The Story of God's Grace to One Orphan

For some people, orphan care is a distant, theoretical idea that is hard to get a handle on. Not so for Rosalynn Robb. For her, orphan care is as real as the ground that she walks on and the air that she breathes.

“I am deeply humbled when I reflect on the miracle of adoption,� she said. “I won’t forget seeing a toddler sitting on the side of the road and a young child practically in rags sleeping on the hard concrete as we walked across a ramp in Cebu City, the Philippines. I know without the gift of adoption I would have been one of them.�

Rosalynn Robb was born Roseline Calubrian in October 1988. Her birth mother, Rosemarie, only 16, lived on the island of Leyte, the Philippines, with Rosalynn’s birth grandmother who helped care for Rosalynn. When Rosalynn’s grandmother died, Rosemarie was unable to care for Rosalynn any longer so she traveled at great expense and with difficulty to the island of Cebu and gave up her two year old daughter to a Christian orphanage called Children’s Shelter of Cebu (CSC).

Meanwhile, God was leading Tom and Carol Robb to consider adoption. Unable to have children, Rosalynn said the Robb’s began pursuing adoption in different countries where Tom was stationed in the military. Their search led them to the Philippines.

On June 24, 1992, the Robb’s saw Rosalynn for the first time. In January of the next year the adoption was finalized. Rosalynn was 4.

Being adopted has deeply impacted Rosalynn.

“I am indebted to the grace of God,� she said. “He took me from the pits of a small village in Leyte, the Philippines. I was in need and He saved me. I know there is nothing I can ever do to repay the Lord for all He has done in my life. My physical adoption demonstrates what God has graciously done for me spiritually on a much greater scale: He has adopted me into His family.�

Biblical texts that speak of people from every tribe, tongue and nation gathering together to worship God are very real to Rosalynn. She experiences such a “combining of the nations� every day.

“There were a few years when I was a child that I struggled with not looking like the rest of my family, but now I laugh when I think how insignificant that truly is,� she said. “I am just as much a Robb as my other siblings who are biological children. In fact we forget and often laugh as we say, ‘It must be the genes.’

“My different ethnicity is a great example of what Acts 10:34 pictures. For in God’s family there are many different nationalities because our heavenly Father has adopted us from every nation.�

Rosalynn said the concept of God adopting people from all nationalities really came alive for her when she and her family returned to the Philippines several years ago. The extreme poverty of her birth family overwhelmed her with gratitude for her situation in America.

“We spent several days at the orphanage, and we were also able to meet my birth family,� Rosalynn said. “We travelled to a small village called Carigara on island of Leyte. There we visited the hut where all eight of my birth family lived: a wooden platform approximately 10’ by 10’ that stands on stilts with a roof made of woven palm branches. It was unbelievable!

“As I sat on the wooden floor and looked around, my eyes were opened to how really rich I am as an American. My birth family had some clothes and sheets and a little fire place to cook food in but other than that their hut was bare. I had never seen anything so empty. A list started to form in my mind as I thought of my bed, running water, electricity and food in the refrigerator back in America. I had never really before stopped to think how much I took these things for granted.

“Life would have been extraordinarily different if I had lived with my birth family. I would not have had an education, and I would be working to help support the family. My biological family is very poor. My birth mom does laundry for a family and her husband does some small jobs and rents a ‘tricycle,’ which is a bicycle that transports people from place to place on a side car. At the most, he earns about 50 cents a day.�

Rosalynn’s highest gratitude was driven by her spiritual condition.

“But what made me weep that night (in the Philippines) was reflecting on what God has done for me spiritually,� she said. “My biological family is lost, but through God’s hand orchestrating every event in my life I have come to know and love Him through the instrument of adoption into the Robb family.�

Rosalynn said she thinks a culture of orphan care should permeate local churches, “Everyone is called to be a part of the missional aspect of adoption in some form,� she said.

For people who are thinking about adopting, Rosalynn encouraged prayer and thoughtful consideration. Rosalynn said couples who believe God is leading them to adopt must trust that He will provide for them every step of the way. Because adoption includes its share of difficulties, Rosalynn says people must keep in mind the impact it has on orphans.

“Having previously seen fatherless children in three different orphanages, I saw what matters to them: they long for, and dream of, a family of their own,� she said. “They desire to have a sense of belonging, and they anxiously wait to receive the love of a mom and dad. As believers we have the ability to give more than temporal gifts. The greatest gift we can ever share with them is the gospel. We can be instruments of grace and hope to the millions of children who have no place to call home.�

Rosalynn said she looks forward to doing short-term missions work in the future in the Philippines and returning to help at her former orphanage and others around the world.

“I am passionate about adoption because it is a visible picture of what God has done for us,� she said. “1 John 4:19 says that we love because He first loved us. My story has burdened me to want as many children as possible to receive what I have received both physically and spiritually. I challenge each one of us to consider James 1:27 and see how God has called us in different ways to come together and participate in something so marvelous to further His kingdom.�

Interview and article by Garrett Wishall