Bringing Home Baby Ellsworth
Donation protected
Thank you to everyone who donated to help us adopt! Our sweet baby Hamilton Nainoa John is here. We feel so blessed we were able to adopt him, with your help. Adoption is scary, difficult, and worth it. We know it’s not for everyone, but it is for us. We're thankful for the support we've received from family, friends, and strangers, and to his amazing birth mother who placed the most beautiful baby in our life. Hamilton, the heart healer.
Love,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
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Thank you so much for your generosity in donating to help us grow our family. We are sad to share that the mother of the twins we hoped to bring home as our own has decided to parent. We flew out, met, and held these sweet babies, but the mother has the right to refuse. We returned a second time when the birth mother said she regretted her decision, but ultimately she failed to show. In adoption, the birth mother has 24 hours to make her final decision after the child is born. There are no guarantees, and there is always a risk of the adoption falling through. We are devastated to lose these twins, but have hope that we can still welcome a child or children into our family.
We raised funds specifically with these twins in mind, but the adoption agency will allow us to roll our deposit into another adoption. We are determined to keep moving forward and want to remain open and transparent on our journey. If you donated for the specific scenario of the twins rather than our general adoption and would like your donation reimbursed, please email [email redacted] to receive your refund. Thank you again for your prayers, love, and support.
Love,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
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“…never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,—’Wait and hope.’
-Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
We waited. We hoped.
And with your help, we succeeded!
To describe the depths of our gratitude is to describe the taste of salt. From struggling college students to established professionals, from those known to those unknown, we felt your love. We feel it even as we write this letter, our eyes are damp with tears. Our babies will know that they are loved not only by us but by each of you. They will tell this story for generations. They will know that in their hour of greatest need they are never alone. God knows them, hears them, and will save them through the kindness, generosity, and sacrifice of those around them.
As recipients of this great gift, we feel a deep obligation to responsibly and transparently utilize it. Given this, we would like to share how the funds have been and will be spent in the future:
Adoption Advertising Agency - $16,163
Midwife Consulting - $4,000
Utah Legal Fees - $5,368
Georgia Legal Fees - $6,000 (estimate)
Birthmother Living Expenses - $6,000 (estimate)
Home Study (Expedited) - $800
Background Checks - $150
Stroller and adapter- $900
Car seats and bases - $600
Cribs - $400
Mattresses - $500
Travel Expenses - $5,000 (estimate)
Miscellaneous (Diapers, clothing, etc.) - $5,000
Love you with all our hearts,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
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We updated the goal daily to reflect funding from other sources
Our story began two and a half years ago after we both swiped right, Sheryl—an elementary school teacher from Washington D.C.—and Matt—a high school Chemistry teacher from Hawaii. Since our fateful first date on a crisp October evening as we shared Italian food and our dreams for the future, our universes instantly clicked into place, like hot chocolate and vanilla gelato, unexpected and deliciously refreshing. After traveling, exploring, and dancing together for a year and a half, we said goodbye to each other for what we prayed would not be the last time as Matt boarded a plane bound for a military deployment to Afghanistan.
12 months later Matt’s finally home! However, as we’ve excitedly prepared to grow our family, we’ve been confronted with the painful reality that the risk of carrying a child to Sheryl’s health and potentially her life was far too great. Despite this obstacle, our desire to become parents continues to burn brightly.
We believe that God has promised us the opportunity to bring children into our lives. Ironically, he never said how. As we’ve begun to navigate the world of infertility, adoption has become the solution for that which we’ve yearned.
Yet despite our deepest convictions, the financial mountain between us and our future children is insurmountable. The adoption is likely to cost $40,000. We’re hoping to raise an additional $10,000 to help cover miscellaneous items like travel to/from the birth mother and other baby essential supplies: strollers, cribs, clothing, etc. Jesus Christ once told his disciples that if they but had faith like a grain of a mustard seed they could move a mountain. We believe this with all our hearts, and we know we can’t do it alone. And thankfully we don’t have to. We have faith not only in God but in the better angels within each of you; that together we can move this mountain!
