Hi there, I am Lela. I was born & raised in Florida, the beautiful, the hot, the humid sunshine state! I was born to Bruce & Kristen way back in the old days when people were not offended by any and everything! They went on to have three more children together {Molly, Bruce Jr. & Matthew) before they divorced. Both of them remarried (and are still married to these lovely people to this day). My dad had himself TWO more kids with my step-mom Debbie (Jessica & Charles). My mom & Jonny never had any more children together, I think that when he met my single mom & her four kids, he was totally satisfied with the sheer amount of raising he'd have to do.
I had a pretty typical American upbringing. Born in Gainesville, raised in Newberry until my parents divorced. My mom remarried when I was in the 7th grade and they moved us out to Chiefland. Newberry wasn't a very large town, but moving to Chiefland was a whole different world to me. I finished growing up and graduated from CHS (yee-haw).
One of my fondest memories from my childhood was when my step dad Jonny used to take us camping at Watermelon Pond, Rocky Creek & other strange places I wasn't used to at the time. We'd ride air boats, 3 & 4 wheelers, swim in the gulf, the pond & tubed. My sister Molly and I shared a room when we were growing up, and it wasn't always fun; but for the most part it was also one of the best times of my life. We didn't have AC in our house until 1990 and so we would often jump into each others beds, point the isolating fan directly on us and try to sweat ourselves to sleep. We'd laugh, joke, fight, make up & just enjoy each others company. To this day, we still remain very close though we do not get to spend as much time together as I would like. She is a wonderful mother of three beautiful children. Bruce is married now, to Colleen & they have amazing and active children. Matthew is single, but raising two firecrackers of his own. Jessica, also married with two kids. Charles is our only hold out, single with no children (that we know of).
I myself have five children total: Teresa, Gavin, Weston, Xander & Olivia (typed out in the order of when they were born to this world via my own body or of my heart). Teresa was born in 1990 (the reason we finally got AC) when I was 16 years old. Yes, I am one of "those people". She was born three months early at only 2.2 pounds via c-section. A fighter then and a fighter now. She's smart, inquisitive, generous, empathetic, caring, loving, adorable & sweet. She lives in Portland Oregon where she is a stay-at-home mommy to my first grandchild, Oscar who is turning out to be just like his sweet mama. Gavin was born in 1996 via c-section as well, but was full term. He's also smart, funny, loyal, and hard working. He was wiry from the day he was born, walking at only 7 months old, he is now in the Army & stationed in North Carolina. Weston was also born via c-section full term in 2002. He was a fat, happy & friendly baby. Thoughtful & kind, he is now in high school; plays baseball & video games. Xander was born of my heart but his birth was in 2003, when I met Xander he was three; happy, active & shy. He has grown into a handsome, strong, smart young man who is attending high school and plays baseball! Olivia, also born from my heart in 2013. She is wild, loving, tender & sweet. She is something lovely that came from something ugly. I love all five of these young people with all my being and feel very lucky to have them as my own.
