"...the helper of the fatherless." Ps. 10:14

"...Thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with Thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto Thee; Thou are the helper of the fatherless."

     In 1970 our family was moved by the U.S. Air Force to Zaragoza Spain to a base we affectionately called ZAB. (See Call to ZAB, Feb. 1).  Jennifer was three weeks old when we arrived at the deserted base which the Air Force was busy reopening.  They had moved G.I.'s from all over Europe to accomplish this task and had also moved in the children of diplomats and other Americans who had previously been housed at our base in Sevilla.  We were thrilled to still be with these kids to whom we had ministered  previously.  They had become a precious part of our youth group in Sevilla and we were loathed to leave them.

Michelle and Mary Ann are the two blonds on the right.

     Shortly after getting settled into base housing a fellow showed up in the Chaplin's office with two motherless girls.  He told our Chaplin that he was working in the oil fields of the Middle East. Their mother had died and he didn't have the heart to leave them in a barracks with all the other children.  He wanted a Christian family to take them in.  So Chaplin Mosher called Ted.  We took one, Mary Ann (the oldest at 15) and he and his wife, Nan took the youngest, Michelle. I think she was 13.  Well it didn't take long and they were part of our families.  Their dad, Bill Myers, would try to come see them on the holidays.  He was usually late (one time we had Christmas with him in February), but it didn't matter to them as long as they got to see him two or three times a year. 
     Michelle and Kelly became close friends and Mary Ann had a wide circle of teenage friends who came in and out of our home every week.  We have so many memories of our time with them.  They were funny, happy girls who brightened and challenged our lives.
     When our family went on our tour of Europe just before we left, Michelle went with us.  She was given to car sickness and had to have Dramamine to endure the trip.  As a result she slept through most of it.  She slept in the tent with Kelly, Jennifer, Ted and I while the boys slept in the car.  One night we camped by a river in Austria and during the night there came a frog strangling thunder storm.  We awoke with Michelle and Kelly screaming, "We're floating!"  I can still here her squeaky little voice pleading, "Get up, Mr. Gehrke, we're floating to the river!"  Ted got up and went outside in the rain, grabbed some tool from the trunk of the car and dug a trench around our tent to drain away the water.  Needless to say he came in soaking wet and I don't think he ever got completely dry that night.  The boys slept soundly inside the car and didn't even know how close we came to "floating away on the river".
     They were little mothers to Jennifer.  I don't think I changed a diaper or dressed her for months.  She was their baby.  As a result she was very late in learning to dress herself or brush her own hair.
     Mary Ann was very funny and always in trouble.  She came home one day from school and said, "Mr. Gehrke, my science teacher hates God.  He's always mocking Him and anyone in class who is a Christian.  Also if we try to answer him, he puts us out into the hall for a "time out".  Of course we love the time outs and stand out there laughing and joking."  So Ted said, "I tell you what to do, Mary Ann, the next time he mocks God or Christians you stand up to him, politely, and when he says, "Go to the hall for a time out!" You start pleading with him not to banish you to the hallway.  That way you'll be able to stand firm for the faith and he'll believe his "punishment" is effective and keep banishing you to the hall.  Just make sure you do the work and get good grades."   Well a couple days later she came home and reported that he had made some asinine statement about Christianity and she put up her hand and answered him.  He immediately raised his arm and pointed at the door and said, "To the hall, Mary Ann!"  She began pleading, "No please, Mr. So n So, not the hallway!  Please don't make me go to the hallway!"  She wouldn't leave her desk so he went over and took her by the arm to guide her out to the hallway.  She immediately dropped to the floor and grabbed him around the ankle and held on for dear life screaming, "Please not the hallway!  Don't make me go out there by myself!"  The hapless teacher began to drag her, one step at a time until he had pulled her out the door where he extricated his foot, went back into the classroom and slammed the door.  As far as I know he continued this practice to the end of the year and the Christian students continued to stand up for their faith and accept their "punishment".
     Eventually the Moshers rotated back to the states and we inherited, to Kelly's delight, Michelle.  They really did become "our girls".   They are in a couple of our family Christmas pictures.
      Finally the day came when we had to go back to the states and Mary Ann and Michelle went to be with their dad, somewhere in the Middle East.  We left Spain in May and were sent to Altus, Oklahoma.  There we rented a house and prepared to enter our kids in school in the fall.  We missed the girls terribly.  Added to that, we were hearing reports of a conflict between Lebanon and Israel and we thought they were in Lebanon in an American boarding school.  One night as we sat down to eat dinner one of the kids asked, "Are Michelle and Mary Ann in a war?"  "What do you mean?" I asked.  "Well, I heard that there's a war between Lebanon and Israel.  What if they are in danger?  Can't they just come here and live with us?"

Mary Ann and Michelle, the two blonds on the left.

     "Of course they can if their dad wants them to.  We just need to pray for them and ask God to send them to us if He wants them here."  So we did.  I think Joel prayed and asked God to send Michell and Mary Ann "home" so they'd be safe.  We began to eat and a few minutes into the dinner the phone rang.   Ted answered the phone and heard Bill Myers' voice on the other end. He asked if we'd be willing to accept his girls back into our home for a while longer.  "You're not going to believe this,"  he told Bill, "but we just prayed for that and we can't wait to get them back."  Two days later we picked them up in Oklahoma City at the airport.  They lived
 with us for at least another school year then their dad moved them back to California to live with relatives.
     Life separated us after that.  Ted retired from the Air Force in Altus and we came to Michigan to finish our education.  We lost touch with them for several years but we have finally re-established contact with them and are corresponding via Facebook and mail and phone once again.  I talk to them, hear their familiar voices and the years fade away.  Once again, "our girls" are a part of the family.  It makes me long for that day when "the helper of the Fatherless" will welcome us all home.