Elise and Travis

Our names are Elise, Travis, Banks, and Gentry from Louisiana! We are so thankful for the opportunity to introduce ourselves to you!

First we want to say we are so excited about the path that we are on, to build the family that we have been dreaming of. We are now in the perfect position to raise another child. We have always known that we want to adopt a child.  While deciding to adopt, we got pregnant in the process twice!  Now we are ready for the perfect addition to our family. We are really excited about the opportunity to meet you and to hear what you hope for your child. We hope that this glimpse into our lives, into who we are, will help comfort you in your decision. We cannot begin to imagine the decisions you are facing at this time and we are truly humbled and grateful for your consideration. We hope our profile gives you a picture of our life together, our loving relationship, and our commitment to being the best parents possible.

Our Story by Elise: We met by chance at a local restaurant one Tuesday night. Travis struck up a conversation with me and we chatted for hours. He put his number in my phone and asked me to go to dinner with him. I was impressed by his confidence and outgoing personality. From that night on, we were together.

Shortly after we began dating, Travis moved to New Orleans. I visited him on most weekends. We explored the city together and loved to do it all: restaurants, museums, shops, galleries, festivals, parks, and concerts.

We both love to travel so we decided that instead of giving one another Christmas gifts, we would go on a vacation together every summer. We have ventured together to San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Moab, Utah. After dating for three wonderful years, we decided to tie the knot.

We had a fairy tale wedding in New Orleans. It was exactly what I had always dreamed of as a little girl. After our wedding, we had a fabulous honeymoon in Spain. Married life has been wonderful for us. The most exciting chapter of our lives has been parenthood!  We are looking forward to experiencing parenthood again and falling in love with our little bundle of joy!

Destined to be Together:

• Our grandmothers, both in their 90s, started the first grade together and remained lifelong friends!
• Our families attend the same church.
• Elise’s brother and Travis’ sister were friends in high school.
• Travis’ parents and grandparents are customers of Elise’s dad.
• We grew up about 1 mile from one another.
• Both of our parents have been married for over 40 years!

5 Things We Love to Do as a Family:

• We take long walk down our street every evening. We enjoy visiting with our neighbors on our evening strolls.
• Our family likes to play “Who can make Sissy laugh?” We take turns making silly sounds and faces at her until she squeals and laughs. A baby’s laugh has got to be the sweetest sound there is!
• On Sunday evenings we like to grill and chill on our patio. We usually invite our parents over and Travis (award winning barbecue chef) grills meat and veggies for the family.
• We have become a biker gang! Now that Banks can ride a bike with training wheels, we like to bike as a family.
• Swim safety is very important to us! Banks has been in survival swim training and taken swimming lessons for two years. Gentry began swim lessons when she turned 6 months old. Our future child will also begin water training as an infant. We love our family pool time!

Meet Travis by Elise: “I fell in love with Travis for his witty sense of humor, big personality, and even bigger heart.” – Elise

A Few Words from Travis: I am enjoying sharing my love of sports with our children.  I can’t wait to coach T ball, take all of our kids to the golf course with me, and take them to sporting events. I am most looking forward to raising lifelong die hard Saints fans!

A Few Fun Facts About Travis:

• Loves to play golf! He is active in a golf league that often plays in tournaments.
• Is an award winning barbecue cook.
• Is a singer. He sang in a cover band for almost 20 years.
• Has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology.
• Is a Project Manager for an engineering company.
• Is a godfather to 4 children.
• Is a huge sports fan! From football to baseball, basketball, and golf- he knows all the teams and players.
• Has an outgoing personality. He never meets a stranger.
• Wrote, recorded, and copyrighted a song as a Christmas gift for his parents last year.

Meet Elise by Travis: “I immediately noticed Elise’s loving and compassionate personality. Her inner beauty compliments her outer beauty. She has a great personality and is a joy to be around. I knew right away that she was the woman for me.” – Travis

A Few Words from Elise: I love making memories with our children.  When I imagine our future, I see our family growing.  I look forward to making more memories with our children.  Some things that I am most excited about include: bringing the kids to my parents’ lakehouse, teaching the kids to swim in our pool, attending the kids’ sporting events, and them walking to school with me each day.

