Words could never express how honored we would be if chosen as your baby’s family.
We are Adriano, Jolie and Ottis! We are blessed that you are getting to know our family. We could not begin to know how difficult of a decision it was for you to choose adoption. But we know that your brave choice was one made of love, compassion and hope. Words could never express how honored we would be if chosen as your baby’s family. We promise to provide a life of unconditional love and support, a family to grow with, play with, create adventures and explore life with. We look forward to learning more about you and what you see for your baby’s future. It is said that it takes a village to raise a child. Our village is excited to support us as welcome a baby through adoption. Our village consists of sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, VoVô and VoVó (grandmother and grandfather in Portuguese), YaYa (grandmother) and many friends that have become family. These are the people that will love and support us and the baby through our adoption journey.
Relationship/Journey
Jolie is born and raised the in the greater New Orleans area and Adriano was born in Brazil and moved to the United States when he was 16. He lived in Colorado until graduating and moved to New Orleans for work. We met in 2010 through mutual friends and while playing in a Co-Ed soccer league. We started dating in 2011. About a year later, Jolie was diagnosed with breast cancer. The next year was full of infusions, multiple surgeries and radiation, and she is now 11 years a Survivor! Our relationship grew and developed through the trials of sickness, job changes and grad school. We married May of 2016. Shortly after marrying we decided to grow our family, after several months of trying without success we started Fertility work ups. We were told that with Jolie approaching 40 and her history of chemotherapy, our chances to conceive naturally were quite low. During the testing and work up, we were miraculously able to conceive and welcomed our son in 2018 (Ottis).
Why Adoption?
We have always dreamed of multiple children, but have since suffered a miscarriage and two unsuccessful attempts at IVF. We have always been open to adoption as a way to have children and share the love we have. We had many in-depth conversations about adoption as a way to create and grow a family, prior to Jolie starting breast cancer treatment as we knew the risks of infertility following cancer treatment. We have decided that adoption is the way we want to expand and complete our family. We feel that we have so much love to give. We would be honored to be chosen as parents, through adoption, to love and cherish, to support and teach a child. Our son, who is now almost 6, is excited at the opportunity to become a big brother. He has been asking for a sibling for at least 3 years. He has a list of how he will help with a baby and what he wants to teach the baby. He is only 5, but already understands the gravity of adoption and how much of a gift it is. We are excited to him share his love, family and home with a baby
Home
We live a in a single-family home in New Orleans. Our house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Our home these days is filled with homemade forts, Legos, building blocks, and crafts. We have a very small yard, though we do spend a lot of time there gardening, swimming in the blow-up pool or BBQing on the back porch. Our neighborhood is diverse and is walkable to several parks, a neighborhood pool and many restaurants and shops.
Travel
Aside from the road tripping hobby, we also have started planning to visit National Parks. This summer, we are headed to Mammoth Cave. Of course, we’ll have some stops along the way to see the Cincinnati Zoo and the Columbus Zoo (where they film ”Secrets of the Zoo”). We visit family in Denver at least twice a year. We go camping with extended family and friends. We visit Orange Beach frequently and other various cities near our home. We do have extended family in Brazil and plan to eventually visit there. On just Mom and Dad trips, we enjoy hikes, relaxing, time spent exploring new towns and trying new restaurants and foods.
Hobbies
As a family we enjoy spending time together. Almost every weekend we can be found at the Crescent City Farmer’s Market, there we meet up with friends, have breakfast and shop. Often on Fridays or Saturdays we walk (Ottis often on his scooter or bike) up to the main street near our home and have dinner, or enjoy an evening as a family. To beat the summer heat or south Louisiana weather we head to the Children’s Museum or Aquarium/Insectarium. We often take day road trips to other cities or states near and visit their Children’s Museums, Zoos and Hiking. We love to camp and spend time with family and friends. We also love going on bike rides as a family around the city and even to the track nearby. Jolie loves reading and reading to Ottis. She enjoys working out, gardening, spending time outside and having brunch with friends and/or family. Adriano still loves playing soccer. He also enjoys swimming and biking; having lunch with friends, tinkering and fixing things around the house or nerding out on gadgets. Ottis loves martial arts (We love watching him learn his strengths, discipline and confidence). At home he is often creating or building with blocks, Legos, magnet tiles and his favorite, boxes. He loves tinkering with dad and and helping mom. As a family we do enjoy a good movie night, Ottis’ favorites are Secrets of the Zoo, Bluey, Strange World and Encanto. He loves some of our old school favorites, too, like Reading Rainbow and Bear in the Big Blue House
Pets
We have a Dachshund/Jack Russel mix, named Andouille, who is about 15 years old and a fish tank with a few fish. Ottis enjoys helping to feed the fish. One of his house chores is to feed the dog and help walk him every day.
