For those that don’t know Crystal, she is our foster son’s biological mom. When we met she had just gotten out of jail. She was raised in a life of gangs, drugs, violence and crime.
We have been on a very unusual journey for the past two years. It started with me being an old white guy, the axis of evil in some eyes; and she was a hardened gang-bangin street thug, the axis of evil in some other eyes. No one expected much good would come from either of us, let alone our time together.
And then came God.
Crystal is drug-free now, has been for close to a year.
She is just a couple of months away from ending her time on probation and will be released and free.
She is employed by Blessed Bodywear, the company Ana and I own, and she is one of the most reliable and responsible and hard working employees I have ever had in over 30 years of being in business.
We go to church together every sunday and do the things that family members do together. She wants to go on missions trips in 2020.
And a couple of weeks ago she passed her GED exams and graduated high school. Her plan was to attend school to become a medical assistant.
I posted a story about it because we are proud of her and both she and I hope that others see her example and follow in her footsteps. Her younger sister inspired by Crystal’s changes has begun studying for her GED.
After I posted the story, so many wished her well and it really moved her deep down inside.
In private it was tough to find a single person that believed she would succeed in technical school. They said it would be too hard for her and that I should not be so sure she would make it.
Crystal’s first day of school was April 8th. There is a two-week probationary period intended to weed out the students that aren’t able to handle the course or workload. The amount of homework assigned each day is staggering and there are tests every day. Crystal only has time to work and go to school.
A grade less than 70% is considered a fail.
Crystal’s grade for week one is 93.36%.
I love proving cynical people wrong.
Never underestimate the power of God.
