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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Elizabeth Sherley Graham’s heart has been broken several times. |
"And once again, the Texan was left somehow holding both nothing and everything of her wrecked dreams. " |
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The first shattering came when she learned that, thanks to circumstances beyond her control, she would not be allowed to adopt a little girl from Uganda like she planned. Then came the falling-in-love with “Heavenleigh,” a tiny, malnourished soul waiting in a Bulgarian orphanage. Elizabeth committed to becoming her mother, racing to save her before the clock ran out.
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But it did, on a cold November day in 2015. Heavenleigh, whom Elizabeth hoped to name Wren, left earth before her heart-mother could give her a new last name. And once again, the Texan was left somehow holding both nothing and everything of her wrecked dreams.
Then she remembered the wispy-blonde hair of “Nels,” another Bulgarian who needed a mommy. Elizabeth had seen his photo when a Reece’s Rainbow advocate posted about him on Facebook. Nels, a young boy with Down Syndrome, a congenital heart defect and autism, was being featured as a Miracle of Adoption Christmas Campaign (MACC) child.
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“While I was committed to Wren, I saw [Nels’] picture for the first time during the MACC campaign. It was his fluffy blonde hair that caught my eye,” Elizabeth says. “I briefly considered adding him but knew there wasn’t time.” |
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Worth holding his Nels MACC ornament |
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Yet when Wren passed away, there suddenly was time. Elizabeth asked her agency about Nels — and they just happened to have his file.
“It felt meant to be,” she says. “I was smitten from the first time I saw him.”
Elizabeth traveled to Bulgaria twice, first for a week, then two about five months later. A single mother, she brought Nels, now named Worth, home to Dallas in 2016.
But Worth wasn’t the only new man in her life. While she was still in the midst of adopting, she met Chris, who actually traveled with her to Bulgaria. He popped the question after a mere two months of dating, and on New Year’s Eve of that same year, Elizabeth became Mrs. Graham.
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Elizabeth and Chris were walking through massive life change alongside their new son. It wasn’t a Hallmark movie — but it was all theirs. |
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“Worth is the best. When he first came home, he was so reserved and weak,” she says. “He didn’t even know how to be held. Now he is the biggest snuggle bug in the world. He loves his family big.”
Since bringing the now-14-year-old Worth home, the Grahams have adopted Cleo (now nine) and given birth to Indy (almost two). They have just received their court date to adopt “Gabriel” and “Krystina,” two more Bulgarian beauties.
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MACC certainly did — and does — its job, in other words.
“MACC is one way to advocate for kids who might not be seen otherwise. And the financial part is great,” she explains. “$1,000 in a grant is such a confidence booster for potential families. It is a wonderful start.”
Elizabeth’s heart, once so shattered, still bears the fault lines of loving deeply. But it’s fuller than ever — and it all started with MACC.
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“I was smitten from the first time I saw him.” |
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“MACC changed my life because it introduced me to the tiny little boy who would become my son,” she says. “And adopting Worth changed my life in so many ways.” |
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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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