3 kids, no job — relying on God

3 kids, no job — relying on God

By Jim Stratton

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 23, 2009
FRUITLAND PARK - The faith of Charlie Thompson fills a room.

He has been jobless for seven months, can't make his mortgage payment and may lose his car. He and his wife are raising three kids — all with Down syndrome — and have already lost three others to neurological disorders.

Yet, as I sit on his couch, his daughter playing next to me, he says that, ultimately, he feels lucky, that God is protecting his family.

"Maybe that's just looking for something positive," Thompson, 53, says quietly. "But I really believe it."

A moment later, his wife, Barbara, breaks the silence.

"From our experience," she laughs, "we've learned you don't pray for patience."

It's tempting to say the recession has taught Charlie and Barbara Thompson about what really matters, but they've had a pretty good sense of that for a long time now. Married 31 years, the couple have endured enough pain for two lifetimes, yet managed to keep bitterness at bay.

They've filled their lives with children — four adopted, three biological — and faith, leaning on both when times were bad. They take little for granted.

"We had two children who never rolled over on their own," says Barbara, a fourth-generation Floridian. "So seeing these three be naughty is a treat."

"These three" are Luke, 18, Ashley, 14, and Billy, 13. Their oldest child, 30-year-old Charles Byron, is married, living in Lady Lake.
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