I would like to start off by introducing myself and my family. My name is Jen Schumacher and I am married to my husband Matt Schumacher of almost 11 years now. We live in beautiful sunny California and We have 4 amazing children, to which 3 are adopted. Our children’s names are Cole (12), Landon (9), Brooklyn (8) and Hunter (1.5). I am blessed to be a stay at home mom while my husband is in law enforcement.
Our goal with this is to seek support as we are in the process of another adoption. As many of you know, we have done foster to adopt with our sons Cole and Landon and we have done private adoption with our daughter Brooklyn. Each adoption varies in costs and can be a big obstacle to overcome. We are going to adopt through the domestic infant adoption program which can cost anywhere from 30,000 — 45,000. We are applying for grants and seeing if other churches would walk alongside us and support us financially as we grow our family once more. No donation is too small! Every little bit counts and means we are 1 step from bringing our baby home.
Now, let me back up a little bit here. My husband and I have been married for 11years (in September) and our 11 years of marriage have been anything but easy. When we were dating we always talked about growing our family through adoption and knew it would be part of our story we just didn’t know when. After 2 years of marriage, we were unable to get pregnant and we were discouraged. We prayed and asked the Lord to give us direction for our family. In the midst of this, my husband had a complete career change. He went from working for a group home to getting accepted to police academy. The month before academy started, we found out that we were expecting. We were elated only to miscarry 3 days later. We were sad but we didn’t lose hope. We decided that once academy was over, we would start the adoption process if we weren’t pregnant yet. Well, as you may have guessed, we got pregnant again. This time we made it past the 5 week mark, then the 10 week mark, then the 12 week mark. Everything was going great or so we thought. At out 14 week genetic testing ultrasound, we discovered the our son Blake, wasn’t going to survive one his umbilical cord was cut if he even made it to birth. We were advised to terminate the pregnancy and we refused as our son was a gift from God and we knew that he was meant to be here for a reason. We chose to carry our son until he was ready to meet our Savior. Then at 29 ½ week my water broke. Blake exceeded everyone expectations and lived for 25 minutes after the cord was cut. We got to hold him, sing to him and even dedicate him. While that was the toughest thing a couple can go through, we knew the Lord was near and we still never lost hope.
Three months after the loss of Blake, we both felt a peace that it was time to start the adoption process. So we turned in our paperwork at the end of November thinking we could be waiting for up to 2 years. Then we get a phone call from my husband’s friend checking in on us. Matt shares with his friend Jeff that we are starting the adoption process and we really want to adopt 2 little boys. Matt’s friend Jeff was amazed and said “you won’t believe this but we have 2 foster boys in our home and the younger one has special needs (deaf and sensory needs) that the county doesn’t want to separate and they are looking for a forever family for them. Would you like to meet them?” Of course we said yes and on December 5th we met our boys. We then contacted our agency (the same one we are using for this adoption) and they had our sons in our home by February 10th! That is a record fast adoption.
Fast forward another year, we felt called to start another adoption process but this time we wanted to be gender specific and adopt a little girl. We knew our last adoption was a miracle so it wouldn’t be as fast especially since we wanted a girl. So we started the initial paperwork on a Wednesday morning and my printer wouldn’t work. I’m very much the type that likes to have all the paperwork done and just show my husband where to sign. That was my plan that Wednesday, but the Lord had different plans. After printer troubleshooting, my husband said it will have to wait until he got off around 5pm. I was disappointed but knew there was nothing else I could do so I waited. BUT THEN…around 3pm my phone rang. It was a family member (who had no idea we were about to start the adoption process for a little girl) and she said “there is a 2 ½ year old little girl from China who is deaf and they need a forever family for her. Her case worker is dropping her off tonight at your aunts house so they will keep her until they find a family. Do you think this could be your daughter?” My mind was BLOWN! Ever since I was 16, I had wanted a daughter from China and prayed that one day I would be able to adopt from there. I immediately said “yes but let me call my husband”! After we both agreed, we contacted our adoption agency (same one again) and said “Hey guys, it’s the Schumacher’s, we found our daughter and we need you guys to help us bring her home!” They did as much as they could as fast as they could and we got the call on Friday. That 2 DAYS!!!! Our social worker said “if you believe this is your daughter and you won’t give up on her, go get her!” I called my husband at work and told him what was happening. I remember his response clear as day “go get our daughter!” Another record fast adoption!
We thought our family was complete. BUT GOD! Over the next couple years we went on to have 2 more miscarriages which led us to lots of testing to see what was going on. It was determined that we have both male factor and female factor infertility. We are able to get pregnant but cannot have a healthy pregnancy, so the statistics showed and Dr’s said. We knew our God was bigger than statistics so we didn’t let the results bother us. We knew we could grow our family through adoption in the future.
2 years after making another big move from Fresno to where we are now we found out we were expecting. We were shocked, but so at peace. I remember Matt asking me how I was feeling and I told him “I’m nervous but I have this peace that the Lord is going to let us keep this one!” We had a high risk Dr who was amazing and at every milestone where we had a previous loss, she saw us and checked on our baby to give us peace of mind. At our 10 week genetic testing, we found out that it was a boy and he was as healthy as can be. Then on August 13th 2018, we delivered a strong, healthy baby boy.
Some people at this point would think, we are busy, let’s be done. But not us! LOL People tell me “wow your hands are full and I respond, well you should see my heart!” We have a heart for children and we see them as the legacy we leave behind. We want to raise And teach our children to be kind, love others and honor the Lord so the love of Jesus can get passed on for many generations after we are gone.
So that brings us to present day. Here we are, in the middle of paper chasing to bring home our baby. We are open to any race and even some special needs. Would you please consider supporting our family as we step out in faith on this adoption journey? Thank you for your time and even if you can’t support us financially, we would appreciate your prayers.
Sincerely,
The Schumacher Family
