Family Update:
Our Family Has Grown by Four Teenage Feet…And We Need Your Help! Yes, you read that title correctly! Our family has (unexpectedly to us but not to God) grown by taking in a sibling set of teenagers over the last two months—a 17-year-old Junior (WC) and her 14-year-old brother (LC). We took in WC back August, and you can read about how that came to be in our original blog post. Now, long story short, we have also taken in her brother.
Our Needs
We, like most families in today’s economy, live paycheck to paycheck and both work two jobs. We have been very open with WC and LC that while we are glad to be able to provide a safe place for them and take them in as our own, it will take financial assistance.
We have talked with them about God and specifically about God as provider. I told them would we make their needs known and trust that God, though His people, would meet our needs and how it is truly the job of the Church, to care for abused children like them. Based on the time each of them have left in high school, what we have already spent, and what we (and AI😅) project it will take until each graduates high school is, on the low end, about $75,000. Simply typing that send me into a near panic. While we are trying to stave off our own anxiety about our finances, we are simultaneously encouraging WC and LC to watch what the Lord will do through His people when you let a need be known.
Based on budgeting from now until the end of 2026, to help make WC and LC comfortable in our home and help us pay the extra we have already had to spend on them (because some needs cannot wait), it will take an additional $8,000.
Below are things this financial support will cover what we still need as we adjust to our new family structure:
- Bed Frame/Mattresses/Sheets/Pillows/Blankets for LC (previous donations already bought WCs💓)
- Bedroom Furniture for LC
- Increased FOOD cost
- Clothing, Shoes, Underwear, Socks (and LC is growing FAST)
- Gas/Car Insurance/Car Maintenance (WC had to have new brakes, two new tires, and an oil leak fixed)
- Towels/Toiletries
- Increased utilities cost
- Couch (because we only have seating for four people😅)
- Kitchen Table (because we only have seating for (barely) four😅)
- Braces payments for LC (he has had braces since May 2025 with only two adjustments because payments were stopped). His mouth is in terrible shape because of having braces for so long with no treatment or adjustments and we are trying to get him back on track and his insurance will not pay for it.
I remember listening to a preacher one time who said, “Don’t ask me how I feel, ask me what I know.” I have been meditating on that a lot lately these last few weeks. How do I feel? I feel anxious about how we are going to afford all of this. I feel sense of wondering why the Lord would have these specific children cross our paths at this specific time knowing our current financial situation. But what do I know? I know that the Lord has provided my entire life. I remember growing up my Momma showing us in multiple situations how what we received was provision from God. She taught us Psalm 37:25–I can still hear her voice saying it, “I once was young and now I am old yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor their children begging for bread.” I tear up just typing it.
We know God will provide for these children through His people.
We trust Him.
To donate: I have a Venmo (@susanB-White-16), CashApp ($SusanBWhite16), but also know that not everyone does so we created a GiveSendGo Campaign as well.
