Blog

On May 3, a team from Lost Sparrows—including one of our board members, Blythe Royaards, a ministry partner, Taylor Irby, and myself—flew to Sarajevo, Bosnia to reconnect with our local partners. It has been four years since we were last able to be there in person. It...

A little over a month ago I’d had it with our boys and their feet. Ruslan had once again walked a hole through the bottom of his shoes and another PT had told us that he couldn’t help, and said, “In fact, no one in Ukraine can help you.” In the throes of frustration,...

Hayes is a delightful 2-year-old who is described as cute and clever. His absolute favorite activity is to swing on the swing set. Hayes is learning to call out to his on-site family care mom and dad when he needs their attention. They lavish the praise on him when he...

Lost Sparrows has several areas of focus within their mission to help end the orphan crisis. One initiative is the Foster Care Support Project in Bulgaria. Many of the orphans in Bulgaria are social orphans—babies and children who are abandoned by their families due...

Some of you may remember Nik from Nik’s Heart of Hope (NHOH)—connected with Lost Sparrows. He’s the young man with a ginormous heart for serving and spreading God’s love who worked to collect and crush aluminum cans to exchange for money at the recycling center. That...

I began the previous blog post with this question and a statement. “What do the Amish, little ones with special needs, two nonprofits, four adoptions, two one-room schoolhouses from the 1800’s and a monthly print magazine have to do with homesteading in 2023? It is...

What do the Amish, little ones with special needs, two nonprofits, four adoptions, two one-room schoolhouses from the 1800s, and a monthly print magazine have to do with homesteading in 2023? It is the story of our family, and it is a joy to share how the Lord has...

Horace and Phyllis Leister from the Tumaini Children’s Home in Kenya, Africa, recently contacted Room to Bloom with updates on two (of their 44) children. Room to Bloom shared about their daughter, Debby, in the September issue. Debby is still awaiting her surgery in...

"Thank You!" from the Phillips Family “Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all you have done to support our family. Our prayers have been answered through y’all and it was a sweet glimpse of heaven. We are humbled by your generosity and forever changed by...

    Elon – Age 7 – Eastern Europe – Arthrogryposis (delays in development) Elon walks independently. He feeds himself and cleans up after his meals. He does not talk at this time, but understands what is said to him and follows simple instructions. He...

Five-year-old Zuri was born with congenital heart disease. Her specific diagnoses are atrial septal defect (ASD), severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) and tricuspid regurgitation (TR). All this means that her heart condition is quite complex. Zuri has five siblings, one...

  words by: Nic Stoltzfus, Plain Values Editorial Manager _______________ “I want our magazine to encourage families to consider adoption and to support those who have adopted children with special needs.”   When Marlin Miller and his wife Lisa founded Plain...

  Room to Bloom’s mission is to promote the beauty of adoption and to ascribe dignity to people with Down syndrome and other special needs. In our first two years, all because of our generous donors, we’ve had the privilage of funding the adoptions of 14...

    In May of 2022, Keith and Lori Troyer adopted 9-year-old Rya from an orphanage in Bulgaria. Now that they’ve been home for a few months, our very own editorial manager for Plain Values Magazine, Nic Stoltzfus, had the opportunity to pay them a visit and...

  Tickets on Sale Now _______________ October 14-15, 2022   |   Grace College Campus   |   Historic Winona Lake, IN _______________   The Lost Sparrows Trauma Conference is designed for foster/adoptive parents, teachers, or anyone who works with children....

    After months of waiting and prayer, Keith and Lori Troyer finalized the adoption of their newest daughter. In May, Lori and her son journeyed to Bulgaria where they met 9-year-old Rya at her orphanage. The experience of meeting Rya is one they’ll never...

    A couple of months ago, we shared that Jed and Kim Johnson of Wide Awake International made the difficult decision to leave their homestead near Kyiv, Ukraine, and find refuge in Germany. However, a team of people stayed behind, and they are working to...

    Back in January, we shared of the Abuhl family and of their goal to bring home a little girl with the exact form of rare epilepsy as their own daughter. It is a rather expensive adoption and you blew us, and them, away with your generosity! Thank you...

