Dear John and Michelle

John and Michelle Lawson have, over the course of our 3 1/2-plus years here in Phoenix, become adoptive parents to my wife and I.

When we left Southern California we essentially knew a grand-total of 4 people in our new hometown: the man who hired me, post-college friends of mine who had married and re-located and a childhood friend of my wife. She and Angela grew up together in Lompoc while their mothers were--and remain--best of friends.

Angela left Lompoc when her parents moved in the '90s and when they returned to her mom's hometown, finished school and married into the Lawson family about the same time we were married a state away. Both she and my wife saw our coming here as an opportunity to re-connect after nearly ten years.

A funny thing happened on the way to the reunion. Over the course of two-and-a-half years we began to draw even closer to her in-laws. While we remain friends with she and her family, we are at this point closer to John, Michelle and their two other children, Annette and Andria.

Two-and-a-half years of Sunday brunches, house-sitting, birthday celebrations, family dinners and girls-nights out have got us to the point where we are officially un-official members of the Lawson family. To a couple who was foundering after a year in a new place and struggling to put down new roots, such love and acceptance was a lifeline and an answer to prayer.

You cannot know how grateful Jessica and I are to you and your family. Your openness and willingness to include us in all the aspects of your family's life, from the exciting to the mundane, has meant more to us than anything in the time we've been here. What's more, to your great honor, you've earned the respect and thanks of both our own parents for your exercise of care and concern in our lives!

Loving like Christ requires sacrifice. You have loved us in just this way, to your honor and to the glory of God.

All this will be missed, and missed dearly. Thank you for the investment of time and care and love you made in our lives. You will be remembered fondly and loved for it for many years to come!

We love you dearly.


Paul and Jessica Hogue