ADOPTION: Encouragement and Advice for a Hopeful Journey, Blog Post #26 – Final Title, Cover, Endorsements

Posted March 11, 2017

After a few weeks break because I was swamped with life duties as a busy momma, I am back to weekly blog posts. The exciting news is my book will be available for order late next week if all goes well. Next week’s post will have the link, and I’ll have my FB page ready for you to LIKE!

The title has changed a bit based on recommendations from my publisher, Generations.com, and is now officially: ADOPTION: Encouragement and Advice for a Hopeful Journey — A Husband-Wife Guidebook for Successfully Raising Adopted Children in a Christian Home.

I hope you enjoy seeing for the first time the front and back covers included above! To pique your interest further, here are some endorsements from beta readers:

I’ve studied Christian psychology, counseling, and theology in college, in graduate school, and in two seminaries. I taught in a Christian school for two years. I’ve been a pastor and Christian counselor for over 37 years. But Shari McMinn has taught me more about raising adopted children in this book than I learned in all these years of training. I only wish I’d had this book to guide me when my wife and I adopted our two boys, now ages 30 and 33.

Shari may not have a formal doctoral degree, but she has definitely earned an honorary doctorate during her years of study and hands-on training in the area of adoption. This book is jampacked with specific, practical, Biblical help in understanding the ministry of raising adopted children. She’s researched a ton of information in the adoption field. But she’s also learned much by plain old “trial and error.”

One thing that struck me most was the fact that she lays out, not just the “good” and the “bad,” but also the “ugly” that adoptive parents can expect to face. Someone once said, “Growing old is not for sissies.” Well, Shari has definitely made the case that “Adoption is not for sissies either.” Parents who read this book will be enabled to go into their adoption with their eyes wide open and their hearts better prepared for the heartache and sacrifice that’s so often part of this ministry to orphans.

Very often, adopted children have a host of serious issues that most birth children don’t have. Adopted children don’t fit the “normal” mold regarding how most people think their children will grow and mature and respond to their love and discipline. We certainly found this to be true regarding our own boys. There were times when we felt like complete failures as parents because our expectations were not met. It would have been extremely helpful to have been warned ahead of time regarding these difficulties and to have the many helpful coping mechanisms that are shared in this book.

If you’re thinking of adoption, I highly recommend that you read this book. If you’ve already adopted, then definitely read this book. And if you’re not considering adoption, I would urge you to read this book as well, if only to be better equipped to assist adoptive families in your church, community, and extended family.

Rev. Dr. Jeffrey K. Boer, M.Div., D.Min.; Hialeah, FL; Pastor of Sharon Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Member Level II of ACBC (Association of Certified Biblical Counselors); [formerly called NANC (National Association of Nouthetic Counselors.)] Parent of two adopted sons.

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My initial response to reading the first few chapters of this book was “WOW!” But the farther I read, the more inadequate that reaction became. In these pages, Shari has opened her whole life to her readers, and revealed every detail of a family walking with God and seeking to please Him in everything they do. It is the saga of 13 years of laboring to bring two sets of adopted children into the loving embrace of a family with six natural born children.

Through all the trials, tribulations, sorrows, and joys, Shari has learned, and is eager to share, every lesson that an adoptive family would need to know. This is a “must read” for those considering adoption! Her clever use of “Date Night” discussion questions is a format designed to aid couples into a necessary conversation about the issues that will face them. Shari’s amazing gift of offering succinct advice, based on Biblical teaching, will be a great help to adoptive parents.

Keep it in a handy place, maybe the kitchen table, because it will become dog-eared, with turned down corners and underlined passages. I believe a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this book!

Joanne E. Howard, Honorary Dr. of Humane Letters, Sterling College; Bible teacher, elder, missions servant, volunteer to community. Mother of five, grandmother of 20, and great-grandmother of seven. 54-year member of Eastminster Presbyterian Church, Wichita, Kansas.

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I giggled, I cried, I cringed, and I celebrated while reading this book. Shari has a sense of humor dispersed throughout this book. Even though it is a very serious and a tough subject, she is able to bring in levity. I cried for the children from “hard places” and for the parents who raise them. The pain these children experience and bring into the homes they live in is very real and deeply felt by the people who love them. I cringed at some of the methods of discipline that were chosen. Yet, very quickly came to resolve. The author and her late husband had a strong foundation of relationship with their children. That incorporated with discernment and the various needs of their children sometimes warrants an atypical response of discipline to regain regulation.

The celebration was for the success and joy that comes with raising children, all children, even sweeter with the children that come from hard places. Love, relationship, communication, consistency, tenacity, and diligence pay off. It also is for the author for writing a candid, real, all-encompassing book that sheds light on the realities of adopting children from hard places.

Although her target audience is Christian adoptive parents, it is insight that will be impactful for any reader.

Kerri Klein, BSW, LSW; Current Residence: Bismarck, North Dakota; Current Position: ND Department of Human Services, Continuous Quality Improvement Administrator for Children and Family Services. Previous related experience: Worked within the Human Services System for over 24 years, Child Abuse and Neglect Assessments, Ongoing in Home Casework, Foster Care, Adoption, Permanency, Family Engagement, Training on Trauma

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The McMinns’ mission of love gives a striking, challenging glimpse into the price that God paid for man’s sin. For at the heart of the Gospel shines the love of the Father and Son, Who agreed to sacrifice at history’s climax their perfect harmony, in order to redeem and adopt depraved human beings into their family.

Shari’s account moved me to tears — tears for all whose parents have abused or forsaken them; and, in the misbehavior of adopted children, tears for how much my own sin grieves my adoptive Father and dishonors Him.

I heartily recommend ‘Adoption: Encouragement and Advice for a Hopeful Journey’ — it is convicting, inspiring, encouraging, and edifying.

Hosanna Myers, Christian Political Activist; Windsor, Colorado

sharimcminn

Shari Howard McMinn is an author, editor, farmer, writer, and most importantly Mom to 11 children. Widowed very unexpectedly on June 2, 2013, Shari continued the direction of her life built with her late husband, Cary, and launched her public speaking and writing business which he had often encouraged her to do. Drawing from her 'over the top' life, she writes non-fiction and presents PowerPoint talks on issues related to family life, including adoption, childhood nutrition, family economics, homeschooling, and proactive parenting. She is available for broadcast interviews and presentations in Colorado and surrounding states, as well as Florida and Georgia. A dynamic speaker, Shari engages the audience with her true-life storytelling and practical advice based on experience and biblical wisdom.