About Nick & Ashley McFadden
As you consider options for your baby’s future, we thank you for considering us as potential parents. We want you to know that we will support your adoption plan and that your baby will be welcomed into a home full of laughter, music, and a very fluffy dog named Leo. Below is our story.
How we met
Our story began while we were working at the same place Dubuque in 2010. Ashley, who is from northwest Iowa, is a transplant to the area while Nick has strong roots in Dubuque. We were invited to lunch by mutual friends, and a week or so later, we had our first date, where we found similar interests in food, music, and our overall values. Nick still has a video of Ashley being pulled on stage at a local concert where she played the washboard with the band. A couple of years later we got married and we have been together almost twelve years.
Our interests
As two first-generation college graduates, we value education and learning. We want you to know that your child will be supported in their education and in pursuing what they love.
We are both creative in our work and play. Nick works in marketing and Ashley works at a local university. Nick enjoys graphic design and photography while Ashley loves to write. Music will also be a major part of your baby’s life. Typically a mix of folk, hip hop, and occasionally Weird Al is playing somewhere in our home whether we’re relaxing together, cleaning the house, or cooking.
We also take gardening and cooking seriously in our home because we believe that eating well and having a conversation over the food we’ve prepared is one of the best ways to stay connected. It’s also really fun to find recipes and serve a nice meal to our friends and family. We have a tradition of making a big meal every Sunday. In summer, we’ll harvest our dinner right from our garden. In the fall and winter, watching football and basketball are particularly special to Nick, so we make our favorite dinners for game days.
Traveling to national parks, interesting cities, and visiting the people we love is also important to us. While those travels may not be quite as ambitious right away with your baby, we’ll plan to take plenty of trips to the local library and to our local parks from the start.
Where We Live
We live in heart of Dubuque, Iowa. Our neighborhood has many young families, and there are lots of fun traditions like the neighborhood Fourth of July parade, where all the kids get to ride their bikes in the street, a Halloween parade, and a luminary night in December, where everyone lights up their yard with candles in paper lanterns. The neighborhood kids play catch and kickball on our street during the summer, and we are also within walking distance of a beautiful community park with a garden, baseball field, and a playground.
Our Extended Family and Friends
Your child will be welcomed by two cousins, an aunt, three uncles, loving grandparents, great-grandparents, and a large extended family. Most of Nick’s family lives in Dubuque and the Chicago area while Ashley’s side of the family resides in the Des Moines area.
Holidays are filled with playing games, making meals together, and catching up. Each summer, Nick’s grandparents rent a house in Wisconsin for the whole family to spend a long weekend playing dominoes, swimming in the backyard pool, and taking day trips to nearby little towns.
We consider our friends our extended family. Both of us have maintained close friendships that have lasted for decades, and we’re sure these friends will serve as additional “aunts” and “uncles” to your baby.
In the good times and more challenging times, our families have been and continue to be incredibly supportive. They are excited to welcome your baby to the crew.
Why We Want to Adopt
We got married when we were thirty, and at the time, children weren’t at the top of our minds as we were living in the Chicago area and working on our careers. When we moved back to Nick’s hometown of Dubuque and began spending more time with our families, we realized that we were ready to expand our own family.
However, our plans changed when Nick was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018. After a year of treatments, Nick was given the all-clear, but we learned that we could no longer have biological children. After receiving the news, we took some time and in 2021, we decided that we were again ready to complete our family and began to research the next steps to adopt.
We celebrate Nick’s health every day, and going through that experience has made us stronger and more appreciative of the truly important things in life like our love, our families, and our health.
We understand that adoption might be a difficult choice for you, but no matter your circumstances, we think you are courageous, and we’ll be there (if you need us) every step of the way.