I’ve read that seldom does happiness come so pure as to not be also tempered by a measure of sorrow.

And so it was last month, that Dede & I finally completed our adoption of our son Liam from Russia only then to lose my mother to a sudden illness barely 2 weeks later.   The sadness of our loss has certainly felt much sharper than the joy of becoming parents, but Liam has been an anchor for me during this bleak time.   Naturally, he’s too young to have any concept of what has occurred, but somehow just having him to hold onto has made Mom’s slipping away a bit more bearable.

Rob’s Mom


By the way, the outpouring of support from all of you has been incredible.   We’re truly grateful for all of the food, cards, plants & flowers, comforting thoughts, and prayers that have been showered upon us.

Although it was surely for the worst of all reasons, I did appreciate the opportunity to visit with family who I hadn’t seen in quite some time.   Having Uncle Truitte, Aunt Carlene, Aunt Gladys, & my cousin Kathy here gave Rich, Ruby, & me a chance to go through stacks & stacks of old photos to identify people we could never have guessed otherwise.   And we relived some great old memories and shared lots of wonderful old stories about Mom & the whole Tolbert clan.

Among some of the other forgotten nuggets we found was this old photo of us O’Daniel boys:

Rich & Rob (then)

...and here’s a more current pic for comparison sake...

Rich & Rob (now)