Black Ops Specialist, Handy Man, Afraid of Belts

Chris has only officially been with us since September 19^th, but he’s been a part of our family since May 25^, 2011. He was a rightfully angry young man when he first came to us back in May. His life had been turned upside down and he was desperate for someone to help him make sense of what was happening. We gave him permission to be angry, to grieve for all that he’d lost and a shoulder to cry on. Within 24 hours, we had fallen in love with him and he with us.

Chris fits in very well here. He loves to play practical jokes on his siblings and is very sarcastic. The girls learned very early on to not ask him to get them a drink; there was no telling what flavors he might mix together and “forget” to mention to them. He has the same willingness as Derrick to hide in random spots and scare the daylights out of his sisters. He also gets together family games of hide and seek. I find it amazing how many places the kids can locate to hide inside our house. When the little girls aren’t playing with them, the teens go play outside in the dark. We have an acre and a half of great hiding places, most of which have already been located by Derrick and his friends when they’ve played over the years.

From the first day he arrived, Chris has always been very respectful and helpful, without being asked. He takes pride in the fact that he’s helping Todd build the new addition on the house and is always the first (and sometimes ONLY) one out there helping out. When the other kids started doing their chores right after we were granted custody of him, he wanted to know what his chores were. It really bothered him at first that he had the week off; the other kids think he’s insane.

His favorite video game is Call of Duty: Black Ops and he has withdrawals if he doesn’t get to play at least once a day. Derrick says it’s funny to listen to him play because he censors himself and won’t curse while he’s online playing with others. That’s something we are definitely not used to around here; my children can be potty mouths when they think we’re not listening. J

We’re still working on Chris’ clothing choices. He’s still of the mindset that sagging pants look good. Not sure who lied and told him that, but we’re working on getting him to see the truth. We’re also working on him wearing his undershirts as undershirts and not as outerwear.

He fell right in with the others in wanting to color his hair. He’s kept it pretty neutral so far and has only asked for blonde. I’m sure more colors will be coming in the near future; that just seems to be the way it works around here. He currently has a faux-hawk and Sissy is impatiently waiting for his hair to grow back out. She definitely prefers her brother with longer hair and has even gotten the little girls to tell him he has to let it grow out.

He really wants to get a job so that he can earn his own money to buy the things he really wants. We’re definitely encouraging him to do so, just so long as he keeps up with his school work. As his home school teacher, I’m pretty sure I’ll know if he’s doing everything he’s supposed to or not.

Today marks the 6^th day we’ve had him 24/7. He’s seen us at our best and, sadly, our worst in that time. He says he can handle it and there’s nothing we could do that would make him want to walk away from his family. I can’t tell you how much that means to me and how happy I am to have another wonderful son that I love with all my heart.