It was June of 1984 and Pastor Saunders thought that it would be a wonderful idea for a church like Full Gospel Interdenominational Church to do an adopt a child for a week. The Pastor and his wife came from Toronto, Canada where it was diverse and he brought diversity to Full Gospel Interdenominational Church. I would stay with a family and see how they do things in their home. The Pastor made sure that it would be with someone who the child or parents participating in the experience would be comfortable with one another. I remember when I stayed with Sister Hope and her family in Ellington, CT.
I got a big warm welcome when we all arrived at the house. The family lived in a big house with a computer 🖥️ and 3 color TV's, one in each room. I remember writing mom saying to her "I Love Everything!" The only way you can communicate with your parent or parents is through writing letters or notes to them. I went to Sunday school with their son, who was 8, and their daughter, who was my age 6. This family wasn't the discipline type and it was cool and also shocking to me. They ate fancy breakfasts, ate fancy lunches, and ate fancy dinners the whole while that I stayed with them.
Sister Hope's husband took me to the Hartford Courant where he worked at. He was one of the head bosses there. He explained to me about each towns and how the paperboys who worked for him that delivered the newspapers to the near by surrounding towns in CT. I thought that that was really cool and interesting.
What I really admired about this family is how tight knit as a family they were. I remember when we went to the nextdoor neighbors house. The next door neighbors had a black lab dog 🐕 and it was in a dog house on a leash. The family petted the neighbors dog and then I petted the neighbors dog. The neighbors dog licked me on my face.
The neighbors wanted to take me and the family I stayed with out to the mall. The family, who I stayed with son Joshua didn't want to go to the mall. Joshua was telling me that the neighbors will have us try on outfits and say how cute we look in them. I thought at first how cool that was but Joshua got to the place where he outgrew going to the mall trying on outfits. My tune changed when Joshua said this to me.
"You're a guest here and my parents will have to listen you if you tell them that you don't want to go to the mall."
I thought about what Joshua said and decided to go in the living room and watch the family's big color TV. Sesame Street was on at the time and I was sitting on their couch 🛋️. Sister Hope had this to say to me.
"Paul, get ready we are going to the mall with the neighbors."
I replied, "But I want to stay here and watch TV."
Sister Hope responded, "In this house we do things as a family."
I answered, "But I rather stay here and watch Sesame Street."
Sister Hope angrily said, "Then you can write ✍️ a letter ✉️ to your mom and tell your mom that you don't like it here anymore and we will take you home!"
Sister Hope had me in the kitchen and told me to write. I'm looking at Joshua, Joshua's sister, Sister Hope, and Sister Hope's husband and I began to be afraid 😟. I knew I loved where I stayed at so I wrote a letter saying,
"Dear mom, I love it here where I stay at and I will go to the mall with this family and the neighbors."
Sister Hope, Joshua's sister, and Sister Hope's husband was really glad that I wanted to go to the mall.
Sister Hope answered, "He want to go to the mall. He loves it here dear. (Sister Hope was referring to her husband). He don't want to go back home. Now let's go to the mall!" Sister Hope, her husband, and daughter was very happy. 😊
Joshua wasn't too happy and wondered why I caved the way that I did. I never had a problem going to the mall. I would have likely gotten a whipping if the family took me home, because it would have been like I didn't learn anything from getting whippings for acting up. This family taught me that sometimes the biggest punishment is not always getting a whipping for doing something or saying something wrong. It's in my case, making someone feel guilty for even thinking about doing something or saying something wrong.
The neighbors spoiled me and the family who I stayed with at Westfarms mall in West Hartford. The family I stayed with neighbors bought me and their 2 children cool outfits and the neighbors treated us out for dinner 🍽️. The family who I stayed with for a week motto was "spare the rod and spoil the child." There is more journaling to come. Keep an eye out for Spending a week with a family Part 2. God Bless You!
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