
Compared to other families I knew growing up, my family was not your typical family. My mother Esmeralda is from a family of twelve and my dad Shawn is from a family of ten, so big families were normal for us. I came from a family of eight, which includes my dad, mom, Darryl, 24, Maria, 23, me, 19, Payton, 16, Milik, 14, and DeVonte, 11. My parents have been married for 25 years. My parents were foster parents and have always had a heart for family. My older brother, sister and myself are biological children from my parents. My younger three brothers were adopted. Despite the diversity in my family, we had an average life growing up. Like my father, Darryl, Maria, and myself were sent to catholic school and attended church service weekly as a family, all except my father. My dad always worked hard to provide for his family and would do whatever it took to put food on the table. We would have dinner together every night. As we got older and our schedules got busy, we made sure to at least have Sunday night dinner.
In 2003, we had moved to the South Hill area of Spokane, we were members of a Catholic Church. Though we appreciate the things we learned at the Church our lives did not match the Scriptures. I went just to please my mother. Our lives were not in line with the Bible. The older we got the more vocal we got about things.
Read more: God Saves My Family