| Start: | Sep 6, '07 12:00p |
| Location: | Wilmington, North Carolina, USA |
The 21 Days of Blessing
Carla J Roberts, Founder & Executive Director
Sep 6, 2007
Psalm 16:5
Lord, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.You guard all that is mine.
Psalm 31:19
How great is the goodnessyou have stored up for those who fear you.You lavish it on those who come to you for protection, blessing them before the watching world.
Day # 3 of the 21 Days of Blessing
Memories, encounters and daily life experiences in witnessing the restoration of children at Yahweh Center Children's Village, Wilmington, North Carolina
( In case you have missed the first two days of these posts you can go to the archives list at the top of this page and catch up) www.yahwehcenter.org
In first praying together about sharing our stories we all came to one realization. We are in a battle for the lives of these precious children. Often the children who come to us for treatment have in their tender years been adrift in a system that for an array of reasons has failed to met their needs. Our average age child is 8 years and has had sometimes more than 10 placements including mulitple psychiatric hospitalizations before being admitted to our program. There is a miracle within those children just for surviving the such events. These realities do however make them feel like somehow this is all their fault and it is a long road back to helping them believe they are valued and have the right to belong to a family where they can be safe and loved for just who they are. These children make us laugh and they also make us cry... for the lost days, times, tears sometimes years of not having emotional security. So it is a blessing to have a team of staff, board, volunteers, partnerships in the greater community, prayer support and courageous families who endeavor against all odds to join the battle to change the outcomes of their lives. What that in mind today's blessings include stories from the past and current ones that will illuminate how God is changing their lives and ours....
Past Memory : Dateline April 1996 pre- Children's Village while on Wrightsville Avenue
We received the call from a hospital in Raleigh, a little girl needed placement and would we take her? The information we received was sketchy. The social worker referring shared that this 8 year old little girl had been very violent. She had destroyed her past adoptive family's home by using a scissors on things like pillows, furniture. She hit, spit, kicked and fought just about everybody. She tried to jump out of a moving car and ended up in the hospital. Her mother had lost her parental rights due to excessive drug use and as a small child she lived some nights in a box on the streets. No clear history about any other family existed and she was now facing disruption of her second "adoptive" placement. The social worker said they seemed like a great family but they clearly expressed fear of having her in their home and would not take her back. So I agreed to come up to do our own assessment to see if we should agree to admit her into our program. A student intern in social work from UNCW accompanied me.
When I arrived at the hospital, I was dismayed to learn they had told her she was being discharged and that I was there to pick her up. Besides being "set up" I was totally floored by what was waiting for me. A little girl sat among a pile of rumble tumble trash bags and a worn suitcase. She had her shirt on inside out, her clothes didn't match, two different socks and shoes were on her feet and her hair was in pigtails. It occurred to me that she was dressed like she felt-- all mixed up and in chaos. She defiantly looked and me and demanded to know if she was going with me. Wow-- now what? The kid had attitude.
The intern looked at me with her mouth wide open and I uttered a silent prayer-- Lord help us and help this child. After that prayer--- God stepped in and I heard my own voice saying " Yes, you are going with us." So we found ourselves with a little girl... riding across North Carolina. A child who was in the company of complete strangers and acted if it was what she did all the time. Then it hit me she knew this drill all too well.
Days later we learned that this little girl was in graduate school of survival and one tough customer. Yet she had one memory that she clung to. She insisted that her grandmother and grandfather wanted her and she talked of being in a farmhouse bed with sweet smelling quilts and a pony neighing outside her bedroom window. She consistently stuck to this story everytime telling it the same way. She even remembered how the sky looked when she woke up. Yet she lied about most everything on most days. We keep praying with the secret hope that maybe there really was someone in her family that really did love her. How could that be? Why wouldn't her legal guardians find that out?
We began to ask questions and insisted on finding out if her case records could be reviewed to see if such a grandparents really did exist. In doing so, we made some people mad and uncomfortable too. I was asked to appear in the office of a Dept of Social Services Director in a county across the state and explain "just what we thought we were doing."
Before going, we videotaped this little girl insisting she had a grandmother who she remembered was carried kicking and screaming out a courtroom. It was time to risk a few professional relationships ,so I played this tape for the DSS Diirector. The minute she saw it --- her face gave it all away and then we knew it was true. Old politics, a complicated set of high school relationships, small town history, all played into this very troubling situation.
Suddenly we had what we needed -- a name and an address. Yahweh Center was in a special family systems project with 8 other agencies funded by Duke Endowment at the time and an expert in working with families was going to facilitate this meeting. So he called and set up a meeting at the Durham Hilton off I-85 to meet this mysterious grandmother. What happened is a moment-- I will never forget. We kept looking around for the grandmother and the only person in the lobby was an elegant lady in a bright yellow suit. It just couldn't be her! Finally after about 10 minutes we wondered over and asked her if she was waiting to meet some people about her granddaughter.
At that ---she burst into tears and then said " I have been praying for 5 years for God to find a way to get our granddaughter back." Today God has answered my prayer.
A day of miracles and the power of prayer lit up the place.
~ By Carla Roberts
"The Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18
Current Story
My favorite memory or story while working here at the Yahweh Center Children’s Village:
When cottage staff began to involve the clients in daily chores, the clients expressed great excitement over this activity and enthusiasm for the work at hand. One little guy, barely waist high, was assigned the chore of taking out the garbage. He asked all day; “Is it time? Is it time, now?” Finally, after exhausting the staff of responding “not yet, but soon,” it was time! He ran to the kitchen and tied the bag and as he lifted the bag to remove it from the trash bin he was thwarted by gravity and his small stature. In frustration and anguish he moaned; “I can’t do it!” He refused staff assistance and heaped himself on the living room floor, inconsolable. Eventually he tired himself out and went to bed. The next day the staff were prepared to help the little guy with his chore. He didn’t ask about taking the trash out and when staff prompted him it was “time” he slowly dragged his feet and looked sour as he entered the kitchen. This time staff told him to tie the bag and then step away. He tied the bag, gave a forlorn look to the staff and stepped back. The staff turned the bin on its side and instructed the little guy to pull the bag out. Gleefully he shouted; “I can do that!” and jumped to the task. He dragged the bag out the kitchen, through the dining room, across the great room, out the front door, and “clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk” down the steps. He continued to drag the trash down the sidewalk and to the large garbage containers which were taller than him. Staff opened the container but, lo and behold, he could not lift the bag high enough. Before staff could intervene, the little guy cried out; “I just can’t do it!” and ran back into the cottage. He would not accept staff assistance and wore a saddened expression all evening. I know you anticipate what’s next…those wonderful staff were prepared the next day. Just as before~ they prompted the little guy to tie the bag, step back, drag the bag and “just wait.” Staff turned the large outdoor garbage container on its side and instructed our little one to “put it in there.” He exclaimed; “I can do that!” and that’s just what he did! Eventually our little hero began to slowly accept staff help, and though this is a daily struggle, he can often be heard saying “I can do that!” when faced with tasks he once believed himself incapable of completing.
Jennifer Klein, MSW, LCSW
Level III Residential Program Manager
Matthew 5:
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
Visit our website at www.yahwehcenter.org to make a donation or to find out about upcoming events or to learn more about how you can make a difference in being part of the blessings of this ministry.
See our video of our agency by going to God Tube and following this link:
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=44d9c9fd3f6d86bb7cc8 For the children and the team.....
Carla
croberts@yahwehcenter.org
PO Box 10399
Wilmington, NC 28404-0399
910 675-3533 ( phone )
Located at 5000 Lamb's Path Way
Castle Hayne, NC 28249
