A stepdaughter with a big heart surprised her father with the greatest gift of all, and got it all on camera.
When Hank Blankenship met his wife Deidre, she already had a pair of children from a previous marriage. Of course that's not unusual these days, and Hank fit right in with his new kids, Alexander and Cassidy. Compared to their biological father, who Deidre calls "a dead beat," Hank was a picture-perfect dad.
He gave his step-children the love and support that any father should, and soon Alexander and Cassidy welcomed their half-sister Savannah and half-brother Trey. "I saw his love for my children and how hard he worked to provide for us," Deidre says about Hank.
So she wasn't surprised when Cassidy, who's 15 now, asked to do something special that would pay back the man she calls "Dad" for his years of love and support. At a recent family gathering, Deidre and all of her kids worked together to pull off a surprise that left Hank in tears.
And, of course, they got the whole thing on camera...
This wasn't just a simple surprise, Deidre and the kids put a lot of work into it.
First, Cassidy read and signed a special message to her dad (Hank and Deidre are both deaf). Then she unveiled a sign with a special message: "anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad."
Next, young Savanna and Trey played their part. They both wore custom shirts that read "we want a whole brother and sister, not halves." Then Cassidy presented Hank with her adoption papers.
More Than Blood: A Dad"I'm Deidre, a deaf mom to 4 beautiful children. I had my two oldest children, Alex and Cassidy, with a man who turned out to be a dead beat. But recently, I met the love of my life, Henry (Hank), who is also deaf. I saw his love for my children and how hard he worked to provide for us. We got married in 2010. My daughter Cassidy came to me with a surprising request. She wanted help terminating her biological father's parental rights. Through all the hard times Cassidy has had another dad in her life, her stepdad, Hank. He has solely supported her and provided for her since she was 2-years-old. This is the man she has come to know as "dad." As a result, she wanted to do something very special for him. She wanted to propose to him to legally adopt her as his own. Hank loves Cassidy as his own and he has been her full time father in so many ways: financially, emotionally and psychologically. Now it's time for him to be allowed to be her legal father as well." #LoveWhatMatters Credit: Deidre-Hank Blankenship
Posted by Love What Matters on Tuesday, September 12, 2017
But there was one last surprise in store for the devoted dad. Alexander, now 21, asked to be adopted as well.
Deidre says Hank "almost never cries," but this surprise definitely turned on the water works. This special video was filmed last year, but has been making the rounds on Facebook since Deidre shared it.
It's the perfect reminder of the message that Cassidy wrote on a shirt for her (now official) father: "Being a dad requires love, not DNA."
Share this heartwarming video with someone you know!
[H/T: StoryTrender]
