Saturday, April 10th, 2010
The heart of the Beach family’s story
I expect some of you saw the story of the Beach Family on Extreme Makeover Home Edition , Part 1 and Part 2. (I’m not sure how long these links will remain available.)
Talitha and I watched online and we were thrilled with the blatant pro-adoption and pro-life lives of Larry and Melissa Beach and their 13 children, several of them with severe disabilities. Over the years, they also have fostered dozens of children.
They were chosen for a home makeover because their Kemah, Texas, house had been destroyed by a hurricane, so they were living in a medium-sized travel trailer. Despite living conditions that would seem unbearable to most of us, the family was overflowing with words and spirit and attitude that said, “We love each other and what better thing could we be doing?”
I sensed Christ in their lives, but never heard or saw anything specific that would confirm it. The closest was this–and it was powerful. As Melissa lay one of the most severely disabled children down in the crib, she said something like, “Every child has a purpose. If that purpose is just to smile, then that is his purpose.”
I guessed editing might have removed the heart of their heart. So here’s some follow-up that helps complete the picture of who the Beaches are. They are an active, integral part of their church. And they give testimony to God’s power and strength in their lives upon the death of their youngest child.
I can’t remember ever recommending a TV program, but I hope you might catch those Home Makeover episodes to hear Larry and Melissa’s–and their children’s–passion for adoption, especially for adopting children who most would consider unadoptable.
One caveat: Adoptive parents, we have to grit our teeth and bear it when there are several mentions of the Beaches’ “own” children and adopted children–not by the Beaches, though. I put my arm around Talitha and said, “You are my own child.”
11 Responses to “The heart of the Beach family’s story”
Leave a Reply
Thank you, specifically, for that caveat. It is such a sad misconception that we need to fight against and educate people on. Also, hope you are enjoying this special season with your hubby!!
Noel~ I know exactly what you mean about gritting your teeth…I have 2 adopted grandsons (and a 3rd coming soon!) and it just makes me shake my head when well-meaning friends make a distinction between our “natural”, or “real” grandchildren and our adopted ones. They truly don’t get it. I love all 5 of them just the same!
Noel- you are right about this family…they are absolutely amazing! we’ve known them for 15 years (they used to teach us in Sunday School) and we helped nominate them for the show.
and that travel trailer they were living in wasn’t even “medium” size. it was so bad. and honestly, i never heard one of them complain.
and in the process of waiting to be chosen for the show they were not allowed to make any changes to their house/property…even if they had wanted to start to rebuild they weren’t allowed to.
so they waited almost a year, I believe, to find out if they were the ones chosen. (our church had a plan B in place just in case they weren’t chosen…so we could start building them a new house right away.)
the Beach family is even more wonderful and giving and solid in their faith than what was allowed to be shown on air. We were so thrilled that the show chose them!
amazing story, amazing family.
i think lots of people were touched by their story and i LOVE that the show really focused on children and fostering/adoption!
Hi noel
i too loved your caveat.
i am adopted and really and truly do not how to respond when someone asks me if i know anything about my “real” mom.
sometimes i say well of course i do i have lived with her my whole life….
i thank God daily for being adopted twice. what a beautiful picture, eh?
my mom loves me and has been God’s instrument in teaching me unconditional and amazing love.
thanks for this. and thanks for what you said that you said to talitha…that is what my mom always said and always made me feel.
funny story on how i do not even think about my adoption sometimes:
when i was pregnant with my first child the dr had these huge forms on family history. i happily filled it all in and then proceeded to go over the info with the dr for about 20 minutes and then it dawned on me that all that info was not “genetically” applicable to my new little one. the dr and i had a good laugh…and i thanked the Lord again for my mom!!!
I watched this on hulu tonight after your recommendation. I am so very thankful for the Beach family and all they are doing for the kingdom of God. I especially appreciated the light it put on foster care/foster adoption. By God’s goodness, I am the blessed sister of two brothers and the thankful auntie of five nieces and nephews – all adopted through the Hennepin County foster system. What a real and amazing picture we have of our adoption by God in Christ. We ARE his OWN. :)
So, thanks for posting this. I enjoy reading your blog. And my five year old, who has a real fascination with all things Egypt (especially Mummies?) really enjoyed looking at your Egypt pictures a while back.
[...] April 11th, 2010Beach family: follow-upIn order to tell the story of the testimony of Larry and Melissa Beach, I had to search all around the Internet.Then I discovered more of the story right here at home. [...]
What a neat story. Thank you for sharing!
I’m 9 minutes into the 1st episode already fighting back tears! thanks for linking to this.
Thanks for sharing, I’m a very large family adoptive momma myself and may we all be so encouraged when there is such public witness.
off to hulu!
Noel,
What was not shown by the show was when Ty asked my husband. How many children are yours he said all of them. They made a big deal about birth and adopted . We just told them we do not see a differences. Our faith was not portrayed as much as we wanted God was able to shine thru.
We are so amazed the story turned out as wonderful. We were very concerned how ABC would plan the show.
Noel,
Thank you. Thank you for being so obedient to God. Thank you for loving God so much, and thank you for sharing this story. I am going to go home and hug my kids and give them a great big kiss.