Tori's Stories

The sound of laughter of pure joy from a child Our main space The smell of rice, beans, sauce, and meat cooking on the stove The sight of children working on mastering new skills The feeling of love when cuddled up with a child The sight of a child’s face lighting up with a big smile knowing they are loved The excitement of a child beginning to crawl, sitting on their own, or playing well The sound of nannies talking amongst themselves as children nap The sound of music playing in the background Each of these sound like a part of a typical home. Each of these are present in the new Promise House at COTP. We currently have eight children from one to eight years old living in this space, all with varying forms of special needs. Each child plays a special part in this home and each child is worth it all. Our oldest goes to school in the morning. He is very active and loves to play on the playground, run around, and do gymnastic like activitie...

My mom recently asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I paused for a moment to think and the only thing I could say was families for our kids. Sure I could think of things that I cannot buy here and would appreciate, but none of them compare to knowing that our children have a family anticipating the day they can come spend the rest of their lives with their forever family. Most of us can think back to our childhood and remember distinct memories of family. How happy it made us when dad came home from work How going out to dinner with the family was a special occasion Fighting with our siblings Playing games Going shopping with mom Building things with dad Tickle fests Spending nights at grandma’s house Getting spoiled by grandparents Big family get togethers Parents attending sporting events, musical productions, or awards ceremonies And so much more… As an adult I have parents I can call for advice or lean on if I’m in a h...

I’m frustrated. There are so many things that are frustrating. I see them first hand each day, my Facebook newsfeed is full of them, and there are so many more I have no idea about. A baby dies because the family doesn’t have money to feed it, a shooting happens in a public place, children do not have parents, people are diagnosed with cancer and so much more. I read an article the other day ( http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/06/prweb11951808.htm ) where a ten year old boy that has cerebral palsy (non mobile and non verbal) wrote a $250,000 business proposal. He wrote it using his eyes. He is not able to do the things many of us take for granted each day but he is smart. There is technology that allows him to tell the world the thoughts that are going on inside his head. I want this for our kids. We have 10 children that are similar to him; a few may walk one day and a few may talk one day, but we don’t know. I want them to be able to communicate with us—to tell us what they...

Last night I was reading a book that related earthly adoption to God’s adoption of us. I’m not sure I agree with that. Yes, 1 John 3:1 says “See what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” I wholeheartedly agree that I am a child of God and he is my father, but I also believe this was true before my earthly parents even thought of me. But, this viewpoint got me thinking. You may believe the same way this book does and that is totally fine, I know I do not have all the answers. From now on, we will not be thinking the way I think, but rather the way the author of this book does. As soon as we accept God into our hearts he becomes our dad. He has adopted us. It doesn’t matter who we are, what we’ve done, what we are capable of doing, or where we came from: we are His children. He accepts us as we are no matter what. We are each special in our own way and we are very needy. We need to be forgiven, we need to be con...