{"id":501,"date":"2025-10-02T16:35:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=501"},"modified":"2025-10-02T16:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:35:20","slug":"i-want-to-surprise-him-to-make-it-official-boy-eagerly-asks-stepdad-to-adopt-him-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/?p=501","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I want to surprise him. To make it official.\u2019: Boy eagerly asks Stepdad to adopt him forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy name is Anna Snyder, I am a mom of four amazing children Robert (13), Brenden (12), Connor (11), and Clara-Marie (8). I want to take you back to the year of 2007. I was a senior in high school and found out I was pregnant. I was scared and did not know what to do. At that time, I had been dating my high school sweetheart for four years. His name was Justin Rye. Even though I was pregnant, I went on to graduate high school with my class.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On October 15, 2007, the most amazing blessing came into our lives. We named him Wilson Connor Rye, and decided to call him \u2018Connor\u2019 for short.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shortly after he was born, Justin and I got engaged and bought a house together. Life was amazing, but soon, it turned for the worse. On August 10, 2008, Connor\u2019s and my life changed forever. Justin had been shot and killed at a party. As everyone at the party stated, \u2018Justin was in the wrong place at the wrong time.\u2019<\/p>\n

Justin was standing up for a friend who was being bullied at the party and got shot in the process. The kid that shot Justin was sentenced to 21 years in prison. I was left a single mom and lost without my best friend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I questioned God, I yelled in anger, \u2018Why me?\u2019 I was angry with the boy who killed him, and I laid at night crying myself to sleep. However, my amazing family and friends picked up my broken heart and helped put it back together.<\/p>\n

My dad Jimmy stepped up and helped with \u2018fatherly duties.\u2019 Connor really didn\u2019t understand what happened because he was so young at the time. However, many questions ran in my mind. \u2018How will I ever explain what happened to my son\u2019s father?\u2019 \u2018Will I ever be able to do this by myself? This isn\u2019t fair for Connor to grow up not knowing his dad.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fast forward a few years to January 3, 2011. Connor and I would once again face another hardship together. My dad (Connor\u2019s grandad) had a tree stand accident. He fell out of a 20- foot tree stand, hit his neck on something, and passed away. Connor and I were once again left feeling lost, but now we were both without a father. Connor took this death a lot harder because he knew my dad and looked up to him. They were best buddies. They went hunting and fishing together all the time.<\/p>\n

A few days after my dad passed we went back to where the accident happened. As we were all standing in a circle, Connor said, \u2018Let\u2019s sing \u2018Jesus loves me.\u2019 My Pawpaw would love that.\u2019 It\u2019s the small things like this that make such a tragedy seem not so hard to bear.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In February 2012, I met the man who would forever change mine and Connor\u2019s life. Jonathan and I began dating and I quickly fell completely head over hills for this man. As so did Connor. They became best friends really quickly! I had dated men in the past and they just didn\u2019t understand our story, and most of the time, they didn\u2019t care to keep Justin apart of Connor\u2019s life. However, from the start, Jonathan told my family and me he would never try to replace Justin, but that he would be a dad to him and treat him like his own. I knew then that Jonathan would one day be my husband.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On August 12, 2012, that dream came true. Jonathan and I got married at a very small church wedding. So, I guess you can say August was a sad month that now can be celebrated as a great month. To us, Jonathan has always been Connor\u2019s father. This man stepped up and took care of this amazing little boy when his daddy was taken from this world. This man has helped kiss every wound, dried every tear, and is always cheering him on. I am forever grateful for this selfless and amazing man for treating Connor as his own. He has never tried to replace Justin and has never tried to take his place. He is not intimidated to talk to Connor about Justin, or teach him who his dad was.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In January of 2019, Connor came to me and asked if he could ask Jonathan to adopt him and make Jonathan his \u2018forever dad.\u2019 I told Connor that was the sweetest thing I had ever heard. \u2018Why do you want to do that?,\u2019 I asked him. \u2018To make it official,\u2019 he replied.<\/p>\n

\u2018Do you want to tell Jonathan, or would you like me to ask him?,\u2019 I questioned.<\/p>\n

\u2018No, I want to surprise him,\u2019 said my sweet boy.<\/p>\n

That is when we started the planning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Connor and I worked together to keep it a secret. I hired Lauren Prevette with Milly photography, SarahMarie Kelley for the sign, my make-up, and my hair. I contacted Carol Carter for the legal paperwork. I then contacted the immediate family which included my mom Marie, my sister Michelle, Justin\u2019s dad Danny, and Justin\u2019s sister Kayla.<\/p>\n

Justin\u2019s sister brought up a good point that struck me. \u2018Everyone hears the story about a child asking their stepparent to adopt them, but how many of you have heard it from the viewpoint of the family of the parent who passed away? Well here you go. I am so thrilled Connor asked Jonathon to adopt him, and I\u2019m even more thrilled I was asked to be a part of such a special day.\u2019<\/p>\n

Justin\u2019s dad agreed. \u2018I am thrilled to be a part of this special day! I couldn\u2019t have asked for a better man to raise my grandson or a better father.\u2019<\/p>\n

March 6, 2019, was the big day. Connor and I told Jonathan we were just having family pictures taken at our barn. After we took a few pictures, I sent Connor to the car to \u2018get the things I forgot.\u2019 However, the family and Connor were getting all set up for the surprise.<\/p>\n

I then said, \u2018Hey, Connor is taking too long. Let\u2019s go on back.\u2019 That\u2019s when I told Jonathan to close his eyes \u2013 we had a surprise. As we walked up, Jonathan kept saying, \u2018What is this?\u2019<\/p>\n

Once he got up to Connor, I said, \u2018Ok, open your eyes. Once he read the sign, he just started balling his eyes out.<\/p>\n

He kept saying, \u2018What is this, what is this?\u2019 He then grabbed Connor, hugged him and picked him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Son, did you want to do this?,\u2019 he asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Yes,\u2019 Connor replied. \u2018Will you be my dad forever?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Of course,\u2019 Jonathan said. \u2018Son, I already am!\u2019<\/p>\n

Robert the 13 year old is adopted too. His mom (Jonathan\u2019s sister) passed away when Robert was 6 weeks old. Brenden the 12 year old was from Jonathan\u2019s previous marriage. Clara-Maire 8 year old was born before I met Jonathan. We love our beautiful, blended family.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMy name is Anna Snyder, I am a mom of four amazing children Robert (13), Brenden (12), Connor (11), and Clara-Marie (8). I want to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":514,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storieshub.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}