Hello! We are Christopher & Mitra! We respect and admire that you are considering open adoption and thank you in advance for taking the time to get to know us. We have a loving home filled with mutual respect, honesty, fun and we honor everyday as a blessing. We would like to grow our family through open adoption and are familiar with adoption through Mitra’s best friend who has adopted two kids and some of Christopher’s family members who have raised children through kinship adoption. We understand the importance of fulfilling our future child’s needs, and we are looking forward to providing a secure and stable environment for them to thrive in.

We are excited to start our family and look forward to the possibility of getting to know you and welcoming you into our lives in whatever way makes you feel most comfortable.

Thank you,
Christopher & Mitra

We met at work in 2016 and started a year long journey of getting to know each other and being friends before dating in 2017.

We are lighthearted and find ways daily to celebrate our love with joy, laughter, and hope. Our relationship is built on trust, affection, and exploration. We got engaged in June 2021 in a well-planned and beautiful surprise by Christopher. It took two months for Christopher to plan a birthday surprise party and proposal for Mitra’s hand for life. This included a surprise hot air balloon ride at sunrise, designing a flower arch that Mitra sat under, and inviting 25 friends at the surprise event and 40 family members on zoom. The day was filled with laugher and joy. We approach our relationship by being grateful for having each other every day.

We are each other’s sounding board. We both value spirituality and faith. Mitra is spiritually Muslim and Christopher is a practicing Christian. We were both raised with a belief in God and having faith. Today we share our spirituality together. For example, at the dinner table we say a prayer and share a personal reason for gratitude for the day, which allows us to have an awareness that life is bigger than the two of us and any challenge that we may face.

The biggest gift in our relationship is our ability to have an open dialogue with each other. We talk about everything including all our emotions and listen to understand each other’s perspective.

We are committed to the growth of our relationship and continue to nurture the foundation of our love and care. We are excited about getting married and buying a single-family home together to create room for our expanding family.

I was born in Tehran, Iran & emigrated to the US at 12-years-old. I take pride in continuing the traditions I grew up with such as decorating my home with Iranian tapestry and rugs. I love my grandmother’s saying, “a guest is a gift from god.” Welcoming others into my life is a tradition that I hold dear to my heart. Iranians have an extremely family-oriented culture and my close connection with my extended family is a foundation of love learned at a young age. My last name in Farsi means architect and I feel that I was always destined to be an architect. I love my profession and the fulfillment I get in giving back to the larger community by mentoring those new to the architecture field, sharing what it means to be an architect with high school students, and being an advocate for women and minorities in the industry. As a mother I hope my career achievements and endless love gives my child motivation in understanding the sky is their limit.

Mitra has an upbeat, considerate, caring personality. She is not afraid of being vulnerable in her commitment to be a better person every day. Her energy and love for Iranian culture is a beauty I value in our relationship daily. She is willing to take risks for the sake of enjoying the journey of life. She is not only my best friend but also my biggest cheerleader. I am blessed to be her partner and as the mother to my children in our journey to build a family.

My mother and father are from Jamaica. I learned from a very early age to embrace and celebrate the Jamaican culture. From reggae, island cuisine, festivals, speaking patois, I am a proud Jamaican and enjoy visiting the country to see my many cousins while also enjoying the abundance of fresh fruit, jerk chicken, oxtail, and ackee & saltfish, the country’s national dish. As a black man I am passionate about advocating for the rights of black and brown people and have had avid speaking engagements nationally. As a child of God, I lead a life that is about making a positive and impactful difference in minority communities. I am a designer and creative person at heart and express this through my architectural profession, filmmaking, and visual arts. I am the youngest of 6 siblings. I am an explorer at heart and face any life challenges with courage. I am excited to be a father and start a family full of joy and culture.

Christopher is a designer and activist who believes in doing things that will impact other people’s lives positively and puts his energy into uplifting those around him. He is a proud black man and celebrates his Jamaican heritage unapologetically. His faith keeps him grounded and when faced with challenges he maintains an optimistic view. His confidence and care make him an incredible companion. Christopher is a patient and caring individual; these qualities will undoubtedly make him a wonderful father as he approaches life with a kind gentleness.

We live in Los Angeles close to Griffith Park with playgrounds and lots of green space. We are also about 25 minutes away from the beach and love being near the water. We will be going there on a regular basis as a family.

We have created a welcoming, warm, and comfortable home together. The dinner table is a place for reflection and projection of our dreams for the future. One of our latest creations is a balcony garden. Christopher has been growing different fruits and vegetables, which we use in our cooking. Since we both love to cook, the kitchen and pantry are well stocked with spices and specialties from both of our cultures. As architects, we enjoy redesigning our space and making it a comfortable home for each other. We take pride in the color and tapestry of our space. When the time comes, we are excited to take on our next endeavor, turning our 2nd bedroom into a nursery.

We take pride in our ethnicity and have dedicated our time to creating a more diverse, inclusive and equitable profession as architects. We both volunteer and mentor young individuals to help them get exposure to new possibilities. Mitra creates influence in her role as the current President for the American Institute of Architects Los Angeles chapter and the only woman and person of color owner in the Los Angeles office of her firm. Mitra is passionate about mentorship of BIPOC women both at her firm and in the architecture industry, where she is constantly raising awareness of the need for equity and inclusion. Christopher, through his own business, Designing in Color, has dedicated his time to educate and show individuals how to advocate for justice and anti-racism for communities that have been oppressed. We plan on teaching our child about the rich history and culture of the Black diaspora and Iranians. We want our child to appreciate their own racial identity and culture from their first family as well as understanding how to respect people with different backgrounds. While we have different ethnicities, the mutual respect, the warmth, and love has been unwavering. This is the spirit with which we plan to raise our child.

Mitra is the youngest of five children and has a niece and nephew in which she supported her sister in raising. Mitra grew up with her extended family of uncles, aunts, and cousins. She cherishes these relationships. Christopher has six siblings, four nieces and two nephews. He grew up looking up to his siblings and getting support and guidance from them. We value family and the importance of having close relationships. We work hard to ensure that we pay attention to our personal relationship, while also maintaining close connections with family and friends. We hope to create similar experiences for our child by building a close relationship between our friends and their children within our community.

We value a caring relationship with our child’s first family and would like to develop a post adoption meeting plan with you that envisions gathering for special occasions. We know it will be important for our future child to know their first family’s culture, heritage, and extended family members to help reinforce the foundations of their identity. At the onset we will be taking the first two weeks to bond with our child. Mitra will take the 4 months of maternity leave followed by Christopher taking 3 months of paternity leave. Mitra will plan to work 2 to 3 days from home when she goes back to work and will have support in the house to help care for the child. We are fortunate to have Mitra’s family nearby including uncles and aunts who live in Los Angeles and Mitra’s mom and sisters who live in San Francisco area and will be planning many visits to provide the support we need.

Through this book we wanted to give you an overall view of our life. We put a lot of time into highlighting what we felt you would want to know about us. Although it’s a thoughtful package, it’s only a snapshot of who we are. We hope that this is a gateway to a relationship we can build together. We will be vulnerable in sharing our emotions with you throughout this process with the hope to make you comfortable doing the same. We both are caring and loving individuals who are excited about the opportunity to bestow that onto our child as parents through open adoption. We plan to dedicate ourselves to living and cherishing our child. We will be honest with our future child about the strength it took for you to make this decision, and we will honor your preferences regarding communication. We wish you the best in everything you do, especially in the coming months when you will be faced with tough decisions. Thank you for taking the time to read our story, and we hope that we’ll be able to begin our open adoption journey together.