Rebecca + Elliott "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope." Maya Angelou Hello! Welcome to our story.

We are Elliott, Rebecca, and Ellie. We are a family created by adoption and love. We want to share a little about our hearts and hopefully get to know yours one day soon. Through this book, we hope that you can see our love of life and family and our genuine desire to be the best parents possible. We adopted our daughter, Ellie, four years ago so our family understands the importance of the decision you are considering. If our family feels like home for your child, we would be blessed by your trust in us. Whatever your choice may be, please know that we are thinking about you, praying for you, and support you as you seek what feels right for you and your baby.

With great love, Rebecca and Elliott We are a c o n n e c t e d f a m i l y and love to spend time with each other. It’s our g r e a t e s t j o y to just laugh with one another. Where it all began

We met in college. Mutual friends introduced us and we found ourselves talking all night at a friend's birthday party. Elliott invited Rebecca to be his date at his sister's party the following weekend, and we have been together ever since!

At the end of college, Elliott got a job in Memphis, TN and Rebecca was accepted to graduate school at Vanderbilt. We dated long distance until our engagement. Living in different cities helped us develop great communication skills, but long distance is hard so we were so excited to get married. We always talked about having children and wanting a big family. When we found out we were unable to have children, we leaned on our faith, and claimed that we are both perfectly and wonderfully made...to adopt :) Our road to adoption was one of the most beautiful broken roads that we have ever walked. Looking back, it is so clear that God was preparing our hearts, home, and lives for adoption-- we just didn't know it yet.

Why we want to adopt

We adopted our daughter 4 years ago, and we are so excited to grow our family. We treasure the relationships we have with our siblings and we want to joyfully welcome another child into our home and as a sibling for Ellie.

Adoption has been such a picture of love, sacrifice, trust, and faith in our lives. We cannot fully express our gratitude for our daughter’s birth family. Their love for their child inspires us to do hard things and take leaps of faith. Their trust in us has been life changing and we are grateful.

We have an open adoption with our daughter’s birth family, but we know that no two adoptions look exactly alike, so we welcome contact with you at whatever level of openness makes you feel the most comfortable, loved, and honored. Light hearted, passionate, and caring. Meet Rebecca

Elliott shares:

Rebecca is a really awesome mom! Every step of the way she has has made parenting with her a joy. She is intuitive and understands our daughter and is the most fun mother. Rebecca taught Special Education for 10 years and is now a stay at home mom. I knew that she was a great school teacher, but I never really got to see it in action. Now I can understand exactly why her students loved her so much...she was born to connect with children! Rebecca is also silly. She'd say she's funny, but some of her jokes are just goofy :) She really brings levity, perspective, and a kind spirit to our house. I call her the thermostat because she has the ability to control the "temperature" of our house with just her smile. 5 feet 2 inches.

Staying at home allows time for Rebecca to pour Brown hair and brown eyes. into her family and community,. She really loves I love being in the mountains. walking Ellie to preschool, cooking, and spending My favorite song is American Honey time with family and friends. She is the one who by Lady Antebellum. reminds me to call someone on their birthday, sends the cute cards, and keeps up with the online Something silly about me is that I am family photo . She’s a passionate person and the quickest to laugh. Seriously, I when she is in your corner, you know you have a love to find the joy in situations! ride-or-die friend! She also throws an awesome Something serious about me is that party and makes the BEST banana bread. She's teaching Ellie to make this with her and it is so being a mom has changed my life, much fun to walk in the door and hear, "Daddy, we completely, and I can’t wait to add made you a treat!" another child to our family. Committed, truthful, and responsible. Meet Elliott

Rebecca shares:

Elliott rocks, I mean it! He wakes up every morning motivated to provide for our family. He is the hardest working man, turning his passion for land and hunting into a successful business. Elliott is a land broker and gets to spend lots of his time outside! When he has downtime, he enjoys hunting, fishing, and playing golf. His greatest joy is being able to spend time with his family. Elliott is the most 5 feet 10 inches. honest person I have ever met. This is a Sandy hair and green eyes. blessing because I know he will never lie to me, Favorite place to be is on any but it’s also pretty funny when I ask him girly adventure with my family. questions like, "Do you like this dress?" Only to Something silly about me is that I can get a truth-bomb! never remember words to songs, but Elliott is a great dad! One little, "Please, I love to sing loudly. It’s pretty funny Daddy?" from his daughter and he is wearing to see Rebecca cracking up at me fairy wings and playing in the yard. Elliott is our because she can remember the "camp director" and loves to get us up and out words to every song. of the house on an adventure. One of our Something serious about me is that favorite Saturday activities is breakfast at Cracker Barrel and then a trip to our river I’m a numbers guy and, so when I was property. You may find us riding horses, in school I loved taking as many Math swimming in the creek, going to a movie, or on classes as I could. a walk around our awesome city.

Meet Ellie

Ellie is our precious daughter who we adopted in 2015 and is currently 4 years old. She is such a joy and it has been the most humbling gift to raise her and watch her grow in to the person that God created her to be.

