# 375 - Two Beauties Join our Family!

Our extended Thanksgiving holidays are extra special because we have two kiddos who are guests, well, they are treated like family. Rissa and Teeta are glad that we are their first Sponsor Parents. These sisters just want to be together.

A facility nearby allows children who are a Ward of the State of Texas to be taken home every other weekend and holidays with Sponsor Parents. There is no incentive, no pay, nothing. This is something you do because you want to help children.

These kids with us for the next couple of weeks are 16 and 13, they remind me to put life's hardships into perspective. You know the old saying, "No matter how bad you got it, someone else has it worse."

Regardless, these kids are resilient. They are always ready to laugh, to smile and to have fun.

Teeta immediately became attached to our chickens. Every day she goes outside and sits among the chickens, she holds them and feeds them. She loves gathering their eggs.

The older sister Rissa is a bundle of theater and arts performances...loves to dance, to do magic card tricks, and to read and write. She tries her best to be a good student.

I am glad to share our home with these sister for the Turkey Holidays. Over the next couple of months, they'll be here on a regular basis. I don't know what will happen when we move. The house is back on the market and we already had a showing this weekend.

If the house sells, we'll be out of Harris County, which may put a halt to us being Sponsor Parents. I'm not sure. The state facility really need the Sponsor Parents to live in-county. This is understandable.

The best scenario would be to have the girls' home situation resolved so they could move back in with their mom and siblings. However, I'm not so sure that will be possible.

No matter what, we'll do the best we can for as long as we can. That's the important part.

Meanwhile, we are giving them a safe place to lay their head. We bought enough food to fulfill a teeagers' ultimate-foodie dreams. Deputy Dave cooks them whatever they want to eat. Today was lasagna.

And we have great talks...proving these kids are articulate and introspective about their lives. Tomorrow, I'll show them a few video games. I can only imagine the fun they'll have playing the PS3 games, especially the "move" games.

It's nice hearing kids laugh in the house, but I am still grateful we had our two children young, and I do appreciate the hard-earned quiet I have come to appreciate!

For now, the girlie-giggles are fun to hear as they watch the next movie.

Smile my darlings. Smile and be joyful.