Matthew & Ellie Want to Adopt

Hello! You have stumbled upon the blog of Matthew and Ellie. We are prospective parents hoping to adopt a wee little bundle of love. We are unable to have children of our own so we have chosen to go down the adventurous road of adoption! We are in our early 30's, live in Seattle, WA, and are more than ready to grow our little family. (We have our background checks, parenting classes, first aid and CPR, our home study completed, and we even have a nursery! Keep reading, there are pictures.) If you are the slightest bit interested or intrigued, take a look through our posts and get to know us a little better. (And keep clicking through "older posts", our "book pages" keep going as you continue.) If you like what you see, please contact us. We would love to hear from you!

Cheers,

Matthew & Ellie

Feel free to email us at:

matthewandellie02@gmail.com

We really like each other and really like to have fun

We're a pair of old souls who love the 40's and 50's. Play a little Benny Goodman and we can't help busting out a little Lindy Hop. 

Our Letter To You...

Hi there!

We are Matthew and Ellie; adventurous, slightly quirky and just plain lovable. We're the best of friends and still very much in love. We're excited for the opportunity  to expand our family through adoption, and to provide a safe, warm and happy home full of fun, laughter, unconditional love, family and friends.

Even before we got married, we knew adoption would be a part of our family plan. Matthew has six adopted siblings, so he has always felt passionate about adoption. We talked about it extensively while we were still dating, and I was totally on board! We decided to try to have at least one child through birth and one child through adoption. However, after a year of trying to get pregnant, we found out we can't have children on our own. Thank goodness adoption was already on our hearts! We started our paperwork, background checks, home study, and even bought a house in Seattle (complete with a super cute nursery) in order to grow our little family.

I know for us, the adoption process thus far has been a roller coaster of emotions, and ups and downs. I imagine your journey has had its own share of ups and downs as well. With all the emotions and energy it takes to work towards a decision like this, we hope you have good people around you to help and support you. If you would like to get to know us better, we invite you to thumb through our book and see if there is a connection. If there is, we would love to get to know you.

Cheers,

Matthew & Ellie

Our Story

Ellie and I met through mutual friends at our local Starbucks when we were 19, and quickly became the best of friends. Somehow, (I think it was Ellie's doing) we ended up taking a swing dance class together and spent the next year attached at the hip. Funny enough, even though we spent nearly every day together, it took over a year before we started dating. Our families often joke that we went from friends to fiancés, and I suppose they're right. We had always cared about each other, then one day we suddenly realized we were in love. Thankfully, we're still best friends, and more in love than ever.

We married when we were 21, (a couple of crazy kids) and have loved every minute of it. We took turns going to college shortly after we got married, each working so the other could focus on school. Ellie got her degree in psychology, while I studied communications. Ellie now helps children with autism and I work at a public relations firm in Seattle. Ellie is very much looking forward to being a full-time mom once we start our family.

Yep, we met right in front of this exact Starbucks! 

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)   ----->

Our Thoughts On Family

Currently, our family consists of Matthew, myself (Ellie), and our super-colossal cat, Boo. He is a big ball of fluffy love, and he is so good with kids. You're probably wondering why we want to be parents, and what kind of parents we'll be. Fair question! First and foremost, we love children. As much as we enjoy spending time together with just the two of us, we know that someone is missing from our little family. We want to see life through a child's eyes; introduce them to the wonders of the world, support their dreams and raise them with good values. We want to foster a strong imagination while they're young, and help them grow up to be good people with a solid sense of right and wrong. We want to raise happy children who value play as much as hard work, who dream as big as they love and who value a day at school as much as a day at the beach. Most importantly, we want to teach our kids to love God and to be kind to others.

Our Pastimes

We love to have fun together... Sporting events (GO SOUNDERS!), rock climbing, hiking, dancing, snowshoeing, smooching, knitting, (Ellie made the hats in the pic below!) dressing up and going out, camping, and cave hiking, or just staying in to watch a good movie and snuggle on the couch - if we're together, we're pretty much going to have a good time.

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)   ----->

Our Home

We bought a house and adore our new neighborhood! There are parks in walking distance from our home, plus Alki Beach and Downtown Seattle are just a short drive away. Our home was a bit of a "fixer-upper" when we got it (as you can see in the before and after pictures below). Thankfully Matthew was a carpenter for eight years before changing careers. We replaced all the floors, painted every inch and turned the spare room into a nursery. It's now perfectly cozy and absolutely us!