She has a love of animals and always wants to play "vet" or "doggy daycare." I mean, how cute is that? Her imagination is really inspiring. One time she told us that there were baby unicorns living in the bushes outside our house. Our days and nights are filled with puppet shows, art projects, pretend dinner parties...and we love it.

Ellie loves to swim, ride horses, and play in our sandbox. We have a tree swing in our front yard and the neighbor's children love to gather and play together. Ellie is such a tenderhearted girl and, she will be so excited to welcome a best friend and playmate.

"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart." Winnie the Pooh

This is our happy place.

We live in Elliott’s hometown and love it. After a For the holidays, Elliott’s family is huge and all few years of moving around for our jobs, we 63 of his aunts, uncles, cousins get together for decided to settle here and create the life we the annual Christmas party. We have a pianist dreamed of. We are surrounded by mountains, play and the whole family sings carols and rivers, and rural land yet we live in this really enjoys the amazing bond of family and the joy of cool mid-sized city. Rebecca grew up in Atlanta, Christmas spirit. Thanksgiving is spent in the so she enjoys this city because it’s close to her mountains of North Carolina with Rebecca’s family, but allows for a much more laidback parents, siblings, and their children. We love to lifestyle. Here we have grandparents and take hikes, make s’mores in the fire pit, and cousins that are very involved in our lives. They marvel at the beautiful fall colors.We have a are an amazing support system and so much tricolored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel names fun! We have family paddleboards and love to June Bug. She is spoiled rotten and love to take them out on the river. We also have a sleep on Ellie’s bed. We are all dog-peole and family farm with a barn and horses that we love love our furbaby so much. to take on trail rides. The farm and pool have been the site of many family celebrations and birthday parties. Our family has a little cabin cabin on the creek complete with a front porch and a rope swing where we usually all end up on Sunday afternoons. Our city is growing and as a result we have really good restaurants, and we love going to local spots like the family friendly Mexican restaurant. Our city is very friendly to biking and walking, so we enjoy strolling to our local spots and meeting friends for dinner.

We have a tricolored Cavalier King Charles Spaniel names June Bug. She is spoiled rotten and love to sleep on Ellie's bed. We are all dog-peole and love our furbaby so much. We believe that the daily acts of love and kindness are what really change We believe we the world. are called to love people unconditionally.

We believe we should lean in and hear people's stories, and walk alongside of them. Our amazing families.

Rebecca's Family: I am the oldest of 3 children Elliott's Family: I am the oldest of 3, just like and have a very close relationship with my Rebecca. My sisters and I are very close, and we parents, brother, and sister. My parents are two really enjoy family ski and beach trips together. of my best friends. They were and are sources Ellie is so close to her cousins and loves it when of unconditional love and encouragement in my they come to stay to visit in the summer life. These days, My parents are amazing hands- because we all stay up to swim and catch on grandparents. They love being Mimi and Pop, fireflies. spoiling the grandkids with treats, and taking them on trips to the beach. My parents live in our city and we spend lots of time with them. They are an amazing source of My siblings and I all went to the University of support and unconditional love. ‘Nini’ and Georgia together. Our college years were very ‘Yummy’ absolutely cannot wait to be memorable because it was so comforting to be grandparents to more children. They are young, away a school, and yet have family in Athens. energetic, and retired so they love to have Ellie Even though we live in different cities now, we to spend the night or take her on a fun outing chat all the time and love to FaceTime. Our almost once a week. annual family trip in the mountains of North Carolina is something that we look forward to all year.

A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George Moore

Fun Facts About Us

On the weekends we often can be found spending time in the city or at the lake, hosting friends, going to festivals, visiting Ellie’s favorite spots.

Growing up, both our families loved to travel; we have been to Europe, Mexico, South America, Canada and the Caribbean. We cannot wait to take our children on our adventures and show them lots of new places and cultures!

Not only did we go to college at the University of Georgia, but so did all of our siblings...and they all married UGA alums. That’s a lot of Bulldog fans in one family!

Ellie shares Rebecca’s love of books and reading. Each night is story time and Ellie always wants “one more story!”

Favorite food Rebecca: Tacos!

Favorite food Elliott: My mom’s homemade strawberry cupcakes (or Rebecca’s banana bread)

We promise you...

We are truly honored that you would consider us as a family for your baby. If you choose us, we promise that in our family, your child will receive love unconditionally and will be taught to give and receive love unconditionally. We promise to surround your child with the same love and support that we are fortunate to receive from our families. We will always be truthful, genuine, and honest in our communication with you. We promise to provide him/her with a childhood that values education, laughter, exploration, imagination, and fresh air.

We promise they will have a house filled with books, a father who wants to coach sports teams, a mom who loves to cook the family’s favorite meals, and a big sister who likes to have dance parties in the kitchen. We promise to provide a financially secure life for your child and unwavering support of their dreams.

With great love, Rebecca and Elliott

Our home is the place where we do real life, the beautiful messy kind of life, and you will always be welcome here! Thank you!