HUTCHINSON, Kansas, March 12, 2008  --  Allen Wuthnow was serving in Iraq when he says his then wife started seeing Aron Pritchard.

He believes that's when Pritchard started mentally abusing his daughter and physically abusing his son.

“The first time I got to see them was when Adrian was in the hospital for the second clavicle break," Wuthnow told KSN in an exclusive interview.

But Wuthnow says his wife got custody of the kids and the abuse continued.

"They started coming to me with visits with black eyes, or Adrian would come with black eyes, fat lips, bruises on his arms where just somebody grabbed them," he said.  "It tore me up because I knew by law; I had to put them back in that environment."

Pritchard wasn't arrested until law enforcement learned that he had put the two year old boy and three year old girl in a running dryer.  The boy suffered second degree burns over five percent of his body.

"I wanted to get them out of there right then," Wuthnow said.

The children were finally removed from the home and after a week in state's custody, were placed in the care of Wuthnow and his new wife Elizabeth.

Fifteen months later Pritchard would go to court, where a jury found him guilty of child abuse and aggravated endangerment.

"Friday was I would say the best day of my life besides seeing them born," Wuthnow said.

For sentencing the couple has prepared a victim's impact statement that details the scars left behind.

"He regularly has nightmares yelling ‘no stop’ holding his hands up to protect himself," Elizabeth Wuthnow read from the statement.

Still, they try to assure the two children they're safe now.

"With faith, you know, we're gonna make it we’re gonna make it as a family," said Elizabeth Wuthnow.