“Because You Were Gone” – Dedicated to John Poole.

Seeing your face as brightened my eyes,

You who have been gone for so long,

I haven’t written a poem in what seems like a hundred years,

Because I haven’t felt inspired,

But that has all changed now, because of you,

 

I felt so lonely sometimes,

But I knew you were in the right place, at the right time,

And because you were gone, I have grown,

It was because you were gone, I realized something more and more,

 

That the love I had for you, friend,

I couldn’t find anywhere else across this land,

That the love I had found in you, friend,

Was something so strong, I knew it would never end,

Because you were gone,

Because you were gone,

Because you were gone,

I’ve found more meaning,

Because you were gone,

Because you were gone,

Because you were gone,

I know our friendship will last forever,

It will last forever, friend,

 

I thank God for you each day,

It was good to see your face again,

It brightened my eyes towards something new,

And I know it will never end,

Because you were gone.

 

Dedicated to John Poole.

 

 

 

 

Wanna Be Welch’s Grape Juice Kid

Introducing Carter!

This kid is amazing. Another MacDonald kid… I was filming his dad, Dr. David MacDonald, for his site, www.libertyhealthgroup.com! Carter just started talking like he was his father. I was sitting there filming him, and I was just thinking, “This is perfect!!” One of the cutest kids alive.

Open your Arms: A letter from the Founder of the Open Arms Foundation

At this moment, our arms are still able to open wide to these children. We need to take them in our open arms and embrace them, not allowing them to close. Let us not allow our arms to close to these children, let us be known to have changed these children’s lives, and not ignoring them.

Yes, we can embrace them across the ocean.

Yes, when you support Open Arms, you are helping the most needy child.

Yes, you can give hope to a child who has no other hope.

Support Open Arms today, it is a matter of humanity.

Below is a letter from the founder, explaining some new information of OAF’s financial state. Please read and consider giving to the Open Arms Foundation.

Stephen

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Hello Everybody,

The Open Arms Foundation has been receiving subcontracted municipal funds for over four years. During this time we have been able to work in an amiable alliance. Recently, however, the group with whom we have been serving has been asking us to give up our children to be transferred to other programs throughout the city. These programs have little or poor supervision which allows the kids to use drugs and openly practice homosexuality. As you may recall earlier in the spring, they took our girls in the residential ministry, then they took six of our older boys in the past couple of months, and now they want seven more. Some of our kids have even ended up back on the streets after being taken away from our care.

There are currently many boys on our farm who are refusing to go to the municipal government program. The entity requesting the boys has not paid us for two months. Last week they informed us that they will no longer be funding our level one Patio day program downtown where we receive up to 30 children daily.

I believe that the Lord has given us a stern warning in Jeremiah 23:1 (ESV): “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord.” Therefore, we are compelled by this scriptural mandate to inform the entity which has been removing the children from our care that we will no longer be contracting with them. During the Fall 2009 Board meeting, the Open Arms International Board of directors made the decision to not renew current contracts or make any new contracts with the Municipal Government, unless OAF is assured through a contract that the children will remain under our care until they reach the age of 18 or are able to be reconciled with their family of origin.

By saying “no” to the government contracts, OAF will suffer a monthly $15,000 – $16,000 loss of income. We will be forced to lay off 60%-70% of our staff which has worked with us faithfully for years. OAF could potentially incur a huge labor salary settlement debt because we are terminating workers before the end of their contracts and we are laying workers off who have several years with the foundation.

We believe very strongly that the Lord has given us the children and they are with us for the specific purpose to raise up our children in the Lord, just as Psalm 92:13 (NKJV) states: “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” It grieves us to see the planting of the Lord plucked up before they have properly matured. In the past we have lost many young lives in the transition from the farm to the urban setting. This is the reason we started the Open Arms Church. Since starting the church or the family of God setting in the city, the transition process and our success rate both have greatly improved.

Please pray for the Open Arms Foundation.

Sincerely,
Bill Perrow

We have to close our Patio day programs this coming Monday due to lack of resources. This program is very important as the kids are initially rescued from the streets during this stage before they are able to move up to live in our Homes. It greatly saddens us to think about what will happen to our kids when they are no longer able to be in the safety of our programs during the day and will instead spend more time in the streets full of drugs, prostitution, and violence. Please pray for this very serious economic situation of the Open Arms Foundation and that the Lord would touch people´s hearts to give so that we can continue to rescue more children from the streets.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible financial contribution, please send a check to the following address:

The Open Arms Foundation
5345 Big Tyler Road
Cross Lanes, WV 25313

We are very appreciative of your financial support and prayers that make a huge difference in the lives of our kids!

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