Sparrows’ Hope

The Girls!

Terri and Bob

Derek and his crew from DOD

Bob and Pati

Church Inc. ministering to the people of the streets of Oildale!

Keepers of the Cross

Email to Terri@Sparrowshope.com

Pastor Mike and Sister Angelina

 

 

Welcome to Sparrows Hope!

 

This is a website about our family and our ministry. My husband Bob and I have been married 21 years and have adopted 16 children. They range in age from 5 to 33. We have 10 children at home and 4 children living on their own. Two of our children live in heaven.

 

Bob and I began our lives together with 4 children. A year after we married we adopted all 4 children and were a family of 6! We then adopted a little boy and two little girls that same year. We were a family of 9 and we needed a bigger home! After searching for about a year (our poor realtor….) we found a place we could add on to BEFORE we moved into it! This home we are living in now has 8 bedrooms/3 bathrooms but we continued to adopt children when the county called us.

 

We have not taken in every child that we have been called about, since we take this ministry very seriously and devote our lives to these children. The children we have are doing very well and when we take in another child we pray and evaluate how we can help them and work with them as well as care for the ones we have. All children deserve a loving, safe family and that is what we give them! We now have 5 children in wheelchairs and 5 who walk and do quite well with assistance. I stay home with the children and my husband works from home too. My brother Bob and his wife Pati live next door and are an enormous help! We have other family and friends who assist in any way they can.

 

Many people ask how do you do what you do and the answer has always been God’s strength, grace and mercy. He gives us wisdom so we can continue to minister daily to the children. Both Bob and I have accepted Jesus as our Saviour years ago and are Heaven bound. This world is not our final home and what we do here on earth is our ministry, which is why we are here at THIS time and in THIS place. These children cannot care for themselves, they need help.

 

Our ministry is to provide everything that these children need and a lot of what they want if possible! The children in wheelchairs have various handicaps including cerebral palsy, spina bifida, hydranencephaly, Lowe Syndrome and assorted problems. The children who can walk have assorted handicaps including cerebral palsy, shaken baby syndrome, Down syndrome, extreme prematurity and all have assorted maternal drug and alcohol abuse in their past. They have done amazingly well. All of them can smile, make noises and they show an astounding joy in life! We think if they can smile and show such enthusiasm for life despite their handicaps and questionable health we shouldn’t complain either! We want to continue caring for these children and any others God sends our way!

 

 We are now in the process of building the new house complete with 12 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, laundry room, large family room, kitchen and schoolroom. On one side we have an area with two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and living room. That area is for my brother and sister-in law to live in and help us with the children. We are building it as we get the money for it so we don’t have debt when we move in. It is slow but eventually we hope to have a new home and a shop/inside play area on the property. Also we need the entire area fenced and landscaped for the children to wheel around and play safely. Our dream for Sparrows Hope is that it will be an area that is safe for these children and any future children we care for. Also for other parents who would like to have an outdoor area for their disabled children to wheel around in safely and have fun. It’s all about Jesus who has our times in His hands and who has great plans for each of us no matter how handicapped or disabled we may be.

Psalms 139:13-16  Psalms 84:3-4 Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may have her young  place near your altar O Lord Almighty my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house they are ever praising you.

 

New Life Recovery and Training Center, (newlifetrainingcenter.org), are led by an amazing man named Mitch. They are building our new house! As we get the money together to do the next step in building our home Mitch uses it to purchase supplies and teaches these young men how to build a home from the ground up! DOD construction (the company that sponsors New Life) has put in a strong solid foundation for our new home. Their construction company gathered in prayer before they poured the concrete. We are so thankful for them!

 

Our church Valley Baptist (valleybaptist.org) has prayed for our family and our children for over 20 years. They treat each of our children as though they were created in the image of Jesus. These children matter in the sight of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He died on a cross for All of us, because He loves us! It wasn’t the nails that kept his hands and feet on that cross, it was love for each one of us!

 

We met the men and women of Set Free Bakersfield almost 10 years ago. They are led by Pastor Mike Salazar and his wife Sister Angelina. Pastor Mike and Sister Angelina run homes for recovering addicts, the homeless, and those needing hope. Together they lead Set Free church which is a ministry of Valley Baptist Church. They have devoted their lives to this ministry for many years. The men in Set Free have worked with Bob through the years on various projects including working with wood.

 

One of the many ministries of Set Free Bakersfield is their motorcycle ministry made up of the Sons of The Most High and Set Free Sisters. It is just an incredible thing to watch how all the ministries work together to bring glory to God and to serve and help a portion of our society that many churches tend to overlook. Even though they are located here in Bakersfield, their ministry reaches globally to Central and South America as well. It has been a special blessing for us to work with them and to call Pastor Mike and Sister Angelina as well as many others at Set Free Bakersfield our family.

 

Through Set Free Bakersfield we met a young man named Eddie Houghtaling. He is a picture of the grace and mercy of God’s love in action. After completing Set Free’s program he began sensing God calling him to action and he answered that call by ministering to people on drugs, and the homeless in Oildale. Pastor Eddie and his wife Kelly started Church Inc. as a faith based non-profit reclamation project. People respond to Pastor Eddie and his wife Kelly because not only do they care very much about people, they have put action behind their words. They have opened the doors at Church Inc. They put out food, clothes, shoes, coats and blankets. This is a picture of Christ’s love. They bring hope!  Their ministry is an amazing testimony as to what Jesus Christ can do. They also have a motorcycle ministry called Keepers of the Cross which was started through the 3 crosses on the hill where we are building our new home. We are KEEPERS saved by grace and we are Heaven bound due to the mercy and grace of Jesus. Thank you Lord for dying for us on that cross! You didn’t die for a select few, you died for us all and we will live on in eternity because of your sacrifice.

 

Thank you Jesus……

 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Boys!