Friends And Family

Inside A Pediatric Care Center That Puts God First And Kids First

• Gods Way Radio

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A bright, open building filled with light, laughter, and a 1,200-gallon fish tank isn’t what most people picture when they think of medical care—but that’s exactly the point. We sat down at Glory to God PPEC in Miami to unpack how a prescribed pediatric extended care facility can become a place where medically fragile children not only stay safe, but thrive through daily nursing, high-frequency therapy, and a learning center built just for them.

Robert, a pediatric physical therapist, describes leaving the status quo to start a center that puts excellence and dignity first. Ariela, a clinical social worker, shares a journey from personal loss to a calling that now champions babies learning to swallow, toddlers mastering wheelchairs, and teens gaining strength and hope. Together they embody a simple practice: work like it depends on us, pray like it depends on God. From aquatherapy with a treadmill pool to a child-sized “city” that teaches life skills, their approach blends state-of-the-art care with a culture that sees every child as fearfully and wonderfully made.

We also explore the overlap with medical foster care, where families open their homes to kids with complex needs and often adopt them. Robert and Ariela are candid about refusing to compromise on their bold, faith-forward identity—even turning down partnerships that balked at their name. Yet the outcomes speak because the progress is real and the love is evident. And those quiet moments—a prayer before pizza, a worship song humming in a parent’s car—often blossom into deeper transformation.

If you care about pediatric therapy, special education, foster care, or faith-driven entrepreneurship, this conversation offers practical insights, stirring stories, and a blueprint for building a place that’s enjoyed, not endured. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review to help more families find hope and help.

Intro:

You're tuned in to Friends and Family, a God's way radio exclusive where we introduce you to some amazing people. In John chapter 15, verse 15, Jesus says, I have called you friends for all things that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. That's our aim, that God would be made known to you. Stay with us until the end of our conversation for more information on this program and other unique offerings from God's Way Radio.

Joey:

And so we're actually here at Glory to God P P E C? Yeah. So what does that stand for?

Robert:

It stands for Prescribed Pediatric Extended Care Facility.

Joey:

Awesome. So we're at Glory to God Facility. And um and uh man, it's just kind of like as we were talking earlier, it's just part of uh what they get to do and uh and the season of their life. But before we get there, tell us about where you guys grew up and and when you came to know the Lord and just a little bit about that. You want me to start?

Ariela:

Um so my name is Ariela, and I grew up here in Miami, but um my family's from Dominican Republic, and growing up I had a pretty pretty fun childhood, I can say. Um I had a mom and dad, and I have a s a younger sister that I grew up with, and the only thing that was lacking is that we weren't necessarily like a believing family. I grew up Catholic, um, but it was just kind of like the cultural aspect. Um I lost my mom when I was 11 years old, and that was a trial, but now as an adult, I can definitely see God's sovereignty to it all. Um, and how he literally kept us together. He literally kept us together, even though at that point in time we weren't but I wasn't a believer. Um and even through that difficulty, um, I can still see God's hand and sovereignty, and I'm just thankful for it though. And um, I came to know the Lord at 21 years old. Um, and it was pretty I I think with me things tend to be pretty like dramatic. Um, and but that's just how I mean that the Lord can use that. And I remember one night just the circumstances that were happening, and I just heard a very clear just leave, and I obeyed. And the next day I was like, I think I need to go to church. And again, I grew up Catholic, but I went to like there was a a church, very popular church that was a few minutes away from my house. So I got up Sunday morning by myself, very quietly, made no noise in my house, and went to church. And I heard the gospel, and right then and there, I gave my life to Christ. And it's been me and him since then.

Joey:

That's sweet. That's so good. This was all in DR?

Ariela:

No, this was all here in Miami. God, um, this was all here in Miami.

Joey:

But so when did you leave DR?

Ariela:

I so this is the thing. I'm very Dominican, but I never lived in DR until now. I never lived in DR. My parents just did a really good job of like instilling that in us and sending us back and forth um during the summer. So my best childhood memories are in DR for sure.

Joey:

That's awesome. That's awesome. Robert, what about you?

Robert:

Yes, yes, my name is Robert Kidd, and um I was born in Jamaica. Um lived a couple of years there, then moved to Belize, um, where I grew up most of uh most of my youth and came to the States at I think 20 years old for school. But um it was in Belize when I moved there that uh my dad, he is not a pastor, I would say, but um he preaches at church. I don't know, I don't know myself not being in church, my parents um like every Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Tuesday for choir practice, all that. They're very involved in the church. And my and my dad was actually the one that led me to Christ. Um I remember it very vividly, right beside his bed. He um he led me to Christ when I was three, actually, and I remember it very, very clearly. You know, I know people might say that's that's young, but I remember him explaining to me the difference between heaven and hell, you know, and he he remembers it as well. So um I am very, very grateful for the parents that the Lord um well, I mean, the parents that the Lord gave me, you know, because I can say that their lives are a testimony and they instill that in us. They I don't know myself as waking up any morning without my parents gathering, all of us, there's four of us. Um let's have devotions this morning together, you know, like this is a normal thing. So um but yeah, so I will say my my testimony is not one of being far from the Lord and coming back, but my testimony is one of his faithfulness. Yeah, his faithfulness throughout my entire life. I will say that there have been times where I've drifted and I've read I remember rededicating my life at 20 when I came to the States, but but the Lord is faithful, man. You know.

