Alana

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To You, From Me

My name is Alana and I can’t wait to meet you.

I have wanted to be a mother my entire life. While being an Auntie to my nephews and my friends’ kids is spectacular! I cannot begin to imagine the joy of having my own family will bring. I have a wonderful life, the perfect home and neighborhood for your child to have lots of wonderful childhood memories, not to mention so much love that I have to share with your child, and a wonderful family and friends who are anxiously waiting to welcome your baby into their loving arms. I am ready to fly to the moon and back to welcome a little one into my world.

Growing up my parents showed my brother and I, what unconditional love is with their unwavering support and unlimited encouragement, and that’s the kind of mom I will be to your child so they too will enjoy a life filled with happy childhood memories and be able to live their best life possible. The love my parents gave me has given me the confidence to know that in life, I am part of a family that always loves me no matter what the circumstances are, I will always be supported.

My parents and I have a special theme song; “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”. Do you know it? “Ain’t no mountain high enough…Nothing will keep me, keep me from you…”. We sang the song as a family because it was our pledge to each other that no matter how far apart, how high the mountain, how low the valley, or wide the river; no wind, no rain, or winter cold, if any one of us were in trouble, nothing would keep us apart. And this will continue to be the theme song for my family and the kind of love and support I can and will provide for your child.

Sadly, my father passed in 2010 but I am grateful I had a loving father for 34 years. My mother, (aka Tutu), will be a huge part of your child’s life on a daily basis because she also lives very close to me. She absolutely adores being a grandmother and cannot wait to welcome a new baby to our family! Sometimes I don’t know who is more anxious about waiting for that special day when the phone rings and those magical words are spoken at last, “You have been chosen,” me or my mom.

My brother, Uval, (who will be an amazing male role model for your child) and his family live in New Mexico, and we visit every few months and Facetime with my nephews Max and Henry regularly. It’s great to see my brother & his wife, Heather, but Max and Henry are the stars of the show, and they cannot wait to share the limelight with a little cousin and get to visit, spend summers with, and to love your precious child.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my profile and I hope you got a chance to watch my personal video. I understand there are a lot of hard choices you face and if you have any questions, please let me know. I hope you continue reading to learn more about the life that I can’t wait to share with your child.

Xoxo Alana

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My Path to Motherhood

My path to Motherhood has not been easy, but I believe in my heart this is the path I am meant to be on… I froze my eggs when I was 37 because I was diagnosed with breast cancer and was about to undergo chemotherapy. I say that to you knowing I am 100% in the clear of cancer and it will not affect my ability or life expectancy to be a parent. I beat the heck out of cancer! It was not easy, but I look back with gratitude for my doctors, the medical care I received, and the life lessons I learned. These are all life lessons that will help make me a better, more understanding parent, because:

· I learned to ask for help.

· I learned to say no when it was best for me to say no.

· I learned this too will pass and not to stress over the small stuff.

Once I was ready to utilize my frozen eggs, I tried twice but miscarried both times. As an optimist, I deeply believe everything happens for a reason and that is the truth, both the good times and the bad. My path to Motherhood is now through adoption and I can’t wait for our paths to meet and to share our love for your child together.

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About Me

Growing up in a small town on the east coast, my brother and I had such a fun childhood living on a farm with llamas, sheep and had an apple orchard. My earliest memories are being at my parents’ business, where my brother and I created the best games and stories playing in the back of their workshop.

Growing up I was very social, had a lot of friends, was a good student and enjoyed math, science, and art classes. After school we would hang out at one of my friends’ houses or I would go to Kari’s house. Her mom was an awesome cook and she always had the best snacks. I went to a summer camp out of state every year until high school which was a super fun experience and where I learned a lot there about being independent away from my family.

Eventually, I moved out to Southern California to be near my parents, and I love living here. It changes your life when it’s sunny every day. My life is wonderful but it’s not complete without my being a mom. I have so much love to give, and such a wonderful life to share with a child.

Fun Facts:

· I am a lifelong potter and have been teaching a beginner wheel class too. I can throw it down in the kitchen. I’m not a recipe gal, I am a make-it-up as I go, wing-it type.

· I am very crafty and I can fix things, I have redone a lot of my furniture, I love interior design.

· I love, love, love to travel and have been to 26 countries! Some real standouts are Japan, India, and Greece!

· For my mom’s 70th birthday we traveled to Italy for a week-long cooking course.

· One of my favorite quotes is: “You can’t have a favorite place till you have seen them all”

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Lifestyle

I moved to Southern California from the East Coast to be near my parents, and I love living here. It changes your life when it’s sunny every day. Spending time with family and friends is very important to me so I do see my friends and family often whether they are over at my house where I love to cook for them, or we go out for a great dinner. I can throw it down in the kitchen. I’m not a recipe gal, I am a make-it-up as I go, wing-it type cook than a recipe-type cook and love playing and exploring new flavors. My favorite local spice store gives me a lot of inspiration – Kimchi Salt, Berbere, Curries, Chimichurri – you name it, they have it. I am looking forward to making fresh baby food for your child and as they grow up, making our meals together just as I did with my parents. My Dad’s specialty was Sunday morning hotdog omelets, but Mom can really cook anything!

