July 2006
Throughout the year, with June and December being the busiest, past residents of One Way Farm Children's Home come to visit. Many send graduation invitations and even more deliver them in person.

This June my receptionist announced through my office intercom that I had a visitor. A young lady who lived at One Way Farm when she was 12 and left when she was 16 with many years of challenges, including not speaking to me for her last year at One Way Farm entered my office. During her stay at One Way Farm as she continued to not speak to me, I showed her no rejection, I thought I would never see her again when she left. When she entered my office I was so surprised, after some small talk she reached out and began to hug me. "I am sorry. I just wanted to come and thank you for all you did for me. I am entering the Air Force and I needed to come and see you and say thank you."

We often don't know if we are reaching the children, we do know they will feel the one thing that is recognizable, that is unconditional love!

May 2006
Children always want to please you, they may not show you at the time, but then their letters show me. This child was rather slim and her face was hollow. Her name was Lisa and she was 11 years old. I remember when she would cry her little tears would fall in the hollows of her eyes. She was so timid and shy but there was one thing she loved to do, feed the geese. She would raise her arms among the geese and shout, "I can fly, I can fly." The geese would all fly into the sky. She would ask to sleep in the yard where the geese were. I found a stuffed goose and put a note on it that said, Fly, Fly, Fly Lisa. Love, Ms. Condo

January 2006
This child is 11 and she has blonde curly hair and blue eyes. She had Barbies and would line them up on her bed. As we began to watch her, we learned her Barbies had names. We found out later the names were past caregivers. She would talk like this, "I told you not to do that now you'll get it," and she would begin to spank whatever doll that she felt had broken the rule. If her chore was to gather the trash, she would take care of her chore and then retreat to her room and choose the doll that she felt had punished her. We decided we could not remove the dolls so we had to change the meaning of the dolls. We decided when she did something extra or good we would tell her to choose a doll to get the tickets for our store. She began to do all kinds of extra things, like set the table and then run to get her doll to receive the tickets. Soon she was saying, "Let's go get the tickets." She was no longer relating to the dolls to punishment. Sometimes it takes a simple task to release a child from a lifetime of fear.

October 2005
The child of the month is a child who we weren't sure she could stay at One Way Farm Children's Home. She was very small and afraid of most people. Her hair was long and her eyes large and brown. The things that happened to her are unknown. She would go to a corner and talk as if there was someone there. When not in a corner she would not talk. She loved the cats; she would talk to them and teach them to read. Her mother had been killed by her boyfriend and this is how she dealt with her grief. She was so small for her age. Slowly she began to turn in the corner and raise her eyes. She named the cat Lovely. Then one day she turned around and said, "want to hold my Lovely?" Gently I reached toward her and took the cat. Then she just began to talk to us. Amazing when a cat that needs love meets a child who needs someone to listen, both are loved and that is "Lovely."

July 2005
Many times we don't realize what an impact we are making on the lives of children, and I guess I'm so busy with the interact details and whatever it takes for a new child coming in that when they leave I just assume everything is okay. The other night I had a knock on my door and when I looked outside I wasn't quite sure who it was and my daughter said, "Mom it's Randy." As I opened the door a tall dark individual walked in. He reached out with open arms and said, "I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for saving my life. I didn't realize what you did for me until I had my son." This boy was here 12 years ago, we really don't realize the seeds we are planting. First one graduation invitation and then there were more, some from high schoo, others from college, but the greatest part about this is that we have made a contribution to a child's life and you are part of that contribution. There will be many more invitations for graduations when I open the mail in the future. Just remember we are united to enlightening children to their spirit, education, and the world around them and we just say, I love you.

March 2005
This is a very young child, she is 10 years old and has very dark hair and eyes. As she sat on the couch with her doll, we began to realize she only talked through her doll. When Sarah was asked or told something she would ask her doll. Time passed and one day she said to the doll, "I am Sarah, you are only a doll." This began Sarah's life as a child. Sarah slept with her doll, but spoke for herself. Sarah found herself after years of abuse.

You are a vital part of children such as Sarah.

March 2004
This child was mentally challenged. He had dark hair that would shine; it was so black. He's dark skinned and he was Asian. His eyes lit up and spoke a thousand words of his abuse. He had tremors so badly from the abuse and he wanted so much to hold an animal. When he tried he would either let it go and it would jump out of his arms, or he would squeeze it so tight that he possibly could hurt the animal. I wanted some way that he could experience the love and acceptance of an animal and I began to think, "the fish, the fish, yes, the fish." I would wet his finger, dip it in the fish food and then into the tank and the fish would kiss his finger. As I explained that he could have a pet and it would be a fish for him to stick his finger in the water, wet it in the food, put it back in and the fish would kiss him. Then the joy and exclamation that he put into it. "He kissed me, he kissed me, he kissed me," he shouted. He would wet his finger and dip and finally go to the bottom of the outside tank and the fish would follow him throughout the tank and follow his finger and then when he would get up at the top he would put it in and the fish would kiss him, what a joy!

