Helen teaches kindergarten at a Mandarin immersion school where they speak Mandarin 80% of the time! Freddy is a middle school science teacher who loves getting involved with school activities. Despite the age difference between our students, we find it funny how similar they behave at times...

We both find teaching extremely rewarding. Yes, it's exhausting at times, but it's also amazing to connect with students to help them grow. The most exciting part is watching someone have an "a-ha" or "lightbulb" moment, when things suddenly click and make sense. Teaching also gives us the flexibility to travel during summer and holiday breaks.

Prior to teaching, Helen worked at a preschool/daycare before transitioning to elementary school. Freddy worked in his Mother's Mexican restaurant before discovering his calling in teaching. After a great experience volunteering to speak at a middle school career day, Freddy realized how much he enjoyed working with students.

When we were matched on eHarmony, we were surprised at how many things we had in common, like 90%! For example, we're both easy going people who like to balance being social with recharging at home. We love to go for walks, cook dinner at home, watch movies, and enjoy the occasional road trip!

We also complement each other really well with our abilities and strengths. We each have a good sense of humor and know how to "read" each other well. We're patient and we try to be mindful about when and how to discuss things. While it's easy to hold things in from time to time, we've learned the importance of being honest with each other so we can work things out.

Honesty, genuineness, and being supportive of one another are qualities we really admire. These values help build and reinforce trust in our marriage. We don't always agree, but we work hard to understand each other's perspectives and feelings. It helps that we're very caring individuals, so it hurts us to see the other person struggling with difficult feelings.

Being a parent isn't easy. We know that raising a child comes with its challenges and rewards. As teachers, we've worked with a lot of students and have found that communication is essential to establishing a strong bond with a student. The same thing goes for being a parent.

Even though we aren't parents yet, we're excited at the thought of raising a child together. We've shared many conversations about parenting. We want to establish a healthy lifestyle, home, and routine for our child. We want to give them the chance to learn about the world around them while feeling supported by people who genuinely love and support them. Family time and togetherness are very important to us, something we wish to prioritize for our child.

We hope that they can be also be active in an extracurricular activity or sport so they can develop a community of friends. Life isn't just about school and academics. We want to give them the opportunity to discover something they love. Whether it's dance, sports, music, or martial arts, we want them to be able to try and experience new things!

We live in Southern California, where it's quite diverse with many different ethnic backgrounds. There are many Asian, Hispanic/Mexican and Caucasian families in the area. Our neighborhood is quiet with a local park and community center within walking distance (across the street). It is a nice sports complex where we enjoy taking walks. Our complex has a pool, volleyball court, and basketball court. Although our condo area does not seem to have many children, there are many residential housing units close by that have kids of all ages. Lots of families bring their kids to the park. There's also a large sandbox with a big play structure, wide , big grass fields, a basketball court, and walking trails.

There are a few elementary, middle, and high schools located near our home. They are a 5-10 minutes drive away. There are 3 more large parks that are within a 5 minute drive. One is the city park with the local public library, and the others are near neighborhood schools.

We live in sunny Southern California and are lucky to have both of our families live close by! Freddy's Mom is a 30-minute drive north, and Helen's parents live 90 minutes away. It's nice to have the chance to get together often and spend time with each other. Helen's family is Chinese and celebrates traditions throughout the year like Lunar New Year and the mid-autumn festival. We both celebrate most American and Christian holidays, such as Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Holidays for us usually include a fusion of Mexican and Chinese food, as well as traditional things like turkey, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and Elena's famous cheesecake (she LOVES to bake).

We are both teachers and love what we do (most days)! Helen teaches kindergarten at a Mandarin immersion school, and Freddy teaches science in middle school. Our entire family is excited about each step in this adoption journey. We look forward to raising a child with a blend of Mexican and Chinese traditions, like eating (and learning to cook) traditional foods, celebrating holidays with friends and family, and learning to speak Spanish and Chinese!

First and foremost, Thank You!!! We know that this is an important and tough decision to make. We're thankful for the chance to be considered.

We have been together for 7 years, married for 4 years and have always wanted children. Early on while dating, we both discussed having children either naturally or by adoption. After getting married, we tried to conceive naturally and via IVF. When both were unsuccessful we decided that our next step would be adoption (each of us already shared a personal desire to adopt).

We are teachers and LOVE what we do. We genuinely enjoy working with kids and helping them grow. As a couple, we feel like we've found our soulmates. Seriously! We're a couple of easy going goofs that have a lot in common. We're often sharing a laugh, thinking about what to cook for dinner, or catching up on what's new. As future parents, we're excited to plan things around the child and be there each step of the way, as a family.

Life is tricky. It's a blessing, but it's also filled with difficult situations. We're at a point in life where we feel pretty balanced, stable. Having witnessed a lot of different backgrounds through our students, we strive above all to be present, consistent, and open with our children. We have the time, close family members that live in the area, the love and the guidance to offer a child. It's a special thing to think about, building and sharing a life together... We're excited!

In terms of our connection with the birth parents, we want to keep the door open as much as they would like and/or feel comfortable. This includes phone calls, texts, emails, photos, videos, Facetime, in-person visits, etc. We both tend to be very compassionate, open individuals and plan to go about this adoption journey as we would with any other experience: open-minded, one step at a time.

To keep it simple, we are two kind, loving California natives that are ready to center our lives around raising a family in a healthy, warm, and God-loving community. Since there are a lot of things to think about (and worry about) with children, we know that it's easy to get overwhelmed. We feel very lucky to have each other, as well as the love and support of our parents and families. At the end of the day, we want to build a strong foundation for the child. This means thinking about and prioritizing our family and family values, personal values, education, friendships, hobbies and interests, health, and, most of all, a relationship with God. As there's no formula for this, we plan to go about this together, step-by-step, one day at a time. Life will happen, of course. Plans will change and unexpected surprises will pop up. As a family, we will navigate these situations together.

Thank you! Really. There are plenty of choices out there and decisions to make, we truly hope you find the one that feels right for you and your child. From our hearts to yours, God Bless!

Very Sincerely,

Freddy & Helen