We have a beautiful daughter named Sky, whom we adopted at birth. We both flew same day across the country when we heard our birth mother was getting induced. We stayed a night in the hospital, nervous new parents, and got to hold "skin to skin" and feed Sky from a formula bottle as soon as she was born. Our bond started then and has only grown stronger.

Since she was a baby, our daughter Sky has known about her birth mother - we have pictures in our family photo albums of Sky's birth, with her birth mother and birth family. When Sky was four we flew across the country for a handful of days to visit Sky's birth mother and her family. It was a wonderful visit! We went to a trampoline park, a swimming pool, a playground, and enjoyed several meals together. Visiting is something we would like to do every few years, and perhaps Sky's birth mother can visit us as well. We also share photos, videos, Christmas cards, gifts, and occasional catch up calls.

We are very open to helping both Sky and our second adopted child - should we be so lucky to have one - understand where they came from and why.

Luis grew up in Colombia in a culture of love and family. He has no fewer than 15 aunts and uncles and over 30 cousins! Several members of his close family live in the USA now and some still live in Colombia so we visit both. Speaking Spanish, eating arepas and bunuelos, celebrating holidays like December 7 "Day of Lights," and cheering for Colombia in the soccer world cup are regular family traditions, which Mike and Sky now love as well.

Mike grew up in the United States in a very diverse city, learning about differences in race, culture, and religion early on. It's been exciting for Mike to teach some American traditions to not only our daughter Sky but also Luis, such as carving a pumpkin at Halloween, dying and hiding eggs on Easter, being with family on Thanksgiving, and lighting off Fourth of July fireworks.

We embrace cultural diversity in our family. On our honeymoon in South Africa, after a safari we visited the island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned and spend a day in the apartheid museum learning about the fight to bring equality to black people in that country. Luis works for Disney and our daughter enjoys Disney movies and we select the newer ones for her to see that are more culturally sensitive. She's got a good amount of adult and kid friends and role models (and dolls) who look like her - half white, half black. And she - just like her brother or sister will be - is fluent in Spanish and English.

We both knew at a young age we wanted to have children. It's a huge commitment, to constantly be thinking of and acting in the best interest of someone other than yourself. Parenting takes patience, and we always make sure that we are doing activities our child benefits from.

What we like most is seeing such a wonderful child grow and develop and enjoy life so much. When Sky accidentally ripped a window curtain, it was hilarious - when we asked what happened and why she did that, she said smiling, "Oh, it wasn't me. It was a fox! He came in this room and ripped it." She learned to joke young.

We didn't realize we would love so much the first couple baby years. They can't talk or do much, they cry, there are so many diapers and laundry!. But surprisingly, the baby years were a great opportunity for all of us to build bonds of love and trust, and we wouldn't trade those years now for anything.

We live in a 3 bedroom house in a suburb of a large California city. We picked our neighborhood because of the excellent school a half block away, many families with young children, huge trees, and our central location - we are a short drive to downtown, to the beach, to Disneyland, and to many family members. We love walking to restaurants and stores near our home.

Our town has a Pride Parade, a Fourth of July parade, and is one of the most popular spots in the city for Halloween parties and haunted houses - we visit many of these within a couple blocks as well as trick or treating and handing out candy (over 1000 pieces of candy are handed out each year!.)

We bike or scooter to her friends' houses nearby or the park with deluxe playground, as well as to Sky's soccer classes and swim lessons. Our house has a big pool that we all enjoy most days in the summer, and we often have friends and their kids over to swim as well. We eat outside regularly thanks to our wonderful weather, mild even in the wintertime.

Besides the beautiful yard and hammock we enjoy year round, Mike's favorite room is the living room with a wood-burning fireplace and lovely bay window letting in tons of light. Luis' favorite is the Family/TV room for relaxing, and Sky's is her bedroom full of toys, dolls, and stuffed animals.

We love spending time with our family! Luis' mom Luz visits several times per year and really enjoys her granddaughter Sky. She speaks in Spanish which helps Sky and Mike learn the language. A favorite spot of theirs is Disneyland a short drive away. Mike's sister Kelly and her husband also live nearby and we always spend July 4 holidays with them. We go on bike rides together - even Sky! - play with their cat, build sand castles at the beach, and swim in the waves. They stay at our house when there is a birthday party, which is often since Mike's 3 step-siblings all live in town and have kids Sky's age. Luis' two brothers (a flight away) also have young kids and Sky loves seeing her cousins. We usually do either a summer or a Christmas trip all together, and some of the best activities have included hikes, riding horses, and walking their dogs.

Our families are good cooks, and we like to pitch in - Mike bakes chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies for the visits and parties, and Luis is great at baking bread, sometimes with walnuts and raisins or olives. We love grilling chicken, fish, and vegetables near our pool especially during the summer. We are famous for green salads and rainbow fruit salads. Luis has many awesome cookbooks and frequently tries out new recipes. Thanksgiving varies between traditional turkey dinners and delicious tamales!

We promise to always pay attention to your baby, keeping them safe. We vow to have fun with your future child, teach life's important lessons, embrace their curiosity, and always support them in whatever they do. Just like our daughter Sky has, your child will become our first priority. We will frequently show affection and love your child no matter what.

You probably will hear something similar from others like us, but we are unique in a few ways - we have experience parenting a newborn, adopted baby who is a different race than both of us. We aren't just saying we will send letters and pictures, talking on the phone as well as visiting (if you are comfortable with that) - we actually have done all of those things with Sky's birth mother and her family already and are happy to continue to do so. It's a win-win. Sky's birth mother can see how happy we are, how happy Sky is, and Sky feels more fulfilled knowing where she came from and why. We visited Sky's birth mother and family recently and it was very much worth it, and we plan on going again in a year or so.

We live in a very diverse city - certainly being an adopted child will be something that's different from a lot of children around, but at Sky's preschool and neighborhood there are many same sex couples, adopted and surrogate children, mixed race families, and folks who celebrate different types of diversity.

We have known each other for 15 years and have been together for 12, married for 7. We meant our wedding vows and love each other at least as much now as when our relationship was newer. We are committed to each other and committed to our family.

We value education and hard work - we both have performed well at school and at our jobs to make a good and honest living. Sky attends and loves a wonderful preschool for Disney employees' children. We make sure our jobs don't get in the way of us being great parents. We hope to teach our children to kind, good people, to help others, to pursue the profession and hobbies they enjoy the most, and to hold dear relationships with family and friends.

We also value healthy food, sleep, and exercise - sure we enjoy ice cream and treats from time to time, but we have a lot of energy as a family, don't get sick too often, and will hopefully live long happy lives because of our good habits. Luis and I were Varsity athletes in college (water polo and swimming) and we still compete and train even as adults! Your child will learn to appreciate athletics, academics, as well as art and music with us.

Please choose us because Sky will be the best big sister ever. Please choose us because you can rely on our family to provide a wonderful home and upbringing for your baby.

Thank you so much for reading and considering us!

Luis & Mike