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Two days later, a woman offered Lois twelve and a half acres for $17,000. The land was covered with banana and mango trees just three miles outside of Orion, a small town of about 9,000. She also had to raise $10,000 to pay for an electrical hookup. Lois, whose sparkle and quick gait belie her age, plunked every penny of the $25,000 she got from selling her house into the property. However, since Lois isn't a Philippine citizen, she couldn't buy the property directly. Instead, she bought the land through a church denomination.

With the land purchased, Lois began drawing plans for the orphanage and showed them to Ed Bacani, a pastor at a nearby church who was also a contractor. Impressed by Lois's commitment, Bacani agreed to help build the orphanage.

She's named it King's Garden.

"My only regret is I didn't start earlier when I was young," Lois says. "But I won't quit now. I'll probably die in the Philippines."

Today the 35 orphans living in the two-story, 2,000 square-foot white stucco home call Lois Lola, which means "grandmother" in their native Tagalog language.

Lois's "children," as she calls them, range in age from eight months to 10 years. Each of their stories is heartbreaking.

Albert was brought to Lois by the police when he was just nine days old. His alcoholic father was in jail and his mother moved into the jail with him because she had no other place to stay. One at a time, Lois took in that mother's four children, keeping them out of the filth of the jail.

Another child, whom Lois named Tommy, was brought to King's Garden by the police when he was one year old. The boy's drug-addicted father had cut off his son's ear and beaten him. Heidi, another child brought to the King's Garden by the police, was infected with stomach worms and head lice. Word about this gray-haired woman from America spread quickly.

"You see the places where they live and what they have—absolutely nothing," Lois says. "And it breaks your heart." A six-foot wall was recently built around the orphanage to protect the 300 fruit trees from robbers and the children from pythons. Classrooms have also been built so the children can be taught in the orphanage, rather than being bused to a public school.

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