All in the Family
When Sara and Phillip Carlisle applied for a Show Hope Medical Care grant, they were uncertain their family would qualify. Their Camden needed ear tube surgery to help with chronic infections, but they did not know if that medical need was big enough. They applied anyway, and the grant for surgery was approved.
“I think people think it’s a big, major medical issue that’s at birth or something that you’d think of right away,” Phillip said. “But sometimes, it’s just something down the road that comes up that you can put [the grant] toward.”
For the Carlisles, the Medical Care grant didn’t just mean Camden’s ears would be healed—it also paved the way for a second adoption.
“When we applied for the first medical grant, we were in the process of, I don’t know the exact timelines on it, but I think a lot of it overlapped,” Sara said. “We were looking for ways to prepare, honestly, for the next adoption financially, because we knew we were going to adopt all of our kids.”
After Camden, the Carlisles adopted Greyson. Before Greyson turned 18 months old, Sara and Phillip realized he needed speech therapy. They, again, applied for a Medical Care grant, and it was awarded, allowing Greyson one-on-one speech therapy at preschool twice per week, which continues to be ongoing. Show Hope awarded Greyson’s Medical Care grant at the time the Carlisles were preparing to adopt Jaida.
Then it was Jaida’s turn. She, too, needed tubes in her ears right around the time the Carlisles were finalizing the adoption of their twin sons, Hampton and Landen.
“The timing of [the grants] has come around the time we were preparing for the next adoption,” Sara said. “So Camden’s was when we were preparing for Greyson’s adoption. And then Greyson’s as we were preparing for Jaida’s adoption. And then Jaida’s, we had just brought the twins home when we applied for hers.”
When the Carlisles began their adoption journey, they were well-versed with Show Hope. When Phillip was a teen, he attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert with his youth pastors who had at the time recently adopted. Watching their adoption journey planted a seed in Phillip to one day grow his family also through adoption. During that concert, Show Hope passed around little fundraising buckets to raise support for Adoption Aid grants.
Coming full circle, the Carlisles also received three Adoption Aid grants, and they credited Show Hope for making their family possible.
“They’ve come alongside us and allowed us to be able to have our family together, ” Sara said. “Without some of the resources that they offered, it would’ve been more difficult for us to do this. And so they have been very generous. We’ve kind of counted on that, each of the three times that we’ve applied for it and been very thankful for it. It’s been a huge part of allowing us to have all of the family home that we do.”
Now the Carlisles are on a mission to tell other families about Show Hope’s post-adoption support, urging them to apply no matter how big or small their child’s medical needs may appear.
“Our [adoption] agency really pushes and promotes the Adoption Aid grant,” Phillip said. “And we’ve made sure to also let people know the Medical Care grant is there. I know that’s something people don’t think about post adoption.
“Sometimes there’s available grant funding after the adoption process,” Phillip continued. “Everybody thinks about that initial grant period, but then after things are said and done, people don’t always think there may be funding out there for other phases. We were glad to be able to utilize that, so we’ve tried to help others look into it to see if it’s something they’d be able to utilize too.” for a child’s life and future.”
This Christmas, we have strategically planned to raise $1,000,000 for the continuing impact of our work, yet we cannot reach that goal without you. Today, will you prayerfully consider a gift to our Gifts of Hope campaign? We need you.
