Let Me Introduce... My Big Sister!!

Thankgiving this year gave my family a whole new meaning to the word "thankful". 

This year, on Thanksgiving day, Kyrie and I made our first (ever) communication with our older half-sister, Bridgett.  We share the same wonderful Dad!!  Due to some unfortunate circumstances, my dad has not seen her since she was 2 years old... almost 31 years ago.  As you can imagine, we have never met her.

Kyrie and I were brought up knowing all about her.  Our parents have always kept a framed wallet size picture of her on display in their living room (it was all our dad had of her).  We talked about her with our Dad, who would usually get choked up at the mere mention of her name.  He loved and missed her everyday.  When we would say family prayers...  "Please bless grandma and grandpa, mommy and daddy..." our mom would always remind us to add "and please bless Bridgett".  Kyrie and I were raised to love her like we love each other... which (if you know us) is A LOT!!

It started on Wednesday morning, when Dad called me at work and said "Do you want to see a picture of your big sister?".  I burst into tears at even the thought of seeing a picture of her older than the 18 month child we'd grown up with.  I could hear Dad's tears through the phone.  Guess where we found her... Facebook!!  My dad's sister, Joyce, found her by accident late the night before and sent her a pretty generic message.  Joyce called him that night, which made him happy, and a little scared.  He stayed up all night thinking about it.

When I looked her up, the first thought I had was how much she looked like my aunts (Dad's sisters).  But, the more I kept looking, I noticed that she kind of looks like a brunette version of me (specifically my gigantic forehead and my eyes... which I got from my Dad).  I must have spent half of that morning crying...  thankfully, our friends at work were very loving and supportive.  I spoke to my dad and aunt about a million times that day.  Joyce was nice enough to let us look at her facebook messages (between her and my sister) and see Bridgett's pictures posted on her page.

This changed our world... for the better!!

The next morning (Thanksgiving), my aunt called me.  She told me that she had spoken to Bridgett on the phone and told her about her 2 little sisters and 2 nephews.  Bridgett burst into happy tears at the news.  She said that they talked a little about Dad and that Bridgett was pretty positive and happy about the whole thing.

I, immediately, sent her a message (and friend request) on Facebook.  Since then, Kyrie and I have been sending her messages left and right.  We plan on calling her (for the first time, ever) together and will hopefully be meeting her in the near future.  She seems like a wonderful, loving, and happy girl... I think we'll all get along great!!

Dad hasn't spoken to her yet.  He's over joyed, but at the same time, really nervous.  We're letting him take his time...

Words cannot express the range of emotions that our family is feeling.  We are so happy...  we truly believed that this day would never come.  We are so thankful for all our many, many blessings and for finally having our family complete!!

Below are some pictures of my new Big Sister - Bridgett:

On her wedding day!

Bridgett and Ricky (her sweet hubby)

Bridgett and her other half-sister (from her mother), Bonnie

My favorite one of her!