Some of you may already know that Karl made a BIG MISTAKE in his life a few years ago and because of that he spent the past 5 Christmases in prison. It was so great to finally go get him on the day after Christmas 2007 and spend a little of the Holiday with him again. He will be on parole until 2012, but he is doing very well and we are so proud to see him accomplishing some goals. Sometimes it is Baby Steps, but that is alright. He is moving forward with his life.

The top left picture shows his reaction to a little bit of Christmas we had set up for him in our motel room--a tiny tree, his stocking, and a gift. (You can't send them any gifts in prison) The top right picture is of him looking at the gift. I had made all of the kids a Childhood Memory scrapbook the year before, and he is finally getting to look through his. Ron, Kristopher and I went to pick him up and then we met Kevin and Family at the Union Station in St.Louis.[Karl spent several months at a 'halfway house' in St.Louis when he got out] . When we got to Union Station, Karl and I waited by this sign while Ron and Kris went to meet Kevin and family and bring them to our location. In the middle pic on the left, you can see Danielle and her family greeting him and keeping him occupied while Someone Special was sneaking around the other side of the sign to surprise him. Karl saw something out of the corner of his eye and turned...there was Robbie [his son]! He was so surprised because it had NOT looked like Robbie was going to get to be there. You can tell in the right pic that Karl was extremely glad to see him. Because of certain rules at the prison, they had not been able to see each other for 2 or 3 years. The last time they were together, Robbie was just as tall as Karl. You can see from the last picture, that Rob had grown several inches since then. Karl just kept saying "I can't believe you're here! I can't believe how BIG you've gotten!"