RITA PERRY-JONES | PODCASTHOST
Hi! I am Rita. I am a follower of Jesus, a wife, and a stay-at-home mother of 3 young children.
Most days, you will find me in no makeup, wearing an unpredictable hairstyle and comfy yoga pants. However, I do like to dress up occasionally. I recently discovered my love of bright colored lipsticks. They make me feel sassy and saucy. Summer is my favorite time of the year. If I am not drinking a tasty smoothie out on my patio, I am either on a walk by myself or at the waterpark with my children.
I am passionate about adoption and motherhood - specifically, relationship building, and ESPECIALLY, nurturing a healthy mother-daughter relationship. This is something I didn't have as a child, so I know intimately the hurt and anger this absence can cause. I've been paying attention, and it seems God has called me to help create and nurture these important relationships through storytelling, encouraging, and praying for those who need it.
I am also passionate about the connection between faith and our outlook on life. I strongly believe that our thoughts become things. To quote Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things" (NIV Translation).
My Story
I was born in the 1980s in Liberia, West Africa, home of a 14-year civil war that started when I was a young child. Needless to say, I did not have anything that could be called a “normal” childhood. My early years were filled with death, hunger, destruction and loneliness.
I was raised by everyone but my mother and father. I have never met or even seen a photo of my birth mother. I was told that, as a toddler, she left me with my father and never came back. My father was unable to take care of me. He was a young man with a full life to live. He often left me with a girlfriend or a stepmother, coming back days later to check on me. Most days, I was nobody's child. I have twelve half siblings, most of whom I have never met.
During the war my father’s eyes got infected, causing him to lose sight completely. Someone had told him about a nearby orphanage, but when he first told me that he was taking me there, I refused. He made it sound like it would be the best thing that would ever happen to me. And in some ways, it was! I would have three meals a day. I would have new clothes that someone would wash for me. I would have new shoes. I would have everything I needed, and if I was lucky, I might even see white people. In time, I learned that most of what he said was not true.
In February of 1997, my father dropped my two younger half brothers and me off at the orphanage. That was the last time I ever saw him. A couple months later my brothers' mother came and got them from the orphanage. Once again, I was left.
I lived at the orphanage from February 1997 to December 2003, when God blessed me with an amazing American family who adopted me. I am here today because of them, and I will always be grateful for them.
Adoption, at its best, saves lives. It gives children hope for a future. I honor all of the parents who have made the decision and the sacrifices to adopt children. But adoption is also potentially very difficult, and people don't often share openly about the hard parts.
That's why I made this podcast -- so we could share stories. Beautiful, honest, painful, messy stories.
Welcome.