Latest Update

Many of you have walked closely with us over the last few months and know well the mountains and valleys of this road we are traveling.  Our family has shared tears of joy and those of sorrow.  We have twice been chosen by birth mothers, twice prepared for and awaited delivery day, twice packed our bags and arranged plans to pick up our little one, and twice unpacked those bags without a baby in tow.

As hard as these experiences have been for us to understand, we know that there is One who holds our future in His hands.  The One who first called us to step out in faith and to adopt a second child is the One who knows the plans He has for us, and we believe that they are plans for good and not for disaster.  We are continuing to put our trust in God and are earnestly seeking His direction in every step of this journey!

Although doubts over whether or not to even continue this quest arose after our latest disappointment, our God was there to lift us up and remind us of Who is driving this mission.  Just days after we came home empty handed once again, we pulled an envelope from the mailbox.  Scanning the left corner and noticing that it was from Show Hope, our hearts sank as we expected to read yet another letter of how our need for an adoption grant was understood but the funds were just not available to help everyone.  It was a scene that we had become accustomed to.  We had applied for seven grants, were turned down by five, never acknowledged by one, and had been waiting on this letter to arrive.  After scanning the first paragraph, we couldn’t find the words, “we regret to inform you” so we re-read and then read again, this time more carefully.

           

Dear Allen and Carey,

On behalf of Show Hope and the donors who make our grants possible, we rejoice with your family as you step out in faith to experience the miracle of adoption.  Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of your adoption process.  We are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded an adoption assistance grant…

PRAISE GOD!!!  He has provided once again!  With this grant, our total adoption fund is just $1,200 away from being able to pay for our placement fee IN FULL!!!  And the amazing thing about this is if we had brought our baby home just a week before as planned, we would have been unable to qualify for this grant!  God is so good!!!  His timing is perfect!!! 

Once again, we ask you to join us as we worship our Lord, Jesus Christ, for His amazing grace and love, and to pray with us as we trust Him to carry our family on this journey to adoption.

We do still have a limited number of t-shirts for sell, adult sizes M thru XXL.  If you would like information on how to purchase one please e-mail us at careysherwood@gmail.com

...and we wait...

Just to give a quick update on where we stand at the moment.... we are still waiting!!! 

Once our home study was complete we spent a couple of weeks trudging through applications for several adoption grants. We applied to:

·         Show Hope

·         Gift of Adoption Fund

·         Affording Adoption Foundation

·         Caroline’s Promise

·         God’s Grace Adoption Ministry

·         Adoption Fund for Ministers 

Currently we have received a letter from one stating that we were not chosen to receive their grant, and two have put us on hold until we are matched with a birthmom.  (Hopefully soon!!)

In the meantime, we wait… though it is not easy and it has come with its ups and downs, we are reminded of Romans 12:12, “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Thanks to all of you who have joined us on this journey!  We hope to have our destination in sight very soon!

t-shirt details

Many of you have asked about t-shirt sizes.  We have adult sizes Small - XXLarge right now but can order Youth sizes as small as a Youth Small, if you are interested.

To make a donation and request a shirt please e-mail us at careysherwood@gmail.com with your shirt size and address that we can ship to.

Thank you all for your overwhelming support!

Small Gifts Make a Big Difference

Recently I was reminded of the well-known story in the book of Matthew where Jesus fed the five thousand with two fish and five small loaves of bread.  When the disciples were challenged by Jesus to do the impossible – feed the multitudes – they responded in doubt and disbelief.  They told Jesus of the small amount they had to give, and Jesus responded, “Bring them here to me.”  You see, Jesus doesn’t ask us to do the impossible, nor does He expect us to.  He simply asks us to bring Him what we have.

As we have come to the point in our adoption journey of completing our home study and now waiting on a placement phone call, I look back on the last few months and am humbled by the ways that Jesus took our small financial “fish and loaves” and turned it into plentiful baskets.

To give you a quick overview, when we felt the Lord leading us to adopt a second time we struggled with the idea of finances.  We looked at our budget and the cost of our first adoption and simply came to the conclusion that this was just not the time for us.  But days turned into months, our desire to care for orphans continued to grow.  We were struck time and again by God’s Word and His command to defend the cause of the orphan!  As a result, last fall we took a step of faith and mailed our application to Christian Family Services- a private adoption agency in South Carolina. 

As fees came due, one after another, the money just seemed to be there.  Hear me when I say this- we cannot afford this adoption!  We, Allen and Carey, cannot make this happen.  When our God - the One who took two small fish and five small loaves and fed  more than five thousand people – told us to adopt, we, like the disciples, responded with doubt and disbelief.  Did He not see our bank balances??   Of course He did!  And His response was, “Bring them here to me.”

In obedience, we gave what we had, and in faith, we waited to see what He would do with it.  Through ways that I could not begin to imagine, God began to meet our need.  Money has come in the most unexpected ways- even from the U.S. Government, believe it or not!  With this journey being far from over, we anxiously wait to see how He is going to provide the rest.

With the preliminary paperwork and home study behind us, we are currently waiting!  This is a step which we’ve never experienced, as Campbell’s placement happened just weeks after completing the first application!  This exciting time for us comes with nervous anticipation, as well as a bit of anxiety, for we know that the day our son or daughter is placed in our arms on our future “Gotcha Day” comes the cost of thousands of dollars that we simply do not have!

In an effort to not only raise funds for this adoption but to also raise orphan awareness, we are starting a fundraiser.  With the help of a very dear friend and his company, Eagle Embroidery in Greenville, SC, we have been given the opportunity to give away free t-shirts with every $20 donation.  It is our hope that by using the resources that God has given us, and placing what we have in His hands, we will be able to make a difference in the life of a child.

So we ask you, as family and friends, to join us by placing something small in the hands of Jesus with the faith that He will turn it into baskets full and running over.

To make a donation and receive a free t-shirt, e-mail careysherwood@gmail.com

 

One Step Closer

final home study visit made... check!
portfolio complete and in the mail... check!

We should have our home study in hand within a couple of weeks, which means we will be officially ready to wait!!  Having never reached this point with our first adoption, we are learning what anticipation feels like!

In the meantime, fundraising ideas are beginning to take shape in order to bring this next little Sherwood home.  Details coming soon...

Homestudy Scheduled

Our social worker who will be conducting our homestudy called yesterday to schedule our visits.  We will be meeting her in Asheville next Friday, followed by a home visit the following Friday.

At this point, we hope to have a completed Preplacement Assessment in six to eight weeks which will be one HUGE step closer to being ready to wait on a very exciting phone call!

It's In The Mail!!!

March 8, 2011

I know many of you have been wondering what has been going on since our last post, so here it goes...

At the beginning of January we finally nailed down an agency to complete our Home Study.  The Children’s Home Society of North Carolina mailed the paperwork to us and since then we have been gathering:

·         Photos of our Home & Family

·         Service Fee Agreement Form

·         Application

·         Reference Form

·         Statements Regarding Prior Pre-placement Assessment & Civil Record

·         Client Rights

·         Consent for Release of Information

·         NC Criminal Record Checks

·         SC Criminal Record Checks

·         Certified Marriage Verification

·         Health History Forms

·         Current Medical Forms

·         Child Medical Forms

·         Child Abuse & Neglect Clearance

·         1040 Tax Return

·         Original Pre-Placement Assessment

Whew… I’m glad that’s over!  So, several hundred dollars and a few trees later, we are mailing this rather large package of information to our agency today.  Now we wait for a phone call to schedule our first home visit!  This is finally starting to feel real!