Community pulls together to help a Herriman family get a new home
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Jeremy and Christianne Green pose with their eight children – three biological children and five special needs children adopted from China. The Greens are expecting to adopt two more children later this year.
To say that the Green family is bursting at the seams isn’t far from the truth. This Herriman family has eight children and two more on the way. But what makes Jeremy and Christianne Green’s family unique isn’t the number of children, but that five of their children and two more they plan to adopt are special needs children from China.
To help this growing family, the community is coming together to raise money to build the family a new home.
Jeremy Green was approached by a neighbor, Chrissy Probst, about the possibility of raising enough funds to build a new home for the family. The Puzzle Them Home committee was born. In addition to outgrowing their current home, the family also needs something that is wheelchair accessible since one of the children they plan to adopt is in a wheelchair.
The idea behind the fundraiser is to sell pieces of a 5,000-piece puzzle for $50 each piece. When the puzzle is complete, the picture will be framed and placed in the family’s new living room. Although the fundraising has just started, the plan is to begin construction next spring and finish in time to include the home in the 2013 Parade of Homes.
“There aren’t words to express how much love and support we feel from people we don’t even know,” Christianne Green said. “One amazing thing that has come out of this is the new friendships that have been born. We didn’t know Chrissy that well before this started, and now we are good friends.”
The Greens’ adoption journey began after their three biological children, Taylor, 13, Parker, 11, and Jesi, 9, were born. Christianne suffered two miscarriages and was advised against getting pregnant again. To fill the void they felt in their family, the couple turned to adoption and to China.
All five of the couple’s current adopted children Elli, 7, Graci, 14, Xander, 7, Lexi, 7 and Sophi, 3, are special needs children from China. The other two children the family hopes to adopt by the end of the year, Conner and Cali, are also from China and are special needs.
In addition to private donations, the committee wants to try to secure the support of corporate sponsors and people willing to donate time, experience or building supplies.
For more information about Puzzle Them Home, visit www.puzzlethemhome.org/.