Our Emerald City

Though we're new to Seattle (just over a year now) we feel like it's always been our home. We love the hustle and bustle of city life, the quiet calm of our little neighborhood and the beauty of the Puget Sound. On the weekends, we like to check out new restaurants, catch the ferry across the Sound, or simply wander through unexplored corners of the city. We LOVE spending the day at Alki Beach, or strolling through Lincoln Park.

Shopping at Pike Place Market 

Nothing more lovely than the Space Needle in autumn 

Ferry ride across the Puget Sound 

The view from our side of the water, LOVE Seattle

Walk the Pier and ride the new Ferris Wheel 

We love the market

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)   ----->

Our Love of Travel

We love spending time at home, but we also love to travel! Recently, Ellie and I backpacked through Europe. We met lots of wonderful people along the way, and made memories we will cherish for a lifetime. We even travel-blogged the whole trip so we could share our experience with our friends and family back home! We love experiencing new cultures, and can't wait to show our kids the world!

LONDON

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)   ----->

Our Favorite Family Excursions

While we always have a blast traveling on our own, nothing beats traveling with kids. Fortunately, Matthew's brother Dan and his wife Tessa have three little ones that we absolutely adore (River, Island, and Stone). Each year we plan a little vacation with them and have a wonderful time. The four of us are the best of friends, and we love spending time with the kiddos.

Our Vicarious Life (with kids we love)

It's true; we do live vicariously through Dan and Tessa. Their kids bring a lot of joy to our lives, and we love spending time with them. River and Island get along very well, love being outside, (especially when they're bug hunting) and are already proficient on their little computers. Stone is the wild child; he's energetic to say the least and climbs whatever he can get a hold of. River and Island pray every night that God will give us a baby so they can have a new cousin. (Super sweet and very precious.)

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)  ---->

Matthew's Family

Matthew comes from a big family with LOTS of siblings. His parents, Graydon and Gail, (that's them to the left. Aren't they adorable?) had four children together and then adopted six more. Most people think they're crazy for having such a big family - which is probably a little bit true - but it's also because they have big hearts. Most of the kids are grown and married with children, which means plenty of cousins to play with.

We have family get together's with Matthew's family regularly. Matthew's mom is a terrific cook and loves to host the whole gang. Now that Mom and Dad are empty-nesters, they love filling the house with all the kids and grand kids. It's great for all of us, too, because we love spending time together.

Ellie's Family

Simply irresistible. That is the essence of Ellie's family. Ellie's little sister Katelin, her husband Joe, and their son, (super cute) Jackson are our adventure buddies. We love traveling together and hanging out as a family. Her parents, Ken and Linda, are two of the most genuine and loving people on the planet. They absolutely love their new role as grandparents, and can't wait to be grandparents to our future children.

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)  ---->

Our Thanksgiving Feast

Thanksgiving is always spent with Matthew's family, and is always a feast! Mom cooks a turkey, a ham and about six pies, and the rest of us all bring our specialty. For Ellie, it's her world famous orange rolls and rhubarb pie. We spend the whole day snacking and hanging out, then the whole family (usually there are about 30 of us there) dish up the big meal. It's wonderfully chaotic.

Our Christmas Traditions

Christmas is always spent with Ellie's family. Her sister, husband and their baby boy join us in the morning for breakfast, where Ellie's mom makes cinnamon rolls that put Cinnabon to shame. Then we sit around the tree together taking turns opening presents. Ellie and I try to keep it simple; however, Ellie's folks are world class spoilers! They get so much joy from watching "the kids" open their gifts.

Ellie's FAVORITE time of year!

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)  ---->

Our Friends

Joe and Misty are two of our best friends, and as close to family as anyone can get. They live just a short ferry ride away, so we love to get together on the weekends. Their daughter, Evi, is our goddaughter and such a sweet girl. They are expecting their second child soon, who we can't wait to meet!

DON'T FORGET TO CLICK "OLDER POSTS" TO SEE THE REST OF THE BOOK!  :)   ----->

Our Community

We're blessed to have a lot of good people in our life, including dear friends from our church who have been amazingly supportive. The road to adoption has been a long one, and we're so thankful for our family of friends, including our church family. Many of them helped us remodel our home, provided supplies for the nursery, and they continually lift us up in prayer.

Contact Us!

Thank you so much for taking the time to look through our book! We admit, it's hard to really communicate who we are in a few pages, so we hope you will get in touch with us. We'd love to meet you in person to answer any questions you might have. Feel free to email us at:


matthewandellie02@gmail.com


Cheers,

           Matthew & Ellie