Charles and Yarel

First off and from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for considering us as adoptive parents. We understand that this is a very difficult decision and we are honored to be considered as parents to your baby. You are so brave!

We are Yarel and Charles from the Bay Area in Northern California, and we hope that this snapshot of our lives portrays to you the love, happiness, and excitement that your child will be welcomed with.

The possibility of starting a family through adoption has always been a dream of ours. We have so much love to share within our family and we are both ready and excited to become parents. Building a family through adoption is something we both have wanted for a long time.

About Us: We had an instant connection. We met in 2010 when we both lived in New Jersey. We had an instant connection and 2 years later we moved in together, followed by moving across the country to California for Charles’ promotion.

In 2013, Charles came home from work with an engagement ring in his bag. The plan was to wait for a really special moment to propose but the excitement was too much (and he’s bad at keeping secrets) and he blurted it out right there.

Our wedding was in Buffalo, NY surrounded by family and friends, followed by a honeymoon cruise.

A Little More About Us: We believe traveling is not only fun, but also educational. Cultural awareness, diversity, and history are incredibly important to us. Together, we’ve been to 15 countries and are always looking to add more to the list. Some of our favorites are England, Thailand, and Mexico. We look forward showing our future child the world!

As a couple, we really enjoy hiking with our dogs, Izzy and Bosko, exploring the Bay Area, and trying all different types of cuisine. You usually can find us out and about in San Francisco, with friends, or catching up on Netflix.

A Few Fun Facts About Us

• We are no strangers to water gun battles on a hot day. Charles has come home from work to find a fully loaded water gun waiting for him while Yarel is hiding, waiting to attack.
• We once got stranded in Thailand and came upon a cooking class. The class taught us how to make killer Pad Thai that we still make to this day.
• Yarel is a vegetarian while Charles is not, and together we enjoy big, healthy, made-from scratch meals!

Our Commitment

• We promise to love your child unconditionally.
• We promise to always honor their authenticity and who they are as a person.
• We promise your child will know you and the story of his/her adoption.
• We promise to give your child not only a set of loving parents, but grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.

Depending on who you’re talking to will depend on what they call me. My friends call me “Chuck”, my mom calls me “Charles”, and dad calls me “Chaz.” I grew up in Buffalo, NY which I couldn’t be more grateful for. My parents were very big on education and worked hard to send my sister and I to private schools to receive the best education we could.

Currently, I work as an HR executive for Whole Foods Market. I absolutely love my field and find so much joy in making workplaces more friendly and inviting.

In my spare time, I love spending time with our tribe, reading, and traveling. I’m really into music and can often be found jamming out in my car (“Domino” by Jessie J is my jam). I’m also really into comedy and laughing. I absolutely cannot wait to share my love of music and cinema with my future child. I definitely will be the dad that is always cracking jokes and embarrassing my kid with my “dad jokes.” I can’t wait to be a father!

More About Charles by Yarel: Charles is the most kind, selfless, patient man I’ve ever met in my life. I feel so blessed I get to call him not only my husband but my best friend; the yin to my yang. He is calm, pragmatic, hardworking and extremely loving and caring. These qualities are going to make Charles an amazing father.

Recently, our anniversary got rained out, so he created a “picnic” in the back of his SUV, blanket and all. In addition to being very loving, he is also very serious about his career – he’s spent the last decade working on his career in order to provide us with the best possible life. His determination to always be the best version of himself is a quality I not only adore about him, but a quality that’s going to make him a great father.

A Few Fun Facts

• Favorite Food: I think it’s pretty clear by now that we LOVE food. Anything that Yarel makes is usually #1!
• Favorite Band: Mumford and Sons
• Favorite Book: Ever since I was a kid, the Peter Pan story has been a favorite of mine.
• Favorite TV Show: I grew up watching The Golden Girls with my family so that is timeless for me. Will & Grace and Schitt’s Creek are my other two favorites as well.

