We are the proud parents of a loving and handsome toddler who was adopted two years ago. Our lives changed forever the day he came into our lives and it was an instant connection from the first moment we held him. Now we can not imagine a life without him and it feels like he was always part of our lives.

Jai is an active, energetic, curious 2-year-old filled with passion for cars, trucks, jeeps and buses. He is an outdoor lover and now that he can run we spend most of the time outside when it's nice. We love him so much that sometimes our hearts are overwhelmed with emotion just talking about him. He loves his dad more than anyone and the two of them are inseparable.

Our journey to adoption was a long one. Now, looking back as parents of a toddler, we can confidently say that it was the best decision we ever made. Our lives have changed for the better in so many ways that it's hard to describe it in words. We are both ambitious and spent a lot of time on professional goals but having a child in our life has changed the meaning of how we define success and feel content both at work and home. We find ourselves much more present and "in the moment" when we are together with him and doing the smallest things, like having a meal together, reading a book together, going for walks or a bike ride or playing with toys together. We have never looked back since the day he came into our lives and sometimes wonder how we spent so much time without him. It feels like we were meant for each other.

Bhaskar About Smriti: Smriti is a truly special person and I feel blessed that she chose me as her life partner. Her commitment to this marriage has been unwavering and she has supported me through the hardships. We have seen great times together and also gone through the rough patches where we were held firmly by this relationship. I admire her for her courage, confidence and hard work. She has truly amazing organizational skills and highly efficient both at work and at home. She lives a very disciplined life and I have learned to live a more organized life because of her. She is very loving and keeps me grounded. She is always there when I need her. She is my soulmate.

Smriti About Bhaskar: Bhaskar is my lifeline. He makes each day special and worth it. He is the most patient and kind human being. His laughter is contagious. I admire his outlook towards life- be happy and keep others happy. I respect his love for the whole family. He is the most caring father, husband, son, brother and uncle. I admire his patience and passion with our son and continued effort to make him a kind human like himself.

We are Asian Indian by birth and moved to U.S. for education. We both decided to settle here after completing our education and training. Our upbringing was in a very traditional yet open minded family where we were taught the importance of diversity and acceptance. We are Hindu by birth but our parents never forced any religious beliefs on us and allowed us the freedom to choose and express. Our parents were progressive for their times and taught us that all religions are the same. Our philosophy is that God lives in all of us and therefore we must respect everyone. We understand that the child we raise may be of different ethnicity and cultural heritage and we will do everything to not only preserve that in their lives, so they feel connected to their roots, but also to help build their unique identity in this world.

We recently moved from West Hartford, Connecticut to Portland to be closer to family in California. Our new home is in a beautiful neighborhood surrounded by tall fir trees. This is a very desirable and safe neighborhood and considered the best school district in the city. The neighborhood is family friendly and there are many families with little kids. Our new neighbors also have a toddler who is the same age as our son.

Our home is a custom designed home with beautifully landscaped lawn. Our home is spacious and has 2 levels. There are 5 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. There is a large open kitchen with lots of space for cooking and dining and we spend a lot of time there. We love to grill outside in summer and enjoy the dinner on the back patio. Our son's favorite room is his play room on the second floor.

There are several parks and walking paths nearby and we spend the weekends exploring those. Our son just started swimming lessons this past summer in a nearby public park. Beautiful city of Lake Oswego is a five-minute drive and we frequently go there for ice creams, strolls and farmer's market which is a favorite weekend activity for our son.

Our extended family is spread all over the US and India and are as diverse culturally as they are geographically.

Smriti has an older brother who lives in Los Angeles area with his wife and 2 kids. We often go on vacation together and those are some of the most memorable trips, trying new foods, exploring new places together.

Bhaskar's younger brother lives in India with his wife and has 2 beautiful boys who we get to see couple times a year. We spend time playing with the kids, enjoying all kinds of food and the kids love spending time in the public parks when they visit us.

Smriti's parents are from India. However, they have spent more time with us since our first child was born and have been a tremendous help. Bhaskar's parents still live and work in India. They visit us every year and spend summers with us. When our families are here in U.S., we love going out on day trips and they also love shopping. We spend most evenings at home, cooking and eating together, playing cards and watching movies together.

We both are very close to our families and have been fortunate to have tremendous support from them. They are very supportive of our decision about second adoption.

Writing this letter feels anything but usual. We have been married for 16 years and plan to spend the rest of our lives together. During this journey we have had ups and down like most couples and now are closer than ever before. As physicians, both of us chose a very demanding profession which is equally fulfilling and humbling. Despite the hardships and long separations that we have had to endure as part of the long medical training we both feel blessed and wouldn't want it any other way. There were times when we lived on the opposite ends of the country for years and spent countless hours on airplanes just to see each other for 24 hours.

We tried to have our own child for many years and even went through many unsuccessful IVF cycles which were traumatic for both of us. We finally came to realization that it was not meant to happen. However, deep down we had an unfulfilled desire to parent a child that we could call our own. It took us a long time to come to the decision to adopt but we finally took that step and 2020 was the luckiest year of our lives when we were blessed to be chosen for a baby who has changed our lives in ways that we cannot describe in words. Our hearts connected from the moment we held him in our arms and we feel grateful for him.

Life is very different now that we have a child and our priorities have changed. All the decisions we make now involve his best interest and we have moved across the country to be closer to family so that our son can grow up in the company of cousins. We never imagined that we would ever ask for anything more after he came into our lives but we now have an even stronger desire to parent a second child. We can't wait to complete our family and share our love with the new baby. The siblings will share a wonderful life growing up and will get all the love and affection from us and our family. We are fortunate to have the resources and support system including a loving and caring family and network of friends who will step in when we need them. We understand that the road ahead is not going to be always easy and there will be challenges. We, however, feel that the strong foundation of a loving and supportive family that is open minded and willing to accept the uncertainties will help us thrive together. We are avid travelers and nature lovers as you can see from our profile. We can't wait to continue our adventures with or little ones.

We are excited to be on this journey together and can't wait to meet with you in person so we can get to know each other. We are flexible to exploring all forms of communication (semi open or open) after adoption and would regularly keep in touch (per your wishes) with emails, mails with pictures of the child including special occasions, holidays etc. We feel that the presence of biological parents in child's life is important for his/her wellbeing. However, we are willing to respect any decision that you may make.

Thanks for reading our letter and considering us.

Bhaskar & Smriti