Shirley Family Adoption
Donation protected
Check the updates section for the latest information! If you want to read our story here you go: It’s time for our family to add kiddo number 3...and number 4! We’re excited to share our story with you as we start the process to bring our 2 girls home from Eastern Europe. We are hoping that you will consider joining with us as we seek God’s provision for a portion of the $39000+ it’s expected to cost to bring our children home.
Adoption has been on our heart for many years. Before we were even married, we grew up in a church where God cultivated a culture of adoption and set in motion our desire to adopt even before He brought us together. We see adoption as deeply rooted in Scripture and an incredible opportunity to be a picture of the gospel through our family. God saw fit, through His Son Jesus, to make it possible for us to be adopted into His family. It’s only fitting that God allows us to portray that same thing through the adoption of a child, taking each one of us, undeserving as we are, and making us co-heirs in God’s Family. In the same way, we can welcome a child into our family and make them co-heirs...full members of our family with all the love and benefits that come with it. The Bible calls all of us to care for orphans, and, for us, that means adopting a child. For others, God may lead you to play a part by giving or praying for us. We’d be grateful for either!
Our journey to adopt started approximately 7 years ago. After the birth of our son, Noah, we prayed and felt God clearly calling us to adopt our next child in an effort to ensure we fulfilled what God had laid on our hearts many years before. Our initial journey took us through a domestic infant adoption program. We invested 4 years in the program. Unfortunately, not all adoption stories are smooth and they don’t always end in adoption. We ended up being a waiting family for close to 3 years with no end in sight. It was hard knowing there were children that actually needed a family out there while we were stuck in a dead-end program. It was hard praying and getting to the point where we were willing to walk away from the thousands of dollars we had invested. When we felt God finally gave us clear direction, we wrote a lengthy letter to our agency expressing our disappointment in the program. They received the letter, and, to their credit, the regional director set up a meeting with us. After talking it over, they offered to refund our program fee (thousands of dollars), which would help us to pursue another opportunity. They had no obligation to do that, and we’re incredibly grateful to them and God for returning the money to us to invest in an adoption opportunity that was more likely to end with a child that needed a family becoming part of our family.
Given a second opportunity we went to some of our friends who had adopted for recommendations for an agency. We thought about countries one of us had traveled to where we already had a love for the people....places like Haiti, Philippines, Mexico, and Peru. We thought we’d be faced with a difficult decision, but as we investigated the requirements for the various countries associated with agencies we were considering, God clearly eliminated opportunities to the point to where one clear choice remained....one that neither of us would have ever guessed when we started the process. When the dust had settled, after asking God to make it very clear....one choice remained. We chose to adopt from an Eastern European nation that we had to double check the map to make sure we knew where it was. I’d mention the country name, but contractually for the protection of the in-country program, we’re asked not to post it publicly online. If you’d like to know, we’ll gladly share it in person or via private communication.
In Eastern Europe, there are many Romani children that are orphans. The Romani people experience significant discrimination in the country we’re adopting from. The best way I can illustrate it is that it sounds similar to times past in our nation when African-American children had to go to different schools than Caucasian children. Needless to say, it’s not common for Romani children to be adopted by this country’s people. Obviously. the need was important to us, but also the fact that this international adoption program is one of the most stable and predictable was a deciding factor. Considering what we’d already been through, this was perfect for us.
We spent a year completing our home study and piles of paperwork for our dossier. Our dossier was sent to the country and we became a waiting family in November 2017. We expected to wait about 2 years to receive a referral. April 2, 2019 changed our lives as we received a referral for 2 little girls, ages 5 and 7. Yes...2 beautiful girls are going to have a forever family in a few months :)
We can’t express enough how thankful we are to those who have faithfully prayed for us and our future children. We also are extremely grateful for those of you that have chosen to join us in our journey by supporting us financially! Please continue to pray as there is much work yet to be done to get our girls home!
Adoption has been on our heart for many years. Before we were even married, we grew up in a church where God cultivated a culture of adoption and set in motion our desire to adopt even before He brought us together. We see adoption as deeply rooted in Scripture and an incredible opportunity to be a picture of the gospel through our family. God saw fit, through His Son Jesus, to make it possible for us to be adopted into His family. It’s only fitting that God allows us to portray that same thing through the adoption of a child, taking each one of us, undeserving as we are, and making us co-heirs in God’s Family. In the same way, we can welcome a child into our family and make them co-heirs...full members of our family with all the love and benefits that come with it. The Bible calls all of us to care for orphans, and, for us, that means adopting a child. For others, God may lead you to play a part by giving or praying for us. We’d be grateful for either!
Our journey to adopt started approximately 7 years ago. After the birth of our son, Noah, we prayed and felt God clearly calling us to adopt our next child in an effort to ensure we fulfilled what God had laid on our hearts many years before. Our initial journey took us through a domestic infant adoption program. We invested 4 years in the program. Unfortunately, not all adoption stories are smooth and they don’t always end in adoption. We ended up being a waiting family for close to 3 years with no end in sight. It was hard knowing there were children that actually needed a family out there while we were stuck in a dead-end program. It was hard praying and getting to the point where we were willing to walk away from the thousands of dollars we had invested. When we felt God finally gave us clear direction, we wrote a lengthy letter to our agency expressing our disappointment in the program. They received the letter, and, to their credit, the regional director set up a meeting with us. After talking it over, they offered to refund our program fee (thousands of dollars), which would help us to pursue another opportunity. They had no obligation to do that, and we’re incredibly grateful to them and God for returning the money to us to invest in an adoption opportunity that was more likely to end with a child that needed a family becoming part of our family.
Given a second opportunity we went to some of our friends who had adopted for recommendations for an agency. We thought about countries one of us had traveled to where we already had a love for the people....places like Haiti, Philippines, Mexico, and Peru. We thought we’d be faced with a difficult decision, but as we investigated the requirements for the various countries associated with agencies we were considering, God clearly eliminated opportunities to the point to where one clear choice remained....one that neither of us would have ever guessed when we started the process. When the dust had settled, after asking God to make it very clear....one choice remained. We chose to adopt from an Eastern European nation that we had to double check the map to make sure we knew where it was. I’d mention the country name, but contractually for the protection of the in-country program, we’re asked not to post it publicly online. If you’d like to know, we’ll gladly share it in person or via private communication.
In Eastern Europe, there are many Romani children that are orphans. The Romani people experience significant discrimination in the country we’re adopting from. The best way I can illustrate it is that it sounds similar to times past in our nation when African-American children had to go to different schools than Caucasian children. Needless to say, it’s not common for Romani children to be adopted by this country’s people. Obviously. the need was important to us, but also the fact that this international adoption program is one of the most stable and predictable was a deciding factor. Considering what we’d already been through, this was perfect for us.
We spent a year completing our home study and piles of paperwork for our dossier. Our dossier was sent to the country and we became a waiting family in November 2017. We expected to wait about 2 years to receive a referral. April 2, 2019 changed our lives as we received a referral for 2 little girls, ages 5 and 7. Yes...2 beautiful girls are going to have a forever family in a few months :)
We can’t express enough how thankful we are to those who have faithfully prayed for us and our future children. We also are extremely grateful for those of you that have chosen to join us in our journey by supporting us financially! Please continue to pray as there is much work yet to be done to get our girls home!
Fundraising team (2)
Jeremy Shirley
Organizer
Wentzville, MO
Jewel Fields
Team member
