Wesley Foster, right, talks motorcycles with Josh Griffin during a visit from the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association on Sunday morning in Pendleton. Members of the association delivered Christmas presents to Foster and his brother.

PENDLETON — After having not seen her children for more than four years, Ivamay Tallman was reunited with her two sons last week. When Tallman left her sons with their father to move to Oregon, she assumed that they would be in safe hands and would be able to join her shortly.

“When I left their dad, I thought I could come out here and get a roof over their head and then go back to get them,” she said. “Hindsight is 20/20.”

Tallman received a call on Dec. 11 from the Iowa Department of Human Services saying that her boys’ father was no longer fit to take care of them and if she was unable to take them in, they would be put into the foster care system. Within hours, she and her mother were packed up for the drive to Iowa to go and pick up her children.

“(The boys) had been told they didn’t know how to reach me and I had been getting head games (from their father) for quite awhile,” Tallman said. “When they finally said, ‘You need to come get them it’s become a CPS-type matter,’ I said, ‘I’ll be right there.’”

Though Tallman was fraught with emotions throughout the nearly 24-hour drive, she and her mother drove nearly continuously to get to Iowa, stopping only for the occasional smoke break to calm her nerves. With years of no communication, Tallman was unsure how her boys would react to seeing her again.

Upon arriving, Tallman’s son, TJ, 12, said that he greeted his mom with a big hug. TJ said that it feels “awesome” to be back with his mom. His brother, Wesley Foster, 14, agreed.

“It’s difficult to readjust to a new house and new school,” said TJ Tallman. “I’m not used to rules.”

In Iowa, Wesley Foster had been taking care of his brother as the pair lived largely unsupervised in an apartment, with their father rarely coming home or providing rules, according to Ivamay Tallman. TJ Tallman said that he likes having rules again and the pair is anxiously awaiting school at Sunridge Middle School after the holidays.

While Ivamay Tallman is elated to have her boys back, she and her fiance, Jim Russell, are both on disability and are working to make ends meet with their newly expanded family.

“It takes a little getting used to,” she said.

When Russell heard about the condition the boys were in, he swallowed his pride and reached out for help on Facebook in search of donated clothing or toys. Within hours, members of the Brotherhood United Motorcycle Association and the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association reached out to see how they could help.

“I had to swallow my pride and ask for help for them, and that’s OK,” Russell, a U.S. Army veteran, said. “You could see the bones on them.”

Members of Brotherhood United Motorcycle Association took the family to the Tri-Cities on Saturday to go shopping for new clothing and to eat a hearty meal. Derek Turner, with Brotherhood United, said that being able to help families and veterans in need are the core reasons for the association.

“We’re helping a veteran, but we’re also helping a family in our community,” said Turner. “It’s just what we do. We’re always looking for those in need of help.”

The family said that the trip was beyond anything they could have asked for and it is even more special to be able to provide some new clothes for the kids and have a nice experience as a reunited family.

While the family was elated with Saturday’s shopping trip, the Christmas surprises continued on Sunday. Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association arrived with the thunder of their motorcycles to deliver Christmas gifts to the boys. Josh Griffin, the chapter commander with the CVMA, said that he is thankful that the group was in a position to help.

“None of us get paid a lot, but when we come together, it’s amazing what we can do,” he said. “All of us have been deployed to combat zones and seen the worst in life, so it is important to celebrate the good.”

Although the family will wait until Christmas to open the presents, Griffin said that gifts contained games, toys and clothing as well as Christmas dinner fixings for the whole family.

“This is why we exist,” he said. “These memories will last a lifetime for the family.”

Despite the gifts and support from the community, the family said that there are still a few hurdles for the family to overcome. The family is currently residing in a one-bedroom apartment and, due to the sudden expansion, are now over the occupancy limit for their unit.

“We’re looking for a new place because right now we’re over occupancy,” said Russell. “Our landlord is awesome but there are rules in place and we are over the limit.”

As the family looks for a place to live, they take solace in the fact that so many people have helped them have a special Christmas experience.

“I’m really surprised that so many people would help people like this that they don’t even know,” said Ivamay Tallman. “I’m speechless.”