Dr. Jean Orr: 'She was always ours'

February 13, 2008

Article by Holly Bass, Editor in Chief, The Lance | Photo provided by Dr. Jean Orr

Daryle and Jean Orr have a touching story. So touching, in fact, that the Wendy’s of Missouri and The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, featured their story on the organization’s “For Your Life” TV series.

This series showcases families and children in Missouri who have been through an adoption process through a video series aired on Tuesday mornings on KOLR 10, Springfield's CBS affiliate.

The Orrs went on the program and talked about a decision that changed their family forever. This change was Samantha.

Not an Easy Life

Jean, associate professor of behavioral sciences, met Samantha when she was counseling at Royal Family Kid’s Camp, a camp for foster children, with her church, Evangel Temple in Springfield, Mo. Jean had heard about Samantha, and she fell in love with the 8-year-old girl before the two had even met.

When they did meet, Jean remembers seeing the scars on her back and head, scars that were from major burns and beatings. She remembers noticing Samantha’s speech impediment. But all of these things made Jean fall even more in love with the girl who had endured more than physical abuses, but also emotional, verbal and sexual abuse.

As a year passed, Jean would see Samantha at baseball games in Fair Grove, where they lived. Samantha would yell over to Jean and run and give her a hug.

It wasn’t long after talking to Daryle that the two decided to adopt Samantha.

Of course, there were reservations on how their other four children would react to a new member of the family. This was an issue that Daryle and Jean talked a lot about during the “For Your Life” series.

They also had many overnight visits with Samantha, which confirmed to the Orrs that the adoption process was God’s will for their lives. The Orrs knew that with Samantha’s past, there would be a lot of work ahead for the young girl, as well as for their family, but they loved her and wanted to offer her a new life.

Samantha came from a broken home. Jean had heard stories about Samantha being singled out by her mother because she resembled her biological father, who was in prison. Her mother made her brush her teeth with dish soap while the other children used toothpaste.

In an essay that Samantha wrote for the National Fine Arts Festival, she talked about her struggle as a small child. She said that her mother would beat her with a fly swatter, belt, stick, curtain rod and even a hammer. She also said that she would be locked in a cupboard for a whole day, never allowed to leave it. “My parents and siblings convinced me I was nothing,” she wrote. “I hated my life. I hated myself. I just wanted to die.”

She had been in and out of foster care in her young life and was finally saved by Emily, an employee for the Children’s Division of Family Services.

The Big Day

Oct. 27, 2004, was the monumental day when the adoption was finalized. This was the perfect birthday present for Samantha’s ninth birthday, which was on Oct. 23.

This day was also important for Samantha’s six other siblings because five different families also adopted them.

Samantha had already been living with the Orrs, so the adoption did not bring about too many changes, but she did change her middle name to Breanna, which was in honor of a little girl she knew in Royal Family Kid’s Camp.

But since Samantha was already a part of the family, having the adoption finalized was more a formality. “It was like she was always ours,” Jean said.

Trials to Triumph

When Samantha was around 9 years old, she attended a play with Jean at the Ozark Stained Glass Theatre. At the end of the play, prayer time was offered and Samantha and Jean went to the front where Samantha prayed for her biological father and stepfather to come to salvation.

“It was hard,” Samantha said, but she felt like God wanted her to pray for them.

Jean was amazed that Samantha would pray for men who so severely beat her. “She’s an amazing story of resilience,” Jean said.

When Samantha was in fifth grade, she wrote a story about her abuse and read it to her class. She is more than willing to talk about her story and tell people how God used the Orrs to save her from abuse and neglect and offered her a life of success and love.

“I am healing. I am no longer alone, and I have a family that wants me and loves me,” Samantha wrote in her essay for Fine Arts.

She is now 14 years old and a straight-A honor roll student at Fair Grove Middle School. She is involved in volleyball, basketball and her church, where she recently entered a T-shirt design into the National Fine Arts competition and won third place in the nation.

“I have gone to school, and I’ve gotten to know God better and have a better relationship with him; and I have a great family,” Samantha said.

Although Samantha has been through a lot, her outlook is positive and she’s loving life. “It’s up to God to work things out. It’s all in his plan so don’t underestimate him. It’s all in his plan,” she said.

A plan that has worked out perfectly for the Orr family.

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Republished with permission from The Lance, Evangel University's student-produced newspaper. Article originally published Feb. 8, 2008, Vol. 53, Issue 18.