Joey:

You know, I think of any parents that are listening. What a what an encouragement. You know, what an encouragement. Uh, you know, Tiffany's here with me today, and and we, you know, we have a three-year-old, you know. And and and I remember, you know, even when our children were younger and trying to talk to them and thinking in my background, are they getting this? You know, but but they can get it.

Robert:

They can.

Joey:

What an encouragement. What an encouragement. And and again, you know, you know, even the name of the business, the name of the building where the glory to God. You know, I know you guys want God to get all the credit, but I'm just I'm thinking of who's listening and helping them to connect the dots, right? And and we're talking about, you know, uh, an upbringing that, man, since the day you could remember you, your family knew the Lord, you knew the Lord, the Lord was a part of your life. You know, you see how the Lord kept your family together, you you obeyed the Lord at a young age, 21, relatively young. And when people hear what God is doing now with you guys and through you guys, man, if if we if we're faithful, right, in those younger years, you know, and how God could build and how what God could do. So hopefully people get that connection and that encouragement. Um let me ask you this, Robert, you're a physical therapist by by trade or by schooling.

Robert:

Right, right. When I came to the States, I did my doctorate in physical therapy.

Joey:

Yeah.

Robert:

And I specialize in pediatrics. Okay, okay.

Joey:

And that was I'm trying to find out, or I'm trying to see where Ariela comes into the story. Was it during the schooling, after the schooling? No. After this, after the schooling school. After schooling. After the schooling, yeah. So did you begin this journey with which right now the season is, what is it? Uh two centers, school, da da da da. Did you begin this journey as a single man?

Robert:

Right. So the thing is, when when I met Arela, I met Arela at church, right? Um she sat next to me, and yeah, the rest is history. But um, I remember I I used to have a therapy center, well, a therapy company that staffed a lot of similar centers to the one I have now.

Joey:

So you got your doctorate, and then the company was staffing the centers.

Robert:

Well, I I got my doctorate at FIU there. Okay. And then I started working as a therapist, and then I started my own company. Right? My own therapy company. And then we staffed a lot of centers around the city, maybe eight or so. And then, but truthfully, when I would be going into those centers, I would be, let's just say, not happy with what I saw and how the kids were being treated. I didn't feel uh okay being associated with that. Um and so I prayed about it and I decided on starting my own. Now, where Ariela comes into the picture is that I I had met her at church at the time that I was thinking about this, right? So um I remember sitting there one day uh on my balcony and just talking to her, telling her, like I'm thinking, I'm thinking about this and praying about this as well. And so um, she was encouraging in the in the process, and um, but I was still single when I when I opened it and everything, you know, we were dating, and um, but thankfully she was she was she was encouraging.

Intro:

It was a it was a yeah, it was a this is what you're sending up for.

Robert:

Yeah, it was a help. I know, yeah. It has it hasn't been without its trials and and um taking me away from like time with the family and all that, but um but she has been very encouraging and a very supportive wife at that, yeah. So um that is how she came into it, and we got married two years later. I mean, it had been started, it had been started by that time.

Joey:

So even while you were dating, it was like the the longest.

Ariela:

Yeah, so we started dating in 2016, and I remember that conversation. I was eating Burger King on the balcony, and he was talking, literally saying, like, I'm not, I'm very like, it's very difficult to go to these facilities and see what's going on with these children and the care that they're receiving. And I do feel like I can provide something, like the Lord has given me a heart for this. And I think it was just a matter of like, okay, so why not? And I remember the whole process of with the realtor with Yalian looking for a property, how many properties we went through. I mean, went to, sorry, um, and then finally settling on the one on 8th Street, and then it opening what the opening was, we still have and it it's it's a joy. The first child, glory to God, be but it's still with us. Our first employee is still with us, and it's just to see again, just to see God's hand through it off.

Joey:

Right, yeah, yeah. I'm just I'm thinking of so many. I mean, man, you guys are blowing my mind. On one comment, you said, um, and I know there's privacy, but but that child, are they are you able to say are they a junior, senior, are they aging out? What what's like where are they at today?

Robert:

He is 18 today, but they we we go all the way from zero to twenty one. So he's he's grown.

Ariela:

That's awesome. But just to see all of that, and that again we opened in 2017 and we were open for two days, and then we had to close because it was a hurricane.

Robert:

Yeah, you know, just yeah, but again, I remember it blew off all the things, and and it was it was a trial, but um it's been a joy saw us through is yeah, is faithful.

