Readers who are following the saga of Paige (Moyer) Zezulka know that sometimes good deeds do indeed get rewarded. The former Valley resident was recently featured in the Town and Country after she and her husband adopted three children,

            The Zezulka's Facebook video announcing the adoption of the oldest child, Ivey, attracted national attention and, this week, led to an appearance on Ellen DeGeneres' show where several surprises awaited the family.

            Last Sunday, the family flew from Georgia to Los Angeles to prepare for the Tuesday taping.

            The Zezulka's shared billing with actor Mark Wahlberg, who ironically is starring in and producing a just-about-to-be-released movie called Instant Family. The film's description on the IMDb site reads: "A couple find themselves in over their heads when they adopt three children."

            On the set of Tuesday's show, available at ELLENTUBE.com, Wahlberg sat on the couch with Paige, a 2005 Upper Perk graduate, her husband Daniel and ten-year-old Ivey as they conversed with DeGeneres about the circumstances that led to the adoptions.

            "We had no experience. I'll say that," Daniel told Ellen and the audience.

            "It is instant family," the host responded.

            Wahlberg, who has starred in movies such as The Departed, Ted, Patriot's Day, Lone Survivor, and, a movie with a Philadelphia Eagles connection, Invincible, presented the Zezulka's with their first surprise.

            "On behalf of the movie Instant Family," Wahlberg said, "we would love to donate a check to you guys for $25,000."

            The astonished couple and their child expressed their gratitude to the actor.

            DeGeneres and Wahlberg expect that the Zezulka's story will inspire many people to foster children.

            Pointing at Ivey, DeGeneres observed, "Just look at the joy that you get to experience every single day on her face."

            But the money wasn't the only surprise.

            The Zezulka's, with Ivey sitting behind the wheel, participated in a car commercial skit with DeGeneres and Wahlberg. At the end of the skit, Ellen gave the new Chevrolet to the family, hopefully an upgrade over the minivan Paige has been driving.

            After the presentation of the car, Kai and Lita joined everyone on stage with Lita giving Ellen a big hug.

            Paige has become an ardent advocate for foster care. She was taken aback by the statistics in her Georgia county. "It was something like over 250 foster kids and only eleven open foster homes," she told the Town and Country. She repeated that statistic on the show on Tuesday.

            After being inspired to become foster parents, the Zezulka's underwent training and decided to start fostering as soon as possible. On the day after they were approved by the state, the couple acted on a request to take in Kai, then five months old.

They eventually learned that Kai had an older sister, Ivey, and that the birth mother was pregnant with Lita. In 2016, Daniel and Paige took in Kai's siblings also.

The Zezulkas, who married in 2013, made the decision to formally adopt all three of the kids this year.

After the show, Paige posted on Facebook: "We are praying that people will consider being foster parents or helping in the foster system! There are so many AMAZING children like our Ivey, Kai and Lita. God has blessed us more than we could have ever asked for or imagined.

"We had the best time with Ellen and Mark!  We're still in complete shock!"