It was only supposed to be for a few days.

After all, Peter Pender already had a foster child and had recently housed two others. But when the Department of Children and Family Services called about a 12-year-old boy relocating from Seattle who needed a place to stay for the holidays, he reluctantly agreed.

Young Brian Tyms showed up at the Pembroke Pines home with little more than the clothes on his back. After researching his nightmarish upbringing, filled with abuse, rejection and neglect, Pender and his wife Benita pulled out all the stops to give Tyms the Christmas of his dreams.

"I hadn't had a Christmas since I was nine so I was shocked they got me anything," said Tyms. "I thought it was a joke, but they bought me everything."

Those few days turned into years of unconditional love and support from a family that wouldn't give up on him. It was the support Tyms needed to overcome the scarring the deaths of both drug-addicted, physically abusive parents caused, helping him evolve into an NFL receiver on the Miami Dolphins' practice squad.

"That was the first father figure I'd ever had in my life," Tyms said. "He immediately filled that void."

"I saw a kid who wanted a chance. He wanted to be loved," Pender said. "He wanted a family."

When he was 7 years old, Brian's mother Jada Tyms, hit him in a store and the incident was reported. His half-sister, Alysha Bernett, went to live with a grandparent and Brian began an odyssey that took him to four different group homes.

After three years in group homes, Tyms biological father, Kenneth Stephens, stepped up and was granted custody. But arguments, which were often fueled by alcohol and drug abuse, made that arrangement last only two years.

Tyms was put back into the system again, and this time he was being returned to Florida, where his troubled childhood began.

"It forces you to grow up fast," Tyms said. "You grow a lot of animosity towards people. Your patience becomes short and you expect confrontation instead of solving things like a grown up. You don't really have time to build relationships. That's not safe because it's you against the world.

"I felt like nobody loved me."

Before Tyms met the Penders he was certain the "world had turned against me."

Peter and Benita, his wife, treated Tyms like he was one of their own. If the grandkids got it, Tyms did too.

But young Brian was a challenge. At one point Tyms was so disruptive at his alternative schools the Penders thought they'd lose their jobs constantly running to his rescue after each altercation.

"He had a hot temper. He had to learn to control that and it took him years," Pender said. "It took patience, God and love."

They got him into youth basketball and that helped Tyms channel some of his anger. A reward system got his academic life on track, and when Tyms enrolled at Dilliard High, the school where Penders taught, he began to blossom.

Tyms excelled at basketball because of his athleticism and work ethic. He played football his senior season and proved to be very coachable. But he wasn't good enough to land a college scholarship. He attended Broward Community College after graduating and eventually walked onto Florida A&M;'s football team after consistently harassing the coaches for an opportunity.

Tyms' academic standing and his athleticism impressed Rattlers coach Joe Taylor. He immediately became one of the team's hardest workers and soon earned a scholarship.

After redshirting his first season Tyms played about 10 snaps a game as a junior and caught seven passes. Then his career took off as a senior as he caught 38 passes for 538 yards and three touchdowns.

"There were times he'd make a play and just yell," Taylor said. "We all knew where that emotion, that anger came from."

Tyms' speed and athleticism impressed NFL scouts so much he spent training camp with the San Francisco 49ers before becoming one of the final players released. The Dolphins added him to the practice squad in early September and have spent the past months helping him refine his raw skills.

"He's a pretty smooth route runner. He kind of runs natural and he has pretty good body control," coach Joe Philbin said. "He has good length, he's 6'2" and change maybe, he's got pretty long arms, and he seems to catch the football relatively well. So we're just learning more about him and getting more exposure to him."

Taylor said Tyms is a model of perseverance, so no matter what happens to him with the Dolphins, the NFL, football, he's proven he'll find a way to survive.

He's done it all his life, with a little help of course.

"Those [foster] kids need so much attention, so much love," said Pender. "Once you get them in your house you want to see the end result."

At first Tyms didn't feel like his story was inspirational. How could it be considering his life has been filled with so much tragedy and pain? But now he realizes there are thousands of children around the country who can relate to his foster care story, children who have felt his pain, and need to know they can overcome all their hurt.

"I've had everything that can possibly happen to a kid happen, and I've made it," Tyms said. "Find something positive that you enjoy and go for it. I used to write down all the negatives people said about me on a piece of paper and before I go workout, or before I do anything I'd read it. I'd think about how I felt, and I'd use that anger as fuel. Life is about proving people wrong and that's what I'm doing."