By Theodore Johnson | The Light in the Window
There is a difference between having a place to sleep and having a place where you belong.
A roof can protect you from the rain. A bed can give you somewhere to rest. A meal can satisfy your hunger.
But none of those things, by themselves, can make a child feel wanted.
Sometimes, what changes a child’s life is something much simpler.
Someone chooses to make room.
Family Is More Than a Last Name
Peg and Jerry Gorman opened their home to children who needed something more than temporary shelter.
Over time, fifty-seven foster children would become part of their family’s story.
I was the first.
When I think about what they gave me, I don’t measure it in material things.
I think about belonging.
They never legally adopted me. But there came a time when the distinction mattered far less than the relationship itself.
They were mine, and I was theirs.
That’s something a piece of paper could never fully explain.
The Power of Being Chosen
Children who have experienced loss or separation don’t always know how to trust kindness.
A promise may sound wonderful. But what matters is what happens afterward.
Do you show up tomorrow?
And the day after?
Do you make room for someone when life becomes inconvenient?
Do you continue caring when there is nothing to gain?
Those are questions worth asking—not just about foster care, but about how we treat one another.
Because love isn’t always a grand declaration.
Sometimes love looks like consistency.
Sometimes it looks like patience.
Sometimes it looks like an ordinary day when somebody makes it clear that you belong.
Fifty-Seven Lives. One Open Door.
I often think about that number.
Fifty-seven.
Each child had a different story. Different struggles. Different hopes.
I cannot tell you what every child carried away from that home. Those stories belong to them.
But I can tell you what being part of that family meant to me.
It changed the direction of my life.
And it left me with something I still carry: the responsibility to pass along whatever light I was given.
Leave One Light On
We may never welcome fifty-seven children into our homes.
Most of us won’t be asked to.
But every one of us has opportunities to make room for another person.
A child who needs encouragement.
A neighbor who feels forgotten.
A stranger who needs to know someone cares.
You don’t have to change the whole world.
Sometimes you only have to change what happens to one person standing in front of you.
Peg and Jerry Gorman chose to make room.
And because they did, I have a story worth sharing.
Maybe today, someone is waiting for you to do the same.
Choose to leave one light on.
About the book
The Light in the Window is Theodore Johnson’s true story of foster care, family, faith, hope, and the people whose compassion helped change the course of his life.
Discover The Light in the Window and the remarkable legacy of Peg and Jerry Gorman.
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