I enjoy taking lots of long walks, sometimes with friends, or as “me time” and eventually “our time” with your little one. It is great exercise, plus I get to explore the neighborhood. I make a lot of my calls to catch up with friends on walks or clear my head and this is the best time for me to come up with my great ideas. I take walks on the beach, which used to include walks with my dog Goldie, that you probably saw in my personal video, but she just recently passed away. Maybe when your child is old enough for a puppy, we will share the joy of picking out the cutest puppy in the litter and taking them home and making them a part of the family. I do still have sweet Oliver who is my kitty – he is a big fluffy dude- like if he was a man he would be in the NFL. He is a total lover, super snuggly, and will probably be your child’s first best friend.

I am a lifelong potter and have been teaching a beginner wheel class too. It will be so much fun to teach your child how to play with clay, and then learn to make things.

I love, love, love to travel and have been to 26 countries! Some real standouts are Japan, India, and Greece! Travel is another way to always be learning and growing… to see how other people live, eat and how other countries are so different, yet we are so similar. I want your kid to be a global citizen. I have a dream that once they are old enough that we will go on a yearly trip out of the country. We can spend the year leading up to the trip picking a place together, learning about the culture, the people and then go on the trip to explore this new land. I want to instill a sense of wanderlust into your child’s life.

While I enjoy my work, I am able to balance my work and enjoy my life. Working remotely gives me great flexibility in my schedule, which will give me lots of time to spend with your child and if anything, urgent work wise should arise, my mom only lives minutes away and she would be more than happy for an excuse to come over and spend time with your child. I do not work on the weekends so (share what the weekends are going to look like.)

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Home and Neighborhood

Can I just say how much I LOVE my home and it’s a wonderful home for a child to grow up in. My home is a 3 bedroom home with an open floorplan and French doors that open to a side yard… indoor/outdoor living! (I imagine the hide and seek games we will play and slumber parties with sleeping bags all over when your child is older and has friends spending the night.)

There is a large kitchen where I can be cooking and watching over the rest of the living/dining area and a kitchen counter where I picture your child coloring while having after-school snacks and we talk about their day.

I love my neighborhood too! I live in a super cute, family-friendly town full of charm in Southern California. We are in a valley surrounded by mountains and a drive away from the Pacific Ocean. From my home, I can walk to the main part of town with shops and restaurants where I imagine walking with your child for a mommy and child dinner date or a special ice cream treat at our favorite ice cream shop. There is a cute town square where they have events like the weekly farmers market, Christmas Tree Lighting, July 4th celebration, music on the weekends, and cultural events. Your child and I will be able to walk to the local elementary school and middle school from our house and there are parks nearby for playtime.

The best part of the neighborhood is that my mother lives less than 2 miles away and her home is a kid’s wonderland – she has a pool, grapevines, and an olive grove for your child to play hide and seek, and a yard to run around. Her community has a lake to go kayaking, community activities, game rooms, and even horseback riding.

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Family & Friends

I am super blessed with such an amazing family… my mother, Suzi, my brother, Uval, my sister-in-law, Heather, and my nephews Henry and Max. My parents were best friends, business partners and happily married for 41 years before my father passed in 2010. I am truly grateful for the gift of having such a kind, loving, and supportive set of parents. Using them as my role models has really shaped a lot of my personality. I cherish my relationship with my mother (also known as Tutu to her grandkids) and we talk every day – she is the biggest influence and most important relationship in my life. That is the type of parent I want to be for your child.

While I was growing up, my parents worked really hard running their business, but we always had dinner together. Sitting around the dinner table with my parents talking about our days, my brother telling me jokes to try to make me laugh is a fond memory of childhood. Every Sunday, we used to go on drives, just wandering about, exploring, and listening to classic rock and roll like the Beatles, Rolling Stones, & Joe Cocker.

My support team, my friends who are friends for life, and come from each chapter of my life, growing up, college, graduate school, and a load of friends picked up along the journey. They are a diverse group that represents a lot of ethnicities and nationalities – I am so lucky, and I value these friends dearly. Many of my friends have kids already and are ready to support me and your child with love, advice, and visits! I am always a kid favorite when visiting my friends’ families – you can usually find me playing with the kids instead of being with the grown-ups. I have a village of friends who are ready to be Aunties and Uncles to your little one.

Kari Lynn has been my best friend since 5th grade. She is so smart and sassy. Kari lives in Boston with her husband and 2 daughters, Sophia and Margaret, who call me Aunt Alana. We started a tradition of every other year going on a trip with just the two of us and the kiddos. We went to Cancun, Mexico this past summer and had a blast playing in the pool, dancing on the beach, going on an adventure to Isla Mujeres! It is so important to me to be part of Kari’s kid’s life as she will be in your child’s life.