We invite each of you to be a part of our journey. It’s sure to be filled with joy and pain and hope and disappointment, as life so often is. But how could we possibly achieve our eternal greatness if all we knew were rainbows and unicorns :)
Much love,
Sheryl & Matt
Love,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you so much for your generosity in donating to help us grow our family. We are sad to share that the mother of the twins we hoped to bring home as our own has decided to parent. We flew out, met, and held these sweet babies, but the mother has the right to refuse. We returned a second time when the birth mother said she regretted her decision, but ultimately she failed to show. In adoption, the birth mother has 24 hours to make her final decision after the child is born. There are no guarantees, and there is always a risk of the adoption falling through. We are devastated to lose these twins, but have hope that we can still welcome a child or children into our family.
We raised funds specifically with these twins in mind, but the adoption agency will allow us to roll our deposit into another adoption. We are determined to keep moving forward and want to remain open and transparent on our journey. If you donated for the specific scenario of the twins rather than our general adoption and would like your donation reimbursed, please email [email redacted] to receive your refund. Thank you again for your prayers, love, and support.
Love,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“…never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,—’Wait and hope.’
-Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
We waited. We hoped.
And with your help, we succeeded!
To describe the depths of our gratitude is to describe the taste of salt. From struggling college students to established professionals, from those known to those unknown, we felt your love. We feel it even as we write this letter, our eyes are damp with tears. Our babies will know that they are loved not only by us but by each of you. They will tell this story for generations. They will know that in their hour of greatest need they are never alone. God knows them, hears them, and will save them through the kindness, generosity, and sacrifice of those around them.
As recipients of this great gift, we feel a deep obligation to responsibly and transparently utilize it. Given this, we would like to share how the funds have been and will be spent in the future:
Adoption Advertising Agency - $16,163
Midwife Consulting - $4,000
Utah Legal Fees - $5,368
Georgia Legal Fees - $6,000 (estimate)
Birthmother Living Expenses - $6,000 (estimate)
Home Study (Expedited) - $800
Background Checks - $150
Stroller and adapter- $900
Car seats and bases - $600
Cribs - $400
Mattresses - $500
Travel Expenses - $5,000 (estimate)
Miscellaneous (Diapers, clothing, etc.) - $5,000
Love you with all our hearts,
Sheryl & Matt Ellsworth
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We updated the goal daily to reflect funding from other sources
Our story began two and a half years ago after we both swiped right, Sheryl—an elementary school teacher from Washington D.C.—and Matt—a high school Chemistry teacher from Hawaii. Since our fateful first date on a crisp October evening as we shared Italian food and our dreams for the future, our universes instantly clicked into place, like hot chocolate and vanilla gelato, unexpected and deliciously refreshing. After traveling, exploring, and dancing together for a year and a half, we said goodbye to each other for what we prayed would not be the last time as Matt boarded a plane bound for a military deployment to Afghanistan.
12 months later Matt’s finally home! However, as we’ve excitedly prepared to grow our family, we’ve been confronted with the painful reality that the risk of carrying a child to Sheryl’s health and potentially her life was far too great. Despite this obstacle, our desire to become parents continues to burn brightly.
We believe that God has promised us the opportunity to bring children into our lives. Ironically, he never said how. As we’ve begun to navigate the world of infertility, adoption has become the solution for that which we’ve yearned.
Yet despite our deepest convictions, the financial mountain between us and our future children is insurmountable. The adoption is likely to cost $40,000. We’re hoping to raise an additional $10,000 to help cover miscellaneous items like travel to/from the birth mother and other baby essential supplies: strollers, cribs, clothing, etc. Jesus Christ once told his disciples that if they but had faith like a grain of a mustard seed they could move a mountain. We believe this with all our hearts, and we know we can’t do it alone. And thankfully we don’t have to. We have faith not only in God but in the better angels within each of you; that together we can move this mountain!
We invite each of you to be a part of our journey. It’s sure to be filled with joy and pain and hope and disappointment, as life so often is. But how could we possibly achieve our eternal greatness if all we knew were rainbows and unicorns :)
Much love,
Sheryl & Matt
Organizer and beneficiary
Tori Dumke Hillyard
Organizer
Salt Lake City, UT
Sheryl Ellsworth
Beneficiary