Then and Now...

This picture was taken in September of 2004... a few weeks after the opening of our first group home, Casa Rebeca. I love looking back at pictures of our kids when they first came to us. It shows me how much they have grown and changed in just a few short years!

Then... Stefan was only five. He had been in state care since infancy and had many language and developmental delays from his lack of interaction with others. He often rocked himself for comfort and we were told that he would need at least one extra year before being ready for first grade.

Kati came into our care with her little orphanage hair cut and a heart full of fear and a longing to belong. Kati often had nightmares her first year here of being abandoned and alone in the woods with her siblings. The saddest part about this bad dream is that it was really a bad memory for her. She was with her natural family for the first years of her life, but it was a life of abuse and abandonment.


Now... Stefan is about to finish second grade! He is very talkative and loves to be in the middle of whatever is going on at the house with the older kids. He still rocks if watching a movie or sometimes singing, but is easily brought back to the reality of having others around him by only a quiet whisper of his name. He loves Superman, riding his bike, sharing a room with his "big brothers" and having moms who love and care for him!


Kati hasn't had her repeating bad dream since the night that her nightmare truly turned into a dream... That night, the dream began the same way... Kati along with her siblings going through the dark woods, alone, cold, hungry and scared and then... Bruce (our Founder) came and picked them all up and brought them home to Casa Rebeca... laid them in their beds and tucked them in. He told them that they never had to be alone again because they were home. Kati truly has a home now... She knows that we love her, but most importantly, she knows the love of her Father, who will never leave her or forsake her!

This is what this ministry is all about... Taking the abandoned and alone and bringing them into a home... a safe place... giving them a place to belong!