The Sheffield Family
THIS IS CRAZY….BUT WHAT IF WE SAID YES?

We are the Sheffield family. Doctors by training (OB/Gyn and Pediatrician), but church Youth & College ministry is our joy. We have four beautiful biological children ages 6, 7, 9 and 11 and four boys, ages 4, 12, 14 and 16 waiting for us in Colombia. The oldest boy “W” is 16  and is about to age out of the system. “W” offered to stay behind to allow his siblings to be adopted, but we believe no 16 year old should have to make that choice, so time is of the essence for us. We have come to recognize “The Face”. We are having a pleasant conversation… then adoption comes up. The questions start as an amiable exchange of information: “Where are you adopting from?” “Colombia” “Do you know who you are adopting?” “Four boys…three of them are teenagers.” Then “The Face” appears. It is a mixture of emotions: confusion, fear, disbelief. There are a few other, darker emotions mixed in. We have exited their box of “normal”. We are coloring outside the lines. Awkward silence follows. My (Tamara) first instinct is to throw my arm around their shoulder and comfort them. “It’s okay. It took me a while too.”

We didn’t start our adoption journey intending to adopt four boys. I remember the date night five years ago where we wrestled with whether we were open to 1… maybe 2 children. But the story that God is writing is bolder, more chaotic, less controlled. If you knew us, you would know that is not our modus operandi. We are rule followers, embracing routine with a vengeance. The journey has been long, but He needed time to change us from people who made “The Face” to people who say “Thy will be done in us and through us in these boys’ lives.”

We started in Ethiopia, moved by the sheer weight of millions of orphans. Paperwork submitted; the email came. Gut punch. Possible shut down. 3-5 year wait. We went back to the Lord; gathered friends to pray. The Lord said, “Walk with me.” Honduras. We love Latin America! Growing up biracial, we were drawn to a connection with my Latin roots. Dossier submitted. News came: “restructuring”. We waited, and waited, and the Lord closed the door. We were just going to watch the webinar on waiting Colombian children to get an overview. Our reserves for the rollercoaster of the international adoption journey were spent. We questioned, “Did we hear you correctly?” But then, the first face appeared on the screen; tears streamed. They each had a name, a story. Then THEIR faces appeared. Their “special need: older children”, “large bonded sibling group.” . It took us a month. We tried praying over other, individual children. At the end of the day, our minds would wander back to, “this is crazy…but what if we said yes”. They were the faces that we could not forget: in the morning, in the evening, in prayer. Due to the circumstances of our adoption and our oldest Colombian son’s age, we are advocating for an expedite with U.S. immigration and Children’s Services in Colombia. We hope to be in country in late September, early October.

CHRISTIN Christin and her sisters were adopted from South Korea by a single, 46-year old, Caucasian American woman who was stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan in the mid 1970’s.

Photo Credit “Stars and Stripes” 1976 Christin and her sisters were reunited with their birth family 19 years after being placed for adoption. She found her roots, learned about life before adoption, and the circumstances surrounding their placement in an orphanage. Christin says one of the many things she has learned in her journey is this: “As a mother can love two children, a child can love two mothers” Christin says she believes with all her heart, body and soul that adopting is what God wants her to do. She is pursuing a domestic adoption, after recovering from a failed international adoption several years ago. She told us that in order to keep waiting for a placement she often quotes this familiar verse as a comfort “Blessed is she who hath believed in that which the Lord had promised her…” Christin is currently waiting to matched with a child and hopes to complete her adoption by the end of the year. She is passionate about sharing her story as an adult adoptee who is adopting to encourage others.