Hello! We are Shanu & Rahul from Livermore, California! Thank you for taking the time to learn about us.

Our home is full of fun, laughter, dedication and hard work where your child will thrive. We admire and respect your decision to possibly entrust us as your child’s adoptive parents. It is humbling to know that it takes a very brave person to make this decision, and we would like to assure you that we will do our best to provide your child a happy & loving home.

We have been happily married for 12 years, we have always known adoption is something we want to do, we just didn’t know when. We are excited and looking forward to starting a new chapter in our life.

Our Story as told by Shanu: Our home is close to the beach, mountains, and a big city, but we live on a ranch surrounded by cattle farmers and horse trainers in Northern California.

Our love story began in North Carolina. We met in 2010 at a bowling alley... a guy that knows how to bowl, “I thought - nerd alert.” I was right, but I was smitten. We began running, biking, and cooking for each other a few days a week. We started dating and 6 months later Rahul proposed to me. Of course, I was terrified - we had only been together for a short time. My parents came to meet Rahul and he made them a home cooked meal to win them over. That wasn’t the only test; my two best friends had to give their stamp of approval. Rahul was subjected to a number of questions but he passed with flying colors! We married in 2011 in Florida with family and friends.

Hello, I’m Shanu. My parents came from India in the ‘70’s and we settled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with my two siblings, aunts and uncles nearby. Our parents wanted to give us the best of both cultures - this started with our learning about different cuisines. My mom is a master chef and taught me to cook - BBQ, homemade pizzas, traditional tandoori chicken, Mexican, and more.

I went to Florida State University and studied Economics. Admittingly, I didn’t know what to do with my degree but had a passion for continuing on in the family business. I met Rahul in 2010 during the economic downturn, decided to close my business, and jump into Product Management. Rahul and I love the outdoors and prune our own trees, grow our own fruits and vegetables, and make time to also do the activities we love.

Since I work from home, I’m looking forward to sharing our love for the outdoors and taking our child hiking while also teaching them about sustainability.

Shanu is independent and confident and that’s what I love about her. She is very protective of her family and would go to great lengths to provide comfort to them. She loves to cook different foods and happens to have a hidden family recipe book which she doesn’t like to share (lol). She would be a great mother to your child, teaching them about our family history, storytelling, and enjoying every moment of it together.

Hello, I’m Rahul. I was born in India and grew up in a joint family, with my parents, my younger brother, three uncles, and their families. After graduating from college, I came to the USA for my Masters in Engineering and met Shanu in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I was working as a Software Engineer for a startup.

I’ve always been adventurous, I love to ride my road bike, go backpacking, rock climbing and mountaineering.

I still dream about climbing all the 7 summits since I’ve already summited Mt. Kilimanjaro. Beyond outdoor activities, I’m a DIY enthusiast, and I love to do everything around the house myself, from framing and installing a new door to electrical wiring. My favorite movie is “Free Solo, Dawn Wall” and my favorite books are “Into Thin air” and “Start with Why.” I’m very excited to teach our future child all about the outdoors. I can’t wait to take them backpacking, riding, rock climbing and more.

Rahul is one of the most loving human beings I’ve ever met. Whether it’s our families or friends, newborns or infants he loves being silly and playful. Rahul is our neighbors’ go to guy - whether it’s technical advice or helping with feeding hay to the cows. And then there’s my family - if there’s going to be singing and dancing they want Rahul there. While I have two left feet, his feet are in perfect harmony along with his beautiful singing voice (he still sings me to sleep when I’m stressed at work). I am so excited to raise a child with Rahul by my side!

We live in a 3-bedroom home surrounded by beautiful green rolling hills. There are a number of cattle ranchers and horse trainers, so we see a lot of animals near our property. We love waking up to the chirping birds, roosters, and mooing cows. With only 12 neighbors, we all know and care for each other.

Living in this type of community provides us with security and tight knit relationships. Most of the children know each other and are often found climbing, playing, and horse riding. We spend our weekends gardening, taking care of the trees and other vegetation on our property. We are only 10 minutes from the city center and an hour away from San Francisco. Being centrally located in California we are a short drive to both the ocean and mountains, providing us the ability to be outside all year round.

Frito is our 7-year-old black and tan Shiba Inu. He loves children to the fullest and is often found licking their little faces. He’s definitely a guard dog and we can envision him checking in on the baby at night as he does us.

We are extremely close to our families and make time to visit, travel, and make memories with them.

Rahul’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nieces live in Punjab, India. While they are far away they visit every year. Fortunately, his cousin Vinnie lives locally with his two boys. We see them frequently and are excited our child will have cousins nearby. Both of our parents have been married for 40 plus years and we are lucky to have wonderful examples of how to care for each other and our families.

Shanu’s sister, Didi lives in Northern Virginia with her two kids. Her little brother and wife live close by in Portland, Oregon. Our favorite family holiday is Thanksgiving, where we all get together - food, fun, and laughter with her mom’s amazing turkey. We expect her family will start to get together more than once a year when her mom moves to California, at the end of 2023. It will be very exciting to have her living in the same city and it has been a dream of ours to raise a child with grandparents in their lives.

We also consider a few of our best friends, our family, Shanu’s two college friends who she’s kept in touch with and makes a point to talk often and travel with yearly along with a few friends we made in Charlotte, NC. We’ve enjoyed watching them grow their families and are very excited for our child to have a number of aunts and uncles.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about us! We are grateful that you may entrust us to be the adoptive parents to your child and thank you for being so courageous to make this decision.

We are here to support and encourage their interests, whether it is learning to play an instrument, playing a sport or taking on the great outdoors. We will always be there for them. We want more than anything to be able to pass our family values and traditions onto your child, while they grow into their own individual and create new memories of their own. We hope to pass on our love for outdoors, travel and adventure.