We love spending time together as a family. We take walks together every evening, oftentimes walking to the park nearby. We live 20 minutes away from the beach, and have made beach days a common occurrence during the summer. We have a beautiful backyard that we spend a lot of our time in. We enjoy seasonal activities such as visiting the flower fields in spring, the county fair in the summer, picking pumpkins in the fall, and attending many holiday activities in the winter. We live in an amazing city to raise a family as we have the zoo, wild animal park, and Legoland just a short distance away.

Jake loves sports and likes to watch football. He enjoys playing basketball with his friends and throwing any type of ball around with Declan. He also loves to read. Shawna enjoys reading and spending time in the backyard with Declan. She is an avid animal lover and has set-up hummingbird feeds that she ensures are always full.

Together, we love a lazy afternoon watching TV together. We primarily watch re-runs of comedy shows like The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm. We also go on date nights every couple of weeks. It is nice having Shawna's parents close by to watch Declan while we go out. We like to take trips and plan on doing one big family vacation each year.

Shawna About Jake: Jake is not only my husband but my best friend. We have known each other for over 13 years and we have both grown so much both individually and as a couple. To see Jake step into the role of fatherhood has been absolutely amazing. He is such a wonderful father to Declan. He is always playing with him, teaching him new things, taking him places, just being fully present with him. It doesn't matter what kind of day he has had, he shows up for our family and is there. He is always making me laugh and brings so much joy to not only our lives, but everyone who knows him. We make a great team and I'm so thankful to have him in my life!

Jake About Shawna: Shawna is the kindest and most caring person that I know. She has such a big heart. She is always thinking about others over herself. This is especially true when it comes to our son Declan. It has been so amazing to watch her as a mother, it just comes naturally to her. Declan loves her so much and always "wants his mama". Shawna is my best friend. She is the glue that holds our family in place. The child that we end up adopting will be so incredibly lucky to have Shawna as their mom. I appreciate all that she does for us and I am so excited to continue growing our family with her.

A lot of our family traditions are centered around the holiday season. Immediately after Thanksgiving, Jake hangs up the Christmas lights and decks out our yard with Christmas decorations. Jake, Shawna and Declan all decorate the Christmas tree. We love Christmas, so the longer we can celebrate the season the better! We spend Christmas Eve with Shawna's family, where we eat tamales, rice and beans. On Christmas day, we open presents and watch Christmas movies before heading over to Shawna's parents' house. The day after Christmas, we drive up to Jake's parents' house where we have a "Second Christmas" with Jake's siblings and their kids. These past few Christmases have been even more special now that we have a niece and nephew. Last year the kids all wore matching elf outfits and we can't wait to add another elf to the crew! We have also added a two-day Disneyland trip to our holiday traditions. We stay at one of the Disneyland hotels in November and spend two full days inside both Disneyland and California Adventure.

As our family grows, we plan on growing our traditions. We would like to start taking an annual family road trip. We will definitely add traditions to include our new child's cultural/heritage background. This could mean celebrating new holidays or adding new elements to existing holidays. Jake and Shawna both have great memories of our holiday traditions as children, and we want to create the same for our children.

We live in southern California and we absolutely love our city. It has small town vibes and we can walk to hiking trails from our doorstep. We moved here in April, 2022 specifically because the city has a strong sense of community, is in a great school district, and is very safe. Our neighborhood is extremely family friendly. Every evening, we see families on walks and kids playing outside. The elementary school is within walking distance from our house. We also have a nice park that is a short walk away. We are very lucky that our city puts on many events throughout the year such as a Fourth of July Parade, summer concerts, movies in the park, a fall festival, and Christmas in the park. We truly are grateful to live where we do!

Our home is a ranch style house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a beautiful backyard that has a playhouse along with every outside game/toy you can think of. We spend most evenings in the backyard where our son plays with our two rescue dogs. We are often greeted by hummingbirds, butterflies, and lizards (which we are always looking for!). Inside, our living room has basically transformed into a play area filled with toys, games, and books. We bought our house in 2022. We plan on raising our family here with no intentions of moving. It truly is the perfect place to raise a family!

