BELLAIRE — Larry Schmidli has a lot to say.

It’s important, he believes.

For, as he sits down today to enjoy Thanksgiving with his family, he’s thankful. Thankful for his new lease on life, one that came via an unexpected source.

“I’m so thankful I have a family,” he said. “I’m blessed.”

Larry has been through a lot. His mom died when he was 2 and his dad passed when he was 8.

“My mom died the day of my birthday party,” Larry remembers.

That left Larry to be cared for by his elderly grandparents. Truth be told, he was taking care of them. Quite a burden for young man who’s biggest joy should be watching cartoons in the morning.

“He was taking care of them basically,” Kevin Schmidli said. “They couldn’t get up and down the stairs. He was an 8-year-old kid taking care of two elderly people.”

Schmidli is a teacher at Bellaire Middle School and stat guru for the Bellaire High football team. He first laid eyes on Larry during his first year teaching in Bellaire four years ago. Then, he was assigned to the elementary.

“I never knew his situation,” Schmidli recalled.

But, he said he “wanted to get his hands on him.”

Not in a bad way. He wanted to help him. Little did he know what lay ahead.

“He had to leave classrooms two or three minutes early,” Schmidli said. “He had to get a head start walking up the stairs in the school.”

Larry was sick. Not sick in the sense that he was confined to a bed or anything of that nature. It was deeper than that.

Schmidli recalls when two years ago Larry went to Wheeling to meet with Amy Jean, an endocrinologist.

“He went there for an appointment and she took labs,” Schmidli explained. “She basically wrote up a 13- to 14-page report and had it sent to the court.

“Basically, the gist of it was, if you don’t intervene on this kid’s behalf, I don’t think he’ll live to see his 10th birthday.”

Schmidli called Jean “the true hero” in Larry’s life; the person that got him started on the road to recovery. But Larry’s journey took a new turn in August of last year.

Well, the story really starts a few months before. Sparked by the success is brother enjoyed as a foster parent, and emotionally affected by situations he saw in school, Schmidli and his wife, Amanda, decided to become foster parents themselves.

“Adoption wasn’t our end goal, though,” Schmidli said.

As the Schmidlis were going through foster training, Larry was removed from his grandparents’ home and placed with a great aunt. While she provided care, at age 90, she wasn’t the long-term answer for him.

So, on August 8, 2016, Larry and the Schmidlis were paired and the teacher who wanted to ‘get his hands’ on that troubled second-grader finally got his chance.

“I never looked at him then and thought we’d get him,” Schmidli said.

But when they did, life in the Schmidli house changed — for the better.

Kevin and Amanda have two other boys — Brae and Tanner. Tanner is a bit older, so Brae and Larry hit it off right away.

Schmidli recalls the efforts Brae made to make Larry feel at home, especially when it came to playing outside.

“I told him, ‘You could’ve been the jerk 7-year-old that said we’re playing soccer and here’s your goal and here’s my goal and I’m gonna beat you 55-0 every single time.’ He had empathy for Larry. We didn’t have to teach him.”

Schmidli said Larry never played outside prior to coming to live with his family, something that helped contribute to his health problems, which included a weight that ballooned to 238 pounds.

“All I did was sit down and watch TV,” Larry remembered from his time before living with the Schmidlis. “This one over here, Brae, has been helping me a lot.”

The changes in Larry after he arrived in the Schmidli household were almost immediate.

“When he and I went back last December 11 months after Amy had taken the crappy labs that got children’s services involved, 11 months since those labs, she called me back a few weeks later and was in tears saying she’d never seen anything like this in her life.”

Larry had went from roughly 238 pounds to roughly 150 … in 11 months.

My son played flag football with Larry a few years ago. And to remember him then and see him now is nothing short of mind-boggling.

Not only has he dropped the pounds, but his whole demeanor has changed. He’s bright, energetic … just who a 10-year-old kid should be. Yes, 10, that age that doctors thought he’d never reach.

For a 10-year-old boy, he has a pretty good head on his shoulders, wise beyond his years. And early this year, the Schmidlis decided they wanted Larry to remain a part of their family — permanently.

“I kind of knew from Day 1,” Schmidli said, although he said his wife was somewhat hesitant about making such a commitment so quickly.

Children’s services normally gives foster families two years to decide if they’d like to adopt a child. The Schmidlis decided in eight months.

“We brought him down on a Saturday morning while the other boys were still sleeping,” Schmidli remembered about the day they told Larry of their plans.

Larry said he was excited.

“I’ve always wanted to be here since the beginning,” he exclaimed.

Schmidli said he did have one request, though.

“He told him, listen, nothing will change. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing. The only thing that will change is that I’m done with all this Mr. Schmidli stuff. And, literally, from that moment, he started calling me dad.”

Last Friday, in a Belmont County courtroom, Larry officially became Lawrence Cain Schmidli. The event was even Facetimed to his fellow fifth graders at Bellaire Middle School.

“It’s awesome,” Larry said.

“I’m exposed to a lot of things now,” he said. “I’m doing piano and all these other things. When I was with (my other family) I wasn’t even exposed to going outside. Our yard was tiny and the backyard was cement.

Larry is full of joy and has come a long way socially from where he was when he arrived.

“Of all the goofy families I could’ve been with, I’m with the best,” he smiled.

Larry and the entire Schmidli family will gather December 10 for a party to celebrate his adoption. Larry says he has a speech planned.

“I’m gonna say a lot,” he beamed.

In the meantime, he said he’ll continue to reflect on his new life, one that he, in many ways, considers a miracle.

“I believe right now, one just happened.”