Homeless Couple Sleeps Rough With Toddlers — Pastor Takes Boys In Order To Give Them A New Life

Sep 30, 2020 by apost team

Back in 2016, a homeless family including two young toddlers in Florida was living out in the woods outside of Pasco County's Metropolitan Ministries. As the parents refused to visit a homeless shelter, the boys were sleeping rough with their parents and not receiving the best of care.

Luckily, Pastor Ronnie Stewart and his wife Krystal of Refuge Church took the two brothers in and adopted them after their biological parents signed over custody.

When Mark Purcell found two defenseless toddlers amidst piles of garbage, clad only in diapers, he knew he had to help. Purcell, Executive Chief of Metropolitan Ministries in Pasco County, Florida, was leaving his office one cold November evening when he noticed the quiet boys sitting alone, huddled together because they were nearly naked, as Fox 13 reports.

From the look of them, they appeared to be around two years old and seven months old, and they hadn't been fed or cared for in some time. Their mother turned out to be nearby and it was soon apparent that the parents and children were camped out in the nearby woods, making daily trips to the church's soup kitchen.

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Pastor Ronnie Stewart and his wife Krystal had actually seen the children and their parents attend service before. They knew the boys weren't in the best condition and the knowledge that the two little kids were spending the nights outside without appropriate clothing tore at their hearts. So one night in November 2016, the pastor asked the parents if he and his wife could take the kids home with them to get them out of the cold, give them a bath and feed them.

Pastor Ronnie and his wife had children of their own, yet everyone was on board with the decision to welcome the boys into their home. It was soon apparent that before their discovery, the boys had lived with their parents in the woods nearby. The poor children were in terrible condition when they came home with the Stewarts that first night.

Wife Krystal Stewart told Fox 13:

"The boys were covered in bug bites from head to toe. They were so filthy that we had to fill and drain the bathtub several times just to get them clean, and as we outfitted them with proper clothing, we saw that the youngest boy didn't even have socks on. When we took off his shoes, the top layer of skin on the top of his foot actually peeled off. I cried and sang to them as they went to sleep in a warm clean bed, where they slept for nearly ten hours straight. I don't think they've ever slept in a bed before."

What started as a temporary living situation quickly changed to a permanent placement. After the next church service, the boys' parents approached them with a social worker in tow. They explained that social services was about to take the boys from them, as their living conditions had been judged insufficient. Instead of signing them over to the foster system, however, the homeless couple asked the pastor and his wife to take the kids home with them.

The entire Stewart family had already fallen in love with the two boys. Ronnie and Krystal as well as their three children vowed to care for the boys and treat them as their own, giving them every advantage and all the love they never had been shown before. Five months later, the adoption process was officially started. The couple started a gofundme campaign back in 2016 to finance the process, as there were legal fees and costs involved despite the fact that the boys' original parents were willing to sign the parental rights over.

Nowadays, the Stewarts are a happy family of seven.

What do you think about this incredible family? Have you heard of similar adoption success stories? Let us know and pass this story on to family members and friends.