5-Year-Old Boy and His Little Sister Are Abandoned on the Road by Their Mom - But One Couple Changes Their Life
Left alone and uncared for, these siblings had to learn how to trust again.
The last time Malachi saw his mother, he was five years old. But it wasn’t the first tragic circumstance in the young boy’s life. His father had died in a car crash, and his mother struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse. Life had been one tragedy after another, a struggle to survive.
Malachi’s little sister Navaeh was two years old the day their mother told them to get in the car. They had never seen the vehicle before. Their mother had stolen it. They got in the car and watched as their home disappeared behind them.
After a while, their mother pulled over and told them to get out. They were confused and afraid. They didn’t know this neighborhood, but their mother insisted that they get out; so, they did. She promised she would come back.
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The two siblings watched as their mother pulled away in the strange car. They waited and waited for her to come back; but slowly, they realized the truth. She wasn’t coming back. Though it was a shock, their difficult upbringing had already led them to one conclusion: the only people they could count on were each other.
Malachi and Navaeh wandered the streets for a long time. Hungry and penniless, but not daring to trust another adult, they ate out of trash cans. They slept huddled together under the stars.
Meanwhile, Miranda and Craig Coleman were feeling a pull of their own. A sermon in church one morning left them both with a clear picture of their future. They knew they wanted to become foster parents. They both felt strongly that they were being called to open their hearts and their home to a child in need.
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After they earned their license, a non-profit agency contacted them: Would they take in two kids, a brother and a sister? It wasn’t in their plan. New to fostering, they had wanted to take it slow, one child at a time. But something about this particular case pulled at their heartstrings. And with a heartbreaking realization, the Colemans found themselves being pulled from fostering directly to adopting.
“If we didn’t adopt, they were going to be separated,” Miranda said of Malachi and Navaeh. “That piece alone, especially once you meet these two and see their relationship, you knew that could not happen.”
So the Colemans welcomed both children, now nine- and six-years old, with open arms. But all did not go smoothly.
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Malachi was, in Craig’s words, “a broken kid.” Miranda described him as “living for today and only today, nothing else mattered.” The boy and his sister had learned not to trust anybody and not to hope for anything. They didn’t believe they were worthy of love or that anyone would understand them or care for them.
So the Colemans took it slowly, building that trust with unconditional love. One day, Miranda asked Malachi what he could do to bless someone else. The boy was immediately defensive. Miranda asked him if he could so something as simple and as helpful as hold one door open for one person. Malachi found excuse after excuse, arguing with Miranda for about an hour. But, eventually, he came around and agreed to do the small, good deed.
Miranda laughs when she thinks about that now. “There hasn’t been a door that kid doesn’t hold for somebody to this day. He will hold doors for anybody.”
Indeed, as Malachi and Navaeh began to accept that the Colemans were their forever family and began to feel safe and loved, they blossomed. They felt wanted and valued, and now they could share their gifts with others.
“This family decided to stick with me,” Malachi said. “They saw I was a struggling kid and I deserved a family that loved me. And when I saw that I had that, and that I actually was loved, that’s when I started to change my perspective on things.”
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Malachi decided to raise funds through playing football to give back to his community, becoming a voice for kids in foster homes. Miranda says that he is always doing “the little things for those in need.” He also continues to be an amazing big brother.
On Malachi’s sixteenth birthday, Miranda wrote a post on Facebook that said, in part: “God gave me you. I am honored that you have trusted me to be your mom when quite frankly you had no reason to trust anyone.”
Because he was shown unconditional love, Malachi was able to give back. Abandoned on the side of the road by their mother, this brother and sister travelled a long road to be able to trust someone again, to love and to allow themselves to be loved in return.