School & Work
Adriano has Bachelors of Science in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines and a Masters of Science in Engineering and Technology Management also from Colorado School of Mines. He works as a Petroleum Engineer for the last 21 years. Jolie has Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Holy Cross, Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner currently working as a Nurse Practitioner in Primary Care for the last 7 years. She is also active in the Louisiana Nurse Practitioner organization and has held a position on the board since 2020. Both Adriano and Jolie are active in the parent/teacher association at Ottis’ current school, and at his previous preschool and day care. Jolie volunteers with the Live Oak summer camp, helping to complete the medical screens for the campers attending.
Jolie's Extended Family
Jolie is from a large family, and has 5 sisters. 4 of her 5 sisters are married and 3 of them have children. Her parents were married for 35 years until her Dad passed away in an accident. Her Mom still lives in the house she grew up in. One of her sisters, Jessica has Down Syndrome. We spend a lot of time with YaYa (what Ottis calls Jolie’s Mom) and Jessica, going to lunch, vacations, cooking and lazy days visiting. Ottis currently has 5 cousins, ages 13, 9, 7, 6 and 4. The oldest 2 cousins are girls. The rest are boys, who are all close in age. They love to play together. One of her sisters lives in the Dallas area with her Husband and we get to see them about 2-3 times a year. Ottis’ godparents are Jolie’s Uncle and his Husband. We often have dinner with them or Ottis spends time with them while Mom and Dad get a date night. Jolie also has a large extended family and grew up with cousins all around. She is still close with a few. They even join us for the annual Easter Camping trip. We also seen them for some holidays and random family get togethers.
Adriano's Extended Family
Adriano’s Mom, Dad, Sister, brother and his wife live in the Denver area. We see them at least 4 times a year and face time or video chat regularly. Most of his extended family are either in Brazil or scattered in other parts of the US, Europe and Australia. With the invention of messenger and video chat, it is much easier to stay in touch. He also has a core group of friends that he grew up with and are like family, that still live in Brazil. They chat regularly to keep up with each other’s families and lives.
Family Traditions & Holidays
Generally, for Christmas we spend time with Jolie’s family. Christmas Eve, we enjoy time with her extended family (her Mom’s brothers/sisters and their kids), we play holiday games, eat lots of food and enjoy the chaos that big families bring. We enjoy a quiet Christmas morning just the 3 of us and then go to YaYa’s house where Ottis and his cousins get to play and visit. Occasionally we will head to the beach for the time between Christmas and New Year. For Thanksgiving we have started a new tradition to spend it with Adriano’s family either here in New Orleans, in Denver, at the beach or where ever the family chooses to travel. This year we are planning to return to the Beach, Ottis is so excited. For Easter we go camping with Jolie’s Sisters and family, and some family friends as well. It really is a great time with kids everywhere, hiking, splash pad adventures and our annual Eater egg hunt. Ottis loves it and always asks to go again as soon as we get home. Mardi Gras we spend time with family and friends on the parade route. Ottis loves that we walk, or rather pull him in the wagon to and from the parades. Every year the weekend of Halloween we have a costume march with all the cousins and a few family friends to the Ice cream shop. The only rule is you MUST be wearing a costume. The kids love walking together and stopping at shops along the way. We get lots of comments and looks, especially since we walk during the day! We do a family costume each year (construction, fireman and dalmatians, scuba diver and sea life, and the 3 bears). We are already talking about our costume theme for this year. For our Anniversary we take road trips, catch a new brewery and explore a new town, sometimes we take Ottis with is if there is a cool museum or kid attraction where we are going.
Find Out More
Would you like to learn more about this family or the other families waiting to adopt a baby? Contact the caring counselors at St. Elizabeth. There’s no pressure—we’re just here to help you decide what’s best for you and your baby.
