Hello! We are Jess and Paul along with our daughter Wren, from Santa Barbara, California. Thank you so much for taking the time to read more about us and for getting to know our family. We have always dreamed of becoming parents and feel so lucky to have welcomed Wren through adoption. We are so excited to continue growing our family and can’t wait to welcome another little one into our lives, from adding them to our dance parties while cooking dinner to reading them their favorite book before bedtime. As you read through our profile, we hope you can get to know us, our family, and the joyful, loving home we hope to share with another child.

From an early age, we both knew we wanted to be parents, and adoption was always something we hoped would be part of our story. After trying to grow our family, we knew adoption was the right path for us. Welcoming Wren through adoption changed our lives in the best way, and we feel incredibly grateful for the love and joy she has brought to our family.

We met when we were just 10 years old, growing up in our small hometown of Santa Barbara. We became friends and teammates on our local basketball team and eventually started dating in high school when Paul asked Jess to prom. We’ve been inseparable ever since! We married in Santa Barbara surrounded by our closest family and friends and have now been partners for 15 years and married for 8. After growing up together, we feel incredibly lucky to now be raising a family together, and at the heart of our relationship, we are still best friends.

We love to travel - Our absolute favorite thing in the world is to travel! Two of our favorite places we’ve traveled to as a family are Japan and Alaska. We love being outdoors and exploring new places, and Alaska was especially fun with Wren. We went hiking, visited aquariums, and enjoyed learning about the local culture. Japan was all about trying new foods, visiting children’s museums, and exploring historical sites.

When we’re home, we love spending time at the beach. We live just a mile away, so it’s common for us to pack a lunch, grab our beach bag, and head over to enjoy the beautiful weather. We love finding little adventures wherever we are, whether that’s traveling somewhere new or simply spending a day together as a family.

Diversity in Our Life - Diversity is reflected in our friendships, the books we read, and events we attend. We both come from Mexican families and celebrate our culture through food, traditions, and time together. Our favorite tradition is Christmas Eve at Jess’s grandma’s house, making tamales with our family and staying up until midnight for presents. We also enjoy learning about other cultures through food, travel, and our community, and hope to raise children who appreciate and embrace differences.

My wife, Jessica, is supportive, encouraging, loyal, and always communicates openly with me. She loves to learn, grow, and experience new things, and she is always finding new adventures for our family to enjoy together. She is a huge bookworm, loves to stay active, and is incredibly organized. We always joke that she could be a wedding planner because she is so good at planning everything!

Jessica is also very dedicated to her family and career. She has her master’s degree and works in higher education, and I’m very proud of everything she has accomplished. Most of all, she is an amazing mother to Wren. She puts so much thought and love into raising her, from packing her lunch each morning to making everyday moments special. Watching how much she truly loves being a mom is one of the things I admire most about her.

Paul is the kind of person who will always go above and beyond for the people he loves. He is incredibly caring and generous, and he would give you the shirt off his back without thinking twice.

What I love most about Paul is that he is always up for an adventure. Whether he’s hiking 26 miles to the top of Mount Whitney, exploring Japan, or spending a simple day at the beach with our family, he goes with the flow and makes everything more fun. As a dad, he is incredibly hands-on and active. He and Wren love riding their bikes to the beach together, and with Paul, she is never bored! He reminds us to enjoy life, try new things, and make the most of every moment.

We live in Santa Barbara, California, where Paul and I were both born and raised, and we’re so excited to raise our children here, too. A bike path runs right across the street from our home and leads to the beach, just over a mile away. We love hopping on our bikes and spending time there as a family.

We’re also members of our local zoo, aquarium, natural history museum, and MOXI, a fun science museum. We feel so grateful to live somewhere with beautiful weather year-round and so many opportunities for children to explore and have fun.

Wren is a vibrant, loving, and happy little girl. She loves going to the beach, visiting Disneyland, and traveling on an airplane. She is very social and loves chatting with everyone, from kids at the playground to our neighbors. She loves music and dancing, and we have plenty of dance parties at home! Wren has such a caring and nurturing nature, and we know she will be a wonderful big sister.

We feel so blessed to have a big village surrounding our family. We’re very close with our families and love bringing everyone together, whether it’s for a backyard BBQ or a weekend watching the cousins play sports. Jess’s family includes her parents and brother, while Paul is one of six siblings and is very close with his dad and siblings. Wren adores her family and is always the first to tell them she loves them. We also love hosting playdates, where the kids enjoy exploring Wren’s playroom and its fun rock wall. Our home is always open, and we love making family and friends feel right at home.

We have a yearly tradition of visiting Hawaii in the summer and heading to the mountains in the winter. We genuinely love Hawaii, especially the welcoming culture and people. It’s a place where we can slow down, spend quality time together, and relax. We always say it’s where we go to “charge our batteries.”

In the winter, we love heading to the mountains and giving Wren a taste of a different season since it never snows in our hometown. This year, she took ski lessons in Montana and LOVED it! We cherish these traditions and can’t wait to create many more as our family grows.

In our home, we value creating a safe and loving space where our children can be themselves, share their feelings, and feel supported. We love spending time together as a family, whether we are cooking dinner, exploring nature, traveling, or having a beach day. We believe in involving Wren in the everyday things we do, from going to the library and picking out books to baking and cooking together. We also believe in learning who our children are as individuals and supporting their interests and passions. We are constantly learning how to be the best parents we can be and making time for the things that bring Wren joy. Our hope is to create a home filled with love, adventure, laughter, and encouragement.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us a little better. More than anything, we want you to know how brave and strong we think you are. We could never fully understand everything you are feeling or the path that brought you here, but we are so grateful that our paths have crossed.

Thank you for considering us and for allowing us to be a small part of your journey.