Acres of Hope: The Miraculous Story of One Family's Gift of Love to Children Without Hope - Hardcover

Anglin, Patty; Musser, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1577486250 ISBN 13: 9781577486251

Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated, 1999

Synopsis

Over the past several years, Patty and Harold Anglin have adopted eight children with special needs, adding to their already large family of seven biological children. Their adopted children range in age from six months to fifteen years. They come from all over the world, from as far away as Nigeria and India. They are children who would have had no hope in this world if Patty and Harold had not opened their hearts and given them a home bursting with love and acceptance. Many people have asked Patty and Harold why they have adopted so many children with special needs. Their answer is simple, "There is a need!" Years ago, God gave them the verse, "And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me" (Matthew 18:5). God has brought each miracle child into the Anglin home in a special way. They simply responded to the call. Patty says, "Our wish is that every innocent child will come to know and feel the love and security of a family. We believe if you are faithful and obedientservants of God, He will supply all your needs. We know this to be true; He has never let us down!"

About this title

Reviews

This inspiring memoir by a mother who has adopted eight special-needs children calls readers to regard every child as precious in God's sight. Anglin and her husband, Harold, made a commitment, while fostering 50-odd children through the years, to adopt "the ones no one else wanted." These include two crack-addicted babies born to a 13-year-old prostitute; a son with severe emotional problems whose birth parents had tortured him with cigarettes and hung him upside down for punishment; a Nigerian boy born without lower arms and legs; and a five-year-old quadriplegic from India who weighed only 16 pounds at adoption. Anglin emerges not as a self-righteous attention-seeker but a woman of deep faith firmly committed to the individual nurturance of children. She tries hard not to judge the children's biological parents for their various faults, though her fierce mama bear instincts show clearly in harsh words for the social care system. In particular, she criticizes the growing practice of barring cross-racial adoption as a "a subtle form of racism," describing her tooth-and-nail custody fight against an insensitive case worker who, she says, almost sacrificed a child's life for an ideological principle. Today, the Anglins live and home-school their large family, which includes seven biological children, on a 200-acre Wisconsin farm called "Acres of Hope." Both full-time caregivers, they were able to purchase the $62,500 tract because a local bank president financed the entire amount, saying the community needed more people like them. That's an understatement. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1577486250
• ISBN 13: 9781577486251
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288