Praise the Lord for good ole Ralph ...

In the late 80s and early 90s, multiple families in our church sponsored 24 children at a baptist church in the Philippines. I remember the little boy our Sunday School class adopted. His name was long and we couldn't pronounce it, so we called him the first three letters of his name ... "Wig". :laugh:

Our family sponsored a little boy named Ralph. Ralph was a true gentleman, a very intelligent young man and wise beyond his years. His father had tragically passed away and Ralph had become the man of the house. They lived in poverty, but Ralph was grateful to still have his mom, sister and brother.

Our kids were too young to write at that time, so we sent Ralph a Talkboy, oodles of batteries and several cassettes. Then our kids would talk to Ralph on cassette and I would send him new tapes now and then. That along with enough coloring books, crayons, toys, stuffed animals, etc. to share with all the other children in local proximity. Ralph would write us at least once a month and I would write him back.

The adoption/sponsorship program was customized to fit both their and our needs. We had one contact person, a gentleman who worked close by our adoptee's church. He would receive our check, exchange it for local monies and personally pass it to the parents of the children we sponsored. Same with our packages of goodies. After a few years, the gentleman was forced to leave the Philippines and we were filled with sorrow to quit the program.

And then time passed quickly. We thought about Ralph through the years but never really knew what happened with he or any of our Filipino children when the program ended ...

Until last week when Ralph phoned us! We were so excited to hear the voice of this very special young man whom we'd grown so attached to years ago. He's now 29 years old ... I still can't believe that! Ralph and his brother recently moved to Canada and Ralph started a new job yesterday. We talked on the phone 45 minutes and in that time, exchanged email addresses. We'll definitely keep in touch from here on!

Just wanted to share a little of our joy with you today ... :godisgood:

 

I love that! I'd never really thought of it that way. Thanks, Jim ... :wavey:

 

I am excited to share that Ralph wrote and sent pix last week of his lovely family. He married a few years back and they now have a toddler son. They seem like such a loving family, and they remain strong in their faith.

I'm SO glad we had the opportunity to support these families in the Philippines so many years ago. And I give GOD the glory for the man Ralph has become!