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A Note from the Author

Dear readers,

The idea of Echoes of Newtown and the Carriage Kids Book Series began back in 2007 in Virginia when our son was only two years old. The original title was Adventures of Henry Washita. Henry is our son’s middle name and Washita is the county I grew up in Oklahoma until I went to college.

During the initial writing of the manuscript I was working for National Fatherhood Initiative. Between my wife, Laura, and I having our first child and me commuting back and forth between Washington D.C. and Chesapeake, Virginia, life was very busy. On our weekends before our son was born, we hiked in the Shenandoah Valley trails. It was on these hikes and learning about the history of the U.S. when we visited Williamsburg, which inspired the initial manuscript.

I wrote the outline, working title, and some of the initial story, then tucked it away thinking I would someday pick it up again. When our son was nearly three, my wife became pregnant with our daughter, so instead of writing, I was moving the family to Tulsa to be near my relatives. That’s where I found and joined Change a Life Foundation, developing orphanages in Africa.

On one business trip with Change a Life, I visited the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) Conference in Nashville, Tenn., where I met founder of Hearts of the Father Outreach, John Moritz—a friend who would forever change my life. We instantly connected on our mutual interest in Ghana, Africa, where we both had helped develop orphanages. We decided I would check up on the little ones at the orphanages both John and I helped develop to see if I could find ways to maximize our time and resources.

When I got to Ghana a few months later, I was cheerfully greeted by the chairman of the board at the time by the name of David Kwadwo Ofosuhene. The development was close to the ocean in Southern Ghana. There were rocks everywhere on the ground and poverty all around, but the beauty of the ocean and the children imprinted my mind.

The sign on the main building read, “JoshKrisDan Home for Children.” I thought to myself Who came up with this name and why? I later found out this orphanage was the main orphanage of Hearts of the Father Outreach. Land had been purchased in 1998 and completed in 2000.

John explained over the phone that the name comes from the combined names of himself, his wife, Libby, and their three children who had tragically perished in a car accident in 1982: Joshua, Kristen and Dan.

After the phone call, I wept for their loss. I knew I couldn’t remove the pain (only God can do that), but I wanted to help further their ministry. A few years after this trip, I picked up that old book manuscript I started writing so many years ago. The time was right.

Echoes of Newtown follows seven orphans in the book and later on in the process of writing it three of them were named after the Moritz kids in honor of their lives, brief and precious.

Throughout the writing process, John and his wife Libby have been so helpful and gracious to answer all my questions about their kids. Please see the back of the book for two ways you can help support Hearts of the Father ministries.

Let me close with this. When it rains in Africa, it pours so hard it sounds like millions of people clapping. It dawned on me one day that every time it rains it reminds me of all the orphans who have gone on before us to heaven who are cheering us on to finish well. If you are reading this, you can help those who have lost a parent by simply gifting this book to them and inviting them on the journey of healing and restoration.

We can help—one at a time!

Blake Fite