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ADOPTION-SHARE.COM

A word from our founderBy Anthea Ramirez, Chief Sharer

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Big revelation: I am not an adoptive parent. This really seems to shock people when they find out.  I mean its not a secret.  Typically the revelation occurs after a person starts a conversation with me by asking, "so how many children have you adopted?"  When I tell them 0....the sparkle quickly leaves their face and they look at me incredulously like I am some huge impostor.  "Oh" they reply.   I am always amazed at this expectation people have and not just of me but of others that have devoted their time, energy, and resources to something that they have not experienced on a personal level.  You see there is this notion, that while unspoken holds that, to act, one must first have a personal narrative that fits in line with the action that is called for.  Translation, "I could never be a parent, I had a bad childhood, bad parents."  "I can't take that job promotion, I have never had experience in leadership."  We do this all the time from little things to big things, we believe a lie that says to do something one must have some personal affiliation or experience before doing.   But lets think about it...If you needed triple bypass surgery would you hire a

physician on the basis of he or she having also had triple bypass surgery?  My guess

would be that you would probably feel more confident knowing your physician went to med school, has done hundreds of these procedures and hasn't killed anyone...yet.  Don't get me wrong, personal experience is not a negative but we also should not promote it into being a pre-qualifier to doing something significant either. So no, I am not an adoptive parent.  I may never be an adoptive parent.

Adoption-Share was the end result of being around a lot of adoptive parents and rubbing shoulders with a lot of adoption professionals and realizing that something was broken in the adoption process that needed to be fixed.  That transparency, efficient communication, and choice needed to be values that the adoption community as a whole would adhere to.   At some point life brings us to intersections in which we are called to action.  It could be as simple or as complicated as taking a job, volunteering, starting a business, advocating for someone who needs help, or deciding to adopt. Whatever it is, don't let your lack of personal experience keep you from moving forward. 

I remember the day we decided to adopt. After lots of late night conversations and research upon research and earnest prayers over a couple years, we were doing it. Our daughter was in China, and we were bringing her home.The paperwork began and the doctors' appointments were made and the background checks ordered and the checks from our bank account written. And, only a couple months later, the hardest part started--the wait. And, wait we did. One day short of 3 years after that day I remember so clearly, we met our daughter Lydia in a foreign city in a smoke-filled room that was miraculously transformed into holy ground.And, a funny thing happened.We were changed.

We knew her life would change entirely. She was an orphan living in an orphanage in a room with 40 cribs cared for by a staff of rotating nannies. She knew the noise of a busy city from outside the room she never left but lived in a building only a short distance from cave dwellings where families made their homes. She was leaving her home country, the language she knew, the babies who were the closest thing to a family she knew, everything familiar.Yes, her world changed. But, ours did too. And, nothing has looked the same since. 6 months after Lydia became our daughter, my husband told me he had an idea. He felt called to do something big, way big, like start-a-nonprofit-from-nothing big, an organization to serve adoptive families. He told me how he believed adoptive families needed more support, that he wanted to make sure as many families as possible got the help they needed both before and after they adopted. I smiled, thought it sounded awesome, and thought there was no way we could do it.About 6 months after that, The Sparrow Fund officially launched.Since April of 2011, it's been quite a challenge figuring this non-profit thing out. But, all the late nights, computer time, and paperwork somehow becomes not that big of deal when we see pictures like this.

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Continued on page 3

Organization in Focus: The Sparrow FundKelly Raudenbush

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That’s Mazie. And, we got to play a small part of her coming on home to her family. She’s one of 41 children whose families we helped through a grant since we started The Sparrow Fund. 41 children whose lives have been changed--30 families who have been changed as we have been changed.Now, that’s something to celebrate right there. Two years into this thing, we're amazed at how The Sparrow Fund has grown. We began to recognize even more clearly that equipping and encouraging parents is the most effective way to serve children. After all, it is through moms and dads that children learn who they are and what they can be. We now support families beyond grants through conferences and retreats where they can get support and learn more and more as they do this task of parenting a child who has been grafted into their family through adoption. We offered our first retreat for adoptive couples in February 2013, Together Called, to bring couples together as a community for refreshment, restoring, and reminding of the significant call in their lives to shepherd their children. The need for this weekend overwhelmed us--within 16 hours of registration opening, the retreat was completely full with couples representing 14 different states around the country. And, now that we can look back on time we spent together at Together Called, we are certain that these parents' needs were met and that families were deeply blessed. We couldn't be more excited about the work we're doing--not because we're anything special but because families need this kind of support and we get to be on the front lines of making sure they get it.It doesn't get much better than that.Wanna play a part? Tell friends you know who we could bless with a grant or support about The Sparrow Fund. Visit The Nest, our store to support adoptive moms across the world and families in your own neighborhood. Consider sponsoring one of " our conferences or donating something we can use in a raffle there to raise money for the work. Email us directly at info@sparrow-fund.org about how you can get more involved. We'd love to have you be on the front lines with us.Forever changed by her experience of being spiritually adopted and adopting, Kelly Raudenbush is a stay-at-home mom/manager to 4 children and a professional juggler, juggling her calling as wife and mother with her secondary callings (professional editing and serving adoptive families through The Sparrow Fund. You can learn more about their adoption story, how they've been changed, and what life for them looks like on Kelly's personal blog My Overthinking.

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Challenge90 DayCalling all pregnancy resource centers! Starting April 1, 2013 we will embark on a 90 day challenge aimed at showing your staff just how many women are taking the time to carefully evaluate the adoption option through www.adoption-share.com.

Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to simply present the adoption option to women who are faced with an unintended pregnancy along with her other options. We will be tracking the number of referrals that come from your office so be sure to write the name of your organization on the “Consider-It” Cards. Need more “Consider-It” Cards? Want more info? Email us at info@adoption-share.com and we will send what you need right away! And yes...there will be prizes!

Adoption-Share Presents at AAPLOG

 In February Adoption-Share Founder Thea Ramirez went to Washington DC to teach OBGYNs how to insert adoption into the option conversation!  This is an exciting time in

women’s health care when doctors are more open to presenting the adoption option! Click here to see a clip of Thea’s presentation!

Check out the Adoption-Share video!For testimonies of how Adoption-Share is helping pregnancy centers,

adoptive families, agencies and birthparents, click HERE!

Connect with us on: Facebook Twitter YouTubefacebook.com/adoptionshare @adoptionshare youtube.com/adoptionshare

ADOPTION-SHAREWWW.ADOPTION-SHARE.COM

PO BOX 1532 BRUNSWICK, GA 31521

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