We are both extremely close with our families. Shawna is an only child and her parents live 15 minutes away from our home. Their formal living room has been repurposed into "kid land" and has all of the books and toys you can think of! We go over there at least once a week to spend time with them, which Declan enjoys. Shawna's parents are also super helpful in helping out with Declan. We are very fortunate in having them close.

Jake has an older brother and younger sister, both of which live a few hours away. Jake's parents live in California as well, which is a 5-hour drive north for us. We go up there for a few days every couple of months. Jake's brother has a son that two and his sister has a daughter that is 18 months old. We are very grateful that our children will have cousins that live relatively close and are close in age. Getting the cousins together brings us a lot of enjoyment. The kids love being with each other and talking over Facetime.

We are so blessed with an amazing family that is growing. Each of our family members are very excited for us to adopt. Family truly is the most important thing in our lives. We have a relatively small extended family, but we would all do whatever is needed to support and be there for each other.

Thank you so much for taking the time to consider us, and thank you for allowing us to share with you a little bit about our family. We cannot imagine the emotions you are feeling as you consider the future for your child. We want to express our deepest admiration for your courage and strength in considering adoption.

We met while attending community college in 2011 and were married in 2017. Immediately following our wedding, we moved to Arizona. In 2021, we welcomed our son Declan to the world and our lives changed only for the better! After living in Arizona for four years, we decided to move back to California to be closer to family and friends and it was honestly the best decision we could have made.

Before Declan started preschool in 2023, Shawna was the primary caretaker of Declan as her job is remote and part time, which allows her to work outside of normal business hours. Some of her favorite memories are of all of the activities and places she would take Declan to when he was a baby. We had an annual pass to the aquarium, would visit different local libraries for story time, attend baby gym classes, have play dates, go on walks to the park, and visit museums. We both believe that these experiences helped Declan not only meet but exceed emotional and physical milestones and we look forward to providing those same opportunities and experiences for our future child.

Before we were even engaged, we had discussed being open to adoption if for some reason we were unable to conceive naturally. In March of 2023, Shawna had laparoscopic surgery, which resulted in abdominal wall nerve damage. After multiple discussions with her doctors, we eventually both came to the decision that it would not be best for Shawna to carry a pregnancy as physically her body cannot handle it. We want to grow our family, and we have chosen the gift of adoption to do so which really feels like a full circle moment since we had discussed adoption all those years ago.

Having another child for whom we can love and care for, just like we do with Declan, is an opportunity that we are extremely excited for. Declan is excited as well, as he keeps talking about being a big brother. Seeing Declan smile truly provides the greatest moments of joy for us. After raising Declan the past few years, we have learned numerous ways to make him smile. It's relatively easy to do so when we buy him gifts, but the smile that he gets from us being fully present and loving him is different. We will raise our children to be kind, caring, and full of love. Being present, supportive, and understanding; these are things that we do for Declan on a daily basis, and it is what we will do for our next child as well.

We fully understand that this child will always be a piece of you, and you a piece of the child. We will be open and honest with them about who they are and where they came from. We are open to sending emails, texts, letters, pictures, annual visits, whatever you're comfortable with. Our goal is to ensure that your child knows their roots, understands the love that led to their adoption, and feels confident in who they are.

Your child will be loved and cared for to a point that is impossible to express in writing. We promise to encourage their interests, provide a quality education, and celebrate their individuality. We will always show up for them in the good times, and the not so good times. We will do our absolute best to make them smile as often as possible, to go through life knowing that we will always be there for them, and to make sure that they know who they are and are proud of it.

Again, thank you for taking the time to consider us as parents. We cannot imagine the difficult decision you have ahead of you, and whatever you choose, please know that we wish the absolute best for you and your child.

Jake & Shawna