Love comes in many ways. A fish or the time to say, "See, he loves you!" "He kissed you." Will you close your eyes and see this one who envisions the kiss of love.

February 2004
Children come from all walks of life, all colors of skin, eyes and hair but inside there is a child. This little boy had red hair and was a little chubby. It was spring break and I and two volunteers took twenty boys to Shawnee Forest for a backpacking trip. This child was always crying and would sit down and quit. His abuse and abandonment did not allow him to have any self worth. The boys all made fun of him because of his chubbiness. Then we rested and I turned around to everyone and said, "Stevie will head the walk from now on." His eyes lit up. "Me!" he shouted. "Yes," I replied. You know the funny thing was soon we could not see Stevie. He was in and out of the hills. He went faster than all of us. Isn't that the way it is if we only give a child a chance to succeed, that's what One Way Farm does giving a child an opportunity to succeed.

January 2004
The child was small with long dark hair and blue eyes. She wore a coat that had a hood and she wasn't going to come out from under her coat or her hood. It was her security blanket for all the hurt and abuse she had. We had at that time a manger with lots of straw and all of a sudden I heard crying and there in the straw laid the tiny figure surrounded by the larger figures of a holy family. As she rose up, a spotlight fell upon her face. She cried, "I just want someone to love me." As I cradled her in my arms I assured her that there were many people just like little angels that loved her. Her tears slowly became sobs and with the warmth of her nestling against me she slowly began to fall asleep. What wonderful things I have had the privilege to experience on your behalf. Have a wonderful year in the name of a child.

December 2003
It was Christmas Eve and there came a knock on the door. It was a late hour around 11:00 p.m. or 12:00 a.m. As I opened the door, there stood a very thin child with long brown hair and a paper bag with all her belongings and a very large tear upon her cheek. As the caseworker gave us information why she was there, I could see her small body tremble. Her mother had died suddenly and her father had severely abused her. "Come in dear," I said. As usual we always have the buyer that purchases gifts for a Christmas Eve child. So there were gifts, but she was so sad, she just sat and stared.

She left later for a foster home and several years had passed. I sat in church one Christmas Eve and I felt a tap on my shoulder. As I turned around a tall young lady with a tear on her cheek said, "Merry Christmas, Mom." "Oh Katherine," I replied as we embraced. She spoke, "You are the only mom that I have known since my mother passed away, I just wanted to come and wish you a blessed Christmas. I am now 18. God bless."

August 2003
This child was young, blue eyes and as the phrase goes, skinny as a rail. We purchased Ensure in hopes of maintaining his weight or hopefully his gaining some weight. He had watched his mother become thinner and thinner with an eating disorder. In the midst of this, she imposed her method of her weight control onto him. He had been conditioned not to eat and the emotional instilled affects if he did. As time passed he began to respond to eating, sometimes not being able to keep food in his small body. Then we began to see him play and with playing, came hunger and then came the weight. After six months he was responding to the efforts to recreate a healthy, playful little boy. You were a vital part of his recovery.

March 2003
Children as we know are very beautiful, and this child was very small for her age. Even though she was 13 she was the size of a child as far as her clothing. Her mother had gone on a trip to the store and she left her at home with her 2-year old sister and 1 year-old brother. Soon night fell and knowing how to change a diaper and take care she began the task she knew all so well. Soon there were days and then there was no milk, she accepted that her mother would come home at any time. The children began to cry and she began to cry also. She went to a neighbor next door and asked for some mild for the babies and told about her mother not coming home. The greater fear came to pass, she had to be placed without her brother and sister. Even though this child was so small and fragile, she had experienced a lifetime of demands.

We found a relative in West Virginia who came to One Way Farm Children's Home, and again she became a little girl, and again, protecting her brother and sister.

Love is a tremendous link in the chain of life. In what form we see it is in the eyes of you and I. We together will hold the hands forever of children such as this.

September/October 2002
Many times children come, they know not where they are going and they come in such dismay.

There are those with a deep spirit and say to themselves "I am going to make it no matter what." Amidst the noise in the shelter they study. Sometimes under cover with a small light they study.

Such a child lived at One Way Farm for almost a year. Her studying grew into a full scholarship to Miami University in Oxford.

Approximately four years later an invitation came in the mail to attend the graduation ceremony.

As I stood and watched, I stood there on behalf of everyone who supported children at One Way Farm Children's Home.

As I watched, she received honor and her diploma, a Bachelor's Degree in Education. Tears began to fall on her face, I also began to weep. There are hundreds more that have walked this difficult path and say to themselves -- "I am going to make it -- no matter what!"

September 2001
This month's child is not one chld, but many children that come to One Way Farm in various ways. Some children go home and are left on the steps of an apartment, sometimes they sit there till someone notices that no one has come home. They have been mentally and physically abused until there is only a shell left. Other times they are angry and out of control, hurting themselves and others. Some children; medium, large and small have the same need to be loved. The same need that you and I and the child within us who can see and feel their loss. We together can take the children of all the months and join together and help them return to their childhood.