Being parents is an honor, a tremendous responsibility, and one of the greatest privileges of our lives. We love watching Jackson discover the world and getting to experience everyday things through his eyes. Making pancakes together on Sunday mornings, exploring the beach, reading books, exercising together, learning to swim, or watching him proudly help around the house have become some of our favorite moments.

We believe one of the most powerful ways to teach our children is through the life we model for them. We work hard to be thoughtful and intentional about how we love each other, treat people, care for our home and pets, approach challenges, stay curious, continue learning, and take care of ourselves. Rather than simply telling Jackson what matters, we want him to grow up experiencing those values as a natural part of everyday family life. We also leave plenty of room for fun, curiosity, and adventure. We want our children to know they are deeply loved and supported while developing confidence, independence, kindness, and their own unique interests and identity. Parenting continually reminds us that we are growing and learning alongside them, too. Growing our family through adoption means having the opportunity to share this life with another child while giving Jackson the sibling relationship we both treasured growing up. We look forward to discovering who this child is, nurturing the person they become, and providing a childhood filled with security, family, culture, laughter, learning, and adventure.

What takes priority in our lives is captured in twelve values we created together for our family. They are not simply words on a page, but principles we try to model in everyday life. Family First reminds us that the people we love come before everything and should know through our actions that they are our priority. Health Is Wealth reflects our belief that caring for our physical, mental, and emotional health allows us to show up fully for others.

Be Curious means asking questions, reading, traveling, exploring, and remaining excited to learn about the world and people around us. Be Intentional reminds us that the small choices we make each day shape who we become, so we try to be thoughtful about how we spend our time, what we consume, and how we treat others. Impact Over Achievement reflects our belief that a meaningful life is measured not simply by personal accomplishments, but by the positive difference we make in other people’s lives. And Have Fun, Try Your Hardest, passed down from PJ’s dad, reminds us that while we cannot always control outcomes, we can control our attitude and effort.

Our other values are Be Accountable, Be an Asset, Be About It, Action Cures Fear, Discipline Equals Freedom, and Embrace Discomfort, Create Joy. Each month, we choose a Value and look for moments when it shows up in our lives. As our family grows, we hope these values become something our children experience through how we live. 

Our lifestyle is active, adventurous, and centered around spending time together. Health and fitness are genuine passions, so movement naturally finds its way into our everyday lives. We work out in our garage gym, surf, swim, hike, run, ride bikes, skateboard around the neighborhood, and spend lots of time exploring the beach and local parks. Jackson is always right there with us, climbing, exercising, exploring, or turning whatever we are doing into his own adventure. We also enjoy quieter pursuits. Perla loves pottery, watercolor painting, gardening, cooking, and learning guitar, while PJ is an avid reader who enjoys novels and studying psychology, behavior, and human performance. We are naturally curious people who love learning and exploring new places.

Professionally, we both work in health and human performance. As side projects, PJ leads a men’s group focused on helping high-performing men grow, while Perla leads a women’s group, primarily supporting new moms as they rebuild healthy habits and routines. These groups have also helped us build a close community of friends who value family, health, personal growth, service, and showing up for one another. We love knowing our children are surrounded by adults who model many of the qualities we hope to encourage at home. Our flexible, primarily work from home, careers also allow us to be present parents and travel frequently, especially for our annual trips to Brazil. As our family grows, we look forward to sharing our passions, community, and adventures while encouraging each child to discover interests uniquely their own.

We live in a family-friendly neighborhood in Southern California where an active, outdoor lifestyle is part of everyday life. Our four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has an open kitchen and living area, a shared office, Jackson’s room, and a guest room that will eventually become a new baby’s room. Our favorite spaces, though, are probably our garage and backyard! Because we both work in the fitness industry and love being active, we transformed our garage into a fully equipped gym. We use it daily for workouts and work, but it has also become a playground where Jackson loves exercising, playing, and exploring movement alongside us. In our backyard, we garden, play sports, and enjoy our sauna and ice bath along with friends & family.

