And then he called me papa...

by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries

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After completing two adoptions, Julie and I were exhausted (and so was our bank account).  God had been faithful to provide every dime we had needed for the adoptions.  Sometimes it was through the faithful and generous gifts of family, friends, and our church family.  Other times it was through seemingly benign circumstances like the sale of a home.  Regardless of how and when it came, though, we were now broke.  We were also emotionally spent from the stress and anxiety that comes with the adoption paperwork and process.  We had pretty much decided that we were going to just wait, live a little bit, have some recovery time, and then possibly pursue an adoption in China when we became old enough to do that (For China’s process, you have to be 30 years old to adopt). Then, one day I received a phone call that changed all that. “There’s a 12 year old Ukrainian boy on an airplane headed to the US right now.  He’s an orphan.  There was a family that was going to host him through a pseudo foreign exchange program, but they had a family emergency and can no longer host him.  It’s just 3 weeks, can you host him?”  The words seemed so simple at the time, and I went home to talk to Julie about it.  Of course, being the incredible godly woman she is, she never even hesitated.  “Why not?” she asked.  So we agreed. In the hours that we waited to go pick him up, I formulated the plan.  I would host several parties at our house and invite as many couples as I could invite to meet him.  Maybe one of them would feel called by God to begin the adoption process.  So, I began the plans and phone calls.  A few hours later, we picked up a very tiny, very tired, blonde haired blue eyed angel named Sasha. He spoke no English, and we spoke no Russian, so our first few days were filled with a lot of hand gestures and drawings.  Things were going really well, until he decided to wreck my plan.  About the second or third day, he began to call Julie and I mama and papa.  In that moment, my heart became his.  One night, as he layed across my lap and put his head on my shoulder and fell asleep, I prayed that the Lord would give him to us.  We were absolutely broke and had literally nothing to begin the process with, but we knew he was our son. One day after church, I got a phone call from a good friend who asked if he and his wife could stop by our house.  Of course I said yes.  Our home is always open, and there are always people coming and going.  They came in and sat down across from us and asked if we were serious about adopting Sasha.  With a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes, I told them that of course, we were serious.  The wife of this couple, then handed me an envelope and said that they wanted to help and she asked me to open it.  Inside was a check for $10,000.  After they left, Julie and I sat there in disbelief and just wept. Two days later a friend called and told us that they were giving us their van.  We could use it for a larger vehicle or sell it for the adoption.  There was another $5,000 covered.  A day later I got an email from a member of our church family with the promise of $3,000 toward the adoption.  We hadn’t even really told anyone that we were pursuing adoption for Sasha or that we needed money.  God just provided…as He always has. Julie and I have decided to spend the rest of our lives making stories just like that happen over and over again.  This world is full of people who are ready to sacrifice something of their lives and wealth in order to make a significant difference in the lives of children.  Whether that’s sponsorship, foster care, adoption, or simply taking a trip to a foreign place and holding children tight, letting them know there is hope and a future for them; people are standing up one-by-one to answer the call.
​Will you be a significant part of a child’s life that you may never meet?  Will a child eat a meal every day and attend school for the first time in their lives because your family sacrificed eating out one day per month?  I believe God is raising up so many, and you could very well be the most significant thing that has ever happened in a child’s life.

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