A Family Making Ripples

Many years ago there was a couple who couldn't have kids of their own. They really wanted to be parents and so they decided to adopt. They adopted a little baby boy who was six months old. They were so excited to be his parents. They raised him and over the years they had fostered another little boy whom they had considered adopting. Later in life they decide to work at a Boy's Ranch. The man worked on the grounds at the Boys ranch and the woman was a cook. Their son whom they had adopted was now in college. He was going to college to become a Pharmacist.

The son had met and married a wonderful woman. While in college they were blessed with a son. A couple of years later they were excited because they were having another baby, but were soon hit with disappointment. The son whom they were so excited to have would be going onto heaven. They would be hit with disappointment 2 more times before they would get a blessing. After two more miscarriages they decided to adopt. In January of 1979 they applied to adopt. They had decided on a little girl if possible. Well, nine months later on September 20th they got a call asking if they were still interested in adopting. The answer was a resounding YES. The person on the phone then asked them if they could make it to Oklahoma city the next day! So on September 21, 1979 they added a little girl to their family. That little girl grew up to have a strong desire to help foster families and kids.

The people in this story are my grandparents Alvin and Nadine Martens, who made the first ripple and adopted their son Michael Martens. Michael Martens got married to Jolene Martens and they made the second ripple by adopting their daughter me. Now both of these ripples took place in Oklahoma. The third ripple was made by me here in Washington where I work with foster kids through Abe and Sara's Kids and also Orphan Sunday and many other ways.

One life touching another life and another.

Angela Kienzle