After the new year and Bryan was back to school what we were we to do. Shawnie had been staying with her sister and even though they had been wonderful and gracious to take Shawnie and Kobe in when she had began to make her final stand, and had treated her very good there was just something different when we all were under one roof that was magical. Keep in mind i live in this rather small two bedroom apartment and Bryan at this point needed his own space so it was always cozy to put it mildly. In our midst constantly was a very active jabbering four year old. It has been his amazing transformation that made this all possible. If God had not touched his heart and not brought some sense of security and the desire to do the right thing we would not have survived and enjoyed so much happiness in our little home. Shawnie and I were amazed every day at the progress we saw in Kobe, we would often comment that we must be doing something right, and coin one of our phrases " Love Always Wins". we did not have all the answers, but every day we made a thoughtful intention to do the right thing. we fully anticipated Shawnie and Kobe would go back to her sister's house and she kind of did, but it seemed different now and a internal conflict existed because it seemed like our collective well being and bliss was together. a number of things happened all at once where her once very reliable family was being challenged in many ways. Shawnie was not sure how her and Kobe fit into these recent turn of events, and even though we were not sure we were ready for such a bold move, we asked the question should Shawnie and Kobe move in with Bryan and I. Bryan earlier stated in no uncertain terms that he was opposed to have any one live with us. he was by far our single biggest obstacle in asking this question. I asked. His answer came so quickly and easily that i knew he was ok with this new arrangement, i told Shawnie, she also asked Bryan because it was so important to her that he was ok and ready for this huge adjustment in his life. She always puts the needs of the kids ahead of her own and had she even sensed some hesitation on his part she would not have moved in, but he was clearly at peace with this proposition. She and Kobe did move in. All those clothes and toys. Shawnie quickly organized everything. God brought us some much needed shelves. our sleeping arrangements were going to be a challenge, but from the very start i lovingly agreed to sleep on the couch and Give Shawnie and Kobe my bed, no pat on the back please Love displayed gives and gives that's all. this is now past the first of the year and much of Shawnie's legal trouble had some amazing favorable resolutions as one case or another was plea bargained down to a misdemeanor, and the custody case over Kobe took a miraculous turn when the court ordered drug tests came back. Shawnie had been sober for only four months when the requested hair samples came back, and those tests usually go back for over six months, but miraculously her results came back negative, even more surprsingly Kobe's dad results came back positive for quite of number of different substances. What seemed at one point like piling on actually ended up being a huge blessing in disguise as Shawnie was in the drivers seat when it came to the parenting and the future of Kobe. this single event eventually took on huge ramifications later because the sentencing date of the largest case creeped ever close to it's culmination. you can not appreciate or under estimate the ongoing and ever increasing effect this eventual circumstance weighed on us and more importantly Shawnie. unbelievably though every day in every way possible Shawnie got up every day almost without exception and tried to do the right thing by the boys and me. I love her so much and I am so proud of her and would not have believed that ayone could have done this had i not been by her side this whole time. My Princess Rocks.