Dear Expectant Mom,
We are Helena and Gaston. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter. We hope that this letter will begin to share with you who we are and our hopes to become parents. We understand that this letter can only share some of the important points about us. We hope that we will have the opportunity to get to know each other better so that you can learn more about us.
Our Story Together
We have been married for three years, but have known each other as friends since 1994. We met through mutual friends when we each moved to San Francisco. Throughout the years, as we spent time together along with our mutual friends, our relationship grew. We were able to talk to each other easily and our bond grew stronger. Not only did we share common friends, but being new to the United States, we also shared a common experience of living in more than one culture. We like to spend a lot of time together, going to dinners and the theater, and spending time with friends. We share a common love for the outdoors, and like to spend our free time biking, swimming and diving.
We are a multicultural couple. Many languages are spoken in our home. Helena speaks four languages including German with her mom and Persian with her dad. Gaston speaks Spanish with his family and most of his friends. And when our families from Europe call, we sometimes even have to try speaking French as Helena's first cousins only speak French. We find it exciting to have friends, music, food and spices from all over the world in one place.
About Helena
Helena was born in Germany. Her mom is German and dad is from Afghanistan. She grew up in Afghanistan until she had to flee in 1979 because it was not safe for her family to remain there. Her family first fled to Germany and then came to America and moved to Falls Church, Virginia and has lived in the United States for the last 26 years. She left Virginia to come to California and went to UCLA where she received her Bachelor's Degree. She then went to law school in San Francisco, and ended up falling in love with the city and has worked in the Bay Area since. Due to her background, her work is focused on working with immigrants and helping them to work and live in the United States legally.
Gaston talks about Helena...
Helena is patient, warm and playful. She is flexible and easygoing, and has an ability to recognize the things that are meaningful to her. While she doesn't sweat the small stuff, she likes to prepare for the important things.
About Gaston
Gaston was born in New York, to Argentinean parents but grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He returned to the United States when he was 17 to attend college in Massachusetts. After college Gaston moved to the Bay Area to work as a software developer. He worked for ten years and then returned to school where he is now completing a doctorate degree in Cognitive Science. His mom moved to the United States in 1995 and he visits the rest of his family in Buenos Aires every year. His native language is Spanish.
Helena talks about Gaston...
Gaston is a direct and down to earth person. He is also warm and playful and kids seem to be drawn to him. He appreciates the importance of spending down time with the ones you love.
Our Home
We have made the San Francisco Bay Area our home. We have a beautiful house in San Francisco that is close to a school where we hear children's laughter every morning. Our favorite thing about our house is our beautiful garden. We are in it almost every weekend digging up one thing and planting another. We like barbequing in the garden too and like to invite people over to join us for a sunny day in the garden.
Our Lifestyle
When we are not in the garden, then we make sure we are otherwise outdoors. Helena loves biking and enjoys the fresh air and sunshine. Gaston scuba dives and likes to watch the many different fish of the California coast. We really enjoy doing things together and take any opportunity that we can to travel. We travel to Argentina and Germany once a year to visit family and friends, but we also travel to new destinations often. Our last trip was to Costa Rica, where we got to enjoy the water and the rain forest full of monkeys.
Family
Helena's family lives nearby. Her sister Soraya is our best friend and lives in our neighborhood. Helena's parents also live near us and they are an integral part of our everyday lives, visiting frequently and spending the holidays with us. They are both very supportive of our plans to adopt a child and wait as anxiously to be an aunt and grandparents. Helena's mom, Stefanie, is excited to be a grandma and will be very involved in taking care and helping with the baby.
Although Gaston's family is far away in Argentina, they visit often. Our extended family is large, because we consider our good friends as family too. Since both our cultures greatly value closeness to family, we greatly appreciate spending time with them.
Thoughts on Parenting
Both of us have learned a lot about life through our travels and our exposure to people from different parts of the world. We have learned to value differences and we consider ourselves curious and open-minded. We would like our child to learn these values and appreciate differences through exposure to our diverse friends, our cultural backgrounds, and through travel. We both also consider formal education important, and will encourage a child to pursue a higher education and to find their passion in life. We both, however, also understand that happiness and success in life is not defined by how many degrees you have and how much money you make. Our measure of happiness - which is ultimately what we would like a child to achieve - is based on how well rounded a person one is. In our view, that is someone who takes interest in finding work that feels rewarding, takes the time to maintain nurturing 
friendships and places importance on family. A child will grow up in an environment where there is no single measure of good or bad, or right or wrong, but rather a place with a thoughtful approach to choices and how we decide to make them. Our child will have an opportunity to explore the different options life has to offer, and will be able to count on us to help guide them as they make choices.
We have been hoping and preparing to be parents for years and feel ready and excited to start our family through adoption. We look forward to talking and meeting with you. If you would like to speak with us directly, please feel free to call us on our toll free number, 877-290-6355 or email us directly at helenagaston@live.com. You may also contact our friendly adoption attorney, Susan Romer, at 1-800-U-ADOPT-US (1-800-823-6788) or email her at adamsromer@aol.com.
Helena and Gaston
