Having passed all of our inspections with flying colors, Thanksgiving took on a whole new meaning for us. We were allowed to move in our first residents - two eighteen year old young women, one with an eight month old son. Breakfast on Christmas Day 1997 found the sight of Carl and Louise, our house parents, and their daughter Angelica having a family style meal with our two girls and our first baby. What better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior than to provide "room at the inn" for his children!

Christmas was far from a vacation for us, however, as we still needed to document our compliance with thirty nine state regulations in order to house girls under the age of 18. It was a great relief when we submitted our one hundred and sixty page application for the final license that would give us the green light to welcome young women of any age and their babies.