Choose A Family : Parent Profile
Michael and Maricela
Hello, we are Michael and Maricela.
We have always been able to express ourselves well, but how do we adequately express to you our thoughts and emotions as we begin this incredible adoption journey that will forever change our lives? We are absolutely beside ourselves with excitement and hope.
Your remarkable courage to make this decision is beyond comprehension. Your decision to bring a new life into this world is eclipsed only by your desire to make another family’s world complete. You and your strength will forever be honored in our prayers of thanks. It is important for you to know your child will be loved and cared for in a world full of laughs and play. That is exactly what we will give him or her.
We are writing this letter to you, and we will give you a glimpse into who we are…
Our Relationship (Michael):
My lovely wife, Maricela, and I met through Maricela’s brother, Carlos. Carlos and I were good friends for many years. For the longest time, I had heard of his sister, but I hadn’t met her. We finally met at a pool party, and I was immediately smitten. I didn’t exactly sweep her off her feet that day. I asked her out for a year before she decided to go out with me. Now she says she’s glad she did, and I am too! I asked her why she decided to go out with me, and she said, “You make me laugh. There is never a dull moment with you. I also love your sensitivity while at the same time exuding strength. You make me feel safe and happy.” We dated for one year, and we were engaged for eight months. We’ve been married for eight years now, and we look forward to a lifetime together.
Our Home (Maricela):
We live in a beautiful three bedroom house in Orange County, California, about ten minutes from Disneyland and twenty minutes from the beach. I have lived in this town since I was 10 and I absolutely love it. When we were shopping for a house, I walked into the house that we now own, and I knew…this was it! Yes, it was outdated (think the Brady Bunch, 1970’s décor), but I knew it had potential; plus it “felt” warm and inviting. Michael has done practically all of the re-modeling himself. He is an absolute whiz with tools (he gets it from his father). We have a joke that I’m on the design and decorating department, and Michael is on the planning and labor department. I do the design portion of the re-modeling, and Michael makes it happen. This has made the house we bought a home. On top of remodeling the interior, including a brand new kitchen, we have a huge backyard for children to play. Our nieces, nephews and cousins come over and play with our dogs, play tag and hide-and-seek.
About Us (Michael):
Maricela is a part owner and Administrative Manager at her brother’s engineering firm. Following in my father’s footsteps, I am a Police Officer and have been for twelve years. I love serving my community, and every day is different. I’ve worked undercover for the last four years, which explains why my hair and beard are so different in our photographs. On top of helping people, it’s a lot of fun.
We met after we completed our Bachelor’s degrees in business. We love to travel and have been to Mexico, Europe (twice, including our honeymoon), and three of the islands of Hawaii. We share our home with our doggies, a Jack Russell terrier named Brandy and a Llaso Apso named Bogie (named after Humphrey Bogart).
Aside from loving to travel with my best friend, Maricela, we enjoy many other activities. We enjoy cycling. We even combined cycling with travel and did a seven day tour of Ireland on bicycles. We’re crazy about movies too, from classic dramas to modern comedies and everything in between. We even decorated our garage with movie posters of all our favorites. I enjoy working on the house, such as remodeling the kitchen, living room and family room, and making the backyard a fun place to entertain friends and family by building a barbecue and pergola. Maricela enjoys gardening and has various beautiful plants, flowers and roses around the house. Her favorite passion, however, is cooking and baking (cupcake anyone?). When we were dating, I knew I was in for a treat when I noticed she subscribed to Bon Appetite magazine. She loves to create wonderful dinners from scratch for friends and family. We also enjoy riding our motorcycle; taking trips to wonderful locations we’ve never been just to experience it. When we were dating, we played a lot of air hockey. Maricela bought us an official air hockey table for our first Christmas together. We’re always competing and laughing about who’s a better air hockey player.
About our families (Maricela):
Michael has an older brother and a younger sister, and I have an older brother. Most of my family and Michael’s mom live within five miles of us. Michael’s brother lives within 20 miles, and we see him and his family very often. Michael’s dad lives in Northern California. He and Michael are constantly on the phone, and he visits us quite often. As you can see, our baby will have the benefit of extended family nearby. Our child will be showered with love and welcomed with open arms into our loving extended families. Our families are very close, and we love spending time together. We vacationed last year with my family in Cancun, Mexico, and we vacationed with Michael’s family in Hawaii in January of this year. This will be the first grand-child for my parents (they’re so ecstatic!) and the sixth in Michael’s family, (they’re equally as excited). Michael’s been named Godfather to his brother’s and sister’s firstborn, and to his good friend’s third born. Michael’s very proud of that, because it exemplifies his love of family and the trust others have in him to be a great dad.
In Closing:
We realized early in our relationship that we would be good parents just by observing each other’s families and seeing how we each were with our young cousins, nephews and nieces. We were both raised with a strong sense of family, common decency and love of God. Our families and friends are behind us 100% in our decision to adopt. We believe in our hearts this is the path we were meant to take. We have so much love to give and look forward to caring for and raising a child in the fashion taught to us by our families. We’ve succeeded in creating a financially stable life in a wonderful home close to those dear to us. We look forward to giving our child the wonderful upbringing and love we enjoyed and providing him and/or her with every opportunity life can give.
We thank you for taking the time to read our letter. If you have any questions about us or would like to speak to us, please call your AdoptHelp advisor at 1-800-637-7999.
Sincerely, Michael and Maricela
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