Martin & Jose Luis

DEAR BIRTH MOM!

We are Martin and Jose Luis. Thank you for taking the time to learn about us, our story, and this dream we want to make true. Though we don’t know you yet, we want to tell you we appreciate you and your decision to choose adoption, and we hope to be the family you imagined for the child you are bringing into this world.

We have been together for fifteen years. As a same-sex couple, since we joined our paths in marriage, we have envisioned being parents, and we are ready to give to this little person all the love we can share.

We strongly believe in open adoption. We want your child to grow up loving every person who ever wished to see him or her happy. And we want this child to always know the full story and to be able to embrace every person who built it. And we will always stay in touch, if that is something you want, so that you can see your child as he or she grows. In this profile, we want to share with you who we are, what makes us happy, what we believe in, and why we feel prepared to be parents, hoping that can give you peace of mind and a better idea of the life your child would have growing up with us.

HOW OUR STORY TOGETHER BEGAN

We are both originally from Peru and we met on a dating website. Before meeting in person, we spent many days online getting to know more about each other, and discovering we had a lot in common, especially regarding our goals in life. Later, on an unforgettable summer day, we met in a beautiful olive tree park in Lima. And fifteen years later, we still celebrate that day as an anniversary.

Along this journey together we have learned many things about each other and about ourselves. We learned to cherish every moment being close, and we faced those times when we could not be physically together as a challenge, and they only made our partnership stronger. And we definitely learned that only an honest and mutually-nurturing relationship would allow us to grow as a couple, in particular through the rough times. After having been together for ten years and following a proposal on the sand of a dreamy beach, we married in New Jersey, opening a new chapter of our lives together.

WHAT MAKES US HAPPY

We love nature and many of the most unforgettable moments in our lives together have been surrounded by it. And we cannot wait to walk our first trail with our future little one and contemplate our first beautiful sight together.

At home, one of our favorite activities together is cooking. We love to take challenges and make food from around the world. And we dream of the time we share a family moment with our little one, tasting a delicious pie, laughing at our flour-dusted clothes.

We enjoy gardening. We believe that gardening can awaken a child’s curiosity for nature and teach lessons of hard work and discipline, and we cannot wait to see our future child growing his or her own food, and having fun playing in the garden that all of us helped to create.

MEET JOSE LUIS, BY MARTIN

When I met Jose Luis, I soon realized I was getting to know a unique human being. The way he enjoys taking care of people is something I have admired since the first day. But what I like the most from him is that he does not ever seem to run out of love. Or out of ways to express it.

To him, nothing matters more than his family being happy. He is the type of person who values and enjoys every time he can spend with the people he loves. I have always been moved by the way he looks after his grandma, particularly now that she needs him more, which tells me a lot about how he would cherish somebody he would raise himself.

Jose Luis has an unbelievable ability to make you feel special with gestures. I don’t remember one special occasion when he has not come up with a beautiful gift made by his own hands. From crafted pop-up cards containing heart-melting messages to desserts filled with equal amounts of taste and passion, every detail he includes makes it impossible not to feel loved.

Time and time again, Jose Luis constantly reminds me of the reason why we started this journey together. I know that he is and will always be the partner I can count on to build a family, and I know that a child would grow happier every day having a genuinely loving and caring person like him as a father.

MEET MARTIN, BY JOSE LUIS

I knew Martin was special since our first date. The time we spent sharing our goals and trying to build a relationship on those goals made it easy for me to picture spending my life with him. He is very good at listening and even better at giving advice. And he never gives up on anything, no matter how difficult it is.

Family is essential to Martin and he is a very protective person. He loves bringing the family together and he is the soul of every gathering, always trying to make sure everybody has fun, especially the little ones. He lights up around kids and they are likewise drawn to him. He is a master when it comes to planning trips. And knowing how much he loves nature, I can picture him hand in hand with our future little one, with their eyes full of joy for every outdoor treasure they will find together.

I admire Martin’s compassion and willingness to help people. I bear witness of how he empathizes, cares for, and supports his patients and their families. He really loves teaching, something that is especially appreciated by his medical students.

I could go on and on describing Martin’s unique qualities that make him a wonderful human being and partner, and which will make him an incredible dad. And I think it will be wonderful seeing him passing those traits to our future child. He is my soulmate, and I could not ask for a better life partner to start this journey of becoming first-time dads.

WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING

Martin is a Neurologist and Jose Luis is a Biologist who works processing animal tissues for veterinary diagnosis and research. For both of us, work is just 20 minutes away. We have made plans to arrange paternity leaves and vacations together to bond with the baby, and everybody in our workplaces is supportive and is as excited as we are. We have a nice work schedule, being back home no later than 3 pm, and thanks to the invaluable support of our moms, who are eager to meet and cuddle a grandchild, we will never need child-care.

THE PLACE WE CALL HOME

We own a beautiful four-bedroom home, located in a safe, newly-developed neighborhood in Rancho Cucamonga, California. Next to us there is a green park with areas for sports and a playground, and we cannot wait to hear our little one’s laughs mixing with that of the other many children. We moved here to be part of a diverse community, where both law and culture embraced the family we wanted to build. We have top-rated schools within walking distance from home.

We live close to L.A., Disneyland, Universal Studios, Legoland, and acclaimed zoos and aquariums. We can play in the snow and build sandcastles on the beach on the same day, and we are close to the desert, waterfalls, and beautiful botanical gardens.

THE PEOPLE WE LOVE

Our parents from both sides have been in loving relationships for more than 40 years. From them, we learned to cherish every moment spent together as a family, to treasure our culture and respect all others. Every one of our relatives is very excited about the idea of a little one coming into the family, but our moms, Norma and Eudosia, are elated with the idea of a grandkid, and they will both be here to provide their maternal touch.

Our friends are supportive and excited seeing us building our family. We enjoy having them over for dinner and karaoke night and we are sure our little one will have lots of fun within this big “family” of ours.

OUR PROMISE TO YOUR CHILD

Dear little one, as your parents we will:

• encourage you to express your true self and teach you to be proud of who you are
• listen to you every time you need us, so you never fear to share anything with us
• provide you with every opportunity in our reach to learn and grow to become a person who is happy and can help create happiness for others
• teach you that the rewards that matter are those coming from hard work and persistence
• show you should never be afraid of making mistakes, as the most important lessons in life come from them
• and above all, we will love you, will make sure you feel that love, and will make you feel that loving and respecting the people around you is the greatest legacy you can pass on to your children one day too

OUR PROMISE TO YOU

We have been preparing ourselves for this moment for a very long time. We have grown as a couple, overcoming difficult times and treasuring beautiful ones. We are ready to share the lessons we learned and the dreams we have ahead. And we are ready to show you that the child you are bringing into this world will grow in a strong, loving family, where he or she will become a compassionate and strong human being.