We have been together for 16 years and married for 13, building a loving, steady life rooted in family, faith, service, and community. We both work in healthcare leadership and are fortunate to work from home most of the time, giving us flexibility and presence as future parents. Our dream is to welcome your child into a home filled with love, support, laughter, and opportunity. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us.

Becoming parents has been our greatest dream throughout our relationship. As a gay couple, adoption has always felt like a meaningful and beautiful path to growing our family.

Ryan was adopted as a baby, so adoption already holds a special place in our hearts and family story. We are excited and grateful to be in this process, and we cannot wait to share our love, home, traditions, and future with a child.

We met online and were quickly surprised to discover we had both grown up in Whittier; that coincidence felt like the first sign we were meant to find each other. As our relationship grew, we explored life together, living in Hollywood, South Pasadena, and West Hollywood before ultimately finding our way back home. Now we are purchasing the house where Jose grew up, renovating it and making it our own; a full-circle moment that says everything about who we are as a couple.

What makes our marriage strong is a genuine balance between two people who complement each other. Jose leads with warmth, emotional presence, and a gift for making every space feel like home. Ryan provides steadiness, humor, and a calm that anchors the family even in hard seasons. Together we share a deep commitment to loyalty, faith, tradition, and showing up for the people we love.

We laugh a lot, we take care of each other, and after 16 years we still genuinely like
who we are together. We cannot wait to share that same love and stability with a child.

I grew up in Los Angeles, California as the youngest and only son with 3 older sisters. My parents focused a lot of their resources in ensuring my sisters and I were happy and well educated, and they demonstrated their dedication to family and a strong work ethic to ensure stability. As a child I dreamed of going to UCLA and that dream came true after high school. After finishing undergrad I began my professional career in healthcare and also finished my Master’s degree in Social Work from USC. I’ve been in healthcare for 18 years and have been fortunate to be promoted and see my income increase to help support a family. My current role is a Manager at a pediatric hospital focused on helping K-12 students cope with loss and find resiliency. Becoming a father will be the highlight of my life.

In my free time, I enjoy indoor and outdoor gardening, our home is full of plants! I also enjoy cooking, fashion and reality TV! I LOVE to decorate and host for holidays and special occasions, including dressing up our porch goose.

Jose is one of the most intentional people I have ever known; someone who puts genuine thought and care into everything he does, from the way he decorates our home for the holidays to the way he shows up for the people he loves.

At home, Jose is the heart of our household. He is the one who fills every room with plants, plans our next vacation, tries a new recipe on a weeknight just because, and makes sure our porch goose is properly dressed for every occasion. He loves music and loves to chat with anyone and everyone. Our nieces and nephews light up around him, and watching Jose with kids has always confirmed for me that parenthood is exactly where he belongs. I am so lucky to be building this family with him.

I was born in Las Vegas and adopted as an infant by my family in Southern California, where I grew up alongside my brother in the Whittier area. Adoption has always been a core part of my identity and my story, so the path Jose and I are on feels deeply personal and right. My parents live just minutes away from us today, which tells you everything about how central family is to how I was raised and who I became.

I work in healthcare operations and have spent over 14 years at a Los Angeles based hospital, where I get to lead teams and solve complex problems; work I find genuinely meaningful.

Outside of work, I am a reader, a learner, and someone who is always curious about the world. I love exploring cities, food, and attending the opera. I lead the High School youth group at our church on Wednesday evenings, which has given me a deep appreciation for how much young people need consistent, caring adults in their corner.

What excites me most about becoming a parent is getting to experience the world through a child’s eyes again; museum trips, trying new foods, exploring new places, helping with homework, and passing on a love of learning. I cannot wait.

My favorite things about Ryan often revolve around all of the things he’s learned and how those learnings are expressed in his actions. Ryan is an extremely intelligent person with an outstanding memory. I am always impressed and amazed at the level of detail that Ryan remembers things from years or decades ago.

Ryan is also generous and hospitable, giving money to those in need when asked and making room in our lives to open our home. I also love Ryan’s dedication to reading and continued education in any form. He has two Master’s degrees! Ryan has a witty and sharp sense of humor, and has a good eye and ear for looking at subtle ways to draw humor from a situation. Perhaps my favorite thing about Ryan is how he provides a sense of security and stability in ways that I sometimes can’t. While I tend to be sensitive and express emotions in challenging times, Ryan remains strong on the outside even though we may share the same feelings. His courage is a large source of comfort.

Love and Family: We place a lot of meaning on close relationships, showing up for loved ones, and building a home.

Our Values and Faith: Faith is central to our lives and our home. We are active members of our church community. Faith for us is not as a set of rules, but as a foundation of love, gratitude, service, and belonging. Above all else, we value love; expressed out loud, demonstrated through action, and never withheld.

Family Traditions: We host, we cook, we gather. We believe rituals and traditions give a child a sense of roots; a feeling that they belong to something larger than themselves. Our child will grow up knowing exactly where home is.

We love our pets Pickles and Penguin and treat them with as much love and care as possible. They are small and get along great with family and friends and are protectors of the home. At night they sleep in the bedroom and enjoy curling up on the sofa while we watch TV.

Our home is located in Whittier, California in Los Angeles County on the border of Orange County. Whittier is a suburb with a diverse community. Our home is two stories and recently renovated. Downstairs are three bedrooms (master, guest and the future baby's room) and 2 bathrooms. Upstairs space is dedicated to 2 bedrooms which serve as our individual offices since we work from home, a bathroom and storage space for holiday decor. I (Jose) especially enjoy the back yard which is full of plants, flowers and 7 fruit trees. Everyday I fill our bird feeder and bird bath and throughout the workday I enjoy watching various birds and squirrels enjoy the back yard which also gives our dog Penguin a lot of time to exercise in chasing the birds and squirrels. One special hobby is our porch goose, Ryan Goosling, that we have different outfits for depending on a holiday or occasion.

Jose’s extended family includes his parents, step mom, 3 full sisters, 3 half brothers, 2 nieces and 3 nephews. Ryan’s family includes his parents who live a few minutes away and an adopted brother.

Ryan experienced a miracle in reuniting with his biological family through 23&Me. He was able to meet with his biological mother who has now passed away, but he is also building a relationship with his many biological siblings including a full biological brother and 6 half siblings.

We believe the most important thing a child can feel is that they are safe, seen, and unconditionally loved. Our approach to parenting is rooted in warmth and consistency. We will always lead with conversation over punishment and curiosity over correction. We do not believe in physical discipline. Instead, we focus on recognizing and celebrating good behavior, building our child's confidence and character through encouragement, and addressing challenges with calm, honest conversation.

We understand there are many people out there on the adoption waiting list and we want you to know we will provide an exceptional home and family environment when we are selected. Our patience in moving forward in adoption has been a crucial part in the adoption process because we wanted to make sure we were financially prepared as well as able to balance parenting with our careers.

We can’t wait to share more information with you to give you a better sense of who we are. We can’t wait to bring a baby home someday and will be forever grateful for you in helping our dream come true.

Ryan knows firsthand what it means to be adopted. Meeting his birth mother for the first time at age 30 was one of the most significant moments of his life. That experience is the reason we approach open adoption not as an obligation but as a gift. We are uniquely prepared for its complexity and genuinely excited by it. You will always have a place in your child’s life and in ours.