White Trash Brangelina: How we came to be

Believe it or not, I didn't wake up one day and decide I didn't have enough kids. I didn't get on the phone and say send me a few more.

Sometimes life just happens.

www.stickerfamily.com

I can only imagine that, in a fit of envy for her clothes, her shoes, her humanitarian prowess, or her money, I said, "Jeez, I wanna be Angelina Jolie!"
 
Apparently, the Universe misunderstood...

A Truck stop in New Mexico

One day in June 2015, we got a call from Arizona. My sister had gotten into a little trouble, and the state department of protective services informed us that if we did not pick up her kids, they would go into state custody. Furthermore, we had one week to pick them up.


With some help from my aunt, some time off from my very understanding boss, and no idea of how to proceed, my husband and I loaded up the van, left our tiny town in Oklahoma, and drove 1500 miles to pick up two children we'd never met from a sister I hadn't seen in almost 10 years, and add them to our family of four girls.




Pretty sights along the way:Gallup, NM

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I love road trips!

Trying to give my sister as much time with her kids as possible before we left, we spent a day exploring Hoover Dam and the areas of Nevada and Arizona I grew up in, trying to catch up on sleep, and letting me soak in some desert air. J had never seen mountains or desert, so there was lots of sightseeing to do. Of course, the sightseeing was regularly interrupted with frantic calls from the Dps worker wanting to know if we had gotten the kids yet so she could see them and close out her case. Her concern seemed genuine, so we assured her we would see her as soon as we got the kids.





Watching the sun rise over the mountains and the Colorado River

We finally picked up the kids at approximately 9:30 pm, with the idea they would fall asleep and sleep through most of the 18 hour drive home (I am an experienced road warrior, having made the trip twice a year since I was two, and knew this was best). We immediately went to Dps, where the worker took down our names, looked the kids over (in the car - they weren't even taken out of their seats to be checked), tightened our seat belts, and sent us on our way.  There were no papers to sign, no forms, nothing formal. At the time we were glad to be on the road, but in hindsight I should have been concerned. More on that later though.






 

stopping to see the lights, like my dad did with me!

It's now 6 1/2 months later, and our large little family is still adjusting, but we're in this adventure together. Follow along as we navigate our #whitetrashbrangelina lifestyle - minus the money, the fame, and the clothes!