Meera & Chai. Welcome! We are Meera and Chai from San Francisco, California

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1 Meera & Chai Welcome! We are Meera and Chai from San Francisco, California Thank you for learning more about us as you consider an adoption plan for your child. We are married and live with our two small dogs, Lilly and Truffle. We ve dreamed about being parents since the day we met over six years ago. We ve chosen open adoption for the honesty and connection to you that will be a source of love, understanding and comfort for our child as he or she grows up. Our family already understands and is supportive of adoption as Meera s niece, brother-inlaw, and Chai s cousins have all been adopted. Meera's work-at-home job will also allow flexibility with caring for a child. We sincerely admire your courage in making such a difficult decision for your child and welcome you with open arms to our family. We would love to get to know you and share this journey with you! Please Contact Us Anytime! Call or Text Us Directly: Contact Adoption Connection: Us: meeraandchai@gmail.com Call Toll-Free: / Text: Our Website: families@adoptionconnection.org

2 ABOUT US We met at a friend s birthday party and ended up dating after working together at the same company. Chai grew up in San Jose, California and Meera is originally from Connecticut but moved to the West Coast for work eleven years ago. Chai is a Hotel Manager for a popular San Francisco hotel. Meera works in Sales and Marketing for a global Meetings and Events company. She works from home every day so will have flexibility to care for our child. We love spending time with and being silly with our dogs, Lilly and Truffle, the girls. Every Sunday, we walk them to the Golden Gate Bridge and, each year, we take them to a pet festival where we take a family photo we can t wait to add our child to our next photo! We both enjoy music and the arts. Meera plays the piano and Chai plays the guitar, so we plan to introduce our child to music and have regular family jam sessions. We recently saw the San Francisco Ballet and the play Once, which was amazing. Next year, we plan to go to the opera and symphony! Our annual family photo at the pet festival with Truffle (left) and Lilly (right) We also love to travel. We ve recently visited England, India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Mexico and look forward to exposing our child to the diverse countries and cultures of the world. Since our local area is so diverse to explore, we take an annual trip to Mar Vista Farm on the Sonoma Coast where we spend time relaxing, hiking along the coast, playing board games, and cooking veggies from the garden. We are dreaming of the day when our child can accompany us on our adventures and open our eyes to even more experiences. Meera after picking veggies for dinner on our recent trip to Mar Vista Farm We spent a week in Thailand and visited Koh Samui, an island off the southern coast. Visiting historic Rosecliff mansion in Newport, Rhode Island for a wedding Lilly and Truffle cheering on the SF Giants during the World Series

3 Chai preparing Sunday dinner Meera playing the piano at home Our beautiful backyard garden WHERE WE LIVE We live in a large, two-bedroom condominium in NOPA, a thriving neighborhood in the center of San Francisco. Our home is on a quiet, tree-lined street in a building filled with young families. We can walk two blocks to Kaiser Hospital and are surrounded by schools, parks, supermarkets, movie theaters, and easy access to public transportation. Minutes away are several restaurants and even a weekend farmers market. We want our child to enjoy San Francisco for its diversity and excitement! Our place has ample space for our child to play and we are excited to design his or her own room in our second bedroom. Our patio overlooks a beautiful, grassy backyard garden (our urban oasis) where we often see children play. We are hoping to use the garden for many of the birthday parties we plan to host for our child in the future. We really love to spend a lot of time at home, whether it be relaxing for movie night every Friday, game night, or hosting dinner parties for our families and friends. Meera can t wait to teach our child to play on our own piano in our living room when he or she is old enough. We also recently renovated our kitchen and take turns making gourmet meals - Italian, Asian, Mexican, and Indian cuisines are our favorites! We are so excited to have family dinners together and start new traditions at home with our child. Meera treating her niece, Miralena, to ice cream in San Francisco Meera face painting with niece, Aria, at home Chai with nephew, Neil, in our home

4 ABOUT CHAI (FROM MEERA) Chai is my best friend and soulmate. What attracted me to him from the first day we met were his honesty, generosity, and commitment to our relationship and family - I find these attributes to be so important as a father. He loves his nieces and nephew as if they were his own and he loves being silly with them. I especially remember the day his niece, Aria, decided to paint his toenails and he was such a great sport! One of the things I find especially endearing about Chai is his sentimental spirit. He always remembers those special moments and places in our relationship and surprises me by celebrating them. He planned his proposal to me to be at the same restaurant and same table where we had our first date, and the whole restaurant was in on the secret plan. I know he will be a loving and caring father to our child and celebrate all the special moments in his or her life. With friends Olivier and Dulcinea at a SF Giants baseball game Frank Sinatra tribute night! Chai being a good sport as his niece, Aria, paints his toes FUN FACTS ABOUT CHAI His favorite band is Pearl Jam He played high school football He taught himself how to play the guitar He lived in India for two years to open up a restaurant Chai giving a toast at his cousin s wedding reception dinner He went to culinary school and is a trained chef

