Hello to all!
For all of you who haven't heard, I am a new parent again! Our family has grown by one: a wonderful 16-year-old young man who has come to live with us in our crazy, loud, colorful household, and we are so excited that we can't stand it!
The story is pretty cool and worth telling, so here goes:
Our family has been involved in the Phoenix area youth Lacrosse scene for about 5 years now, and we have been growing a program out in our part of town for a while now. To find kids to play for us, my husband would go out every Saturday morning to one of the elementary schoolyards and we would invite all of the neighborhood kids to come and learn the sport. We have grown that small group to over 60 kids who now play on 2 teams for us, and we formed a non-profit company to support the club.
One of the boys who has played for us for the past 3 years is Josh, who has been living in different homes since he was in 5th grade. We just love him, and have always said that we would welcome him into our home in a heartbeat if he ever needed somewhere to live. Well, on January 5th, we were asked to "put our money where our mouth is".
Through a series of circumstances, CPS got involved with Josh's situation in the place where he was living with a guardian, and Shawn and I were asked to come and participate in a guardianship hearing at the CPS offices, as we have known him for a few years and knew a little about the unhealthy situation where he was living.
By the end of the hearing we were asked if we would be willing to take him into our home, and, after speaking with our son Zach, we invited Josh to move in with us. He was moved in within 2 days, and we couldn't be happier about it!
Shawn & I will be going through all of the Foster Child classes to become certified, and then Josh will be able to stay with us for the rest of his life, if he wants to (we wanted to make sure he knew that the offer doesn't end when he turns 18).
So that's it - our family of 3 is now a crazy family of 4. Really, God is so good! Josh is a blessing to us, and I am so thankful to have him here in our home!
:-)
