I'm praying that you guys will be here with me for Christmas some day. Christmas morning we get up and check to see what Santa has left for us. Then I start Christmas breakfast and anyone who wants to come is welcome! We had about a dozen people here this year!

(This is me in my hat and apron! I love cooking!)



 

Later on, Danny and his family and Chasity and her family came over for Christmas lunch. We had a good time talking and exchanging gifts. Then we all went to your Grandma Darleen's house.

Here's all of us from Christmas. Of course you know me. Your Aunt Chasity is sitting beside me. She finished up her degree that she's been working SO hard on. We're all really proud of her.

Then there's your Uncle Danny. He's starting a new business and is pretty successful so far!

The guy with the crazy beard is your Uncle Joe. He got married this year and just welcomed a new cousin for you named Lukus.

The crazy girl across our laps is your Aunt Tabi. She graduated high school and went on to college in Charlotte this year!

We were hoping to have a get together tonight for New Year's Eve with all the nephews and neices......but we all have the flu. UGH! Maybe next year.

I love you both and I hope that we can all be together as a family in 2013!

All my love and hope,

Dad

Dearest Ethan and Macaylee,

It has been awhile since I have wrote anything.

It's not from lack of thinking of you two, I promise. It's from frustration. I love you and have always loved you and always will love you. Being away from you is not my choice.

I called each of you on your birthdays. I don't know if you got the messages I left or not.

I missed you guys at Christmas.

There's so much I want to share with both of you and I cant wait until the day when I'm finally able to hold you in my arms again!

I pray each night for both of you. I pray that you always know that I love you and that you're always safe and happy. I pray that God will help us all understand this lesson that He is trying to teach us all. I pray for peace and wisdom in our situation. I pray that He will guide you through confusion and give you clarity.

I love you both very much and I pray you will find this webpage some day. I pray that God will help us overcome roadblocks and  misunderstandings and we will be joined as a family.

With all the love and hope I have,

Dad

More family you will want to get to know:

I got remarried on October 15 to Magen. I had hoped things would have worked out differently and you guys would have been there.

We got married at her mom’s house in Julian, on a rock in her mom’s front yard. Afterward, we had cake and a cookout and dancing! It was a lot of fun.

This is our cake, it had two blue birds on top of it. I helped design the cake and it was a big surprise for Magen.

 

 

Magen has two kids, Cory and Francys. Francys would rather be called Abby.

 Cory is 15 and loves video games and Legos.

Abby is 12 and loves to read, listen to music and eat ice cream!

Your family...

I wanted to show you your family.

This is me and my twin brother, Danny. You'll recognize me as the handsome one.

Danny has a wife named Wendy and two kids your ages, Chris and Zachary.

Here's a picture of my sister, Chasity, and her son, Austin. He's SO tall!

This is my little brother, Joe and his fiance, Amy. They are expecting a new cousin for you in August! His name will be Luke.

Tabi is the baby. She's a high school senior this year. She makes the BEST cupcakes when the family gets together!

We always have a lot of fun when we get together. Here's a picture from a couple of Christmas's ago. The lady in the middle is your grandma, Darlene.

There's A LOT more family for you to learn about! This is just the brothers and sisters. Wait until I start adding cousins and aunt and uncles... you even have GREAT grandparents that are still around! Everyone is excited to meet you and asks about you every time we get together.

I love you!

Dad

Why I'm writing this...

Dear Ethan and Macaylee:

I'm writing this blog because we have so much to catch up on! I feel like we've lost a lot of time and we will have to get to know each other all over again.

This isn't perfect. The situation we are all in is not good. It's hard for me to understand and I'm a grown up, so I know this must be really hard for you. I just want you to know that I have never forgotten about you or wanted to be away from you. I love you both SO much and I miss hugging you and kissing you.

There's so much I want to share with you and tell you!!

I don't know where I should start, so I'm just going to start from the beginning and go from there.

You have lots of family that would like to get to know you. I'll add stories and pictures of them as I go.

You should also know that Magen is helping me do this. She would really like to meet you and get to know you, too.  She has two kids, Cory and Abby, who would really like to get to know you and hang out with you.

That's all I know to write for today. I'm going to call you tonight and try to talk to you. I'm hoping that one of you will want to talk to me on the phone.

I love you both!

Dad