This book is written to minister and give inspiration and encouragement to all of the orphaned and foster children around the world. She wants to give hope to those children who feel unloved and feels no one cares about them. The book answers the question why were you created? God had a plan and purpose for your life. She wants all orphaned and abandoned children to know that God knew you while you were in your mother's womb. You were chosen by God to be born. She wants all abandoned and neglected children to know that God loves them and cares about them. Each child is very special in God's eye sight. She wants people to know that she did beat the odds even though she was abandoned at birth. She talks about her trials and tribulations from birth to adulthood. She talks about what it was like living in an orphanage and then a foster home. She discusses difficulties she had in selecting a mate for marriage as a result of not having a positive role model for a father as she was growing up. She discusses her triumphs in getting a college education which was very important to her survival in life. She discusses how she was able to achieve and accomplish her goals in life with the help of Jesus Christ. God sent an angel to rescue her.

"Abandoned Children" Rescued, Orphaned, Restored, and Refined.

Turn your pain into purpose! Turn your purpose into praise!By Carolyn M. Driver

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Carolyn M. Driver
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4678-7702-2

Contents

Acknowledgements............................................................................viiA Tribute to My Mother Evangelist Pearl Williams............................................ixPreface.....................................................................................xiChapter 1. Abandoned at Birth by Both Natural Mother and Father.............................1Chapter 2. Life in a Catholic Orphange......................................................16Chapter 3. God Sent Two Angels to the Rescue................................................38Chapter 4. First Meeting with Blood Relatives...............................................83Chapter 5. Mentor and Advisor...............................................................95Chapter 6. Reuniting with My Siblings.......................................................108Chapter 7. Challenges in Choosing a Mate....................................................114Chapter 8. Marriage and Brokenhearted.......................................................127Chapter 9. Mistakes Churches Make in Ministry...............................................138Chapter 10. Pastors Need to Be Transparent..................................................158Chapter 11. There Are Blessings in Forgiveness..............................................176Chapter 12. Woman of Survivial: A Taste of Success..........................................190Chapter 13. Turn Your Pain into Purpose! Turn Your Purpose into Praise!.....................205Conclusion..................................................................................217Letter of Forgiveness.......................................................................223Biblical References.........................................................................225

Chapter One

Abandoned at Birth by Both Natural Mother and Father

Carolyn Perry was born in 1945 in Hartford, Connecticut. I was the last of five children to be born. I am also a twin to my sister. I will call my biological mother Mrs. Lucie. She lived with her father who was my natural grandfather in the same apartment complex in the projects. One day, very early in the morning, my natural mother told my grandfather she was going out and left us with him. She got into a taxicab and was never seen again. This was in 1945. It is now year 2011. My natural mother abandoned all five of her children 66 years ago.

The word abandoned simply means to desert a person. It is giving up entirely on some one's life by just walking away. I do not remember any of the details that occurred in my life from birth until age two.

I do not refer to my natural birth mother as my mother. I refer to her as the woman that gave birth to me. In my opinion, a "real mother" does not abandon her children and disappear off the face of the earth to where she can never be found. I consider my foster mother my real mother because this is the only woman that raised me as a daughter for most of my life. She was there through thick and thin even though she did not carry me in her womb and give birth to me. I feel that most healthy women can give birth to a baby, but a real mother hangs in there and does what is necessary to nurture, support, provide, educate, and raise the child until he or she can take care of themselves. A real mother loves her children and does whatever she can to do the right thing by them. Even if my parents could not provide for me, they could have taken the necessary steps to make sure I was taken care of by making arrangements so that I could have at least had the opportunity to know who they are in the future. Abandonment should have not been an option.

Growing up I actually hated both of my biological parents for abandoning me at such an early age. I always wondered how does a mother just walk off and abandon five small children. I was abandoned at two months old along with my twin sister. What kind of a woman abandons her babies? I am still looking for an answer to this question.

My twin sister and I were two months old when she abandoned us. We were born last. My biological mother's husband was in the military during this time so I have been told. He denies being my natural father. So who is my natural father? He was married to my natural mother at the time of our birth. An older woman I will call her Ms. Sue took care of me, my twin sister, my two other sisters, and my older brother. The only thing I can remember about this woman is that every night before she would go to bed she would comb her very long silky hair. She had beautiful hair. I do not know the details of how we all ended up with Ms. Sue. My twin sister and I were two years old when we were taken from Ms. Sue along with my older brother and two other sisters. I was told that a police woman, I will call her officer BE. came to the home of Ms. Sue and removed us from her and turned all of us over to the State Department of Children Services of Connecticut in 1947. We are now called "Wards of the Court" in the State of Connecticut. We are now in the Welfare Foster Care System. I have two older sisters and one older brother. My natural mother gave birth to five children and she abandoned all five of them. We were all split up by the State Department of Connecticut.

My twin sister and I were kept together, but my other two older sisters and one older brother were split up and were placed in different institutions. I was never told where they were taken to or where they were placed. My twin sister and I were placed in a Catholic orphanage in Connecticut. I never saw my other sisters and brother once we were all separated from each other. My twin sister and I were separated from our other biological sisters and brother from 1945 to 1966. The separation for us has become a life time of questions. I still have a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I have learned to live with the limited information I have which is not very much.

I was very young when I was placed in an orphanage, and did not see my brother and sisters that were separated from me anymore. I had a lot of questions that were never answered.

Here are the questions I asked myself every day. I always asked myself, who am I? Where did I come from? Who do I really belong too? Who do I look like in my natural blood family? Do I look like my natural father or mother? What size were my natural parents? Were they fat or thin, short or tall? Did my mother have long hair? What color was it? Do I have the same eyes as my natural mother? Was she smart? What was her personality like? Was she friendly? Was she outgoing? Was she educated? How far did she go in school? Did she go to college? Did I do something wrong that made my parents so angry they didn't want me anymore? Was it my fault that my parents didn't want me? Why was I even born only to be abandoned and made to feel worthless and unloved? Why did my natural mother and father abandon me and their other children at the same time? Why didn't at least one of my parents step up to the plate to take the responsibility to raise their children? Why did both mother and father disappear off the face of the earth without a trace to be found? What was wrong with me that they did not want me? Why was I born was a constant question in my mind. These were just some...