There are many updates to share with the current conflict in Ukraine. Jed and Kim Johnson with Wide Awake International live not far from Kiev, the center of much fighting. They stayed on the homestead as long as possible but made the decision to leave and get their...

  MONTHLY UPDATE     Did you know that in 2021, the Love Without Boundaries community, of which Room to Bloom is a supporter of, made it possible for 142 children to have heart surgery? That's more than 2 children per week, which is so much more than a...

We are overjoyed to share that little Rowan was able to receive his life-saving heart surgery! Everything went so smoothly that he was weaned off of his ventilator just one day after his surgery. After spending some time in the hospital recovering, Rowan is already...

  MONTHLY UPDATE     We are a family of seven—soon we will be a family of eight. We are on an unexpected path that started almost five years ago with the birth of our fifth child. Evangeline was born several weeks early; that was our only notice that...

    A few months ago a wonderful family from San Antonio, Texas, said yes to a very special set of twin boys born in Alabama. Asher and Jude both have Down syndrome, and they have recently come home after an extended hospital stay. Because of our readers’...

  MONTHLY UPDATE   It is hard to believe, but October marks the first anniversary of our non-profit, Room to Bloom. When I look back over these last ten years and trace the Lord’s work up to this point, I simply have to shrug my shoulders in awe. It is a...

  MONTHLY UPDATE   The Room to Bloom team has been busy! Because of your generosity, we have sent four families substantial grants to help cover the costs of the adoptions. We look forward to sharing these family stories in Plain Values in the coming year....

  HERE IS A GLIMPSE INTO THE JOURNEY OF ADOPTING A CHILD FROM CHINA   • Families may not adopt two unrelated children. • Both parents must be at least 30 years of age at the time of dossier submission. • There can be up to 50-year age difference between the...

  A FAMILY SAID "YES" TO AUDEN!     You may remember little Auden from the cover of the January 2021 issue of Plain Values (he was also featured on this page in the February 2021 issue). We are overjoyed to report that a family has said “yes” to...

words by: Ann Todorov Advocate working with foster and orphaned children with special needs in Bulgaria     At present in Bulgaria, most abandoned babies without a disability are taken into foster care. However, this is not the case for abandoned babies who...

A three-letter word makes all the difference. Jed and Kim Johnson say YES to Jesus every day with eyes wide open and hearts wide awake.

WE BELIEVE EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY AND EVERY PERSON DESERVES A CHANCE TO DISCOVER AND LIVE OUT THE GIFTS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN THEM.   Room to Bloom is committed to supporting organizations dedicated to orphan care and adoption advocacy, helping families who...

  What's Been Happening   Remember little Edmound from our December and January donation cards? At six-months old, Edmound was diagnosed with a VSD heart defect, but his family was unable to cover the surgery cost to repair it. He has been living with the...

  A Quick Update on Room to Bloom   The mission of Room to Bloom has always been to promote the beauty of adoption and to ascribe dignity to people with Down syndrome and other special needs. As we have moved into this work, the board and I have decided what...

I have been asked everyday about my trip. Well-intended, “How was your trip?” questions. And honestly, I find I lie. I lie and say, “it was hard, but we did a lot of good.” And the lie tastes bitter on my tongue. It was more than hard, and there was not a lot of good.

The Leister family is not your typical “foster family” or “children’s home.” It is a family—a large family built on the love and the Tumaini (hope) of Christ.

We believe every child deserves the love and nurturing of a family. We believe in embracing, enjoying, and sharing this one special life and all the blessings we have been given.

  What's Going On   Remember little Nikolas from the donation cards? He was only four months old and needed surgery as soon as possible to save him from infection, however the cost of the surgery was around $12,000. Over the past two months, you all have...

Love Without Boundaries is an international charity that provides hope and healing to orphaned and vulnerable children, and their underserved communities, through its

  Who Your Donations Helped   Your donations over the first few weeks of Room to Bloom being “active” have directly affected the lives of children living in a Cambodian landfill. Due to extreme poverty, these sweet and beautiful children were forced to find...

To learn more about these children and how you can help, visit: www.lwbkids.org.

Lincoln originally entered the Healing Homes Program in March of 2017 at five months of age. Sponsors will receive monthly updates for this happy little guy