When my former husband left me and the church to pursue what he thought to be higher truth, I could never imagine God redeeming that low point of my life and the shame that my former husband had heaped upon me. My God didn’t just bring me out of that dark place to the life I had wanted. He brought me to a life I never knew I could have asked for. I met a man whose whole family left Cuba as refugees. They immigrated to America to worship God freely and serve Him with their whole lives; not just in… Read More
Children
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I thought I was broken. “I am a worthless wife if I can’t give my husband children.” This is one of the lies I was tempted to believe as I experienced my second miscarriage followed by the news that I had both genetic and blood clotting disorders. Both would not only increase my chances for another miscarriage but could also lead to my carrying a baby with a severe life-ending syndrome. Feelings of anger, isolation, low esteem, guilt, and anxiety were considered normal by the specialists treating me but there was more at work here than just feelings. I realized that there… Read More
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Be careful what you pray for. We went through nine years of infertility and had at least 11 miscarriages. But I kept praying to become a mother. And God certainly answered my prayers—and then some—because now we have 12 children! When you have a dozen children, life is a little hectic. We do five loads of laundry every day. We spend over $1,000 each week on groceries and have four full-size freezers in our garage to store food. We recently purchased 12 lockers so the kids have their own space for their coats, backpacks and all their shoes. We need a 15-seat… Read More
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The Circle of Love is not just a toy drive where we supply Christmas presents each year to 700 children in need. It is a way to give forgotten children a sense of worth and value, a way to give them an ability to dream. We started The Circle of Love in 2004, and over these 19 years, we have touched over 8,000 children who live in shelters and in impoverished areas. You can never fully explain to a child why Santa Claus will not come to visit him and his family. For children in transitional housing, having gifts to open… Read More
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I never would have thought our family would start a Shaved Ice business out of a food truck, especially when it was our six-year-old daughter’s idea. But it shows what we all can do if we just follow God’s prompting. When our daughter, Della, was 6, we found ourselves doing virtual school due to the pandemic. One day, I looked at her daily journal they had to compose for school, and it said, "I'm going to have a shaved ice business one day and my family is going to help me run it." I was more than taken back by this,… Read More
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God has blessed me to be the shepherd of some of His hurting children who have survived life-altering burn injuries. He’s allowed me to become the Executive Director of the Connecticut Burns Care Foundation. We put on a Children's Burn Camp every summer: about half of our campers have minor burns, but the other half have very serious burns over parts or all of their body. Our week-long camp in July is free to any child who has suffered a burn. The camp allows these burn survivors to have fun and just be kids. It's a beautiful location on 176 acres… Read More