Tag Archives: Home Study

Adoption Update | Be a “Piece” of Baby Sherman’s Story

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Adoption is a costly endeavor. However, we’ve come to understand that the dollar signs and commas on the dreaded fee sheets have a good and necessary purpose. It’s what it will take to bridge the gap between Baby Sherman and us. When we first decided to adopt, one of the things that we wrestled over was whether or not we would do any fundraising. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to. There aren’t many things more humbling than asking other people for help. It’s uncomfortable, it’s vulnerable, and it feels awkward. The more we have sought the Lord and prayed about it, the more we understand that it isn’t about asking people for money but asking them to be a part of Baby Sherman’s beautiful story.

As we’ve shared previously, we are in the early stages of our adoption journey, but we are officially Home Study approved and “active” with several adoption agencies. Through our consultant, we are immediately active with three agencies. In addition, we’ve applied to three others (recommended by our consultant) that we hope to be active with by sometime next week. Being “active” means that agencies will now be able to start sending us situations to review, and our profile book will be shown to birth mothers considering adoption. It’s getting real now and we are so excited to see how this story unfolds!

We don’t know how long this journey will be. Only God does. It could happen very quickly and be an “Angel Drop” situation where a baby has just been born and needs a family at a moment’s notice, or it could take a while for us to be matched.

Here is where you come into the picture… or the puzzle. While we wait on God’s plans and timing for our adoption, we have decided to launch a puzzle fundraiser.

We have selected a 520-piece puzzle that represents our adoption journey.

On the front, an original piece of artwork was created by our good friend, Christine Brady. She shared:

“The writing in the background (in my handwriting) is a broad overview of salvation history and how God blesses the nations through His people, and how His overall plan prevails; how God is in control and working all things for good. The map is of the Middle East, where Israel is, because through this promise God made made to Israel, He blessed the world (as we see in Genesis 12:2).”

We chose the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 to remind our child that even though they may face difficulties in life, God’s promises are still true. He is faithful and will lead them through whatever trials they may face.

On the back of the puzzle, a different kind of original artwork will be created… 520 names.

Here’s how it works:

  1. You can “adopt” a piece for $25 that will go directly towards bringing Baby Sherman home.
  2. You can adopt 1, 2, 3, or 10 pieces! There is no limit!
  3. After you have adopted your piece(s), we will write your name on the back. For anyone who has already donated, your names will be the first that we add to the puzzle. 🙂 For multiple pieces, we can put your name (or your family- ex: Sherman Family) on all of them, or you can designate pieces for each member of your family. For example: If you donate $100, we’ll write your name on 4 puzzle pieces.
  4. We will begin assembling the puzzle as soon as we have enough pieces adopted and will provide progress updates along the way.
  5. Once all the puzzle pieces have been adopted, we will glue it together and place it in a double-sided glass frame that will be displayed in Baby Sherman’s nursery.

We believe this puzzle will not only represent the many people who helped bring Baby Sherman home, but it will be a beautiful reminder throughout their life that they are loved by many.

Ways you can “adopt” a puzzle piece:

  • Visit our GoFundMe website and tap “Donate Now”. If the amount is higher than $25 and there are specific names you want displayed on the puzzle pieces, please include that in the comments of your donation.

We will continue to provide updates as Baby Sherman’s puzzle comes together! Thank you for your continued support and prayers. We appreciate you!

We’re making progress…

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Our adoption journey is really moving along. We just had our third interview with the social worker this week and it went great. We have one visit left on March 23rd which will be at our home. She will be doing a walk through and checking out the space in which our child will live. After that, she will be finalizing the report and submitting it. We are hopeful to have our Home Study completed by the end of this month! At that point, we will be able to submit our applications and start the matching process with different agencies.

We’ve also completed our profile book. This is the book that an expectant birth mother looks at when she is making an adoption plan. When a birth mother contacts an agency, they meet with a social worker to discuss their hopes and expectations in an adoptive family situation. The caseworker will then share with her the profile books of several families that meet her list of preferences. The birth mother may look through a stack of any number of books before selecting one. Needless to say, it’s a very big deal!

How do you summarize your entire life and depict it in a 20+ page book? How do you “sell” yourself to someone you don’t know, while still keeping it real and genuine? What things do you include and what do you keep out? How much do you share, and how much is too much? Thankfully, that’s what our adoption consultant, Susan, is an expert at, and she did a beautiful job sharing our story.

When they arrived in the mail, I began to touch each profile slowly, suddenly frozen with the gravity of what the pages represent. Overcome with emotion, I thought to myself, “She’ll touch these. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to meet her or talk to her, but I’m touching this page that she will touch.”

I longed to somehow infuse our love into each page. I lingered, desperately wanting this woman who is pregnant and scared to feel how much we love her right now, to believe that we care about her as a person and not just about the life growing inside of her. I imagined what she might feel as she flips through these pages while trying to make one of most difficult decisions of her life.

Adoption is a mixture of grief and joy. With every flicker of happy anticipation for this new baby comes a wave of sorrow for what’s being lost. As we gain a child, another mother will be saying goodbye to her baby. I never want to be excited about our gain without being heartbroken for her loss.

I breathed prayers for whatever women will touch these books. We don’t know how many birth moms will see our profile before we’re connected with the one that wants us to parent her child. I prayed that God would speak to each of these women, to tell them how courageous and selfless they are for choosing to give their child life; to tell them how much they are loved.

Lord willing, we will soon be chosen to parent a child out of a pile of others who are hoping for the same opportunity that we are. What an amazing blessing and responsibility that is.