This is my family whom I care for in our own home. My brother Billy (53) is holding my poodle, Roni-Tawn and next to him is my brother Cecil (64) then my Uncle Tommy (78)and in the front is my Aunt Barb (68). 

My family are all medically challenged in one form or other. They are also in many ways mentally and/or emotionally challenged. They all range in the age brackets of 4 to about 17 depending on the day.

My aunt and uncle lived lives of severe abuse from nearly birth until I took them to live with me in my own home in January of 1990. Although I was taking care of them part time before that.

My uncle is also physically disabled due to being born with polio. He is totally deaf in the left ear and half deaf in the right ear. He is blind in the left eye as well. He did not walk until he was 11 and had a wooden wheel chair that a neighbor made for him. The wheels turned with ball bearings. Uncle Tom rolled the wheels with his hands. Uncle Tommy had a club foot as well and one leg is still to this day about 4 inches shorter then the other. For many many years he wore braces on both of his legs and he has a plastic piece in his left hip. He cannot read or write but he loves to colour pictures and he has a wooden knitting spool that he uses to make rugs. He loves animals and delights in looking at colourful pictures in books. His greatest loves are country or gospel music - colouring -watching sports -John Wayne and collecting ornaments.

My Aunt Barb is also physically disabled due to a bad left leg that is full of arthritis and is about 1 inch shorter then the right leg. She also had a hip replacement on the left hip. She cannot read or write and most days she is rarely more then about 10 in age. She loves to listen to music and to do jigsaw puzzles. Aunt Barb has a lovely singing voice and it delights me to listen to her singing away to herself when she does not know I am listening. Aunt Barb's greatest loves are animals -country or gospel music - Walt Disney movies - watching Wheel of Fortune -collecting music boxes and helping me around the house.

My brother Billy is my buddy and he has been with me off and on for 23 years. Billy can read and write in limited quantity. He has learned to type simple sentences and loves playing games on his computer. Billy is an amazing help to me and he has become my right arm in many ways. He shovels the snow for me in the winter and mows the lawns in the summer. When I am having a bad pain day or I am ill he helps with the housework and he can cook limited simple meals. It is my brother Billy who is there to help me put on my shoes or my coat on the days I cannot bend or stretch to do it for myself. He loves to help me with the flower beds and his greatest loves are flowers - country music - fishing - watching sitcoms on tv - my dogs and country or gospel music.

My brother Cecil came to live with me in December of 1995. He is limited in his reading and writing abilities and is usually between 10 and 14 on most days. However, he loves to listen to the news and can tell me things that I myself pay no attention to- like stocks and money exchanges of the day between different countries. His greatest loves are doing circle search word puzzles - watching tv and country or gospel music.

This is my family -- this is my world where I live -- this is what I believe God put me on this earth to do - to take care of my own. This family is what keeps me going and gives me a reason to get up every morning. This is the family that makes me smile and makes me roll with laughter when they come out with something so innocent. This is the family that makes me feel needed and wanted and most importantly loved. I take care of them and they in turn take care of me.