JEAN TELLS OF FAMILY CELEBRATIONS

On Friday, October 16th, Thomas, legally became our son.  It was very emotional.  At the adoption was Bishop Joseph and Martha, Elmer and Anna, the lady Thomas is marrying with her parents, Michael, Edward, Katie, Susan, David Jr,. David and myself..  I think I have everyone.

Thomas had been so worried that the adoption wouldn't go through.  He worried for some reason we wouldn't be able to adopt him.  So Bishop Joseph and Martha said if anything came up and we couldn't, they would.  Elmer and Anna also said that if something happened that we couldn't adopt him and Bishop Joseph and Martha couldn't - they would adopt him.  So although the papers say that Thomas is David and mine's son, we think he has three sets of parents, now.

When the papers went through, Thomas kept asking if we were really his parents now  The judge kept saying yes.  Thomas asked if he really had parents now.  Judge said yes.  I thought he was going to squeeze David and I to bits, he held us so hard.  He kept saying, I really have parents now.  Real parents.

We have always felt that when Michael, Edward, Thomas and Katie crossed our door, they were members of our family.  It didn't matter whether we had adoption paper or not - they were ours.  But, Michael, Edward and Katie had natural parents, they remember them.  Michael's parents were not the best, but he had them.  Edward's Grandmother was his parent.  Katie remember's her parents sometimes, as they were killed in an automobile accident.

Thomas was the only one that couldn't remember parents.  All he remembered is going from Foster Home to Foster Home.  People said they would adopt him, but it didn't happen.  He couldn't believe that we were really his parents.  That our last name was his new last name.

Afterwards, with the other boys we always went out to lunch and saw some sight in the city.  Thomas said that the only place he wanted to go was to  take Edward to see his Grandmother's grave and home. He didn't want to have lunch in a restaurant, he didn't want to see anything in the city - he wanted to go home.  So we went to see Edward's Grandmother's grave and Katie's parents grave and home.

On the way home, it hit him that he, Michael and Edward were also legal brothers.  He said, we are all a family now.

At home we had a quick lunch and did our chores.  Dinner time came and we had all Thomas' favorite foods - steak, baked potatoes, cole slaw, string beans, and more.  David gave Thomas the wooden plaque that he has given each adopted child.  It has our family name in the middle and everyone's name on it with family underneath.  Thomas was really emotional over it.

In the evening Bishop Joseph and family, Elmer and Anna, Thomas' lady and her parents, my parents, David's parents, Grandfather Albert and Grandmother Olive had cake and ice cream with us.  Thomas thanked us all especially David and I for adopting him.  Then on a lighter note, he added they can get married now.  They have been planning on getting married in December, which we have been working on for a while.

My parents had a party on Saturday for Grandfather Albert and Grandmother Olive's 65 wedding anniversary at their house.  We all tried to keep it a secret and did pretty good until we had to go to their house.  Grandmother wanted to know why we had to go in the evening.  We finally talked them into it.

When Grandfather and Grandmother walked in, a lot of people said surprise.  Grandmother Olive asked surprise for what.  My Father told her for their 65 wedding anniversary.  Grandmother Olive didn't know what to say.  Grandfather Albert said it was one of the few times Grandmother didn't know what to say.

There were about 100 people there.  I won't list them all, but Elmer and Anna, Bishop Joseph and Martha, Bishop Eli, his wife and his parents, our family, friends of Grandfather and Grandmother and more.  After we all got settled, Bishop Joseph welcomed everyone and gave a brief prayer.  He spoke about how not many husband's and wives are together for that long.  One usually goes to be with the Lord before they reach being married that long.  He told some of the things mygrand parents had done in their life time - good times and bad.  He also said we are so happy that we all could be here today to celebrate.  Then he turned over to Bishop Eli would gave a prayer.

We then had cake and ice cream.  Also, most of the people brought them gifts, so they opened them.  Most of the evening was spent chatting.  Before we left Grandfather Albert got up and said a few words.  He is a man of few words.  He thanked us all for coming.  Said that looking back, time has passed so fast.  It doesn't seem they have been married that many years and the Lord couldn't have given him a better woman to go through it with. He asked us to sing hymns. When it was getting near leaving time, he asked Bishop Joseph to pray for them, which he did.

By the time we got everything backed and got home, it was almost 11:00 PM and we had to get up for chores in the morning.  After chores, we went to service (church).

So we have been celebrating this week.

Be With God,
Jean