Our MVP star!

God has brought a young man into our lives. His name is Alex to us or Guartee Guar, officially, G man to friends. He lives down the street from where we live with his Aunt and Uncle. Hart and I have been forming a relationship with Alex over the last several months and he is very close to my heart. From what I have gathered out of our conversations with Alex is that he moved to the U.S. with his father when he was four years old from Africa under Refugee status due to a Civil War going on in his country. His father died of cancer at some point (not sure how long ago) and he became an orphan that the state reassigned to live with his only living relatives in the U.S. who live on our street. He talks to his mom some over the phone in Africa, but he hasn't seen her since he left over 10 years ago. He is a sophomore in school and he says he makes good grades (I'd like to see his report card on that though!).

This past Christmas, our next door neighbor paid Alex to rake up our leaves in our yard as a Christmas gift. Honestly, they were just being nice...our yard was not that bad! I promise! We just have these beautiful hardwoods in our neighborhood that make tons and tons of leaves!

Alex does a lot of yard work around our neighborhood trying to make money to pay for pretty much whatever he needs. His Aunt and Uncle give him a roof over his head and food to eat, but he has to pay for ALL of his sports on his own and money for other things that he feels he needs. (They are apparently Christians that go to Shandon Baptist, maybe even missionaries, but I'm not sure about that. Alex doesn't talk highly of his Uncle and we have come to find out that his Aunt and Uncle don't really support Alex in his sports.) 

So, we met Alex through our neighbors. Alex was VERY persistent about doing our yard work. Well, over the last several months, we have changed from wanting to pretend we weren't home :) to loving when Alex stops by. I really do feel like I wish I could be his mom. Something in me just wants him to be taken care of and loved and know that someone out there wants him to succeed as a young adult.

Alex has made it easy to be proud of him. Alex can RUN like the wind. He has the top times out of every category across the board for track at his high school. We have actually never seen him run a race, but I had his calendar on my fridge and we were going to attend his State Championship race this weekend, but he had an accident where a truck somehow ran over his foot. (He is a silly teenage boy....and these things happen. Don't ask me how.) Thankfully, he only sprained it and was back to running rather quickly.

Even though he couldn't run for State, he went to his Sports Banquet last night and afterwards came running over to show off his MVP trophy!!! He was honored as the MVP for his track team for having the highest running scores of his team and the determination to run despite his accident! (I told him he should have told us about it, but he said that he didn't even realize that he had it until 5:00 that night when his Uncle told him that he had a banquet.)

 I told you he was silly.... (above)

We told Alex how proud we were and took pictures of him with his letter and trophy. We told him we knew his dad would be proud of him, too and he held his trophy up towards Heaven and said, "He knows!" with a big smile on his face.

Alex is a special young man. He has been through a lot, but he is a regular teenager that I feel God has his hand on in an amazing way! He has come to two of our Bible studies at our house and brought a friend this last time.

Alex told me he is going to win an Olympic medal and honestly, I believe he can do it.

(If any of you want a young man to help in your yard so that he can earn money to pay for his sporting events, let us know!)