Hello, it’s nice to “meet” you! We are Aila & Jason. We so appreciate you considering us as your baby’s adopting parents. We admire your courage and know this is a huge decision. We support you 100% in whatever you decide.
We want you to know we are fully in for this journey with you if you choose us – we are so excited to become parents through adoption!
-With love, Aila and Jason from Northern California
Life does not always work out how we expect, so we knew we would become parents in a non-traditional way. We are so excited about adopting a baby and would be thrilled to take this next step with you.
We met in Washington, DC, back in 2005. After graduating college, Aila met Jason at her new job. They were soon playing together in a lunchtime soccer league. Fate stepped in – or really some friends secretly playing matchmaker – and set us up to go on a date together to see a soccer game. It worked! We began spending every free moment together and just knew it would be forever. We got married surrounded by friends and family in a historic Catholic church in Taos, New Mexico – on a very cold New Year’s Day – a little over 10 years ago! We’ve had so many life experiences together. Over the years, we’ve lived in 5 different cities, traveled to 40+ countries, supported each other going back to school, and weathered some setbacks - but also found jobs we love and begun to make a home rooted in a wonderful community. Through it all, we’ve always had each other. In this next chapter, as we embark on our adoption journey, we so want to expand our family.
I was born and raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I learned Spanish growing up. I’ve always loved books, but I’ve also balanced reading indoors with adventuring outdoors, spending time camping, hiking, running, playing soccer, and swimming. I wanted to see more of the world than just my small hometown. My parents encouraged us to follow our dreams – and helped me find a scholarship! – I was able to move to the East Coast for college. I worked with the government afterward and then came to California for graduate school. I now work as a professor, teaching and mentoring amazing students. I also write articles and books about international relations, at times traveling for research and fun conferences. My job provides flexibility to have a career and a family: I will have months of full leave followed by a reduced workload, mostly from home, which will allow me to be with our future child a lot. I am so excited to become a mom, helping our future child develop and follow their passions.
“Aila’s warm smile is a true reflection of who she is on the inside. She takes time to get to know you and what is important to you. She is kind, patient, considerate, and thoughtful. This makes her a great partner, friend, and colleague – and will make her a truly great mom.” – Jason
I grew up in Arlington, Virginia in a close family of four. During our yearly summer vacations, we would take road trips to Florida and upstate New York to visit cousins, aunts, and uncles. My father got sick when I was in high school, so I spent time working before going to college. Later, I went back to pursue a degree and now work as a mechanical engineer designing machines for a global company.
My job excites me because I learn something new every day, and, while I mainly work from home, I interact with smart, passionate, and diverse colleagues based all over the world. I love sports, the outdoors, music, and traveling. I will play or watch any sport: soccer, football, tennis, or really anything! I also love to bike and swim and have combined those with running in a few triathlons! My brother and I still text when our favorite teams do well. I have played the drums since middle school and take every chance I get to sit down, put headphones on, and jam out. My bucket list includes travel to all seven continents. I only need one more and am super excited to
see Antarctica and penguins in the wild.
“Jason works hard and looks a bit tough :), but, at his core, he’s so kind, even keeled, deeply loyal, and really funny. He always knows how to lighten someone’s day - and he goes out of his way to do it, whether it’s making a great dinner every night for me, helping a colleague through a problem often while cracking joke at his own expense, or playing peek-a-boo and reading books with our friends’ babies for hours. He’s going to be an amazing dad!” – Aila
We live in a sunny and warm Spanish-style house on a tree-lined street filled with kids playing and people walking dogs.
We love barbecuing and kicking a soccer ball around in our grassy backyard. Our neighbors often bring us figs, lemons, and persimmons so we can bake the fruit into treats! Our neighborhood has a small-town feel – it’s fun to bump into our neighbors when grabbing a coffee at our local Brazilian café…plus we play soccer with the owners Being in the San Francisco Bay Area, our community has lots of culturally-rich and kid-friendly activities, like festivals for Lunar New Year, Juneteenth, and Dia de los Muertos – with fireworks for every event! We are also just a few blocks from amazing parks, playgrounds, a pool, and children’s museums.
Our people have always been our central anchor. We both come from tight-knit families. We each have one older sibling with whom we are very close – Almea (Aila’s sister), Jeff (Jason’s brother), and their spouses are our best friends. We have one nephew so far, Alex, who gets tons of attention. Our parents already visit often – and they will be coming even more when our family grows! We also see them frequently in New Mexico and Virginia. We have an amazing group of extended family and friends, too - and we prioritize time with them. Some of Aila’s crew of cousins, as well as her roommates from college, and Jason’s tight group from school, are all in California - and one of them just had a baby boy! - so we usually hang out with them on weekends. We text the others nearly daily, make a point to send little care packages, and take time to go visit. We are so excited to bring our future child into our wonderful community!
If you made it this far :), thank you so much for taking the time to get to know us! We know that you are making a big decision – deciding on adoption and a family – and we want you to know that we want what is best for you and your baby. We are so excited to grow our family and would be absolutely honored to be your chosen family.
