Growing up...another "little one" I can't imagine life without...if you know me at all you know Ray Ray.
You might not know the story; I meet Ray and his mother at a teen moms group I volunteered for in H.S.
One night the director called and said our ice skating event was canceled and asked if I was still available if I wanted to pick up one of the girls who was really bummed that we weren't going ice skating that night, so of course I said sure....and I guess you could say the rest is history. That night I picked up Larcina and Ray and we went to Burger King and I can say from that point on I didn't go more than 2 days with out seeing them. 
When I moved to Florida it was one of the hardest things being away from him. He had a rough year 2yrs. ago because his parents decided it wasn't working and to go their separate ways. (His dad is still very much in his life!!)
His mom was 16 when she had Ray. She obviously had to make lots of sacrifices and grow up real fast. She has come a long way and any chance I get like to brag a little about her. She couldn't go back to school because she didn't have anyone to watch Ray and no money for daycare. Her mother did not push her to finish high school. But Larcina was determined, she brought home self-taught packets that the high school gave her and when she would get done with one packet she would take it to the school and take a test on it and move on to the next. Mind you she was not in a class where if she didn't understand the material she could ask so she was basically teaching herself the material. She graduated from Central High School!! She has now worked at Meijer for over 4yrs., and lives on her own. While life is far from perfect for her, she lost most of her teen years, so she has gone through a time where she wants to see what she missed. But she knows what she wants out of life and just needs a little steering back every once and a while(but don't we all).
My family also fell in love with Ray as well and it has been so neat seeing the relationships Ray has with my brother and sister, my mom and dad. One night this summer I walked down stairs and Ray and my dad were having this really serious manly conversation at the kitchen table, it brought tears to my eyes!
Ray is now 8yrs. old and will be starting 3rd grade in 2weeks. 2nd grade was his best year yet and we are praying for the same this year! This past year Ray played 2 seasons of basketball, took swimming lessons, experienced his first Bulls game, made some great new friends at camp this summer, and much much more.
He is the sweetest kid, (one day we were out at the mall and as we were walking back to the car he ran ahead and opened the door for me), He LOVES basketball and could play 24/7 if you let him, He is starting to care what his friends say (during the school year he came home and decided he didn't like his Spider-man backpack because his friends made fun of him), He likes doing school work when he gets it but gets very frustrated and gives up when it starts to get a little hard, He Loves his cousins, He loves grapes, He loves babies, He is a super helper, He has a cute sense of fashion and will tell me if he doesn't like something I get him, He is a boy through and through, He knows the words to every song on the radio and will tell me in the car when a song comes on "Erin you can turn this you wouldn't like it it has bad words in it", He can dance and Katherine and I get regular dance lessons from him, I could go on and on...
I LOVE you Ray and will NEVER leave your side!!!
