Meet Erica

This is Erica. Erica is a tenth-grader at North High School and attends the same church that I do.

As of today, Erica has lived with us for the past two weeks.

Erica's adult sister and shack-up punk loser boyfriend and their babies moved back home with Mom, and boyfriend decided to try getting friendly with little sister. Erica, a Christian and a good student, wanted none of it. Mom, in serious need of a spine, couldn't bring herself to kick the bums out.

We've worked it out with Mom to let Erica stay with us until sister and punk are able to move out. It's actually a pretty easy fit since she goes to the school where I teach AND goes to the church I attend.

Erica's on the swim team at the high school, is in the JROTC, and is in advanced classes. She works hard and is cheerful and funny. My kids love her and have already accepted the situation as completely normal. She shares Martha's bedroom; Martha doesn't often use her own bed anyway, so she's got a comfy air mattress. The two of them get along beautifully.

I don't know how long this will last, nor can I answer long-term questions like what happens over holidays, etc... we'll just take this one day at a time and see what God does with it.