5 ABOUT MEERA (FROM CHAI) Meera is my rock and perfect opposite. She always encourages me to open my eyes to grow individually and professionally. I know that, as a mother, she will always encourage our child to reach for his or her dreams and we will work together to create possibilities for him or her. Meera loves family and is always on the phone with her mother, father and sisters. I love this because it makes our family feel so much larger and connected. She always makes time to visit our niece and nephew in San Jose and teach them to play piano. Shortly after we got engaged, she visited India with me for my cousin s wedding. I thought she would be overwhelmed with the new environment and meeting so many new people at once, but she embraced the experience. Meera makes the best out of every opportunity and makes each one a special part of her. Meera will be a wonderful mother, friend, and hero for our child. Meera being greeted by Chai's mother on her very first trip to India Meera at dinner with adopted niece, Miralena, and sister, Mythri FUN FACTS ABOUT MEERA Her favorite movie is the Sound of Music She was lead singer in a high school rock band She studied Latin for six years She s never been stung by a bee She is fascinated by sharks Meera getting Indian henna art on her hands during a wedding event

6 WHY ADOPTION IS SPECIAL TO US Adoption means so much to us as many of our family members have been adopted or welcomed adoption in recent years. Chai is East Indian and Meera is Sri Lankan but we were both born and raised in the United States. Our family is blended with diverse races and cultures. Over four years ago, Meera s niece, Miralena, was adopted as an infant from Ethiopia and she is the light of our lives. Miralena was raised through an open adoption with honesty and positive attitudes, and she maintains contact with her birth family even though they are abroad. Meera s brother in law, Kay, was also adopted as an infant from Sri Lanka as were Chai s cousins, Iman and Rayyan, from Guatemala and Ethiopia. Our families embrace adoption and are supportive and excited about our decision to adopt. They believe in the importance of cultural diversity and awareness. Our child will also have the support of our adopted family members throughout life. Adoption has been such a wonderful experience for our families - we want our child to understand that being open and honest about adoption is healthy and that your love and kindness brought him or her to us. Meera with adopted niece, Miralena, on the day they met over four years ago (she was only 6 months old) and a recent photo with, Miralena, now age 4. She is our joy! Celebrating Miralena s first birthday Our nieces, Aria and Miralena, can t wait to have a little cousin Meera teaching piano to her nephew, Neil, and niece, Aria Our siblings and their kids at our wedding Meera s brother-in-law Kay (far left) was also adopted as a baby thirty years ago. Adoption has been a blessing for our family!

7 With both sets of our parents excited to be grandparents! Meera and friend's new baby, Anika OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS We both have large families with deep connections. Both sets of our parents have been married for more than forty years and are excited to be proud grandparents. Meera s parents are both doctors and have lived in Connecticut for over forty years. One of Meera s sisters lives close to us in San Jose so we see her all the time. Meera s other sister lives in Maryland and is a pediatrician and adoptive mother herself. She has been a huge source of support for us during our adoption journey. Chai s parents lived in San Jose for over forty years and are now retired in India but visit us regularly. Chai s brother, wife, and children also live in San Jose and we love spending time with Chai s niece, Aria, and nephew, Neil. Our families are thrilled of our plan to adopt and will always be a source of love and support for our child. We also have a strong network of friends whom we stay in touch with regularly. Most of our friends located in the San Francisco area have young children so they are thrilled that we can join them on playdates with our child. We are fortunate to have so many family members and friends nearby so we can see them all the time with our child. Chai showing nieces, Aria and Miralena, how to take a photo on an Iphone Meera with niece, Aria, as she unwraps her Christmas present Chai being silly with young cousin, Talia

8 OUR COMMITMENT We can t wait to be parents! Since we are unable to have children of our own, you would be giving us the greatest gift we could ever imagine. We pledge to love our child unconditionally and guide him or her through all of life s special moments, whether joyous or challenging. He or she will have the support of our loving immediate and extended family, of which many have been adopted or adopted a child as a parent. We both will ensure our child has access to the best education, travel, activities and experiences life has to offer. We will always be open with our child around adoption and ensure that, should you wish, you will always be an important part of his or her life. Thank you for taking the time to get to know us. We wish you positive thoughts as you make this important decision. We can t wait to connect with you and share this adoption journey with you. Please don t hesitate to contact us at any time. eera and Chai Please Contact Us Anytime! Call or Text Us Directly: Contact Adoption Connection: Us: meeraandchai@gmail.com Call Toll-Free: / Text: Our Website: families@adoptionconnection.org