Joey:

I gotta ask you this, because again, you know, we have Tiffany and I have now, you know, you talked about you guys probably the joy and privilege of knowing you guys and and and having visited and having seen uh you know what what the Lord is doing. Um but not everybody listening uh has met you yet, uh, or or even has seen, you know, what what uh you know transpires. Here's the point we keep talking about the therapy and the kids. Give us a little more information, give people a little bit of a visual. What kind of therapies are we talking about? What's the population that we're talking about of the kids that that you're serving? This business has been going on 10 plus years. Who are these kids?

Robert:

So as I said uh a while ago, we it PPEG stands for prescribed pediatric extended care facility, right? So this type of facility takes care of medically fragile children, so it can be any child that needs nursing care uh on a daily basis, and and it cannot be at home or they they can have nursing care at home, but they need it throughout the day, right? They can't just go to normal uh regular school, right? So um, as I said, I had the therapy company to begin with. So when I opened the nursing portion of it, which is staff to doctors and nurses, um I subcontracted the therapy portion as well. Because these children also need um physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy on a regular basis. Like the frequency that they need is much higher than the the child with autism, not downplaying autism or anything like that. But if if that's your only diagnosis, maybe you need a one time a week or something, you know. But these kids need intensive therapy, right? Um, especially at a young age. So um we give them physical, occupational speech therapy at the highest um frequency. We also have a behavioral company, which is a component of what we do here, right? Which is called a wanna behavioral company. I don't know if you you guys know um the kids' Bible club growing up, like it's called a wanna behavioral company. So um that is also a part of uh the setting here, and also a learning center because these children, we believe that they also need an education and they should not be deprived of um an education just because of their diagnosis and not being safe in um a typical school, right? So we bring the school to them and it's big covered by the McKay Scholarship and yeah.

Joey:

And that's pretty new, the school portion.

Robert:

Yes, it's about six months. We we started in August, yeah. Yeah, working our way to because uh many for many years the parents have asked me, they're like, listen, I I don't feel safe sending my child to um a typical school just because like maybe the nurse there, some of the schools are they're they're set up to take care of cuts and bruises, and but these are children that are fed through G tubes, these are children with seizures, like many seizures pretty like you know, you have to administer certain administer certain medication in certain ways that the the nurses there are not trained to do. Right? So in this setting, they have safety as well as um the ability to learn and they're not just surviving but thriving. That's the that's the goal, you know, and um that's how it's how it's set up. Um and it's kind of what what the kids need is what dictates what we what we try to give them, right?

Joey:

So we we were talking about that earlier, how you know you you didn't start off with this idea or this dream or this goal, you know. So so rewinding a little bit, and whether Robert or Ariana or both of you, what was the first goal in a sense? Okay, I I want to provide something different for these kids, so therefore we're going to you know hire seven doctors, you know, open two centers. No, what was the first little milestone that you guys were aiming for? We we need to have one kid, ten kids. What was that like, that first goal, that first conversation?

Robert:

I remember I remember it seeming so huge to me to even start this undertaking, you know, but there's nothing too difficult for a God, you know. So um I remember thinking to myself, if I can I remember using every single dime of my savings, you know. I just said, listen, Lord, you know, is yours. That's why I call it uh glory to God as well. Like that's that's super important to me because I believe that like if I'm associated with anything, um, it has to be something that gives the glory to God. You know, like um it has to be something that lifts his name high. Right? Sorry, I I always I tell you guys, like if I if I talk about this, I will get emotional.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Robert:

Because things that mean the most to me, I don't know. That's the only language I know. You know, I I just get emotional about it. But um, yes, so I call it glory to God, and I was like, Lord, I'm giving it to you. Like do what you want with it. And I remember praying. I said, if this is gonna be anything that takes me one step away from you, don't give it to me. You know? So listen, all of this is God and God alone. Yeah, not me. I don't need people to see me. That's why when when people come here and people say, I love your name. There's a name is what draw that drew me to to come here. Oh, that's cool. I say that's why, you know, I want you to know that it's not me, but it's the Lord, you know. So it's uh it's a way um of sharing my testimony with people that is what matters the most. I'd rather not have it if if I don't have that, yeah, you know. So I even forgot your original question.

Joey:

The first mouth.

Robert:

Yeah, the first oh, I remember what this first milestone was. I remember thinking, I'm I'm also a very like logical guy. Yeah, no, I agree. Um I'm also a very like planned out guy, too. So I remember thinking, okay, to break even, I need X amount of kids. I remember thinking, if I can just have seven or eight kids, at least I can help eight kids, or and I will be able to take care of bills. Yeah, you know, and um and and we started with one, and um man, it was a long time with one, and I I remember even at times thinking, oh.

Joey:

So what'd you do if you were in the negative with those with less than eight kids? How did you manage those first? So, okay, what was the time frame before you got to eight kids?

Speaker 3:

Oh, maybe close to a year.

Joey:

So, what'd you do for that first year? How'd you manage? So And you're not married yet? No, that's part of the story. Okay, so how'd you manage? I guess you didn't even you're just eating ramen, single dude eating. Listen, it was it was like it was Oh no, she was feeding, you were dating, so I'm sorry, yeah.

