BEAUMONT, Texas — This Thanksgiving a Southeast Texas family is sharing their journey of love, patience and new beginnings.
Ashley Walker is preparing to gather with her children at the dinner table for the first time. This comes after more than two years of navigating the adoption process.
Siblings Jayda and Aiden Walker not only have a new last name, but a forever home full of love to enjoy this magical time of year.
"This is the first holiday where everything is final and complete and so it's just like it's gonna be good just with a weight lifted," said Ashley.
Ashley says while the adoption process was long and emotional, it was made easier by their circumstances.
"The good thing about this being a kinship family is that the kids are already familiar with kind of how we do things and the extended family. so we're just gonna stick with the regular staple foods and the family coming over and keep it kind of simple," Ashley said.
According to Child Protective Services, the journey to bring children home isn't simple.
"They have to go through the home study they have to run background checks of course and just get a lot of information about that family and evaluate everything afterwards," said Chaitra Dangerfield, the CPS supervisor of Region 5.
Dangerfield says the challenges are worth a lifetime of fulfillment.
"Seeing those kids be bonded and matched with their forever families permanently was great," Dangerfield said. "The love in the air, the happy tears. It's an amazing experience."
With love, support and a lot of holiday cheer the Walkers are embracing the future, and looking forward to the many holidays they will share together.
"It's definitely a life long commitment," Ashley said.
More than 2,000 children in Texas are still waiting to find their forever families.
If you want to learn the steps to foster or adopt you can find more information on Heart Gallery of Southeast Texas website.