Grandmother makes sacrifices to bring joy, hope to grandsons’ lives

To donate to the Strange family, the subject of today’s Reindeer Gang fundraiser feature — part of the Telegraph’s annual profiles of people and families in need at Christmas — call Judy Sexton at 478-741-1007.

When you meet 5-year-old Jonah and his younger brother Jax for the first time, they appear to be living a carefree life.

Even when they’re running around and playing, they make sure to get hugs from their grandmother and Uncle Billy, the owner of the Lizella home where they live.

But they’ve only had that sense of normalcy for the last 18 months, when their grandmother, Cheryl Strange, affectionately known by friends and family as Shug, began raising them.

“Our goal is to get the family back together, but my job is to take care of these boys,” said the 59-year-old nurse. “That meant day care was $215 a week. It meant diapers, it meant clothes. ... It meant everything, and I didn’t have that.”

Despite the financial challenges at this stage of her life, it was an easy decision for Strange to take care of her grandsons and not take a chance that they could be separated by placement in foster homes.

Before she got involved, “They lived in a one-bedroom house and never went outside,” Strange said. “They just didn’t know what it would be like to be let loose so they could just ... start moving around, start talking.”

The first year of living with grandmother was focused on “fixing stuff,” Strange said.

When Jonah started living with his grandmother at age 3, the only word he could say was “daddy,” and his primary method of communicating was yelling. But as Strange worked with him and he went through speech therapy, his vocabulary expanded.

Jonah continues to go to therapy for his speech delay, and he’s been diagnosed with autism. He’s as active as ever along with 2-year-old Jax. They attend church weekly, and Jonah is a pre-K student at Northwoods Academy, while Jax goes to Childcare Network.

“These are some great kids,” Strange said. “Jax couldn’t hardly hold his head up. He just was not stimulated at all. Now, oh my God, he’s unstoppable.”

When grandparents take in grandchildren to raise, it becomes a more difficult burden because they don’t get the same financial support that a foster parent receives, said Judy Sexton, director of Loaves & Fishes Ministry.

“Taking her grandchildren, the two boys, in, (Strange) has incurred so many expenses because they needed so much help: special therapy and other things because they were so far behind in development,” Sexton said. “So many times someone that’s working, that’s desperately trying to reach out or help family, are sort of overlooked.”

Stimulate their minds

One of the family’s needs is a toddler bed that Jax can sleep in. Strange now shares her bed with Jonah, while Jax sleeps in a “pack-n-play” that he will soon outgrow.

Other items such as diapers, books, toys — especially cars and trucks — would help the family.

The biggest present Strange would like to get the boys for Christmas is a swing set.

When Billy Strange’s pickup truck pulled into the driveway Tuesday night, his nephews were overjoyed to see him, jumping into his arms as he walked through the door.

The 29-year-old Macon-Bibb County firefighter said he’s astonished at the level of progress he’s seen in the children since they’ve been living with their grandmother. While the children love toy cars and trucks, there’s also a focus on educational materials and toys that can stimulate their minds.

“I bought (Jonah) those Lincoln logs, and the joker can build every house on there,” he said. “Something like that keeps him calm and shows him how to build stuff.”

Cheryl Strange is quick to thank family members, friends and co-workers who have already shown kindnesses to her and the boys. She even mentioned an employee at the Childcare Network day care who she says took special care of Jonah when he was there.

But during an interview, Strange said she was a little embarrassed to be asking for any help from strangers. She knows that although she’s made sacrifices for Jax and Jonah, she has gained far more out of it.

“I think the kids coming really blessed me more than they were blessed because it filled a hole in my heart, and then I was able to spend time with them,” Strange said, holding back tears.

“They’re great kids. They drive me crazy,” she said with a chuckle. “But they’re really great kids. I want to make sure that God gets the glory that we survived this because of God.”

This story was originally published November 29, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Grandmother makes sacrifices to bring joy, hope to grandsons’ lives."