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This heart-warming and entertaining collection of memories of adventures from life at the Children’s Home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is full of love and pride in a type of institution that has become scarce in this country in recent decades and has often been misunderstood. Practically every page speaks to the love, caring, and lifelong values that were instilled in children at the Home by dedicated, patient, and extraordinary staff members under the leadership of Pop Woosley. Besides, written by two former “Home kids,” it is a testament to the type of adult the mission and the efforts of the Children’s Home were able to produce.

“Few, if any, of us who grew up at the Children’s Home doubt that we were blessed. Not only did we receive a great education and developed many strong and lasting friendships, we also received all the love, clothes, food, shelter, and care that anyone could hope for. We were taught the value of hard work, honesty, trust, and faith in Christ, and were instilled with a quiet determination to stand shoulder to shoulder with others in need. This ‘wealth’ has lasted us a lifetime and has been passed to following generations.”

Whether you are a former Home boy or girl, know somebody who lived at a children’s home, or are totally unfamiliar with life at a children’s home, Blackberry Rain will draw you in as Gilmer and Graham share routines and highlights of daily life with 400-450 “brothers” and “sisters.” You are in for a lively and humorous ride as you get a close-up of everything from getting up at 3:00 a.m. to milk the cows, playing tricks with snakes, squirrels, and other fear-inducing critters, to spreading manure, blowing up outhouses… and yes … picking blackberries.