The Words of the Ichijo Family

Matching Kenji Ichijo to Sonya Yoder

Fran Ichijo
April 3, 2003
A testimony by Kenji’s mother

Certainly we are all breaking new ground in this era of CIG, but my husband and I never imagined that our son, who is "special needs", could receive the Blessing even though in the backs of our minds we dreamed it. Our thinking had been so limited, but by the Grace of God and True Parents, events progressed where his matching became a possibility.

We knew the Yoder family 16 years ago when they lived in the DC area; in fact, we both put our kids through the same rigorous therapy program, and Sonya’s mother, Susan, was a good advisor, having done the program before us. We really had not been in touch since they moved to their hometown area 15 years ago. My husband, Yoshihiro, ran into Steve Yoder at CPL during the recent CIG activity. In their one conversation, Steve said about his daughter Sonya(19) and Kenji (18), "Maybe it is a match!" Such a simple statement, but so many dreams were coming true by that one phrase. Soon we began e-mailing in earnest, so excited that our children, so often pushed to the side, could also receive the blessing of our True Parents.

Both of our families have always treated our two children as "normal", requiring them to do everything possible. Wondering about their future has always been a big concern and it still is, but at least we know that they will be together in Spirit World forever and not alone. They do understand that they are getting married by True Parents, although the form that their marriage will take is not yet clear. Step by step.

The amazing thing is that when I was praying about the matching in general I felt God say to me "Don’t you know that I chose Kenji for Sonya from birth? " I had always felt that Kenji was our blessing disguised as a cross (because it has not been easy) but in reality God chose it this way for the sake of Sonya and to make a way for all handicapped people in history. How great is our Heavenly Father!!

We realize through this experience that God has someone for EVERYONE!

As an aside, dear Kenji, during school last week, decided that he would tell his teachers about his wedding in May and his fiancée…He is so pure and natural that this was, of course, something great to share. His teacher promptly called me for clarification and I gave her some DP right there on the phone and explained. She thought it was lovely and the other teacher e-mailed a congratulatory letter! Of course, this is all such great news that we should shout it to the mountaintops. What we all can learn from this new couple!

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