By Amy Moore

The News staff writer

PORT NECHES — The scene is one like at most grandparents’ homes; children reaching into cabinets grabbing a bite to eat, brothers and sisters sitting at the table laughing over family memories, doors opening and closing as more family members come and go from the house.

What makes the family of this particular scene special is having their mother with them to see the events taking place.

Just a few months ago, the Nero family of Port Neches, was unsure how this year’s Mother’s Day would be celebrated because they did not know if their mother, Carla, would be around to celebrate it with them.

For many years Carla has been sick. Diagnosed with diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome and fybromyalgia, Carla never let her medical conditions stop her from living the life God planned for her.

After a struggle only a handful of people will ever understand, Carla is trying to restart her life. Supported by her incredibly loving family, her journey should be a wonderful one.

Carla (Lambert) Nero is the biological mother of Christy Conrad, 29, and Jennifer Vincent, 27, who remember their mother being at every special event in their lives and that’s because she never missed a dance class, pageant, basketball game, cheerleading performance or prom.

But her love for children grew to even outside her daughters. Carla and her husband, Ronnie, became foster parents and throughout the years had 10 children living in their home, under their loving care.

“At the beginning, we felt like it was a calling for us to be foster parents,” Ronnie said. “Whenever it’s a calling, it’s a lot easier. You’re not doing your work, you’re doing His work.”

Two of those foster children, Trent, now 16, and Breanne, now 15, found a special place in Carla and Ronnie’s hearts and were adopted by the Nero family.

Around that same time, Carla and Ronnie decided that instead of changing diapers, they wanted to have a home for older children. It was then that they chose to house a foreign exchange student, Thomas, who the family still keeps in contact with.

Always on the go, the independent and self-sufficient Carla was busy running from her job at a bank to complete the many tasks needed to run a house of seven.

Two older daughters, a foreign exchange student from Sweden and two recently adopted children made for a full house.

“It was a zoo,” Ronnie joked. “But around that time is when Carla started to get sick.”