Richardson Update

Richardson Update

2/09/2020

I'm not sure how the year got away from me but 2019 went so fast and here we are already in February 2020🤦‍♀️.

If you ever doubted that your entire life can change in the span of five months. Buckle your seatbelts because I'm going to show you exactly how much life can change in five short months…

First, we're living in a completely trauma free home *does happy dance*. Carving out my own space in this new community is helping me grow further. Although the comfort zone is nice, it's not where we grow and this family is all about growing into our best selves.

Seraphim is doing amazing, mastering sounds left and right. So they are moving her up and she will be getting ready to start school soon.

Josh is the one that has the most amazing news of these past five months. I've gotten into our story in pieces along the way, but for this to have the most impact on you guys, i have to give you a little backstory.

After our trauma with Josh's biological mom, we cut all contact with her and everyone from her side of the family. We didn't just do this on a whim. We asked all of our therapists. We asked Seraphim's therapist. We asked our attorneys, we asked CPS and all of them strongly suggested that we cut ties or we would end up dealing with another situation like that one...

Josh started down the road of figuring out life without any family. Oftentimes he felt alone. He felt the only people he had were Seraphim and I which left him feeling like the world was on his shoulders. If he ran into a situation or if he needed help there was nobody that he could turn to, his family was gone. As you can imagine this was incredibly painful for a wife to watch, there was nothing I could do to help him. I know members of my family stepped up and tried to include him and make him feel like he was one, he belongs, he had people but it's just not the same.

Now, this is where the story gets good. He had only ever talked to his dad once when he was about 18... He didn't feel like there was a need to try to communicate because he was always told that his dad did not want him because his mom was poor. That's pretty much the basis of what I was told was that he was not in his life because he was poor therefore not good enough...

Even with all of this Josh decided to reach out at the end of August of last year. We were lied to so much by his mother that I didn't believe anything anymore and when he asked me if he should I said absolutely... That was the start of a whole new life, a life that Josh never thought he'd be a part of.

I won't get into the specifics of how everything went down and all of the lies that Josh and I were told or the truths behind them simply because it doesn't matter. What matters is that they are completely different than what we were told.

Josh has 3 amazing Brothers all of them doing very well and successfully. They're successful because they are kind, compassionate and accepting human beings. I have never felt more welcomed and accepted than I have by this family. I have never seen my husband light up in the way that he lights up when he hears from his brothers. When he can come and tell me about the conversation they had and there was no judgment. There was no talking to him like he was beneath them. He is their brother.

His parents are like angels! They heard not only Josh's full story. All of it, all of the crappy stuff and all of the good stuff. They also heard mine. They heard about all of my not good stuff. My toxicity but also my journey into who I am... They accepted with open arms all of it. They didn't run from my problems with my mental health challenges. They didn't run from Josh's addiction. They saw us and they heard us for who we are and who we are trying to become. They loved and accepted us. . Past that they accepted Seraphim as if she'd been their's her entire life. It's easy to give things when you have the money to give but what they did was beyond material things. They connected and bonded with her. They video chat with her. They want to continue video chatting with her and being a part of her life. They love getting pictures of her and see what she's doing.

I couldn't be more grateful for a family that has loved and accepted my family. My husband and my daughter for all of our troubles and All of our triumphs. And they want nothing more than to push us forward. It's amazing to know that when my husband is struggling he doesn't have to just come to me and feel like he's putting the weight on my shoulders. He's got, Brothers. He's got a mom. He's got a dad. There is something very unique about knowing that your family is behind you and supporting you no matter what you decide to do. Will they enable, absolutely not but through their not enabling they're still letting you know, I'm here but you've got to make the right choices in certain situations for me to be able to help you. For me to be able to fully support you.

I know it was probably a little confusing to see a Richardson update but hopefully one day Josh will take his family name and we will no longer be the Andersons. We'll be the Richardson's where we should have been all along.

There's something truly amazing about this whole five months. And the lesson that I'm taking out of it is sometimes things are not as they seem and sometimes when you think that All Is Lost and there is no way for you to have some of the things that you've dreamed of, it might not be the reality. Everything can change with one message. Everything can change with one phone call. Everything can change in one single day. Don't ever give up hope on the things that you dream about and the things that you're chasing because we don't know what tomorrow holds. We don't know the truth about everything. One day you may just get your dreams just like my husband has gotten his.