Robert:

Yeah, no, no, it was it was very, very difficult. I remember I used to also work outside of it as well, trying to treat patients, make money to to to pay the rent, things like this. Um but we were able we were able to keep it, I guess, afloat for that time, even though we lost. I remember telling you I spent every single dime I had, you know, um, as and then some, you know. So but little by little we got a couple kids, a couple of kids, and one started telling another, and um yeah, and we ended up becoming uh known for the quality of the service because we were trying to do something different. To this day, I have never looked at another center's website or anything. I don't want to base my what I do on what they do. Yeah, I just want to do it based on the need I see, the need I see, and how best I can do it, like to the best of my ability and in a way that honors the Lord. So um, and so the Lord honored that, and he brought the children, you know, and they've been over the course of the years, like hundreds of them, you know.

Joey:

So Ariana, I want to hear from you a little bit just on what was going through your mind in this season. You know, you guys are dating. I'm guessing that, you know, especially with his godly upbringing, you know, he's not just you know dating around, right? He's you you you could tell, you know, this is serious, you know. And um, he's starting the business, and um what's going through your head, you know, or have you ever did you ever think he would be involved with something like this?

Ariela:

The answer is no. So um when again the business started while we were dating, and one thing I can definitely say about Robert is that like he bears fruit. So, like what he says he's gonna do, he will do. Um, if he says he's gonna honor the Lord, and in everything he does honor the Lord. So I remember the concern at that point, right? Like the business started, and it's like, okay, yeah, like how are we gonna keep this afloat? How are we or how are we gonna get more children? Because again, we're working with a very sensitive population, medically fragile children. And how are we gonna prom I don't know if promote is the but how are we gonna have these kids come to us, right? How are we gonna reach them? Yeah, um, and it was a lot of prayer. It was a lot, a lot of prayer. And I remember conversations at that point. Um, I had graduated my master's, I was working at Camilla's house. I completely worked at it with a different population. I worked with homelessness, substance use. I had worked with children in the past in crisis. Um, but it's not like I was in a position, I guess you would say, with like a population group that I'm like, yeah, I can help you in that sense. Um so it was just a lot of prayer, a lot of prayer. And I remember the conversations of like, we're getting a tour today, like there's a possibility of of a potential um child that's gonna enroll, and just how the Lord slowly but surely like that number started to increase. And um, I remember again, we were dating at that point, and the the rollout for the first like P PEC commercial, yeah, right, and and just being there to support him and just the the the two particular um children that were part of that video, or the parents that were part of that testimony video, were parents that had worked with Robert for years, for years, and just to see how there was such a a large support for what it is that that he was doing, um, and just again, how the Lord has worked through it all because our slogan, I guess you can say, is or our motto is work like it depends on us because we're all professionals here. Like Robert's a physical therapist, I'm a clinical social worker, we have nurses, we have different um uh therapeutic disciplines. We have an ethic, right? Like a work ethic. We we have to commit ourselves to what it is that the profession requires and give the best service that we can and the best work we can for the benefit of these children. That is true. That is true. We need to be professionals in this setting, but most importantly, we pray like it depends on God because it does. It does, it does. These cases for these children, um, without giving too much detail, they're medically fragile, like there's chronic medical diagnosis, there's things that like I did not know could happen, and and and and they have. And these kids are they were knitted in their mother's room with a permanent purpose. And the Lord has given us these children. We don't have biological children of our own to take care of for him. For him, for him. When people ask, like, do you guys have children? No, but I have like 80. Because I do, I feel that responsibility. Like every kid that comes in here, I know them by name, I I interact with them. I you know their medical records to an extent, like to an extent, we know that this one likes this. You're providing them with not just the medical service, not just the the educational component, but like we might be the only time that these children get in close contact with with Jesus, and that responsibility is not something we take lightly. Yeah, these kids know, like it's it's not to be um legalistic in a sense, but like even like these kids know when we go out and we go out to have we go to Chuck E. Cheese, we go on field church or whatnot, when we eat, we need to pray. And there's been cases where kids like because they're children, right? Like they're children, they'll put the pizza in their mouth and I'm like, but we gotta pray, and they take it out and they're like, wait, we gotta pray. And it's it's it's so sweet to see because you see how even there's no excuse, truly. Like with their conditions, with their abilities, with their limitations, they can still honor the Lord, serve the Lord, and know about the Lord.

Robert:

They'll they will remind you that we haven't prayed yet, you know, and which it like it makes you feel like you're making that little difference, you know. Um, I have sometimes will come, like parents, certain parents will come, and certain parents parents will say, I'll hear them playing a certain song, yeah, like Caleb in the car or something like that. They say, Oh, you listen to this station, uh, this music. They'll say, Oh no, little so-and-so came home playing it, so I like the song, so I play it now, you know. So um it's it's a way we can make a difference, but I I just wanted to say one thing about what Ariela was saying. Yes, we work like it all depends on us, but we pray like it all depends on God, which it does, which it does, because the diagnoses that we see, obviously we cannot solve them, but we serve a God that can, you know. So it's the most important thing to tell them, to tell the parents that God is able, you know, we serve Jehovah Rapha, you know. So um that is that is the most important thing for us to bring across. Like we stand on that.

