From Sheri's Point of View

My name is Sheri Pharo and my husband's name is Darwin. We had been made aware that we were unable to have children biologically, We had decided to choose adoption as a way to build our much-wanted family. Hannah was our first blessing from God. She came to us in February, 1993. I couldn't believe how one little girl could bring so much life and love into one home, but believe me, she did it!

Because of Hannah having a unilateral cleft lip and palate, we felt we wanted to adopt other kids with cleft, but had no idea it would end up being so easy! With the help of the Lord Jesus Christ and Joanne Green, we were able to adopt our second child in September, 1994. Here is what happened:

We had entered Hannah's photo in the WIDE SMILES Beautiful Smiles Photo contest. We had not heard anything about the contest for a while and just assumed that we had not won. However, the following June, we received a certificate of Honorable Mention for the contest. We were all so excited, we were just tickled. Enclosed was a letter from Joanne Green congratulating us. I decided to call her. We started talking about the award and then she asked me, "Sheri, are you considering readopting?" And I said, "Well, yeahm, but I don't know when." Joanne said, "How about now?" At that point I was confused. She continued by explaining that she had been made aware of an infant boy through an agency in Illinois and she wanted toknow if we would be interested. She said he had a pretty severe cleft lip and palate. Needless to say, we called the worker in Illinois.

I had first found out about the baby from Joanne on a Monday, called the social worker the same day, was chosen by the birth mother on Thursday, met the birth mother and baby the following Thursday. It was a miracle from God himself, who worked with Joanne to allow us to have our gorgeous son. We visited Richard once a week from July to September. Finally, on September 26, 1994 we were able to bring our beautiful baby Richard home.

Joanne was such a support and a very nice person, through this whole thing. We will always remember her for what she had done for us. God really used her and blessed us at the same time! Now Richard's lip and palate have been repaired and he looks more gorgelous than ever. His adoption is now finalized and he is an officioal and bonified Pharo - YEAH! We thank God every day for the beautiful kids he has allowed us to have. We are so blessed in our lives and pray that everyone can have as abundant a life as we do. Cleft kids are a lot of work, but the rewards you get from the kids is worth it. We love our kids and hope to adopt at least one more. I hope our story will help people understand and realize that cleft is just a facial deformity that can be fixed. Our lives with these kids are wonderful!

Credits: Sheri Pharo

Add Your Comments!

We want to know what you think. Your comments are important to us and the other readers. You are what makes this site special.