Eleanor and Mark

Our Story

Hi, we’re Mark and Eleanor! Thank you for visiting our page, we are excited to share our story with you on why we are adopting and who we are.

Back in 2012, we met through an on-line dating website. We hit it off on our first date and after many more dates, we really enjoyed each other’s company. We had many of the same interests and our lifestyle complemented each other. Throughout our relationship we enjoy traveling, hiking, and cooking dinners together. After several years of dating, Mark proposed to Eleanor at Eleanor’s favorite spot, Niagara Falls. We got married in 2016.

We always knew that we wanted to start a family, but we found out after a year of trying that we couldn’t conceive a child naturally. We took our time to discuss our options and our decision always came back to adoption. We decided that adoption was something we both felt was right for our family and so we started our journey with Adoption STAR. We are ready to become parents and cannot wait to welcome a child into our family!

About Eleanor

I was born and raised in New York City. I am currently working as an Academic Advisor in a University where I provide guidance to students throughout their education. I love my role as an Academic Advisor because I love interacting with people and my role allows me to support students throughout their studies. In my spare time, I do a lot of gardening. I enjoy planting flowers and watching them grow through the spring and summer.

I also love traveling, visiting new places and sightseeing. I think my love for traveling stems from one of my favorite memories as a child, such as going on family trips. I remember the excitement of visiting places for the first time like Niagara Falls for the first time, looking at the huge waterfall and feeling the mist that sprayed us when we walked by. I remember my parents planning annual trips and it was those memories that I cherish the most. I cannot wait to share my love for exploration with a child and be able to open up their minds to seeing, hearing and having new experiences.

About Mark

I was born and raised in New York City as well. I work as an HR Manager for a non-profit, helping the organization with maintaining employees. I enjoy what I do because there are always challenges that come up where I have the opportunity to find creative solutions to help address problems. When I am not working, I enjoy watching sports such as baseball and hockey. I also like visiting museums and learning about the history of a place or a house. In my spare time, I enjoy working on home improvement projects – resowing grass seeds for the lawn, painting our house shutters, updating new light fixtures, etc.

Growing up in an Italian family, I spent weekends visiting my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We watched baseball games on TV, played outside with our cousins, threw around a frisbee, played catch, and for a family tradition, we played bocce ball; A game where my father, aunts and uncles taught me at a very young age as kids of all ages can play. To this day, during a family outing, we still have a lot of fun playing bocce ball. It is one of my favorites because it brings the whole family together as we work in teams, pitting family members against the other family members. I cannot wait to share this family tradition with a child.

Our Home and Community

We live in a three-bedroom, bi-level house on 1.5 acres of land. Upstairs, we have a huge kitchen (we love to cook and bake), a dining room and a cozy sitting room. Downstairs, we have a living room and an entertainment area. Our house has plenty of yard space for a child to run around and play. We enjoy BBQing on the deck during the summer months and having family and friends over.

Our house is on a quiet street, our neighbors very friendly and we are not far from the town’s main area. We enjoy the peacefulness and quiet nature of our town. We live in the vicinity of three different playgrounds, a strip mall with restaurants and shops, along with our favorite ice cream shop, pizzerias, and supermarkets.

The community has a lot of events for families. We enjoy going to minor league baseball games, fireworks events, food festivals, and the local county fairs. We consider our community to be a very family-friendly.

HOBBIES AND TRADITIONS

Our favorite traditions vary by season, but here are some of our favorites! 

Autumn: Autumn is our favorite season. Every year, we take a trip to the New England states or upstate NY to enjoy the beauty of the leaves changing colors. We also go apple and pumpkin picking with our family. We both love apple cider donuts! As Halloween approaches, we carve pumpkins and decorate the house. We like dressing up in costumes just for fun on Halloween!

Winter: While we enjoy the heavy snowfall to build snowmen and snow tubing, we like staying inside and making hot chocolate and watching a good movie too. We also enjoy visiting different villages to see their Christmas trees.

Spring: As the air gets warmer outside, plans are made for those early spring hikes, walks in the park, spring cleaning and planting. We would love to share the joys of planting seeds and watching them grow and blossom into pretty flowers. 

Summer: BBQ, the grill is on, and the family is over for hotdogs, steaks, corn and burgers. It is also the time of year that we plan short road trips. We found that living in the Hudson Valley, there are so many charming little towns to explore. We can’t wait to take a child to explore, nearby museums, petting zoos, and farms.

OUR LETTER TO YOU

Dear Expectant Mother,

Thank you for taking the time in viewing our website. We hope that by getting a glimpse into our lives, you see what kind of family your child may grow up in and see how much we will love and care for him or her.

We promise to not take the child for granted. He or she will grow up in a loving home, filled with laughter, learning, and fun. We will raise him or her with unconditional love, provide an environment where he or she can grow up to be a great person, who is open-minded and open-hearted. We will teach the child and explain to him/her of their adoption journey and the great sacrifices that are made from their birth mother. Without knowing the openness, if you prefer, we hope to keep an open relationship with you, but we will respect your choices.

Thank you for reading, we hope we are the right family for you and your baby.