“It was in the early 1940s,” recalled Porch. “And that’s when everything fell apart.”

Porch’s father, unable to properly care for his family, signed over legal rights to his children, giving them up for adoption.

Gladys Childs, a distant relative by marriage to Porch and her siblings, heard of the children’s needs and approached her church family, the Riverside Church of Christ in Wichita, Kansas.  She asked the church to help care for the children.

Ruth Garthwaite, a member of the neighboring West Douglas Church of Christ, offered to house the children if the Riverside church covered the expenses.  Riverside agreed.

The church learned about more children that needed a home, too.

In 1946, the Riverside church opened a children’s home, naming it the Midwest Children’s Home.  The Brazeal family was hired as the first houseparents to the children in the home.  They adopted Porch when she was 10 years old.

“The life that they offered us gave us a chance for more,” Porch recalled.

“The people in the church took us because they saw a need, and they introduced us to Christ, because that was their mission,” Porch said. “That’s still their mission.”

The Home is still in operation today.  It is now known as Carpenter Place, named for an early benefactor, Maude Carpenter.

“The home gave me my faith,” Porch stressed. “If it had not been for the church taking us into that home, I don’t think we would have ever known a faith. Right now, my family is a Christian family because of what happened when I was young.” *

“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you,” Jesus said to His apostles (John 14:18).  He said this to them to inform and reassure them that He would send the Holy Spirit to be with them and to guide them.

Jesus doesn’t want to leave us as orphans either.

Due to our sins, we have become orphans in that we are separated from God (Isaiah 59:1-2).  But God sees our needs, loves us, and desires to save us and adopt us into His family.

God paid the price for our redemption by giving His Son to die on the cross for our sins (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).  When we accept His gracious offer, He adopts us into His family and blesses our lives for an eternity (Romans 8:14-17).