Many of you know that since living here we have had many opportunities to travel and see much of the world. Flying to other countries is fairly cheap from England and we have taken the advantage to enjoy it. Flying to places like Poland, Ireland, and Malta (Chris's place of birth) to spend time with the in-laws. We have tried surfing in Cornwall, ridden the London Eye, and seen Stonehenge. We are very blessed to have been able to do these things and I can only thank the Air Force for sending us here.
So before I tell of touch of awesome that changed my life forever, I must put out a disclaimer first! Disclaimer: I dearly love all of my brothers and sister. I have four brothers in ABC order as to not make any one jealous, George, Kevin, Micheal, and Ricky and a sister Natalie. Kevin sadly passed away when I was little. Now that I have said that I will share the miracle that made my life even better.
For years my dad had a big red tool box that had a picture I was curious about taped inside. I would often ask about the high school picture of the boy I did not know or recognize, but never got answers. I do not know whether I annoyed him into it or if Micheal just finally gave in, but my older brother finally told me about my other older brother. Yep! Thats right surprise I had another brother and he lived up north somewhere. I made it my project to find him! Years passed and to no avail, I was getting no where and I didn't have much help. I am sure my dad wanted to find him, but at the same time it was not fair to Ricky to change the world he knew.
Fast forward to February 2011 and phone call that changed everything. I came across a phone number that was his at one time in January and contemplated dialing the number for awhile afraid that no one would believe me, or someone would pick up and it would no longer have been his number. It took a couple of weeks and then I dialed that number and on the other end a woman answered... and after some convincing and some Facebook photos she actually believed me. This sweet woman happened to be his ex-wife and she went out of her way for me. I knew his mothers name, I called him Ricky (apparently people call him Rick), he looked just like my dad in those Facebook photos she was looking at, and last I had the details of that old high school photo that I had been so curious about.
After some convincing she drove over and told him all about our interesting phone call and sparing some details the first conversation with my big brother Ricky occurred about a week later. I still remember actually talking to her on the phone and hearing her tell me "He wants to talk to you". I asked "When?" only to hear "Now" and to reply "like right now?". At times it is still hard to believe that I actually found him and it is something I will forever be thankful for.
Not only did I find my brother, but I found two wonderful nieces Brittany and Samantha. That February phone call, led to all of us meeting in August of 2011. My brother flew to Georgia with my nieces and met all of us for the first time. Even with the distance we are close and in the summer of 2012, they all flew England to spend some time here. Some bad things have happened while here in the UK, but some pretty amazing ones have happened for which I am grateful. At least now when we do have children, my kids will have an extra Uncle that I am sure they will love just as much as I do.
IVF UPDATE: Our labs have all been completed and we are awaiting some results that I will need to send to Bourn Hall before our first appointment on March 3rd, 2014. Not long now and we are both nervous and excited for the process to start. Thank everyone for the continued donations as we try and start our little family.
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