Ariela:

Yeah.

Joey:

And again, um, you know, I just gotta invite whoever's listening. Uh, so hopefully uh this will end up online and people can listen at their their convenience, but also we wanna air it on the on the station. So if you're listening on God's radio, we're talking with Robert and and uh Ariela uh here at Glory to God PPEC, and it's uh a beautiful place where they get to serve medically fragile children and and they do a lot here, and we're just hearing a little bit about them, a little bit about what the Lord has done, a little bit about what the Lord is doing. And hopefully, this is gonna play on a Friday, uh probably you know, multiple Fridays in the future. But on Fridays at God's radio, we also talk about uh foster children or foster care. We call it foster Fridays. We talk about children that are uh maybe in um uh vulnerable situations, we talk about uh families in poverty, we talk about kind of like a whole umbrella of issues that affect children and foster children and families in need, and you guys have overlap with some of those communities. So let's talk about that a little bit about your overlap or your where you guys see some of these communities in your daily life.

Robert:

Certainly, certainly. We see uh quite a few of these children, and we we work with quite a few of these families because uh within the foster community there's uh an a section of it called medical foster parents, right? So sometimes a a parent might have um a child with a serious disability and decide that they don't want to be involved in this child's life. So um there are foster parents that can take over, and and a lot of them you even eventually do end up adopting these children, right? Um and so we have many families that that come medical foster parents that um that bring their children here. Um I can think of one in particular, she fosters four four um children and she's adopted two of them already.

Joey:

All with medical needs.

Robert:

All with medical needs, because that's the area that she chooses to um be involved in because it's the area of I can't say most need, but it's an area that has high need. High need, you know, because it's not an easy thing to to take care of these children, you know.

Joey:

Um and and as and even you, Ariela, you kind of like have both backgrounds, right? Your schooling was social work and vulnerable families and kind of like crisis. I think you mentioned that children in crisis and now on the medical side.

Ariela:

It's again, if you would have asked me back when I was getting my degree, did you think you were going to work with pediatrics? The answer would have been no. But it is something where, again, the Lord is so, the Lord is so perfect in what it is that He in everything that He does, right? Because he just gives you the ability to maybe, you don't know what I'm doing just yet, but you'll see how it'll pan out in the future. And like now to be able to bridge that gap where even like it is a resource that not many people know about, but does it exist? It does. And getting that word out about there are facilities that can care for children with chronic medical conditions. There are facilities like again, like like glory to God Peepek, where your child will be taken care of to the glory of God. Right? To to your child is gonna get the the the service, the the care that they require. And again, it's been um gosh, I don't know what other word to use, but apart from like a blessing, like I can't if we're away from the peel peck for a while, like I'm literally sitting down looking at pictures of the kids. And like I'm like That's what parents do when they're on vacation. I'm just like it's just and again, it's it's it's such a um it's such a a gift to be able to experience. Like we've had baby, like again, we serve zero to twenty-one, and we've gotten a lot of those zeros in the sense of like baby, baby, babies.

Joey:

Well, you have like a little like a baby room. We get it. Yeah, we have nurse, yeah. We have what is it called? A nursery, yeah.

Robert:

So we get premature babies as well. Yeah, you know, like yeah, yeah.

Joey:

So let me ask you this. You know, again, one of the ideas we had was like, oh, we could do a tour and everything. There's a lot of schooling going on, so it wouldn't have been good for the interview, but but maybe you can kind of like in your mind's eye take us through. So you come in, you have this beautiful lobby area, and then you have like the main room. Give us give the people a little tour, talk us through what how the building is laid out and what the kids do.

Robert:

Alright, so there's three um separate buildings. Um, and in the first bit in the main building, we have um we come in, there's a lobby uh with a fish tank. These are the pets for the kids because it's a 1200-gallon fish tank. Like they just love fish and they love feeding them every day and things like that. So it gives them something to look forward to.

Ariela:

They love me and Dori.

Robert:

Exactly, exactly. Um and you pass by uh a movie theater that we have there, we just use that as a kind of reward system for them and popcorn and all that. But um there's a main area uh which we have parties and um group meetings and um some arts and crafts for the learning center and all that, right? Off to the side there's administrative offices, and um going further into the center, we have uh um a big uh nursery, a nursery with nurses and a lot of a lot of babies, right?

Joey:

Um then do you know off the top of your head how many babies are coming each day?

