Read Brandon’s Testimony    Read Emily’s Testimony
Our Testimony….
My name is Brandon Schafer and this is our family website. My wife, Emily, and daughter, Elena, round out the rest of the Schafer’s. We are just a normal family who thought they would start a website to keep in contact with friends and family.
I am a computer technician by trade and did that for the last 8 years almost. I love working with computers and being able to help people, but over the last year or so I have felt the need to change careers. My wife, Emily, has her Masters in Clinical Psychology and has a few years experience in a variety of different settings. My daughter Elena is 21 months old at the time of this writing (Jan 17,2009) and she is ‘gettin it done’ as we would say. She is getting into everything and loving every minute of it.
As of right now we are what they call ‘Specialized Teaching Parents.’ We are working with the Department of Human Services in Virginia Beach, Virginia. When we returned from Ukraine we were hired by the Virginia Home for Boys and Girls in Richmond Virginia. We have since moved to the beach, purchased our own house and are helping develop a new program for teenagers. We will have 2-3 girls living with us that would otherwise be living in group homes or lockdown facilities. As of today we have 2 wonderful girls living with us both 17 years old and we are enjoying getting to know each other and prepare our house for future guests.
Before we were Teaching Parents we lived in Kyiv, Ukraine. We were there from August 2005 until December 2007. We were serving as missionaries with Youth With A Mission – me doing computer/electronics and Emily as a Counselor. It was definitely a life changing experience for all three of us. Elena was born in a Ukrainian Hospital and lived the first 8 months of her life there in Ukraine. But of course we did not only do our specific jobs. We also taught, helped in orphanages, visited hospitals, cleaned neighborhoods, feed the homeless, helped out staff in any way we could and even traveled around helping in different cities in Ukraine and in different countries. We spent 3 months in Kyrgyzstan working with local churches and colleges. Our time there is something we will always cherish not only for what it taught us but in the many ways we seen God hand leading, providing and saving the people around us.
And before Ukraine we lived outside Chicago, IL. There I had full time jobs in the computer field and Emily was a full time student. We spent 3 years in Wheaton, moving here a week after getting married. We made lots of great friends and learned a lot about each other in those 3 years. Though it’s not a place I would like to live again it is a place I will always remember and continue to visit.
But this is long enough. If you would like to learn more about us individually check out or personal testimonies. Thanks for visiting.
Brandon, Emily, and Elena Schafer
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