GREENVILLE — When Claire and Devin Sachs stood together as winners at the Great Darke County Fair, the moment meant far more to their mother than an award.
For Jennifer Sachs, it was another chapter in a family story that began thousands of miles away, nearly nine years ago, when she and her husband, Shawn, welcomed three children from Bulgaria into their family.
Claire and Devin capped months of work at home by tying for Outstanding Breeding Exhibitor in the intermediate division for exhibitors ages 12 to 15.
Jennifer knew the competition between the siblings would be close. She just didn’t expect it to end exactly even.
“We were both very surprised when they tied, and they both won the award,” she said.
The award takes into consideration several areas of competition. One sibling had the higher skillathon score, while the other placed higher in showmanship. Both also exhibited winning sheep during the breeding show.
Jennifer said she and Shawn knew before the final results that there was little separating the two.
“I knew it was going to be close,” she said.
The tie provided a fitting ending for two siblings who had spent the year working side by side raising and caring for sheep on the family’s farm.
Their responsibilities don’t begin when they arrive at the Great Darke County Fair.
They begin at home, in the barn, day after day.
“They’re in the barn every day doing chores, helping their dad with the flocks of sheep,” Jennifer said. “They’re doing the work. They’re walking the sheep. They’re feeding. They’re cleaning up the barn and helping their dad essentially get sheep ready.”
The family raises several breeds of sheep, including Corriedale, Suffolk, Lincoln and crossbreds. They also keep laying chickens, adding another set of daily chores for the children.
For Jennifer, ribbons and awards are rewarding, but they aren’t the most important things her children are gaining.
The work is teaching lessons that can last long after their days of showing livestock are over.
“Building solid work ethic in these kids and just learning how to take care of animals at the home place is a skill that they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives,” she said.
Those lessons have become part of a family journey that Jennifer and Shawn could only have imagined when they decided to adopt.
The Sachses have five children — Caleb, Garrett, Claire, Devin and Emery.
Caleb, the oldest, and Emery, the youngest, are the couple’s biological children. Garrett, Claire and Devin were adopted from Bulgaria in 2017.
The family will celebrate its ninth “Gotcha Day” on Nov. 17, marking the day their lives came together as one family.
Garrett, Claire and Devin were 7, 5 and 4, respectively, when they came home to live with the Sachses.
Since then, Jennifer said, there has never been a distinction in her heart.
“They’re our kids through and through,” she said.
The three grew up as part of the Sachs family and eventually joined the family’s livestock operation.
The Sachses began showing market lambs in 2019 and established their breeding program in 2021.
What started with sheep became another way for the children to learn responsibility, patience and perseverance.
Animals have to be fed whether someone feels like going to the barn or not. Pens have to be cleaned. Sheep have to be walked, cared for, and prepared for the show ring.
Those ordinary days of work eventually led Claire and Devin into the Great Darke County Fair show ring and to a result their parents won’t soon forget — brother and sister sharing the same Outstanding Breeding Exhibitor honor.
But when Jennifer talks about her children, the conversation quickly becomes less about livestock and awards and more about family.
Asked whether she would encourage other families to consider adoption, her answer came immediately.
“Absolutely,” she said. “It’s the biggest blessing of our life.”
Then the emotion behind those words became apparent.
Jennifer began to cry as she thought about children around the world who are still waiting for what Garrett, Claire and Devin found in 2017 — a family.
“There are lots of kids that don’t have families, and that need loving, supporting …”
Her emotions finished the thought.
Nearly nine years after three young children traveled from Bulgaria to become part of the Sachs family, two of them stood together at the Great Darke County Fair, sharing an award earned through months of responsibility and hard work.
For Jennifer and Shawn Sachs, the ribbons will eventually be put away, and another fair will come and go.
But the family created through adoption — five children growing up together, working together and supporting one another — remains the prize that matters most.
