Meet the Gang - Part 7

Angel - 18 years old.

Angel came to live with us when she was 15. Her father is my brother, but only by technicality. I no longer claim or accept him due to the way he treated his daughter. Luckily, he is now a permanent resident of the State of Georgia penitentiary system.

When Angel first came to live with us, she was about to start the 9th grade - again. She was academically and socially behind from the lifestyle her father had subjected her to. After we got custody of her from the state, I began homeschooling her. She progressed in leaps and bounds. By the end of the first year of homeschooling we had covered Math and English from the 5th grade level on up to the proper grade level for her. In the second year of homeschooling she was studying college level Sciences. Her confidence in herself grew and her knowledge increased beyond anything she had ever expected of herself prior to coming here.

Angel's greatest interest and skill is art. She can draw quite well. When we provided her with the tools and opportunity to express her artistic skills, she threw herself into drawing. She even wrote one book and will hopefully perfect the illustrations so I can send it off to a publisher. I think it is a good children's book and would easily sell.

Angel turned 18 in March, and of course she couldn't wait to move out and be on her own without any rules and such. While it is easier on many levels to have her out on her own, I miss her quite a lot. I worry constantly about the choices she is making for herself now because I see that they could potentially leave her in a difficult position. Unfortunately, as a mom I have to sit back and let her make her own choices and her own mistakes even though I desperately want to protect her from the obvious hardships that she is setting herself up for.

I'm really proud of how much she has grown. I still miss her, though.