Our neighborhood makes getting outside easy. There is a park and playground at the end of our street where we walk almost daily, and the adjoining elementary school has several playgrounds for different ages, fields, and basketball courts. Neighborhood children regularly gather there, and Jackson already has close friends nearby. We also skateboard, ride bikes, frequent local pools throughout the summer, and spend lots of time with other families in our community. We love having both the beach and mountains within reach. Our family adventures include surfing, swimming, playing in the sand, hiking, and exploring together. We feel incredibly fortunate to raise our family in a community where another child can grow up surrounded by friends, outdoor adventures, and plenty of room to move and play.

Family is at the center of our lives, and one of the things that makes our bilingual family special is that it stretches from California to New Jersey to Brazil. PJ grew up as one of four siblings, and Perla is one of three, so we both know how meaningful close sibling and extended family relationships can be.

We are fortunate to have PJ’s mom living only twenty minutes away, and she is a regular part of our week and always ready for Grandma time. PJ’s sister and her family also live in Southern California, while his dad visits from New Jersey frequently and stays closely connected between visits. Perla’s family lives in Brazil, but distance has never kept them from being deeply involved in our lives. We travel to Brazil every year, FaceTime constantly, and Perla’s mom has even come to live with us for several months at a time. When our families come together we are very active, there are always plenty of games, exploration, outdoor adventures, laughter, and a mix of English and Portuguese. Our wedding in Brazil captured this perfectly, bringing both families together under one roof for an entire week of shared meals, hikes, games, and celebration. Our families are incredibly supportive of our adoption journey and excited to welcome another child into this big, multicultural family.

Thank you for taking the time to get to know us and consider our family. We know these pages can only tell you so much about who we are, but we hope they have given you a glimpse into our marriage, our family, and the life we share.

We are PJ and Perla, and we have built our marriage around friendship, love, trust, and a shared commitment to continually becoming better partners and parents. We've been together for seven years, married for almost four of them, and proud parents to our two and half year old son Jackson. Becoming parents has been the greatest privilege of our lives. It has taught us that parenting is not about creating a certain kind of child. It is about providing the love, security, guidance, and opportunities that allow a child to discover who they are and then supporting that person wholeheartedly.

If you choose us to parent your child, there is one thing we hope you always know: your child will never have to earn their place in our family.

They will be loved on their best days and their hardest ones. They will be surrounded by grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and a big community of people ready to welcome them. They will have a brother eager to share life with them, and a neighborhood full of young children to play with. They will grow up in a home where questions are encouraged, mistakes are part of learning, affection is freely given, and difficult emotions do not need to be hidden.

We also understand that loving your child means honoring the story and people who came before us. You and your child's birth family will always be part of who they are. We will never ask them to minimize that connection to protect our feelings or prove their love for us. We want them to feel completely free to know you, talk about you, ask questions about you, miss you, love you, and understand the parts of themselves that come from you.

We will honor our commitment to send you letters and pictures as your child grows. We are also open to discussing emails, phone calls, future visits, and other forms of contact so that together we can find the level of openness that best supports your child and the relationships surrounding them.

Our family already spans different countries, languages, and cultures. Perla was born and raised in Brazil, and Brazilian culture is woven throughout our home and family life. PJ learned Portuguese so he could fully participate in that part of our family, and we are raising Jackson with meaningful connections to both sides of his heritage. If your child's race or cultural heritage differs from ours, we would be excited to welcome another culture into our family. We would approach it with humility and curiosity, seeking relationships, traditions, experiences, and role models that allow your child not only to learn about their heritage, but to experience genuine belonging within it.

We also know that adoption may bring questions and emotions throughout your child's life that we cannot anticipate today. We are prepared to make room for them. Honesty and difficult conversations are already part of how we parent and how we communicate with each other. We will continue educating ourselves, listening to adoptees and adoption professionals, and learning what our child needs from us as they grow.

More than anything, we hope you see a family that will love your child for exactly who they are. We will encourage their curiosity, celebrate their interests, support them through challenges, laugh with them, explore the world with them, and give them the security of knowing there will always be a place where they completely belong.

If you choose us, we would receive that trust with enormous gratitude and responsibility. We would spend our lives honoring it by loving your child wholeheartedly, respecting every part of their story, and helping them grow into the person they are uniquely meant to become.

With love,

PJ & Perla