BOISE, Idaho ÔÇô The journey of life often takes many unusual twists and turns along its winding way. The road to winning one of the biggest jackpots offered on a Lottery scratch ticket, a quarter of a million dollars, can often be even stranger. Put the two roads together and one might think that winning $250,000 from the Idaho Lottery could be one of the biggest blessings of a lifetime. But for one Eagle man, the journey taken could be more worthwhile than the destination where he arrived.

The story of John Edom began with humble beginnings. Forty-two years ago, his birth mother gave him up for adoption in Portland, Oregon. Fast forward ÔÇô after attending Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Edom moved to Boise 21 years ago to work for Hewlett Packard. He has raised two sons in the Treasure Valley and has led a good life. Last December, his course took a new turn when found his birth mother and became reunited with a family he never knew he had.

"It was the most awesome connection," explained Edom on meeting his birth mother for the first time. "It was just phenomenal."

"It was around the holidays and I got a call from my mother," described Edom's sister, Michelle Edwards who currently lives in Napa, California. "She said 'I have something to tell you that I've never told anyone in 42 years. You have an older brother and I just met him for the first time, today'."

Edom was united with his family for the first time this past March. After months of e-mails and letters, Edom took his two sons to the Napa Valley for a weekend in mid-May. After a "fantastic" visit, he convinced his new-found sister and brother-in-law to bring their daughter and visit Boise over Memorial Day weekend.

"I told them they needed to come and visit us in Boise," said Edom, who works as a manager for Hewlett Packard. "I even donated frequent flier miles to make the trip happen."

Edwards, her husband Dan Fischl and their daughter flew to Boise late Thursday evening last week for the Memorial Day weekend. So excited was Edom to have them in Idaho, he arrived at the airport 30 minutes early to pick them up.

"He's never on time for anything, in fact he's usually late," said Ben Edom, his youngest son.

Postponing the reunion was a flight delay. The plane from the Bay Area was two hours behind schedule. Edom ventured into the Airport Chevron to buy a drink and an Idaho Lottery scratch ticket, the $20 Idaho Millions game.

"I scratched the numbers off, but not the prizes. I like to see if I win anything before I actually see what I won," described Edom. "I matched only one number, so I started scratching the prize amount and there were a lot of big zeros and then I saw the prize. I didn't believe it!"

Edom had scratched off a winning Idaho Lottery ticket worth $250,000. "I just started freaking out. I signed the back of the ticket but I was totally freaking out!" he said. "When I finally got home, I hid the ticket under the mattress."

He returned to the airport, greeted his sister and brother-in-law and then told them he had just won $250,000 from the Idaho Lottery. Welcome to Idaho.

For their part in selling the winning ticket, Airport Chevron will receive a bonus of $20,000. Wanting to share the news of his win, Edom called the store location to tell them he'd won.

"After 29 years in the business, you meet a lot of wise guys," admitted Scott Eddy, owner of the Airport Chevron. "I didn't believe him. I thought it was a friend pulling my leg."

"It's been tough, between the economy and road construction around the airport," Eddy added about how his iconic store at the entrance to Boise Airport has been doing. "We believe good things happen to people who do it right and work hard, so this is much needed for us."

Appropriately, Edom, his sister, brother-in-law and family joined him in claiming the winning ticket in Boise on Friday at Idaho Lottery headquarters. He plans to donate some of his winnings to his Church, set aside a portion for his boys' college funds, and use the rest to spend time with his new-found family doing non-work related activities.

"If I hadn't found my family, if I hadn't been picking them up at the airport, if the plane hadn't been late, if I hadn't gone into the Chevron," Edom ruminated. "All these things put me in the exact right spot at the exact right moment. Wow."

Later this year, Edom's sister and brother-in-law are moving to southeastern Australia to open a winery. The distance and resources to continue this found relationship were seemingly in jeopardy until Edom's sudden windfall.

There are many destinations along the road of life, but for John Edom, the family he discovered on his way to winning the Idaho Lottery was the better part of the journey.

"Winning this, at this time will give me the opportunity to maintain the relationship once they move." Edom said. "All the money aside though, the biggest blessing is definitely finding my family and getting to know them, no question about it."

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