![\"NSR](\"http:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/jesssisters-e1458178561756.jpg\")
<\/a>Those who know Jess, a sophomore at Harry S Truman High School in Levittown, PA, realize why family always has been her top priority. She learned the importance of family at a very young age when her parents, Sharon and Mark, opened their modest four-bedroom, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot home in suburban Philadelphia to their first of 13 foster children.<\/p>\n
During the past 12 years, the Rementers have parented as many as six foster children at one time in addition to their two biological children — Kristie, 21, and Jess, 16. In all, they have welcomed six boys and seven girls of different races and nationalities. The family adopted two of those children — Colleen, 14, and Kelly, 13 — in 2009.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly hasn\u2019t been easy,\u201d said Sharon, food services director at a local nursing home. \u201cAll of the children have had special needs or behavioral issues. We have helped many of them make significant changes in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese kids needed a home,\u201d said Mark, a manager for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). \u201cThey needed consistency in their lives. We\u2019ve been able to provide that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Rementers hoped to raise several of their own children. However, Sharon was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes in her 20s. When she was pregnant with Jess, she said her blood sugar became \u201cout of control.\u201d During delivery, Jess cut off Sharon\u2019s blood supply and they both lost their heartbeats. After doctors performed medical and mechanical maneuvers, both regained consciousness and Jess was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both died on the table,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cAfter the doctors brought us back to life, they told me, \u2018This is your last child.\u2019\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Jess may have been the Rementers\u2019 last biological child, but, as it turned out, only the second of 15 overall. \u201cWe always wanted a bigger family,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cBut after I had Jess, it wasn\u2019t possible to have any more.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rementers decided to try adoption.<\/p>\n \u201cRather than try to adopt newborns, we wanted to adopt needy kids,\u201d Mark said. \u201cBut we kept losing those kids to foster parents. The other families fostered them and kept them. So we decided to change to foster care with the idea of adoption.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t want any more babies,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to start over again with the diapers.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2004, the Rementers welcomed their first foster children. At the time, Kristie was 10 and Jess only 4. The sisters began sharing their bedrooms with as many as three foster children at a time. Some of the children stayed as little as one week, others as long as four years.<\/p>\n \u201cYou never know what you\u2019re going to get,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cGood things and bad things happen. You just hope the good outweighs the bad.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rementers have tried to treat all of their children — biological, adopted and foster — the same. It hasn’t been easy on Kristie or Jess, but both have learned some valuable life lessons.<\/p>\n \u201cJess got to see the issues we had to deal with,\u201d Mark said. \u201cShe saw where these kids came from. They had nothing. They didn\u2019t have their own bedrooms or clothes. She learned from a young age to appreciate everything she had.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the few things the children had in common was a love of softball. With Mark as a travel coach, Kristie evolved into a high school and college softball player. Jess is a promising infielder\/outfielder for Truman High School and the Philadelphia Angels 18U travel team. Adopted sisters Colleen and Kelly play for a U14 travel team.<\/p>\n Jess credits much of her success \u2013 on and off the field — to her loving parents, who sacrificed a lot for their children.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very lucky to be raised by two very caring people,\u201d Jess wrote in her personal message. \u201cMy mom and dad have been foster parents since I was very little. It was hard at times, but I believe living through some hardships made me realize I should be grateful for everything and everyone I have in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jess Rementer always has had her priorities in order. \u201cMy priorities have always been family first, school, softball and friends,\u201d the 2018 National Scouting Report softball prospect wrote in her personal message to college coaches. Those who know Jess, a sophomore at Harry S Truman High School in Levittown, PA, realize why family always has … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[565,564,562,559,560,222,563,561],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9827"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9840,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9827\/revisions\/9840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>