After years of living apart in foster homes, four young brothers and sisters have been reunited as the adopted children of an Aiken County minister and his wife who “simply tried to be obedient where God already was working.”
“We had heard the stories of others who had adopted children, and it resonated with our hearts,” said Cheryl, a Pickens County native and graduate of Clemson University who has given up her career as an elementary school teacher to care for their new family.
Music is an important ministry and source of pleasure and inspiration for the Braswell family.The conviction that adoption might be the right route to follow grew, in part, from an emphasis placed on adoption at the 2009 Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville. It was enough to “get the ball rolling” in the minds and hearts of this couple, well before they had even thought about adopting more than one child.
Daniel, an Aiken County native, graduated from North Greenville University and Southern Seminary, and he serves as minister of music and youth at Foreman Memorial Baptist Church in New Ellenton, directly across the street from the church-owned home where the Braswells live.
The Braswells officially began the adoption process after Foreman Memorial observed Orphan Sunday, where the need for adoption as well as foster parents was underscored by a DSS caseworker. Months of paperwork followed prior to approval of their request to adopt.
Still, even after the approval, nothing seemed to be happening to bring them any closer to their goal of adopting. Daniel attended the 2010 annual meeting of the South Carolina Baptist Convention in Columbia, where the director for DSS adoptions, Judy Caldwell, addressed the need and provided information.
Daniel telephoned Caldwell about his concern over what appeared to be a lack of movement in the process. “We have already been approved, but have not heard one word,” he told her. She replied, “Would you be open to considering adopting more than one child?” He answered with a question, “Would it get the wheels turning for us if I say yes?” She said it would, and “that began our journey that led us to our children.”
The children didn’t arrive at the Braswell household at the same time. Lexie, 15, came on March 18 and Michael, 11, a week later. Joshua, 9, and Shamirra, 5, joined the family in July. Michael attended McCall Royal Ambassador Camp, and Lexie participated in Summersalt at White Oak Conference Center during the summer. Both made professions of faith and were baptized by Daniel.
In December, the siblings celebrated their first Christmas together.
“Foreman Memorial has been so supportive of our adoption,” Cheryl said. “They threw a ‘welcome home’ shower for our family and bought lots of things for them so that we wouldn’t have so much expense. And they replaced the windows in our home – which was expensive – after lead was discovered in the 50-year-old windows. We are so grateful for our church family.”
Lexie, Michael, Joshua and Shamirra are an active foursome – in their schools, the community and in church. Lexie is a cheerleader at Silver Bluff High School, where she is in the ninth grade. Michael and Joshua played football last fall, and Michael also plays the drums in a praise band at the church. As for 5-year-old Shamirra, “she is just a little sweetheart,” said Cheryl with obvious pride. “She loves pocketbooks, and it’s funny to see her carrying her great big purse around. Daniel calls her Granny.”
Michael sometimes accompanies his new dad on visits to members of the congregation who are sick. “When I am with someone who is sick,” Michael said, “I pray for them and encourage them to get better.” Michael, according to his dad, has a very active prayer life.
The Braswells make their home in a community that is multiethnic – approximately 58 percent white, 40 percent African-American and the remainder Hispanic, according to Daniel, who said, “Our vision is for Foreman Memorial to reach out to our community with the gospel in such a way that we become a true representation of our community.”
For Daniel and Cheryl, adopting the four siblings to establish a biracial family was “not special” in their view; they simply were moving in the direction that God was leading them. Perhaps, Cheryl admitted, what they did is special, though, “especially if it will encourage others” to take the step she and Daniel did to give the brothers and sisters a home and environment in which they could absorb and be influenced by “the things of God.”
“And now,” they both agreed, “we have a new outlook on life; we’re the parents of four children.”