy.  Ryan is a terrific conversationalist.  He is very knowledgeable, so he can engage just about anyone in conversation.  He has such great family values.  His relationship with his mother was so special it made my heart melt.  I knew then that he would be a great husband, friend, and father.  When I watch him with our daughter, it warms my heart. I know he will be the best father to your child.

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Lifestyle

Living so close to the beach makes it seem like every weekend is a 3-day weekend for us.  What life would look like for your baby? Spending a lot of time together at the beach, surfing, boogies boarding, or just building sand castles.  Sometimes on beach days, we like to keep it simple and do a barbecue after a long day playing in the sand.  Your baby would be part of a small and wonderful beach community.  Our neighborhood is so welcoming.  We have parades on bikes or golf carts for every holiday.  Most important is we feel safe and loved.  Every Sunday, we attend Sunday morning services.  Our daughter loves attending children’s ministry.

We also love to explore new places and camp in our RV. Your baby’s life will be full of adventure and we are so excited to share those experiences with your baby.

Rayleen is a stay-at-home mom and we are very fortunate that Ryan’s income is enough to support our family.  Ryan is also self-employed so this allows him to have a very flexible schedule.  Our days start with breakfast followed by a walk or bike.   We do art projects or read books. We have lunch and then go to the beach, park or have play dates.

We also work together in our garden.  Your baby would love our butterfly garden.  We grow milkweed plants in our yard and our daughter loves to watch and keep track of the life cycle of a butterfly.  It is truly amazing!!

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Home & Neighborhood

We purchased our home about 12 years ago and remodeled it into our perfect beach cottage.  We are four blocks from the beach and have an ocean view.  Our home is one-story with bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Our favorite room is the kitchen with a huge island.  We spend a lot of family time there.  We have a huge backyard with a trampoline and plenty of room for children to play.  We got a little water slide for the summer.  We can’t wait to see your child jump on the trampoline and join in all the neighborhood fun.  We absolutely love living here!  There is always so much to do.  Our neighborhood is a cool mix of people ranging from young families with children to retired people and everyone knows each other.  All the children play and ride bikes together; they have lemonade stands at the corners. Most of the neighborhood meets down on the beach and spends the day together.  We feel that our neighborhood is safe and everyone looks out for each other.  We can’t wait to share our home and this amazing neighborhood with your child and promise to protect and love them.

Our 18-year-old Chihuahua just went to doggie heaven.   We were very heartbroken.  We do have a 5-gallon aquarium with two guppy fish and a snail.  Our daughter helps with the cleaning of the tank and feeding the fish.

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We live in California which is very culturally diverse.  We are very fortunate to live where there are so many different ethnicities, cultures, and languages. We interact with people of different races and cultural heritages.  Many of them are our family or our friends in our community and church that we respect very much.

Acknowledging and appreciating people who are culturally different than us is very important and we want to teach your child to accept and respect people of all cultural and social backgrounds.  We also want your child to love their own cultural background.  It is important to us that we instill a sense of pride in your child regarding their rich heritage and roots. As parents, the best thing we can do is learn as much as possible about your child’s culture and make sure they know they belong. It is important to raise a child that is confident in who they are and is respectful towards others.  We feel that both of these qualities are important in helping a child become a productive, courteous and considerate adult.

Your child’s background will not change how we love, raise, and support them.

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Our Families & Friends

Even though our family lives an hour away, we still spend a lot of time together. There is never a dull moment when our loved ones get together.  Ryan and his sister are very close and speak to each other every day and she comes and stays with us all the time. Ryan’s uncle, who is retired and lives in Colorado calls us on a weekly basis and spends every holiday with us.  We recently went to Colorado to visit him and had a great time seeing family and doing all sorts of activities like miniature golfing, picnics, hiking, and visiting the butterfly pavilion. We also like to go on vacations with Rayleen’s mother and brothers and their families. We spend holidays with the whole family. We definitely believe family comes first. Your child will grow up with fond memories of family holidays and vacations.

Our family doesn’t just include relatives, it consists of a close group of friends. Our closest friends, Brad and Jenny, and their two children live down the street. Riviera calls their daughter her big sis. We are also very close to their family, so it’s like our second family. We spend a lot of weekends, holidays and vacations together. We also have made a lot of new friends through our daughter.

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Family Traditions

One of our family traditions is camping with family for Thanksgiving.  We did as kids and now sharing and doing it with our daughter.  We keep this family tradition because it brings both of our families together and we all love to camp and enjoy the outdoors.  We do a lot of beach camping and even have done the desert a few times. We all love camping at the beach.  People always ask us, “Why camp at the beach when you live at the beach?”  We love the fresh air, people seem more active, Ryan surfs, and the kids boogie board.  We go on bike rides and long walks.  Rayleen’s sisters-in-law enjoy helping her decide on where we should camp and what food to bring.  Ryan smokes a huge turkey and Rayleen usually does mash potatoes and a salad.  Rayleen’s mom makes the best yams.  We all enjoy cooking all day and then sitting down together for a family dinner.

Also, we have a friends’ tradition of going on a yearly vacation, usually to somewhere tropical.  We go on this trip with three other families. One of the families has also adopted two children. One of their children is one of our daughter’s closest friends and knowing that our children are growing up together and have been through the same journey is especially reassuring.

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Travel

When we travel, we usually go somewhere tropical.  Our last vacation was to Costa Rica.  We rented a house on the beach with monkeys and iguanas in our front yard.  Beautiful mango trees everywhere.  The guys got great surf.  It was cool that you could swim in the pool and watch the guys surf at the same time.  I think the kids enjoyed the pool the most and never wanted to leave it. They did enjoy building hermit crab sandcastles.  The beach was full of hermit crabs.  It was also so fun to watch them crack a coconut open.

We really enjoyed this vacation.  It was so relaxing and fun.  We got to spend quality time with our good friends and their children.  It was like our own private resort.  Such healthy living and food. Our daughter can’t wait to do it again.  Maybe we will have to make Costa Rica vacation our new family tradition.

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What We Will Teach

Your child will give us a whole new unconditional purpose in our lives and endless memories to create together. We will teach him or her to be responsible, giving, and to treat others the way that they want to be treated. To appreciate what they have and most of all to be happy.

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Our Promise to You

We promise to share anything and everything you would like them to know about you. We will share the story of how your child came to us and how much you love them. We will always let them know what a strong woman you are and how your decision was made out of love. We are beyond grateful, blessed, and honored that you completed our family. We will never forget that you placed your faith in us to raise your child. You will always have a special place in all of our hearts.