From Us to You

We want to start by saying thank you. We haven’t met yet but we already know you are a woman of strength, resilience and love based on the decision you made to carry this child and consider adoption. We know this is a deeply emotional and meaningful decision, and you should know we hold a lot of respect for you.

Our names are Tori and Pablo and we are a half American, half Guatemalan family of four. Your child would be welcomed into a family with two loving and excited siblings. We have two biological children who are 6 and 3. Our 6 year old is already the most amazing big sister and example to her little brother, and our 3 year old is so eager to become a big brother and play with his new sibling. Our hope in adopting is to give your child a life filled with love, laughter, and a sense of belonging that is steady and secure. We want your child to grow up knowing they have always been and always will be deeply wanted. We want them to feel safe asking questions about where they came from and why their story includes adoption. We will honor you and your journey in all our conversations, as we hold you in the highest regard for the decision you are making.

Thank you again for considering us as part of your decision. We cannot imagine the weight of what you are carrying, but we hope you feel supported and respected in whatever choice you make. We wish you peace, clarity, and care as you move forward.

With gratitude,
The Santos family

Why We Are Choosing to Adopt

We have always desired to grow our family and feel so blessed to have been able to have two biological children. After having our second child, I (Tori) experienced some health issues that left me unable to bear any more of my own kids. I’ve come through that experience with a deep appreciation for life, health, and the privilege of caring for a child. Our desire to continue growing our family never diminished through that experience, and we can’t wait for another child and sibling to love.

Our Lifestyle

We live in Maine. In our life here, we experience the beauty of all four seasons, as well as a calmness, peace and safety that comes with living in a rural area. In the warm months our days are often filled with time outdoors, caring for our chickens, tending a garden and going to the beach. In the cold months we take the kids sledding and ice fishing and often cozy up inside for family movie nights. Tori works part-time as a nurse in our local hospital, and Pablo is self-employed as a general contractor. We work around our schedules so that someone is always home with the kids. We cherish so much being able to raise them and spend every day with them. We homeschool our kids, which means our home is a place of learning, curiosity, creativity, and a lot of laughter. Our evenings usually end with dinner together around the table, prayers before bed, and everyone squeezing together for one more story.

About Pablo

Pablo loves to make the kids and me laugh. He is silly and sweet. He is an affectionate father. He works hard to provide for our kids and make them feel loved. He is the most honest and genuine person I know. The first thing I saw in him when we met was how much he loves Jesus. He is the type of guy who will give you the shirt off his back if you need it. He fills our house with music, singing, dancing and laughter.

About Tori

Tori is a loving, gentle and intentional mother and wife. She is the glue that holds our family together and keeps us moving forward. She is disciplined in all that she sets out to do. She is resilient when facing hard times and steadfast in her faith. She loves and protects her family fiercely and always puts her kids first. She will always do the right thing and what is best for the people she loves, no matter what the cost.

Our Home

We live in a cozy home nestled in the woods. We get to experience the beauty of all four seasons and the diversity of living near the coast and forests. Our neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. Our favorite part of our home is our front porch where we rock in the hammock in the summers, watch the rain fall in spring and the snow fall in the winter. Our kids often play outside in our yard while our chickens follow them around. They run through the woods, climb trees and pick the wild blueberries.

Our Village

My (Tori) parents live close by and are just as invested in our children’s well-being as we are. If my mom ever notices that they are low on socks, pajamas, craft supplies or anything really, she will immediately go out and buy it for them. They will drop anything to watch the kids if we ever need childcare, and look forward to the occasional weekend where the kids get to have “sleepovers” at their house. In addition to family, we have an amazing community through church and homeschooling that we call our “village,” which consists of friends that are like family. They are the type of people who will watch our kids without hesitation if we have an appointment, buy them gifts for their birthdays, drive us to the mechanic to pick up our car, and watch our pets while we are on vacation. We look out for one another and care for each other like family does. We feel truly blessed to have them and the support that they bring us and our kids. Most of them live within a 15-minute radius of us, so we get together for playdates throughout the week, celebrate special occasions together and rely on each other for help in the obstacles life throws at us. Your child wouldn’t just be loved by our family, but by our whole village.

Our Faith

Pablo and I are both Christians and our faith is the basis of all we are and the decisions we make. We read the Bible regularly with our kids, volunteer at church, pray throughout the day and strive to love others the way our Lord Jesus does. Christ is the foundation of our home and has been with us through all the storms we have weathered, and we owe to Him all the blessings we receive. It has been our greatest blessing to walk with Jesus and trust in Him, and we feel that is the greatest gift we can give to our children.

Racial and Cultural Diversity

As a mixed ethnicity family, we have already developed habits in our home that represent both cultures. We speak both Spanish and English at home and teach our children both languages as well. Our food and traditions represent Latin American culture in many ways. We visit Guatemala regularly so our kids will have a greater understanding and appreciation for their heritage. So we are well accustomed to welcoming and teaching culture in our home. We would honor whatever race or culture the child comes from and look forward to learning more and traveling so that we can all connect and celebrate whichever culture the child comes from.

Our Pets

We have two rescue dogs that have been with us since we lived in Guatemala. They have been with us as we have welcomed two babies into our home already and will be just as loving and protective of a third! We also have a handful of chickens and a fish that our kids love taking care of.

Our Traditions

Every Christmas season we enjoy making cookies, going to church on Christmas Eve and getting together with family for festivities. We usually spend Christmas day with Pablo’s brother and his family. We spend the night together making food, catching up, playing games, and the cousins enjoy doing a holiday craft together. They build a gingerbread house together every year. We love spending time together because the house is always filled with noise and laughter.

Every summer our nephews come stay with us for at least a week or two. We call it “Santos Summer Camp.” The cousins play together from sun up to sun down. We go to the beach, lake, and baseball games, camp out in our front yard and squeeze in all the fun summer activities we can. It is always a huge blessing for the cousins to spend this quality time together. This year they kept talking about how excited they were to have a new cousin join the crew eventually!

The rest of Pablo’s family is in Guatemala, so we aim to visit every other year as a family. To us it is so important for the kids to know where their family comes from and feel at home in their culture. Our trips to Guatemala have become a sort of tradition that we all look forward to with great anticipation.

We go camping every summer in the White Mountains. We love sleeping in a tent, cooking over the fire and spending our days on the river. It is such a special time where we get to disconnect from the world and just focus on our family.

A Little More About Us

We met on a mission trip in Guatemala. Pablo is from there, and Tori went on a medical mission trip through church where Pablo helped translate and worked as a liaison for the group. We got married in Guatemala and lived there for the first 5 years of our marriage. Our daughter was born there. We are both bilingual (English and Spanish) and actually only speak to each other in Spanish. Pablo speaks to the kids in Spanish and Tori speaks to them in English. We have land on a beach in Guatemala and one day hope to build a vacation home there!

Our Promise to You

You are already in our prayers. If we are chosen to parent your child, you should know that we would speak of you in the highest regard with honesty and respect. In addition to that, as we start every morning thanking God for each of our children, you and your child will be included in those prayers. In fact, we have already been praying for you both. Our hearts would be filled with gratitude for you each day, and we would strive to honor you as the woman who chose to give life to the child that we will surely love as our own. We would always prioritize what feels appropriate and comfortable for you as well as what is best for your child post-adoption.