Funny how life’s twists and turns can be miracles in disguise. Meet community hero Lisa Goff, her family, and The Creator’s Kids Creative Arts Learning Center.
From the time she was 15, Lisa Goff took every opportunity to work with the special needs community, moved by their stories, innocence and their desire to be loved. “In my mid-teens I told my mother about my dream — to have a family that included special needs children. My mom stood there and cried, and at the time that made no sense to me,” says Lisa. “But years later my mother cried again as I stood before her as a married woman and announced that Brian and I were seeking to adopt a special needs child. This time her tears made sense, as she reminded me of that day when I was 15. She said that when I told her my dream back then, she literally had goose bumps realizing that it truly was to be. She knew this came from God.”
Colliding Dreams
What developed was the formation of a perfectly “atypical” family. At first, Brian did not share Lisa’s desire for a special needs family, and Lisa had secret doubts about marrying him. But she took the plunge for the sake of love, and God handled Brian’s heart through a string of divine coincidences. First, after seven years of marriage, they found neither were able to conceive a biological child. Second, as they looked into adoption, Brian wanted a “healthy white newborn.” But as he spoke to the adoption counselor, a social worker walked in with a stack of “CAP” photos– children awaiting adoption. Lisa browsed them, and Brian asked about these photos on the way home. After hearing their stories — Down’s Syndrome, cleft palate, dwarfism — he said, “if there truly are children like those out there, we have absolutely no business adopting a healthy newborn.” He just as choked up as Lisa. “This was the day our dreams collided,” says Lisa of this blessing.
A Family Forms
“Our family truly began 15 years ago when we lived in New York. Our first beautiful girl, Brianca, came to us through adoption out of Florida. Brianca has spina bifida, and throughout those first years we were in the hospital with her more than we were at home. She’s grown into a beautiful, vibrant young lady with a mission for Christ, I might add,” says Lisa, proudly. “Next came second miracle child, Christopher, who has Down’s Syndrome. He loves when Brianca tells him the story of our flight home with him when he just eight weeks old. He loaded his diapers immediately after take off, and the entire plane had to endure that “experience” until we could unbuckle,” she laughs.
Indeed, it is the joy and humor of daily life that bless Lisa and Brian. The family moved to Texas to be near the Medical Center, and just when they thought they were “done” the social services department in California called, hearing through the grapevine that we had experience with spina bifida needs. “Honestly, my first inclination was that we couldn’t handle another child, but after hearing that Lucy would live her childhood in foster care and then likely be institutionalized, I blurted out, ‘Not in my lifetime!’ And she came to us red-headed like me . . . a “Mini Me! It was meant to be.” Lucy’s health was delicate, and many hospital scares later the Goff’s praise God for their third miracle child.
The Creator’s Kids
It was a natural segue for Lisa to open The Creator’s Kids — an arts and learning center geared for inclusion. The aim: To value all life as we work daily to represent Christ’s love in the flesh. “The Creator’s Kids was inspired by all the needs that were never met,” says Lisa of her journey with her children. “I spent four years running from it, then earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Innovation and Design to prepare for it. I then earned my masters in health care management to ensure The Creator’s Kids offers everything necessary for success and growth, perhaps even franchises.”
Classes in homemaking, Mommy & Me, gardening, drama, dance, vocal and Social Fridays are offered, along with parties and summer camps. The center provides a stable, secure environment where families can learn the importance, as well as the joy, value and benefits of physically playing together.
“We want to educate the community,” says Lisa. “The Creator’s Kids is being built around an overwhelming passion within me to remove the significant barriers placed on families and communities as a result of the broad level of diversity experienced all around us. By diversity, I mean diversity of the mind, body, and spirit. This diversity is primarily represented in cultural differences, physical and mental differences in ability levels, and basic language barriers.”
Learn more of the Goff’s story and become inspired by their long-range vision at www.thecreatorskids.com.