I grew up in a diverse suburb in central New Jersey. I have a younger sister, Alison, with whom I am very close with. I have worked in the medical field for the past 13 years including the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. After moving to California, I decided to pursue my other passions: organic gardening and volunteering as a mental health mentor. I work for a plant nursery part-time, which I absolutely love. My job allows for me to have an extremely flexible schedule and upon bringing home a child, I would be a full-time dad right from the start.

Some of my happiest memories are of me planting flowers with my mother or having her show me how to cook rice juuust right. I look forward teaching our future child valuable skills that they not only love but also teach them the value of a healthy home.

More About Yarel by Charles: One of the first things Yarel ever said to me on our first date was that he “loved to laugh”. It was in that moment that I knew I had found my soulmate. We spend an insane amount of time laughing and joking around. If laughs were money, we could build the Taj Mahal!

Yarel has an amazing ability to love with every fiber of himself. Yarel is funny, smart, curious, and compassionate.

It is a regular occurrence for me to wake up to love notes or poems he’s written to me (he is a really good writer but will never admit it). He will always give me the bigger piece of cake and will always sing along with me to our favorite songs. He is the best husband, friend, son, man, brother, and will be a fantastic father.

A Few Fun Facts

• Favorite Food: A good piece of hearty fresh baked bread with butter; simple but delicious.
• Favorite TV Show: Game of Thrones, Schitt’s Creek, and Emily in Paris
• Favorite Band: I love everything from jazz to Lizzo
• Favorite Book: The “Red Rising” series by Pierce Brown. I can’t wait to teach a child the value of a good book.

Izzy is the queen of the house. She is 8 years old and a beagle mix. She is incredibly intelligent and knows how to work her dads for a good treat.

Bosko is a whippet mix and 7 years old. He is the love bug of the family.

Both Izzy and Bosko love to socialize and are great with kids. They are extremely friendly and love to play. They will make great fur buddies to your child!

Our Home: We live right outside of San Francisco in a cul-de-sac. We feel incredibly fortunate to have a large backyard where we can host friends, Yarel can garden, and Izzy and Bosko can run. Our location has little through traffic and is in a nice, quiet setting.

We are excited to take our child to the many cultural festivals that the Bay Area has to offer. One of our favorites is the Italian Festival in San Francisco. We love listening to the music and of course, eating cannolis. Charles is a big Disney fan so we enjoy going to The Walt Disney Museum and learning about Disney history. Yarel’s family is from Puerto Rico and we celebrate their Hispanic history.

Our families are large, loving, and closeknit.

Yarel: My parents have been married for 33 years and their unwavering love and commitment to one another has been something I have both admired and treasured for years. My father and mother combined have 10 siblings! (only one of which is an uncle, all aunts otherwise). So family, particularly strong women, have always been a cornerstone of our family. This is something I am excited to share with our future child; a large, loving close knit family.

Charles: I come from a large, Italian family out of New York. I have one sister, Jessica, who is 5 years older than me and has two adopted boys of her own. Our nephews, who are also adopted, have been such a joy to our life. I grew up in a household that was big on education and experiences. In high school, I was big into theater and performed in over 30 shows. In college, I had the opportunity to be a Walt Disney World performer for a semester!

Family Traditions

• Every year we make and decorate homemade Christmas cookies.
• While putting up the Christmas tree each year, we have a tradition of listening to Christmas music, and Charles does his annual “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey performance.
• On New Year’s Eve, we’ve made a tradition of writing letters to ourselves to be opened the following year. We usually include things we’re proud of and things we hope to achieve.
• We have a tradition of doing “un-birthdays.” We celebrate the day 6 months from our actual birthday (because 1 birthday a year isn’t enough). I’m sure our future child will enjoy this tradition!

Thank You: Thank you for taking a peek into our life. We hope to have the opportunity to share more with you. Hopefully our profile showed you the happy, loving home your child will be welcomed into.

We look forward to the opportunity of getting to know you more. Thank you for considering adoption.

Best,

Charles and Yarel