“When I was a little girl, my life was perfect.  We had a nice home and plenty of food.  My mom and dad took very good care of me.  I used to love it when my daddy took me for ice cream.  I was my daddy’s little girl.  We were such a happy family.”

Katerina became an orphan at age 9.  She had a very happy life when she was young, but then, after her father died, things got very hard.  Her mother began drinking, and she eventually died, too, leaving Katerina alone.  Katerina was placed in an orphanage until she was adopted by a forever family.
 

When Miremba was very young, both of her parents died of a terrible disease.  Miremba and her brothers and sisters had no one to take care of them.  A church in another country began to take care of her, her brothers and sisters, and many of their cousins as well, whose parents had also died (mostly from the same disease).
 
“People from a church began to take care of us.  When I graduate from college, I want to care for orphans, too, and use the blessings God has given me to bless others.”
 

Bryan was taken into foster care with his brother when he was 4.  Bryan and his brother went to one foster home for a short time, then moved into another home two weeks later.  The family in the second home adopted them not long after that, and now they have added three sisters to the family, too.
 
“My mom and dad were getting into trouble with the police…using drugs, some other stuff…we ended up homeless and had to stay in someone’s back yard.  One day, my mom left us alone, and the police came and put us into foster care to keep us safe.”
 

When he was a baby, doctors found out that he had a terrible heart problem and needed an operation to save his life.
 
“The doctors in my country decided they couldn’t do my operation, but some doctors in another country thought that they could help me.  After a family in their country adopted me, one of the doctors gave me the operation for free and saved my life and made me healthy.”
 

Mealea’s father did his best to take care of her when she was little. When he could no longer work as much, he couldn’t afford to take care of Mealea, so he put her in an orphanage.  After a while, Mealea moved to another country with her father, but was put into foster care when she was 5.  Then, when she was 8, she was adopted by a forever family.
 
“It was hard being in the orphanage, and then coming to the United States.  I missed Cambodia so much at first.  Now, I have a new family and a new life, and I am so thankful God has saved me and adopted me.”