How does a 9-year-old Panamanian boy end up living each school year with a Christian Reformed family in New Jersey? For John and Faye Dyksen it happened through Healing the Children (HTC), an organization that brings children from around the world who have medical needs to the United States.
The Dyksens, members of Cedar Hill CRC in Wyckoff, N.J., had five children of their own when they took in Jorge Grajales eight years ago. Jorge’s hands and feet had been amputated because of a circulation disorder. HTC needed a host family who would care for him and also raise funds to pay for his prosthetic legs.
Jorge’s first stay lasted nine months. He was fitted with prostheses, learned to walk, and then returned home to Panama. He comes back every year for new legs. Now in third grade, he spends each school year with the Dyksens, attending a school where his unique needs can be met.
Jorge plays video games, enjoys soccer, rides a bike, writes, throws a pretty good spiral football, hits a baseball, and with his winning smile endears himself to everyone he meets, according to John Dyksen. Jorge does not let his disabilities prevent him from trying anything.
To the Dyksens, Jorge and the support they receive from Cedar Hill CRC and the community is living proof that the Lord “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”