A Few Fun Facts About Elise by Travis:

• Loves being a teacher! She currently teaches Kindergarten, but has taught PreK, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades.
• Was her school’s 2015 Teacher of the Year.
• Likes to volunteer with several charitable organizations.
• Has a brother who has 3 children. His youngest was adopted. Our family has already been blessed by adoption!
• Is still very active with the alumnae group of her college sorority
• Has two master’s degrees in education.
• Loves to travel and go on adventures! She has been all over the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, the Bahamas, England, Spain, France, Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Holland, and Germany.
• Is a godmother to her best friend’s son.
• Is always looking for new healthy recipes to try out!
• Was a pageant queen and is now a pageant director.
• Considers being a mom as her greatest joy and accomplishment.

Elise’s brother’s third child was adopted. Like us, he and his wife began the adoption process but had two biological children in the process.  Our niece and nephews have brought so much joy to our family.

We decided to have three children because we want to ensure that we have the financial resources to help our children pursue their dreams.  We will be able to afford our children’s hobbies and interests as well as their college education.  Stopping after three children will allow us to provide the life we envision for our kids.

We know that blood does not make a family.  Our kids are our world. We want you to rest assured that we will love, support, and treat all three of our children equally.

Nanny Brunch: When Gentry was born, we began a new tradition.  The kids’ godmothers, whom they call “Nanny”, come to our home for a nanny brunch with Elise and the kids.  We have a Sunday brunch each season of the year. We are looking forward to adding another baby and nanny to our nanny brunch bunch!

Meet Big Brother Banks and Big Sister Gentry: Watching Banks be an amazing big brother to Gentry is so much fun! She loves to watch him play with all his toys and he loves to help mommy and daddy take care of her.  We are looking forward to the day when she gets to be the big sister helping mommy and daddy take care of the baby.

Banks has a sense of humor and loves to make jokes, change the words to songs to make them silly, and be a ham. Gentry is the perfect audience for his antics because she is a giggly baby girl.

We just built our dream home on 4 acres of family land in Louisiana.  We are so happy here, but there is more room in our home and our hearts for another child.

We are so fortunate to live in a community where we are surrounded by both of our families.  Both of us grew up playing in the field on family land with all of our cousins, and we want our children to have that same childhood experience.

Our community has some of the highest performing schools in our state.  Education is very important to us, our families, and our community.  We both take pride in being college graduates and will make sure that our children have the proper education and financial resources to pursue whatever career path they choose after high school.

Our Dreams and Hopes: Although married life married life and parenthood is a dream come true, we have one piece missing. We are looking forward to growing our family. We want children to love and take care of. We want to raise children who are best friends. We want little girls to take to dance practice, gymnastics, and pageants or little boys to take to baseball games or golfing. We want kids to play with, bring to school, on vacation, tailgating, and go fishing and swimming at our family’s lake house.

We can’t wait to do art projects, bake cookies, go to the zoo, museums, go to the park, and have playdates with cousins and friend’s children. Elise looks forward to spending all summer at home making memories with the kids. Making memories with loved ones is what we live for!

We can offer a stable and loving home, support of our family and friends, and an overabundance of love to give to our future child. We are yearning to make the lifelong commitment to raising children. Being parents to another child would complete our life!

Thank You: We are very thankful that you have taken the time to view our profile. We hope it has helped you to get to know us a little better. We already have tremendous love in our hearts for your child and we promise to love, protect, and support your child unconditionally, forever.

Should we be blessed to be chosen by you, rest assured that your child will always know his/her adoption story and that we will be forever grateful for the priceless gift of life and love you gave. We wish you strength, courage, and peace as you make this important decision. We would be honored if we turn out to be the fit for you!

-Elise, Travis, Banks, and Gentry