The sound of fists beating upon the outside walls of my room kept me awake most nights as my mom downed hard liquor with hopes of making still my unborn beating heart.

She was a 16 year-old alcohol and drug abuser who found herself pregnant with me. Dad...well I didn't know much about him until I was 6. Most, if not all of this time he spent in jail or prison.

Born into a hopeless situation, the God of hope had a plan.

Raising a family at the age of 6. A steady diet of dog and cat food. And when she was home, the occasional joint with mom.  I found myself and my 2 year old sister in the only life we knew...we had no idea. My sister and I were often left home alone for weeks at a time. That was my concept of family.

At the age of 9, I went to live with my father where the sound of fists beating upon my skull kept me awake most nights.  I hoped that he would walk past my room and just go to bed, but unfortunately this was not always the case. At the age of 13, I was disowned and living on the streets. Most of the time I was high or drunk. I was abused and raped. That was my concept of life...a hopeless situation.

With life on the streets, it was survival of the fittest. A hopeless situation that could assuredly either lead to death or life in the prison. Stealing, fighting, drugs and alcohol addiction were my only companions as I lived a life filled with hatred and bitterness. It was still...the only life I knew.

Because of my lifestyle, one can imagine that I was well acquainted with the judicial system. In hopes that a new environment would change my downhill spiral, I was sent to live with a distant relative in Oregon. Because of my assault record on my previous teachers, no school would take me. I was finally accepted on probation by a private school. This only life I knew was about to change...

Through Lonnie Chapin, a friend from school and teammate on the baseball team, my seemingly hopeless situation began to alter. I was 17 when the Chapin family took me in on weekends and treated me as their own. A year later the only life I knew had changed drastically. I no longer roamed the streets begging for handouts. I had a home, a mother and father who loved me and two brothers. My life was different...much different and so was I. After finishing high school, I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart and went to Bible college. Four years after meeting Lonnie, I was adopted into his family and took their last name.

Today, my concept of family is charged with love for my wife, Kim, and our two little girls, Kali and Kennedi.