Robert:

Uh I'd say close to 20. Yeah. Close to 20. Just just babies, but since it's zero to zero to um twenty one, I mean these babies grow and they become toddlers and and all that. So so we we have other rooms that are just dedicated to toddlers, um, you know, and then other rooms that are dedicated to a little bit older children, and then we have a separate building that's dedicated to children that need um uh bigger beds because they can't stay in wheelchairs all day, they will develop pressure sores and all that. So um it just has more room to maneuver, so that's a separate building. It's more of like a big open space. Yeah, it's more of an open space. Between these two buildings, there's a um a playground for them. Uh we try to get them as much outdoor time as possible because all too often these kids are cooped up inside and they don't get any fresh air, any sun, and this is something I'm big on, obviously, coming from the Caribbean. Uh so they have their own garden and things like that. They do gardening every day. Um, and then uh we have a third building where there's like aquatherapy for them. They have a pool with a treadmill on the bottom, things like this. Um uh but going upstairs, the whole second floor of the main building is dedicated to um therapy and their learning center, right? Um, because as a therapist, the most important part to me is like rehabilitating the children, you know, because I mean you don't want them to just sit there and uh for me to just take care of your children, just make sure they're safe, you know. You want to make sure that they're trying they're getting better. So we try to hire the best therapists, and um, these are therapists that are just dedicated to the care of these children every single week, week in, week out. Um and we try to get uh the the best possible equipment, whatever is new and cutting edge, and we try to invest in. We have a little um I guess I was never involved with Wannadu City. I don't know. Those are my kids that know this. Yeah, I was never here when that was the thing, but um, but there's a little city that we've built for them where they have like um like a little bank and a little um stoplight. Yeah, stoplight and uh and uh restaurant. Grocery store. Yes, exactly, where they learn uh daily life activities as well. You know, um there's a there's another room where they play games and video games and and all that. So um we try to make sure that they're not just one of the big things for me is that I I didn't want them to endure this facility. I I wanted them to enjoy it, you know. So um, so one of our slogans is a PPEC that's enjoyed and not endured, right? So um that is that's very important. So um that's our Miami location, and there's another one in Fort Lauderdale.

Joey:

Is that one up and running already?

Robert:

It is, it is it's running. Um it is in a growth process. Uh uh, God willing, we'll be able to serve a lot more kids. But um, it is a lot bigger than this one, but that one has um, it's also going to have um specialists like neurologists, cardiologists, gastroenterologists, and uh pulmonologists there, as well as a pharmacy as well. Um and so it's but it's set up with the same type of um offerings that we have here as well, just just a little bigger.

Joey:

Yeah, yeah. For those of you listening, we're we're recording this at their Miami location uh in the library, actually. And one thing that I've noticed whenever I visit it is it at least it feels like it, like there's so much natural light in the building. That was on purpose or how you manage that, but it feels so bright everywhere.

Ariela:

Quite possibly one of the best compliments you can give, Robert.

Robert:

So bright in here in a good way. That is that is something I am very particular about. Like she knows when I wake up in the morning, like I don't want the house closed, I want I want all the windows open. It needs to be bright. Let's go, let's go. You want the light to be I'm like, leave me in my back.

Ariela:

Leave me in my back.

Robert:

Oh no, I don't know. I need I need to see light, you know. So um that's that's that's one reason why we made sure like it had to be when I purchased this building, it had to be a building with a lot of windows, and we renovated um certain before we built it out. I made sure that every room has like big glass windows and stuff because also we invite parents to come, to come and see what their children are doing. Our goal is to have parents involved in what their children are doing. So we want them to be able to come in and see, see everything, and we don't want when you're dealing with kids specifically, you don't want a room that's closed either. You know, you need lights.

Intro:

All the doors have windows you can see right into the room.

Robert:

Exactly, exactly, you know, because I mean you know the world we live in. So we must take care of children, yeah, and um that is very important to us. So we want everything to be out in the open and people to be able to feel free and be in a in a in a setting that's conducive to um providing the best care for them and the children feeling happy and like they're outside because listen, they spend enough time inside when they go home anyway, you know, and we need them to be able to see everything going on on the outside.

Joey:

So Robert and Ariela, uh so much good stuff. Um, one of the things I wanted to ask about, and we're kind of starting to land the plane here a little bit, um, but one of the things I wanted to ask about is man, you guys are so bold about the Lord, right? And it's the name of the building, it's you pray with the students. I'm thinking of now business owners who are listening, or or people out in the public space that are listening, and and has there ever been any pushback or conflict or challenge of well, but this is a therapy center, but why are you doing it? And I gotta pray, and my kid, and you and this, and that, and I don't believe what you believe. You know, I I gotta imagine there has been, and if not, you can maybe imagine what it's like. But I'm uh you know, Robert's over here nodding a little bit. So, so so how have you know, how have you navigated that over the years? What challenges have you had, and what encouragement would you give to others?

Robert:

Let's just let's just say that there is no compromise. Right? There's no compromise because um I can think of one specific incident uh without naming names, but um one organ we have a a piece of machinery here that is uh very cutting edge for therapy, and there's only two in the state of Florida. And so we get kids that come from Argentina or Colombia or wherever to try out this specific um specific piece of machinery, right? And or the specific device. So there was an organization that wanted to do a study, a study with with these children, how how it benefits like how much does it benefit their progress. And I remember them saying something, well, yes, we would love to do this study, but um I don't know how it is to be associated with something that um the name of the company is Glory to God. And um as much as I would love to do a study because I'm all about the progress of the children, if if it if I had to compromise what it is that I stand for, there is no compromise. We cannot work together. You see, um I would like I said, I would love to, but I cannot not stand for the God that stood for me, you see? So um the name I pray that the Lord always allows me to, allows both of us, I really like myself to stand firm, you know. Uh because at the end of the day, whatever progress they make, however, whether we grow or not or whatever, glory to God still, you know, because that is this is our endeavor not to make a living, not to no, to glorify his name in everything that that we do. So um will not apologize for it, you know.

