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Vietnamese adoption changes lives
One adoption leads to change in 76 children’s lives and counting
Ashley Peterson - Thu, Nov, 12, 2009
After their fifth child was born, a Farragut couple chose to adopt a child from Vietnam.
Debbie and Gary Chesney adopted Anne Le.
Now, the couple supports 76 children in eight homes in Vietnam, adding one home each year.
While in high school, Debbie saw the joy of adoption.
“I went to Young Life at Bearden High School. My leader adopted a baby from Vietnam and the Lord touched my heart,” Debbie said.
“Vietnam was the one that God sent us back to after tugging on my heart while I was at Bearden years earlier,” Debbie said.
“It took two-and-a-half years to finalize the adoption. It was difficult. Paperwork was lost. We were stuck there for months when we should’ve been there only a week. We spent a lot of time in the orphanage institution,” she added.
“Our hearts really broke for the children we had to leave behind,” Debbie said.
“The adoption was really just the beginning,” she added.
Things “clicked” for the Chesneys and they “partnered with a church in Vietnam to start the first home with three little children.”
“We were committed to three children. More children were added. The church at large asked us to expand the idea throughout Vietnam,” she said.
The Chesneys rely on Vietnamese Christians and care-givers they have placed as “parents” for the children.
Most of the children were used as child laborers or are children of prostitutes or the mentally ill. Several children are from single-parent households who are just unable to take care of their children.
“It’s an unbelievable partnership. We have very trustworthy people overseas,” Debbie said.
“They live by Vietnamese standards. They love on the children. There’s also tutors we have come in every day who get them up to speed in school and doing well as they go through high school.
“A lot of the children are becoming teenagers now. We feel they are the community’s future and we are working hard for them to be pillars in the society,” she added.
They work with parents and are seeing progress in the children who are working through their traumatic experiences prior to coming to Homes of Love.
Homes of Love is working to get computers in the homes and help the children learn the English language.
Homes of Love is selling Christmas cards created by the Vietnamese children, pictured left.
There are five designs in a set of 20 cards, costing $20. The deadline to order the cards is Dec. 1.
They can be purchased on the Homes of Love web site, www.homesoflove.com.
Homes of Love will use the funds to buy computers for the children to practice their English as well as to moving homes devastated by a recent tsunami and another that is forced to move for road construction.
Charles Garvey of Charles Garvey Photography has known the Chesneys for many years.
“We’re clients of one another and close friends. I am their family photographer and Dr. Chesney has been my family’s dentist for years. I wanted to find a way to help a another local charity.” Garvey did not have to look far.
Charles Garvey Photography will reduce their session fee to $50 for those who mention Homes of Love.
The session fee will go completely to Homes of Love. In conjunction with this story, Garvey is offering 20 percent off studio packages just in time for Christmas.
You can contact Charles Garvey Photography at 865-691-1691 for more information.
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