Little Chick's
New Home

Melinda Kasten 

Encouraging others brings Melinda joy. There wasn't a lot of joy in Melinda's childhood. In fact, there was a lot of trauma and sadness. She is a born nurturer and has always wanted to be a mother. Children are the most precious gifts in life, not only Melinda's children, but all of them. When Melinda was teaching, the kids that had the worst home life were the ones she ended up being closest to. She feels that it was because even though she knew her parents loved her, she never felt valued or important. She was not a priority in their lives. The realization became the seed for her mission to make sure every child she encounters knows they are valued and important in some way. There might be a little of her in Little Chick as well.

Melinda has been married to her husband, Tony, since 1993. She has two biological children, Makayla (also the illustrator) and Trey. Makayla is the mother of her first two grandbabies. In addition, they have raised three bonus children. They started fostering two of them when they were five and seven with hopes of adopting, but God had other plans. Their father was able to come to the US from Mexico to live here and be with them. Even though they moved back in with their biological father when they were 10 and 12, Melinda and Tony have continued to be their bonus parents and be involved in their lives. Their father is a kind, compassionate man that recognized their bond with Melinda and Tony and was gracious enough to allow them to continue to be in each other’s lives. As a matter of fact, he has become a part of the family too. He attends holidays with both Melinda’s and Tony’s sides of the family, and everyone loves him. It may be unusual, but it works well for the Kasten family.

Melinda’s third bonus child is her niece. She lost her mom in an accident a few years ago and has been with the Kasten’s ever since. Melinda knows she will never take her place as her mother and would never try, but her niece is like a daughter in her heart.

Melinda has always written poetry, stories, etc. since she was a young girl. Her husband has encouraged her to do something with them, but they are private and personal, and she honestly never thought they were good enough, so she kept them to herself. Rejection isn’t easy at any age. When her bonus daughter, Emma, was struggling with some things last year, Melinda’s heart ached for her. She was praying extra hard for Emma. One morning, around two in the morning, Melinda woke up with the story of Little Chick in her head, the entire story! She felt like God gave it to her for Emma. When Melinda showed the story to her husband, he told her that she had to do something with this one, not only for her, but for other children as well.