Ariela:

And I think um I think no. I here you see so many, again, we have so many children, so many cases, and my capacity to heal these children is absolutely zero. And we've seen how God has done so many miracles in the lives of these children that there again, there is absolutely no ability for me to be like, oh that was just it's only God. Any child that comes in here, I guess me and Robert or Robert and I are just pretty adamant, like it's just like, yeah, this is this is God's facility, this is God's business, these are God's children, and in all things, like He will be glorified. If something happens with one of these kids, we're we're send like we're sending out prayers. If something happens with a staff member, we're praying for that staff member. Um Yeah, and even the parents, yeah, like some parents, like they'll tell me something's happening. I'm like, okay, thank you for sharing. I'm gonna be praying about this.

Robert:

Like it's not a it's text message I receive even this morning. So when so is in a hospital, please tell the staff to pray, and we will we'll all gather together. We will like there'll be a specific time in the day, but at two o'clock, everybody's praying. We're we're praying for them because it matters, yeah. Prayer works.

Joey:

You know, one of the things I I think I'm hearing and I see is, and this is like a worldly saying, but I'll I'll bring it back. It's like the product speaks for itself in a sense. You know, it's like, man, what God is doing here, the way the kids are being served, the professionalism that you talked about, it's like you can't argue with with the results. You you know, if you want to just be against God, to be against God, that's different. But but but if you see that your child is actually this is the best place for them, then you'll yeah, I'm guessing, you know, then the family says, Okay, you know, yeah, sure, whatever you guys are doing is working, I guess, you know. Is that kind of like what you see sometimes? It's like they they maybe even somebody that's not focused on the name of the building or the prayer, they're focused on the the care and the treatment. Is that like something that happens, or I don't know.

Robert:

Yeah, I do I do believe that obviously not everybody, not not every parent that sends their child there is a believer. Um but I do believe that they can see a different or our goal is to have them see a difference or see Christ in us, you know, like however, however they might do, by by the dedication of the staff, by the way we speak to them, by the way we treat their children, you know, um that is that is our our goal, you know. But um we want the lives that we live within these walls to point point them to Christ. You know, it's not the focus is not supposed to be us or what we do, but everything on uh what the Lord has made possible and what he can do with regular with nobodies. You get what I'm saying? So that's I do. I'm a nobody. Yeah, I I remember that that's um there's a there's a song that always says I I used to hear it on the arena, I'm just a nobody trying to tell somebody, no, trying to tell everybody about somebody that saved my soul, you know? That's that's it, that's it.

Ariela:

And I think one of the things that again, I one of the moments that literally I was just like bawling, but it was just out of so much joy is that again, um the song I'm so blessed by Cain is a song that like the kids haven't learned, they listen to it every day. Um, and I remember in one case in particular, one of our kids, the mom was dropping off the child here at the facility, and I went to go meet them at the vehicle, and the song was playing, and I was like, Oh, and she's like, Yeah, she like I have to play this song for her every day, kind of like what Robert said. I have to play this song for her every day, and she was just like smiling from ear to ear, and then a few months pass, and they're like, she the the child's like, Yeah, me and my family are going to church, and I was like, Yeah, well, okay, and then like in my face, I'm just like keep it together, keep it together, and then a few months later we get pictures that the whole family got baptized, and I'm just like yeah, yeah. See, that stuff, I will lose it now, and I'm just like again to take care of these children is the joy of my life, and if it's just one family that comes to the Lord, it's worth it, it was worth it, it's absolutely worth it. It's absolutely worth it, and um, so yeah, yeah.

Joey:

That's super sweet. So, yeah, if anybody's listening, pray. God's doing some amazing things. Is there anything else that you guys wanted to share with the listeners before we close, or maybe something that that I didn't ask about or mention that you would want to say, other than that, and this has just like been an incredible insight. Like a hopefully people listening, they they're like, wow, you know, I gotta I gotta think. I I didn't even know this world before meeting. I didn't know what or who, or you know, I just I didn't know if somebody would ask me what what's the what happens if a child has seizures and can't attend class? I don't know, you know, I have no idea. So just learning about this world, you know, if if this airs on on a Friday at God's radio, people that are tuning in to hear about foster care, they're thinking, wow man, there's like even special facilities where foster children that have uh medical needs can go, so it's just a lot of learning. And and anybody listening, man, they better be praying now that they've heard about what God's doing. You better come in to pray. But anything else that you guys wanted to leave us with?

