Two years ago, Bryan Thouvenel's ex-partner took off with their then two-year-old daughter.
And despite doing everything he could, he was unable to find them.
But now father and daughter have been reunited, and their story is both heartbreaking and utterly joyous.
The father-of-three from Oregon, USA, knew only that his estranged partner had taken their girl, Harmony Rain, across the border to Washington, but had no further information on their whereabouts.
But last June, he had a stroke of luck.
A friend called him up to say that he thought he'd seen little Harmony at a Salvation Army homeless shelter in Spokane, Washington.
After hearing this, Bryan and his mum jumped into the car and drove the ten hours to find her.
Three months earlier, Bryan had been granted custody of his daughter, so he went to the Spokane local court where a judge ordered that Harmony and her mum front the local courthouse straight away.
Bryan was instructed to wait outside the courtroom, which he did, with bated breath.
"I sat there and the next thing you know I've got my daughter coming out, walking by herself," Bryan told the Statesman Journal.
"She's kind of looking around, and I said her name once. She kind of looked at me funny and I said ‘Harmony, it’s Daddy.’ Her eyes just kind of lit up."
Welling up, Bryan showed Harmony phone pictures of them together in the past, in an effort to help her remember how much he loved her.
"It made it all worth it, you know?," he said. "It was two years I fought through hell just to be a part of my daughter's life and she was back in my life."
In the aftermath of his difficult journey, Bryan took to Facebook to share a stream of new gorgeous pictures of him and his daughter. And the joy on their faces is just beautiful.
Despite the hell Bryan's been through, he has no desire to speak ill of his former partner.
"Nobody in this story is perfect, including the mother...but I will continue to take the high road on this and focus on the rebuilding with my daughter."
Continuing, he wrote: "“My focus is on my daughter. I will continue with that path. That’s the only thing that matters anyways. My child is healthy, happy, excelling in school and showing so much growth. I can not possibly be that bad? Huh?"
“To directly address my ex. I am here waiting to put our differences aside for the greater good of our daughter. The ball is in your court. This is not a battle field, this is our little girl’s life.”
What an amazing dad! Little Harmony is a very lucky little girl to have this man on her side.
Not-for-profit organisation Time to Put Kids First is sending Bryan and Harmony on an all expenses paid trip to Hawaii to cement their father-daughter bond even further.
“For two years she didn’t have any memories with me so they decided it would be a nice idea to send us over to Hawaii for a retreat,” Bryan told the Statesman Journal.
“It would be this huge memory that she would actually remember. Regardless of whatever happens in the future, she will always have this one memory with Dad.”
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