GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- A young man who wants to set a good example for others, is looking for a family to show him the way.
FOX 17 continues our Forever Home series, working to find adoptive families for kids in Michigan’s foster care system.
14-year-old Nehemiah's favorite food is pizza and now he has a whole new appreciation for it, after stepping into the kitchen with Chef Jenna at Amore Trattoria Italiana in Comstock Park.
They say food is the way people's hearts, but Nehemiah learned cooking can be so much more than that.
In fact, making a pizza is a lot like life: it starts as a lump of dough, but then you get to shape it as best you can.
Nehemiah’s life certainly hasn’t been easy.
“I just want a family to be with and someone to comfort me. I just want someone that would love me, I never had that in my life," he said.
He chooses to focus on the things that make him happy, like sports.
“I like to skateboard and I like to play basketball," he said.
Nehemiah said history is his favorite subject.
“It helps kids learn about life and culture."
He’s only 14, but doing 11th grade work in his online school and about to tackle 12th grade work.
Nehemiah looks up to the best of the best, like his favorite basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal.
He said, “He broke three backboards and they got tired of him breaking them, because they had to keep replacing them during the games."
He doesn’t mind when the little guys win too.
"Whenever the Patriots go to the Superbowl, I like to see them get beat because I don’t like Tom Brady. I mean, I like Tom Brady, I just like to see a good player get beat now and then," he said.
Nehemiah’s favorite holiday is Christmas, a time he hopes will come to mean spending time with a family.
He said, “It would make me feel happy because I would feel like these people care about me, like they’d be able to take me in and god gave me another chance."
He’d also like a chance to set a good example for some siblings and be with people who enjoy his favorite things too.
“I'd want to go to the movies or do something that would bond us, or I’d want to go out to eat,” he said.
To learn more about Nehemiah or the adoption process visit Orchard's Children's Services.
