My great nephew, Landon, turns one year old today. We had a birthday party over the weekend celebrating his first birthday. His young parents have been parenting him for a whole year now!

I’ve written about Landon and his parents, T (Landon’s dad) and L (Landon’s Mom) before. His parents had the odds stacked against them to struggle to parent him. They were teenagers. They were still in school. They hadn’t been together very long. They didn’t have jobs. They didn’t have their own place. They didn’t have money to provide for a baby. People doubted if they could be successful parents due to all of that. There were people who originally thought they should probably have an abortion and I’m sure the word adoption was brought up at some point. But they were determined to parent him. They both said they could put their minds to it and pull their lives together and be good parents.

They were determined to bring their baby into this world together and then to parent him together. They have had a lot of family and community support. During their pregnancy, their church had a “baby supplies” shower where they got tons of diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, baby powder, etc. Our family had a shower for them as well where they got tons of baby clothes, blankets, baby towels, and then some of the bigger items like a car seat.

They have stayed in school. Since, Landon was born in the summer; L didn’t have to miss any school. T got a job not too long after learning L was pregnant and they began to save money. L and T’s parents said they would help. L and T moved in with L’s Mom. Family members (like me) help out when needed. I’ve kept him a few times over night so L and T could do school things.

Sure Landon might not have every material item a baby could own, but he is loved and well taken care of by two parents who are really giving it their all.

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