My new family, brothers and I soon took off in a big Honda car, towards our new home. In the back seat sat a German Shepherd, assumably a police dog. My new Dad said his name was Roscoe, and he was rather friendly and well-trained. I rested my cheek next to the window beside me, gazing out at the many trees and houses as we passed them for atleast 9 minutes before we went up the drive-way of a large, two-story house with a basement. Papa parked in the garage before we all got out. I, however, felt a little reluctant to come out, as this was all a new experience for me and I had no clue what this new home would be like..

"Come on out, sweetie! Come see your new home," Mama chirped in a sweet voice. I finally got the courage to hop out of the car and looked up at the big grey house before me. "Th-that is a b-b-big house.." I managed to blurt out, struggling between stutters. See, during my time at foster care, I found out that I had a bad stuttering problem, but it never really caused me any harm. Mom and Dad chuckled warmly at my comment.

As our new parents led us inside, they took us on a small tour around our new home. I felt my heart pounding as I attempted to take a few deep shaky breaths, gazing at all my surroundings.. to my surprise and relief, it was a lot cleaner and in better shape than our previous house. The living room was big and roomy with a sectional couch, TV set, and lamp. This room also connected with the dining room and kitchen. The main section of the basement also had a couch and TV set, but the place smelled a bit musty inside. Down the hall way of the basement were two bed rooms, a bath room and a laundry room. Upstairs were a master bedroom with a built-in bathroom. Dad mentioned the room next to that one used to be a guest room, but now it was mine if I'd like it. I accepted the offer since I liked the colors and how cushiony the bed felt. I had finally calmed down, and all I needed was to get used to my new home..

September 3rd, 1994

It was my 1st day back to school. I was starting 1st grade this year, and mom had taken me to the store before-hand to get all my supplies. Dad, of course, contacted the school about my classes and schedules, informing the adults that I was mentally challenged with a brain injury.

Luckily, they took it into consideration and put me in a special needs class for home-room. My other classes consisting of the usual, such as math, science and art. Once I got to school, I met a para-professional aide, whose name was Ms. Summers. She would be the one to escort me to all of my classes and, well, aid me through each class.

As time progressed, I actually did well in my classes, even if I did need help from Ms. Summers and got distracted or frustrated several times during classes.

I especially loved the art class I was in, getting to sketch and finger paint. My art teacher, Mrs. Walker, was a sweet old lady and I always loved greeting her every day at 1:00 pm. So one day I finger painted a sun flower as a gift for her, and she absolutely adored it! Then one day, she repaid me by making a painting of a cat. I was so over the moon that I slightly hopped up and down (I still have the picture, by the way). She would also teach me to use different art media such as pastels, different ways to paint, and even pottery at one point. Needless to say, I was a straight-A student there!

Then we've got math class.. honestly.. I never really understood math when I was younger. I mean, I understand it now, but back then, my grades in math sort of flopped. Luckily Ms. Summers and my math teacher, Mr. Gray were both more than happy to tutor me whenever they had the chance. Mr. Gray was a nice, level-headed man, he always greeted me whenever I would walk into his class and let me sit in one of the front desks because I had sight issues. Whenever I got visibly frustrated at my work, he would rein me in and help with the problem I was on, unless it was a test or a quiz, of course.

And last but not least, science class with Mrs. Wendell! This was my other favorite class, especially whenever we got to do animal-related activities. Mrs. Wendell somehow noticed how excited I got and one day put me in charge of feeding the turtles in the big tank in the opposite corner of the room. She even named them after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which made me giggle. She even brought her grey cat to class one day; her name was Nimbus, and she let us pet her one at a time. She was a sweet little kitty and loved the attention we gave her.

Everyday after school I would walk upstairs to my bedroom and start my home work. I'd then flop onto my bed and sometimes take a nap. I'd eat dinner, watch animal videos on my DVD player, then put on my night-gown as mom turned the lights off and give me a good night kiss and turned on my radio as I fell asleep. Sometimes I'd wake up to the sound of my baby brother crying and mom tending to him, but then shrug it off and go back to sleep.

November 24, 1994

After the first couple of months at school came Thanksgiving break. Mom took me on a trip to the grocery store to buy a turkey, potatoes, yams, and a bunch of other foods commonly eaten on Thanksgiving. I haven't had a proper Thanksgiving in a couple years, so I was rather excited.

We set up all the food buffet-style, lined up on the kitchen counter, each of us taking a scoop of each entrée before sitting at the table. After saying grace, we all chowed down. This was the best dinner I've had in forever.. but I think I enjoyed the yams a little too much, though. I kept going back for more until my mom asked through her laughter to save some for everyone else! Of course I did what I was asked to do and ate the rest of the food that was on my plate.

December 19th, 1994

On the last day before Christmas break, all my teachers had some fun Christmas activities: Mrs. Wendell let us try and dissolve candy canes using different types of liquid, Mr. Gray gave us Christmas themed math activities, Mrs. Walker gave us ornaments to put whatever we wanted on them (I painted a candy cane and put gold glitter all around it with Ms. Summers' help), and finally, my home room had a Christmas party, complete with tinsel and decorated cookies. And me being the little artist I was, I drew and colored a picture of Rudolph and gave it to Ms. Lawson, my home room teacher, where she put it on the bulletin board behind her desk.

Once I got home for Christmas break, our house was full of lights, ornaments and to top it all off, the most beautiful Christmas tree I've ever seen.. my eyes glistened with awe and happiness as I ran to hug my dad, excited to start our time off. Mom took me Christmas shopping in search of potential gifts for Dad and my brothers, and the next day Dad and my brothers went Christmas shopping for me and Mom!

When I woke up on Christmas morning, I sat awake in my bed until my dad peeked in through my door and ushered me to come down the stairs and open presents. I came down after quickly brushing my teeth and hugged my mom and brothers, then turned to gaze at all the neatly wrapped presents under the lit Christmas tree. Mom sat at the end of the couch holding baby Nathan, who was ogling the shiny ornaments on the tree. We shortly began handing presents out to each other and opening them, one of Javier's being a box of TMNT action figures. Keaton got an SNES, and I got a case of the "ZooBooks" series, along with a tiger puppet who I personally named "Stripey". Dad got some new coffee mugs and Mom received a big teddy bear with a red bow around its neck. Roscoe the dog got a variety pack of raw hide.

After all the gifts had be opened and breakfast was eaten, Javier, Keaton and I had a big snow ball fight outside, then built a giant snow man with all the snow we could easily roll up. We named the snow man "Goliath", and he was around six or seven feet tall!

December 31st - January 1st, 1995

Finally, 1995 was around the corner. We all sat in the living room, watching the festivities run wild on television. 5 minutes before midnight, Dad brought out glasses of sparkling grape juice for everyone. As the ball dropped, we all clinked our glasses together and drank to our heart's content. After celebrating for a little bit, we all went off to sleep. I now had pleasant dreams more often knowing I was in much better hands now..