We are both very fortunate to come from diverse cultural backgrounds. Ana was born in Nicaragua with a Nicaraguan-African heritage and immigrated to the United States at a very young age. She lived in Miami until she left for college. Ana still has most of her aunts and uncles in Nicaragua and visits frequently, with her most recent trip being in summer of 2023 to visit her 100-year-old grandmother. Ana's first language is Spanish and her heritage and bilingualism is something she is very proud of and sees as a huge advantage in her personal and professional life. Jessica comes from a Jewish mother with heritage from Russia and Romanian, and a Catholic father with heritage from Ireland and Italy. She was raised to understand and respect all the traditions of her family. Both of our families are multicultural with relatives of Asian, Spanish, Moroccan and African American descent.

Ana has taken Jessica to Nicaragua many times to meet her family and spend time exploring the country with her parents and siblings. We both have many traditions and customs we carry on from our cultures.

There are many hobbies and activities that we look forward to sharing with our future child. We take pride in volunteering and it's something we want to continue to do with our future child so they understand the value of helping others. We look forward to going on adventures with our child, whether it's hiking, playing in the park or going kayaking. We both love being active with Ana being more athletic and playing in basketball and soccer leagues. Jessica spends that time golfing and we both are in a volleyball league. We love doing things around the house like planting and gardening, also playing chess, doing puzzles and building legos. We love taking Harper on walks, whether it's downtown, in parks or a local flower garden. We love to travel, whether it's big trips or weekend trips to new cities. We enjoy cooking and try new types of cuisines. Family is important to us so we love to spend time with the family especially our nephews and niece making new memories. When we spend time with them we are always looking to do activities such as tie-dying shirts, making jewelry or painting. All in all we love finding new places to explore and new experiences to have. We will encourage our child to participate in any sports or activities that they find fun. The most important thing to us is that our child has a fun and engaging hobby that they can be passionate about.

Ana first fell in love with Jessica's ability to effortlessly help others. She is a natural born caretaker and anyone that has spent time with her can attest to that. While Ana was in med school and residency Jessica became the helper to all her classmates. If Jessica knew they would be stuck studying for longer than anticipated she would volunteer to help pick up her classmates kids and babysit. Jessica would also take it upon herself to make sure Ana and her classmates would be fed during long lab days by bringing everyone food. Her demeanor has a calming effect on others around her and it's been extremely important for Ana in her line of work. She brings a sense of comfort to all those in her life.

Of Ana's many great qualities, what Jessica most loves about her is her ability to make everyone around her strive to be the best versions of themselves. Ana is extremely smart and dedicated which has served her in her journey to become a doctor. Ana's drive and passion has rubbed off on all of those lucky enough to be around her. An example is when Jessica was feeling unsatisfied at work Ana encouraged her to get her MBA which helped her get to where she is in her career now. Ana focuses on leading by example and nurturing everyone's goals and ambitions to help them see the value they have themselves.

We have now lived in Connecticut for 3 years and can't think of a better community to welcome our child in to! Connecticut is recognized as one of the nation’s leading states in education, with our town consistently ranking at the top statewide.

We have many close friends with young children, which helps us stay involved and up-to-date on all community events and activities, as well help us support local youth engagement programs. Our friends with young children are also very active in the community and frequently host get-togethers at their houses for the children's sports teams and Girl Scout troops.

We live within walking distance of the city center, which hosts several holiday activities throughout the year such as trick-or-treating, holiday parades and Christmas caroling. Since moving here we have explored various nature paths and regularly go on walks with Harper, our pup. We live 15 minutes away from a local lake and the conservation park, which we often frequent.

We live in a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house with an outdoor area. Our favorite room in the house is our attic that we utilize as a multipurpose room for our fitness equipment, board games, movie nights. We love our backyard where we spend quality time with family and friends. Any free weekends we have we spend it outdoors so much so that we even got Harper her own lounge chair so she can enjoy with us! We have a basketball hoop with plans of adding an outdoor playset once our child is old enough to enjoy it.

We are both very fortunate to come from strong family orientated backgrounds. Our families are our biggest supporters and cheerleaders in our journey into parenthood. Jessica's family (parents, sister, and nephews) lives a short 2-hour drive from us in New Jersey, while Ana's family (parents, brother, sister, niece, and nephew) live a short 2-hour flight away in Florida. Despite living in different states our families take every opportunity to come and visit throughout the year and we always make it a point to spend all major holidays with them.

Jessica's favorite holiday is Thanksgiving and involves a home-cooked meal with her immediate and extended family, with everyone bringing their favorite side dish and board games. Ana's favorite holiday is Christmas where her family has made a point to combine Nicaraguan traditions with new traditions. Christmas with Ana's family involves her mother cooking a traditional Nicaraguan Christmas dinner, Christmas Eve church service, followed by a night of playing fun and engaging holiday games where we compete for small prizes and decorate a gingerbread house together before we get to gift exchanging and opening, all in matching pajamas.

Our favorite pastime to do with our families is to travel. We make it a point to book one big international trip to a destination we have never been before. Notable favorites include Barcelona, Paris, London, Lisbon, Rome, and most recently Greece.

First of all, thank you for your bravery, love, and strength in making this decision for yourself and your family. We understand that this is not an easy decision and regardless if you choose us to be the parents of your child please know that we are sending all the wonderful and positive thoughts for you and your child during this process.

We met in our first year of college and became instant best friends. Once we realized we were happier spending time together than with anyone else we knew we were more than friends and our relationship developed from there. We did long distance for many years while Ana pursued her education that led her to medical school. During that time we built a strong foundation of our relationship and daydreamed about our future family. Adoption was always a part of that dream.

Currently Jessica is the Director of Business Operations & Performance at a construction company. One of her main responsibilities is ensuring Minority and Women owned businesses have the opportunity to work on the construction projects and is active in many organizations that help mentor these businesses. She works mostly from home which affords her time to volunteer in the community, which is something she has done in all the places we have lived.

Ana is a general medicine physician with two fellowships in women's health and sports medicine. She is currently a faculty physician for a residency program and the head team physician for a university. This allows her to see patients at clinic, train resident physicians and help them build up their skills and care for student athletes. Ana cares for newborns to older adults in her practice. One of Jessica's favorite pastimes is attending the games Ana is working with their dog Harper.

Being together since freshman year of college has afforded us the opportunity to share many different life experiences together. We have experienced loss, failures, triumphant victories and of course love. While there are no guide books or manuals on how to be the perfect parents we feel equipped with the best examples of parenting from both sets of our parents and feel beyond blessed to be surrounded by loving and supportive individuals and families. We hope you choose use because our hearts are completely open. We promise to provide a safe, stable, and nurturing home - one filled with laughter, hugs, bedtime stories, and unconditional support. We will celebrate this child's milestones, comfort them in hard moments, and always remind them that they are deeply loved by you and by us.

We believe in openness, honesty, and honoring heritage and identity. If you're open to staying in touch, we would love to navigate that together, at your comfort level. We're ready to embrace a child not just as our own, but as someone with a beautiful past, a strong beginning, and a birth family who will always be spoken of with respect and reverence. We have so much love to give. More than anything, we want you to know that this child will never wonder if they're loved - they will feel it, every single day.

Sincerely,

Jessica & Ana