Welcome! Meet:

Eli + Jana

Wedding and Commercial Videographer / Wedding Photographer

California

Hispanic / Caucasian

Christian

All About Eli & Jana

In our family we have Eli (33), Jana (31) and James Wilder (3.5). We are born and raised in Sonoma County, California. We love living here because we are close to the redwoods, the ocean, the river, the vineyards, and mountains. We love that we are surrounded by such beautiful places. We are also blessed to have both of families all living in the same city and all loving on James Wilder. Our family believes in Jesus and loves taking a Sabbath every week to rest, pray, hike, and spend time with family. We love going to church together and working on serving our community as a family like helping plant our local school’s organic garden.

We adopted James Wilder from birth 3.5 years ago. He is the light of our life and is such a joyful kid. He keeps us in shape by wanting togo on bike rides, hikes, and exercise with us. His favorite thing to do with us is read books, go to the library, and the children’s museum. He is in the stage of loving airplanes, trains, helicopters, and most vehicles that fly or go fast. James just started preschool this year and is in the frog class. This stage has been a lot of fun and a lot of laughs.

Why Adoption?

Since I (Jana) was a teenager I have wanted to adopt. I believed God put it on my heart at a young age to prepare the way for our future. Eli and I found out years later, that I would need to have a hysterectomy at 25 years old. At this point we had prayed and our hearts were already wanting for all our children to be adopted. We always had it as our first choice. After we adopted James we knew why God had put us on this path. James Wilder is far brighter and has more joy than we could have ever imagined. We know that with each child that we adopt into our family that joy will only keep multiplying. We cannot wait to have another son/daughter and to love on you guys (birth family) as well.

Family & Home

We love where we live! We have the redwoods, ocean, mountains, vineyards, rivers, and San Francisco, all so close to us. Our house is in a neighborhood with lots of families. We are close to about 7 families that we often take family walks to and have the kids all play together. Our neighborhood also puts on events like  Christmas light parades. We are really close to both our families. They all live close to us and we see them all on a regular basis. We  love having our kids grow up alongside cousins. We love being able to put on family dinners and events like family olympics for everyone to get together and have fun!

How others describe me

Eli described by Jana: I would describe Eli as having the best sense of humor and making even the hardest of times a better by making us laugh. He is the best supporter and provider. He will do anything for this family and goes out of his way to make James and I happy. He is a hard worker, creative and has a heart of generosity. 

Jana described by Eli: I would describe Jana as a kind soul that loves to encourage all those around her. She loves to give to others and make them smile. She loves to encourage James and find activities that he loves to do! She is a hard worker, creative and loves to be outdoors exploring, gardening and hiking!

how we met

How We Met

Eli and I met 13 years ago at a concert. I was the girl in the audience and Eli was the musician on stage. After months of going to concerts, hoping he would notice me, we were introduced by a mutual friend. After that we hit it off from the start. We are each others first and last love. We got married 9 years ago and since then have traveled the world together, been through natural disasters together, parenting, and running a business together. We each put God first and do everything as a family team.

Advice to Future Child

Dear future baby,

We love you already. Just as our hearts swelled up with love for James Wilder, we cannot wait for it to grow again. We hope you can grow up to love others, cherish the little moments in life, love the beauty of being in nature and seek God above all else. We hope you know we believe in you and want to support you in whatever you believe God has called you to do. We hope to travel with you, encourage you to try new things and help you with anything life brings your way. We love you!

Perspectives on Open Adoption

We hope and pray we can have an open adoption. We believe the more love the better for our kids! We also would love to have great relationships with them!

Favorites

Eli
  • Favorite Movie: That thing you do!
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: pozole on New Year's Eve with my family
  • Hobbies/Interests: music, videography, cooking, sound/audio, basketball
  • Dream Vacation: Hawaii
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: to fly
Jana
  • Favorite Movie: The Holiday
  • Favorite Holiday/Tradition: Christmas Eve church services and spending days with family
  • Hobbies/Interests: photography, hiking, traveling, cooking, gardening
  • Dream Vacation: Iceland hiking to waterfalls
  • If I Could Choose a Superpower: to travel to places in a blink of an eye

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