The very first day Rick and Wendi Cross stepped foot in Africa in 2009, their hearts opened wide with the desire to grow their family through adoption.

Having four biological children prior to their first mission trip, they had thought their family was complete. God had other plans, and those plans were far greater than they had dreamt or imagined.

An international adoption from Ethiopia, short-term mission trip to Uganda and many years of growing relationships overseas, Rick and Wendi founded xHope Inc. (xHope Missions). They became board members of a children’s home in Uganda known as Redeemer House and ultimately were able to bring Redeemer House under the umbrella of xHope to rebuild/restructure. Rick and Wendi found the Ugandan culture to be filled with the most loving, hard-working resilient families in the villages.

These families were not only willing, but they felt called to care for the orphans. We learned these families were willing to say YES if only they could be empowered and supported.
With this knowledge we launched our education program. By partnering with the Ugandan government, supporting family reunification, and offering educational support, we have changed our model of orphan care to rescue, rehabilitate and reunify.

Although the international mission work was the heartbeat of their non-profit to start, things expanded when they got a call to adopt locally. Born out of the experience of kinship adoption through Sacramento County CPS, they quickly realized that families in their own community also needed support with reunification. Placing children with family meant the family needed support.