"Dave and I, Chris, Amy, their kids, we all just sort of melded together. Chris and Amy have three kids, who aren’t blood related to Chris at all, but we’re all still family. But when Dave and I first moved out here, it was hard. Christmases especially. And it wasn’t because we didn’t have enough presents or anything like that, it was just tough coming from such a big family to being all by yourself out here. But the McClung’s and the Benson’s really took us in and made us part of their family."
"While Chris was growing up here, he kept saying ‘as soon as I graduate I am OUT of this place. I am gone.’ And he did-for a bit. When he graduated, he went to Australia to study abroad and he wanted to become a businessman that travelled the world. But when he got home, he looked around and said ‘you know what, this is a nice place to live.’ He told me that before he went off to school, he wanted to secure a piece of land here for when he came back. "
"It was almost perfect that Chris married Amy. In the later years, we always joked that Chris grew up behind the school and Amy grew up in front of the school. They’ve always been the perfect couple. The funny thing is that they never dated in school, though. Later on, however, Amy had just gotten out of a bad marriage and had three kids. She was staying with her mom in Parachute and they reconnected, and the rest was history. He was never scared by the fact that she had children, he just took them in as his own. And thank goodness for that because they are just wonderful together."
"I’m from a large family in Alabama and even though I’m pretty distant from them now, I’ve always just felt alright, because I have this family here that has just taken us in. They make me feel like everything’s gonna be okay."