Robert:

Um I would say just encourage parents to you know do it, do your homework and know that there are there are organizations that are out there that can help you, you know, that can relieve some of the pressure on you, you know, and people that are genuinely endeavoring to do it for the right for the right reason. But um but outside of that, um there's a song I remember always telling Ariela about this. Is the f my favorite verse of any song ever, you know? And it says, and I think I speak for Ariela as well when I say the song says, just let me live my life and let it be pleasing, Lord, to thee. And should I gain any praise, let it go to Calvary.

Ariela:

That's that's what I say, that's what we say, um, and this is where I get emotional. Um and I think you saw me get emotional last time you came here. An encouragement that um these kids are so valuable. These kids are so valuable, and again, I could have not imagined that this was the way my life was gonna play out at all, at all. And I would not change it for the world because this is such a marginalized group in society, like you don't see them often, you see how the value of life comes into question.

Intro:

Um and pregnancies that are not allowed to go to Germany.

Ariela:

No sense, and these children to me literally, literally have that that that verse of like you were dated in your mother's room. It's literally like that verse coming to life to me. And I would encourage any parent that might have gotten the news of a diagnosis or a family that has a child with a chronic medical condition. I'm not gonna downplay the difficulty or the fear that might come with that, but I'm here to encourage you that the Lord's word is true, and that child was created with a plan and a purpose, and that child's life is equally just as valuable, and this child will transform your life in a way where you're gonna see God move and the sovereignty of God in maybe a way that you didn't experience before.

Robert:

Amen. Amen.

Ariela:

Because again, we don't have children of our own, but there is not like sometimes rubber will be like you need to chill out because anybody that walks into this facility, if I don't know who they are, I'm the first one that's like, excuse me, who are you? And it's just because the the level of protection and just love that we have for these kids. We've had kids come in here again from itty bitty, like four months old that couldn't eat orally, couldn't like weren't gaining weight, and to see, like in my mind, I would have never thought that seeing a child swallow kompota would give me that much joy. But it's because you don't realize, right? And I mean it's a blessing, a total blessing to have healthy children, but you don't understand the intricacies of all of that, like to be able to swallow the the muscles and just wow. And to see a child taste something for the first time and their eyes light up and them like shaking because they're like, oh my goodness, this is incredible. And to see a child that maybe couldn't walk, learning how to walk, uh to see a child maneuver a uh uh a wheelchair on their own, yeah, those are moments I just don't take for granted. And the Lord uses that, like it softened my heart so much being able to witness that, and that would be my encouragement to to anyone, truly. Like these children are part of our world, and they they can come to know Jesus, they can come to worship Jesus, they can they are they just are a gift, and again, you there there is a place for them that they will I don't claim us to be the best at all. I just know that we try to honor God with everything that we have.

Robert:

And yeah, amen, amen. Well said uh I just want to make sure that everybody knows we could not do it without the staff that we have here. About how many employees is you know? Probably about uh 107 or something. Just at this one? Um, no, between the two locations, but but here has the most staff. But these are dedicated professionals that come day in, day out, and um that are also many of them uh believers that have the same vision behind them, you know.

Ariela:

So um they pour out their hearts like that.

Robert:

Yeah, so we we wanna we wanna um highlight them as well as we're gonna be able to do it.

Ariela:

No, no, we cannot do this. We cannot do this without them.

Joey:

And you know, anything that we we talked about today, you know, even you know, I don't know if you can believe it, we're coming up to to almost an hour of chatting. Um, you know, anything we talked about today, we could talk on for hours, you know, any one of these topics, you know, this diagnosis, this type of therapy, the needs of these families, how it works, the transportation, the new school uh that's being done. I mean, so much of it, you know. So, man, when you start talking about the staff, the work, the workers, the intricacies, the stories that they would have, I mean, that's hours and hours of testimony there in itself. So I'm so glad you guys mentioned it. And um thank you for having us. Thank you for staying with us. And um, whoever's listening, whether you're listening live on God's way radio or whether you're listening on the podcast, reach out to us if you want more information. And and I gotta say, because it came out there at the end, right? Especially if you have a child that you think might benefit, you know, from from attending or from enrolling or from getting services, this is a great place to get services.

Robert:

So again, 100% free for the parents as long as they have Medicaid, you know. 100% free.

Joey:

Excellent. Uh, yeah, you want to give us the website?

Robert:

Yeah, it's glory to GodMiami.com.

Joey:

GloryTogodMiami.com. So so just reach out again. Uh uh, we can we can be the middleman for you uh to get you any information you need, or it might be a specific question. Hey, you know, I did have a question about something. So anyway, thank you guys. Thank you. You're very welcome. Thank you.

Intro:

We hope you enjoyed friends and family, unique conversations recorded and produced in our studios where you get a chance to hear what God is doing in people's lives. Jesus tells us in John 15, verse 15, I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from my father, I have made known to you. So that's why we love to share these exclusive interviews with you. Our hope is that through their stories, God will be made known to you. But you can only find them here on Godsway Radio. Just check Godswaywardio.com for our full program schedule.