Hello! I am Dena from sunny Santa Monica, California. Thank you for taking the time to get to know me a little bit better. I am a nurse that was born and raised in this beautiful city and state where all my immediate family and most of my closest friends live. I love to travel and I work out often to stay active. I have a mini goldendoodle that I love to take on adventures. I hope to provide your child with love, faith, adventure, family, traditions, and multicultural experiences in a home filled with laughter and love.
Dear Birth Mother...
Why Adoption
I have never been married, so when I finally felt secure with my education, career, and home, I started trying to have children on my own. After multiple rounds of fertility treatments, age caught up with me. I am super excited to welcome a child that needs a loving home into my little family. I look forward to expanding my family through adoption.
About Me
The three most important things in my life are my family, my dog and my friends. I spend a lot of time with my dad in the evenings and we have dinner together while both our dogs play. But, I’m closest with my 2 college aged nieces. I often take my dog on weekend getaways to doggy beaches throughout the state. I work out many times during the week either at Barry’s Bootcamp or by walking my dog throughout the city. I also have Sunday night dinners with my childhood church friends. My favorite thing to do is to travel and take cruises to exotic ports to swim, snorkel, and visit with animals. I also like to take some time to read a good book.
My Career
I am a nurse in the operating room of a major trauma hospital attached to a top university in the area. We are a teaching institution so we are constantly teaching new nurses, medical students, dental students, and new doctors. I mostly work with pediatrics, head and neck, and plastic and reconstruction and charge nurse. My favorite part is helping take care of the children.
My Travels and Adventures
A few places to visit on my bucket list are Thailand beaches and an elephant sanctuary located in Chiang Mai. I would also like to visit the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and go to an African safari.
Some of the places and things I’ve explored is the Mediterranean, Hawaii, London, Paris and most parts of the Caribbean where I swam with dolphins, pigs, sting rays, and nurse sharks. It would be so nice to bring a child with me to these new places and share the beauty of the world with them.
List of Favorites!
Favorite Vacation Spots
Lake Powell and the Caribbean
Favorite Dessert
Warm brownie a la mode
Favorite Seasonal Activity
Swimming, snorkeling, wake surfing
More About Me
Being an operating room nurse that works hard at my job, I enjoy all my time away from work. I love to travel to experience new places, and try new foods. I’m a total water baby so being near the water is my happy place. Animals make me happy and being around kids brings out my inner child. I also have many multi ethnic friends so I would love to bring your child into the family to expose them to new cultures and experiences.
Meet Maverick
I have a three year old mini golden doodle named Maverick. He is considered a Covid baby since I got him during the Covid lockdown. While I’m at work, he spends his day with my dad and his dog, a five year old toy poodle named Jake. My sister has a 5 year old Britney doodle named Archie. All three of them love spending time together. We get a kick out of the fact that they all look alike with the same color hair but small, medium, and large sizes and three similar breeds.
My Home and Community
I live 28 blocks away from the beach and two miles away from the world famous Santa Monica Pier. My townhome is three levels with 2 bedrooms and 2.5 baths and a patio, nestled in the middle of a multicultural family filled community. The local elementary school is three blocks away and the local middle school is ten blocks away. A great park with baseball and soccer fields overlooking a small airport and fire station is two blocks away, and just passed that is a great local library.
My Family
I am so fortunate to have family living nearby. My dad is fifteen blocks away and my sister and her family are two blocks closer than that. One of my closest church friends lives just up the street from them.
My Village
Besides my immediate family in the area, I have cousins in Wyoming and Canada who we visit and they come here to visit us.
We spend the majority of holidays like parts of Christmas, Mother’s Day, Easter, Super Bowl, etc. with a wonderful Hispanic family that has welcomed us into the fold. The family is filled with aunts and uncles and cousins, both young and old. We also see them on Sundays at least once a month for a potluck.
I also have church family that I grew up with and we also meet on Sunday nights for potluck dinners, local community activities, and weekend getaways. One of the families in my church group is Chinese and we celebrate the Chinese New Year together. There is another family that I grew up with whom the mother was best friends with my mom and worked with her. She is like a second mother to me since my mother passed a few years ago. Her children and I grew up going camping together and still spend some holidays together.
Thoughts on Parenting
I have always wanted to be a mother. It has been my number one dream. I promise to always be honest with your child and tell them about you if that is your request. I promise to always treat them as if they were my own. I promise to always love your child and hug and kiss them. I promise to make sure they feel safe and secure and my priority in life. I promise to provide your child a great education and expose them to great experiences.
In Closing
Thank you for taking the time to read through my profile. It has been an honor to show you my life in a nutshell. It will be my pleasure to give your child a life full of love, faith, family, friends, knowledge, and valuable experiences. I hope you can help me make my dreams come true by allowing me to adopt your child.
With love, Dena