My best friend since college, Allyson – Ally is more than a best friend, she is my soul sister. I talk to Ally every day and she is a huge presence in my life and will be Auntie #1 to your baby. She loves kids, has a real knack for making up fun games, is full of energy, and every kid she meets falls in love with her. Ally is a lifelong member and supporter of our family.

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A Letter of Love from Tutu

Dear Grandchild,

I am so anxious to meet you. When you come to our family it will be the best day!

Alana has been longing for your arrival. She is filled with love for you.

In our family, we are all very close. We really like to be around each other.

We have fun and take trips together. My Grandchildren call me TuTu instead of Grandma because when Henry was little, he couldn’t say Suzi!!!

Holding you in my arms is in my imagination. I promise to be the best TuTu and to spoil you in every way.

When you are older, I want to have sleepovers and watch movies, eat popcorn and stay up late.

But don’t tell your Mom! I will be there every day to spend time with you. We will always be best friends.

Please come to us soon….we are waiting for you.

Dear Birth Mother,

I want to add a Thank you to you for allowing us to adopt your baby.

I promise this child will be loved and adored….. Protected throughout their life….. And given every opportunity to have their best life. Our hearts will always be grateful for your bravery in blessing us with your Baby.

Love,
TuTu
Xoxo

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Racial & Cultural Diversity

We are all beautiful, have different lineages that make us unique that deserve to be cherished. I believe strongly in celebrating diversity and being inclusive. I grew up as the only Jewish kid in my school in a small town in the south, so I am sensitive to this topic – I have been the one who is different. I believe it is important to learn and educate myself on your culture and integrate that culture into our lives, celebrations, and education.

I have a diverse group of friends from backgrounds like Latin American, Indian, Saudi Arabian, Israeli, European, Japanese, and various ethnicities, or a mix of several. My dearest friend Rachel, who is bi-racial, when she heard the news that I was adopting, brought her mom over for a dinner celebration and they gifted me Rachel’s favorite book from growing up about being bi-racial. I continue educating myself on adoption and raising a child of a different ethnicity through reading/listening to books and podcasts. I am also building my future child a children’s library filled with a variety of books about adoption that are also racially and culturally diverse, and of course, I won’t forget to include my beloved Dr. Suess books for my future child.

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Family Traditions

Traditions I loved from my childhood that I will continue are: reading together at bedtime, celebrating holidays with our family, and coming together for dinner every day. We celebrated Jewish holidays, and my mom would always make a brisket – which was the only red meat I would eat growing up beside a burger.

On Hanukkah, my family is usually together and do the prayers as we light the candles for the 8 days and of course, then we open presents!

Christmas is another fun tradition – we go to my mom’s best friend’s, Carole Ann’s house for Christmas Eve – they are a very musical family, and every year we sit around singing, someone is playing piano, guitar, or bongos and everyone gets/makes a small gift for everyone else… It is such a special night. Then on Christmas, my mom and I go for a beach walk with our dogs, watch movies and eat Chinese food… this year we were curing/pickling Olives from her olive trees. Fingers crossed they come out delicious!

Every year we go on family trips, usually around my nephews’ school breaks. We have gone to Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hawaii, and road tripped through New Mexico and California. We also are with them for Thanksgiving most years, Henry’s birthday is often over that holiday. I cannot wait to add a little one to these family adventures.

Every summer, my nephews come out to California for 3 weeks to be with my mom and me around the July 4th holiday. We do all kinds of activities, play in the pool, go to the parade, and see fireworks with Carole Ann’s grandkids who are about the same age as Max & Henry. I love this time when Mom and I get to be with our little dudes without their parents. My favorite is the mornings – Max and I are early birds, so he crawls into bed with me, we snuggle and talk till everyone else wakes up, and eventually, they are all snuggled up with us in my room.

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Our Relationship

I plan on creating a life book for your child. It will be their special baby book about their adoption story, and I would love to include pictures of you, and I would love pictures of the three of us together. If you want to write them a letter to add to their book that would be great. The choice is yours and what you are comfortable with. Your child will always know how much you love them and your decision to place them for adoption was made with love. I am also open to an ongoing relationship, that would also include visits if that is something you are comfortable with as well.

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My Promise to You

I promise that your child will always be loved and supported.

I promise to raise your child with respect for all people, animals, and the planet. To value kindness, gratitude, honesty, loyalty, and compassion.

I promise to raise your child in a loving home where we believe in the importance of being honest, understanding of others, being fair and consistent, and knowing right from wrong.

Thank you again for taking the time to get to know me and the kind of life, love and family support I would be honored to provide your child with. I would also be honored to have an ongoing relationship with you so that your child will always know the first person who loved them was you.