As we are celebrating 15 years of helping families bring their children home, we will be revisiting some of these ordinary families who took this exceptional step and gave a child a family. With this new twice-monthly column, we will share stories and photos of those children who were previously advocated for and are now home. Feel free to share our Rainbow Reports on social media!
Our Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign in in full swing! Our Reece's Rainbow Report today is about one of our adoptive families who found their child as a result of the Christmas Campaign. |
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Peer pressure can be a good thing. Just ask Amanda Schaus, an adoptive mother who may never have become so without a little nudge from a lifelong friend. |
"I had no idea that Amanda and her husband
were considering adoption."
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Schaus, a special education director in Wilson, New York, saw a social media posting from Natalie Keller in 2016. She and Keller had known each other since the first grade and were in the same high school graduating class. Keller adopted her daughter Sara in 2013 and had been advocating for other kids ever since, loosely linked to Schaus through social media in the years since graduation.
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Keller’s advocacy included being a Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign (MACC) Warrior through Reece’s Rainbow. She aimed to raise $1,000 for “Andre,” a snuggly Colombian toddler with Down Syndrome, deafness, blindness and epilepsy. She often posted about Andre on her social media, hoping someone would feel a tug on their heart to either donate or adopt.
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“I had no idea that Amanda and her husband were considering adoption,” wrote Keller in her blog. “I had no idea that she had searched the kids on Reece’s Rainbow and felt drawn to Andre. I wasn't even planning to do the Christmas Campaign this year. I signed up in a moment of exhaustion and maybe incoherence. And now look!!”
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Natalie's MACC ornament with Andre's photo on the back |
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Schaus did look. She saw Andre — Santiago in real life — and fell in love, and so did her husband Chris. They already had daughter Esme and son Gavyn (Olivia, another adopted daughter, would join them later), but they knew that Santiago belonged with them, too. The Schauses committed to adopting him in November of 2016 and traveled to Colombia in late summer the following year.
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“It was truly a miracle and an incredible bond,” Schaus says. “We knew that it was God’s hand that brought Santiago to us, and Natalie and I back together many years after graduation.”
Santiago had a rough start in life. His first mother died not long after he was born, and his siblings could not care for his intense special needs. He moved into a foster family until the Schauses came for him in 2017.
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“Santiago requires around-the-clock care but is a snuggle bug,” she says. “He gives unconditional love. He has taught us that no matter how he is feeling, being with each other is important.” |
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Just a few months after bringing Santiago home, the Schauses also adopted Olivia, now 21. Esme is 15, Gavyn is 12 and Santiago — “Santi” for short — is seven. Given the importance of MACC to her own family’s story, Schaus has helped Keller raise money for other MACC kids. Life is full and busy — and beautiful.
“We would never have known about Santiago and missed this incredible promise that want meant for our family,” Schaus says. “Santiago’s purpose is being fulfilled daily in new ways. The campaign allowed us to quickly complete the process without worry or fear.”
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“By sharing your MACC child and helping to fund adoptions, families feel more prepared to accept a child at their table.” |
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The same gift of “forever family” can be given for other children, Schaus knows. Serving as a MACC Warrior may feel fruitless, exhausting and discouraging. But it works.
“We found Santiago through MACC,” says Schaus. “By sharing your MACC child and helping to fund adoptions, families feel more prepared to accept a child at their table.”
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Crystal Kupper is a freelance writer specializing in magazines and special projects. Since earning her journalism degree, she has written for clients such as Zondervan, Focus on the Family and the Salvation Army, among many others. |
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REECE'S RAINBOW | www.reecesrainbow.org |
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