Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/72324
currently living with them to the usual extracurriculars: W four teenage boys live here. Even though it's a rainy Sunday, one would expect the sights and sounds of a home overrun with teenage testosterone—a driveway filled with cars and bikes, windows releasing the sound of reverberating bass, or perhaps video games roaring with explosions. Instead, the Lacrosse home is quiet. alking up to the home of JoMay and Rick Lacrosse in Oxford, Wis., there are few signs that jobs, youth group. Mix in therapy ap- pointments, doctor appointments, home visits with biological families, and visits from case managers, and it's no wonder Rick comments that JoMay works harder today than she ever has. It's a labor of love, JoMay admits. But after-school activities, getting to this point, she adds, has been a long time coming. "I moved to Oxford when I was 18, and Clean. Organized. Only the ping-pong table on the screened porch hints that someone other than a middle-aged couple resides here. And as this couple opens the door and settles in to tell their story of fos- ter parenting, it becomes clear that this environment was created through count- less hours of education, tears, arguments and hugs. Because after fostering 15 teen- age boys over the last four years, Rick and JoMay have learned a few things. "It's like running a business out of your home," JoMay says as Rick chuckles. "And in the end you hope you are pro- ducing a good product," he finishes for her. Running this business takes a daily team 58 BRAVA Magazine next door was a family doing foster care," she says. Inspired and intrigued, she held onto her interest in foster care even though her first husband wasn't keen on the idea. Fast forward to years later, after having children of her own and going through a divorce, she met Rick. "When Rick and I started dating, we talked about our dream jobs, what we wanted to do with the rest of our lives, and I told him I've always wanted to do foster care," she adds. When they married in 2008, the cou- ple suddenly had seven children between them, most of whom had already left home. Rick's youngest son, a senior in high school, lives with them in Oxford, the last of their blended brood at home. JoMay admits she wasn't ready to take effort. Rick works full-time in Madison and JoMay shuttles the three foster kids June 2012 the plunge into the world of empty-nest- ers. So when most people start thinking about downsizing as the kids move out into the world, JoMay and Rick began the journey toward becoming licensed foster parents. Ask them why, and both JoMay and Rick have simple answers. "We're both big believers in giving back," says Rick, who volunteered with the local EMS, fire department and as the deputy coroner before scaling back to have more time at home. "And because it makes me appreciate my own childhood so much more," JoMay says tenderly. "I want to show these kids that there can be a better life out there." The Lacrosses began exploring foster parenting in 2007. The neighbors that in- troduced JoMay to the life of a foster fam- ily had worked with Community Care Resources (CCR), a private agency based in Middleton that licenses foster homes around the state. JoMay and Rick contacted CCR and quickly discovered that making the decision to open their home was just the first step.