Welcome! Meet:

Austin + Ellie

Sales / X-ray Technologist

Indiana

Caucasian

Christian

All About Austin & Ellie
Why Adoption?
Gallery
Family and Home
How We Met
Advice to Future Child
Perspectives on Open Adoption
Favorites

All About Austin & Ellie

We are Austin and Ellie and we are excited to get to know you! We have one son, Dukane, who we adopted at birth 4 years ago. We live in a young neighborhood close to our families and love spending time with our extended family. We enjoy going to Disney World, trying new places to eat, exploring parks in the area, and using our zoo and museum memberships. We are always on the go and thrive on adventure. When we slow down we like to take Dukane to the movies, read fantasy novels, cook Thai food for friends and family, and play Fortnite with our younger siblings. We are so excited to add another to all our adventures.

Why Adoption?

We decided to grow our family through adoption after Ellie had some issues with infertility. We were on a fertility waitlist and about 6 months into the wait when we decided that adoption was going to be our path to parenthood. We couldn't be more thankful for that decision because it gave us our son and showed us how amazing open adoption can be.

Family & Home

We live in a two story home at the end of a cul-de-sac in a young and growing neighborhood. We live on about an acre of land and enjoy having a large yard with a swing set and a playhouse. Our neighborhood is in a diverse community and school system. Our son plays football, soccer, and takes gymnastics in our community and we like to stay involved.

We live within 15 minutes from both sets of our parents and they help with our son weekly. Ellie’s mom has Dukane multiple days a week and Austin’s mom picks him up from preschool the other days. We are lucky to have such a close family. Ellie’s younger sisters live in our town as well and like to argue about who gets to babysit and take Dukane to get ice cream. Ellie’s grandma has weekly dinners at her house for all the cousins, aunts, and uncles where we get to see family and Dukane gets to play with his cousins. Austin’s brother has two children who Dukane plays with a couple times a week as well.

How others describe me

Austin is my best friend. He keeps our house running while working full-time and I am so thankful for his hard work. He is caring, honest, and a hands-on dad. He does bathtime, bedtime, and all the other dad duties on the daily and enjoys every second of it. He constantly puts me and Dukane above himself and always makes sure we are taken care of. My favorite things about him are that he laughs at his own bad jokes, he loves Disney World as much as I do, he has baby wearing slings and wraps that he claims as his own, and he makes the best stir fry. I am lucky to be able to parent alongside him.

Ellie was put on this Earth to be a mom. She is passionate about being a mother and is constantly searching for creative ways to give our child the best life. Not only does she do an incredible job with our son Dukane, but her motherly instincts are on full display for other people's children during her photoshoots with them. Many of her customers rave about her ability to bring the “light” out of their children. She goes above and beyond in her career as an X-ray Tech, but her true passion will always be being a mama.

How We Met

We met in high school when Ellie was in the office for breaking the dress code and Austin was working in the office. They always say opposites attract! We started dating soon after and have been together ever since.

Advice to Future Child

We want you to know that we will always put in the work. We will make sure you know how many people love you and are on your side. We will always leave our comfort zone to provide you with comfort, love, and assurance. Our final advice is to keep asking questions. We want you to always feel comfortable asking us anything and coming to us for advice, questions, and guidance.

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We are lucky to have a great relationship with our son’s birth mama. We started to develop our relationship with her while she was pregnant and she invited us to the hospital for his birth. We will never be able to thank her enough for that gift. We send pictures, video, and text weekly. She parents two other children and we talk about all their similarities and personalities. We feel open adoption is best for the development and self assurance of adoptees and fully support any level of openness in adoption going forward.

Favorites

Austin

Favorite Movie: Avatar
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Halloween! We love doing matching family costumes!
Hobbies/Interests: college sports, pin collecting, Disney, reading
Dream Vacation: Tokyo Disney
If I Could Choose a Superpower: flying

Ellie

Favorite Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy
Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas!! We have a huge family pajama party every Christmas Eve with our entire family. Everyone wears pajamas and we eat soups and open presents!
Hobbies/Interests: photography, adding to our Nike collections, reading
Dream Vacation: Tokyo Disney
If I Could Choose a Superpower: Vampire (Wait... do vampires count?)