WOOHOO.....IT"S A GIRL!!!!!

[oshinbreez]

David has a new sister.

He got to talk to his sister that was adopted for the first time tonight.

 

[Kaleigh]

Oh that''s great news!! I bet he is thrilled!!! You''ll have to give us more details, etc... But very happy for David and for you!!

 

[diamondfan]

O, could you refresh my memory? Is this the sibling you have been trying to find with little to go on? (or am I confusing this with another thread). If so, how wonderful! I hope they get to meet and make up for lost time!

 

[monarch64]

Yup, I need a refresher course as welll......but Congrats!!! You sound ecstatic and it is contagious, I am smiling as i read this post!!

 

[Harleigh]

Congratulations!

More details when you have time, please!

 

[oshinbreez]

Thanks. We are thrilled. The search really didn''t take too long, but the story to find her is long.

We had very limited information on his sister. Her name at birth, approximate age, and the county in Ohio where we thought that she lived. David''s dad had contact with her back in the 60''s when she got married, but David didn''t find out about that until years later. When his dad passed away, he found a letter written by a lawyer saying that the foster family wanted to adopt the sister....so now I had a last name. My sister is heavily into genealogy, so I asked her to help. We couldn''t find anything at all about David''s sister. With records in Ohio being sealed, there wasn''t much we could do. Boy was I disappointed.

Then, one day I realized that my class reunion was this year, and I got an idea. I knew approximately when she would have graduated from HS, and knew the area where she lived, so I decided to post a profile on classmates.com, schoolnews.com and reunion.com stating how I was looking for David''s sister, range of years she graduated, and the school I thought that she went to. I posted my profile for 10 or so different schools. On schoolnews, people can make their email addresses public, so I started emailing them.

My first big break was when a lady emailed me and said she had looked through her alumni directory, and that she found her name along with a married name and the exact year she graduated. I updated all of my profiles, and started emailing more people that graduated the year she graduated, or that had her married last name. People kept giving me bits and pieces of information, but I still couldn''t find his sister.

A few days ago, I got an email from someone that knew his sister and the first name of the man she married. Also that they got divorced and he had passed away recently. I started looking at newspaper archives in the area to find his death announcement. That gave the names of siblings, sons and daughters. I still didn''t know if any of the children would have been hers, but found information on them. There was a daughter that I was positive was his sisters child, so I had David call her. Well, she wasn''t, but she knew of his sister, and she contacted other family members that might know where she was.

Then, David''s sister called him last night.

Sorry so long.

There were so many brick walls along the way, but with the help of everyone that gave me bits of info here and there, she was found.

If anyone is looking for someone, just keep looking. Another site to try is gsunitedstatesadoptionregistry.com There are a lot of people on there looking for loved ones.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oshin - what a great story! I'm so happy that your persistance paid off and that David has finally connected with his sister!!!

 

[oshinbreez]

Thanks Dee Jay. I''m so excited for him. I just talked to him a few minutes ago and he''s still on cloud nine with finally talking to her. He called his other sister and she''s excited too. Tomorrow, we have to take family pictures so they can send them to the new sis.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Oshin, I forgot to ask, are they geographically close enough that it will be easy for them to get together? I''m sure they are very eager to meet in person!

 

[oshinbreez]

Date: 8/4/2007 9:22:18 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
Oshin, I forgot to ask, are they geographically close enough that it will be easy for them to get together? I''m sure they are very eager to meet in person!

We live in FL and new sis lives in Michigan. David and I both have family in Ohio, so I guess next time we go up, we''ll have to continue on up to Michigan. Or, the girl I thought was her daughter, which happens to be a niece or cousin, lives in Ohio close to my DIL''s parents. Which is about 75 miles from my family. So, it might be possible for her to come down to Ohio.

They are excited to meet. We weren''t planning on taking another trip to Ohio until next year, since David was up in June when his dad passed, and we were up the beginning of July for my aunt''s birthday party. But, it looks like we might try to take a short trip in Sept or Oct if he can get a few days off work before it gets too cold up there.

Thanks for asking.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Wow! What a story. Congrats on finding her!

 

[anchor31]

That''s a beautiful story... I''m so glad he got to find his sister.

 

[Joolskie]

Oh wow Oshinbreez... this is very exciting news. I truly hope that this is the start of something wonderful for both David and his sister.

I am a reunited adoptee. Back in 1998 when DH and were getting ready to start our own family, I decided it was time for me to find out about my own background. The first thing I did was register the International Soundex Reunion Registry. Turns out my birth dad had registered himself six years before I did. He and I are now very close.

This is such a special time for David and his sister.

 

[Harleigh]

Congratulations! That is a beautiful story, oshin!

A friend of mine found her birth mother, but she passed away before they could meet. However, she found some half-siblings and is also going to meet her father next week, in fact!

My mom is adopted and refused to allow us to look for anyone, which saddens me, but I suppose it is her choice. Maybe one day she will change her mind...I sure hope so!

 

[oshinbreez]

Thanks all.

Yesterday we spent the day with his sister that lives in the area. David just found her within the past 5 years or so. K (sis here) hasn''t quite gotten over the shock of having a sister yet. I was hoping that David would call L (MI sis) while we were at K''s yesterday, but it will have to wait for a week or 2. K wasn''t too receptive to the idea of talking to L yet. I was a little disappointed, but it is THEIR sis, so when K is ready, it will happen.

Since I found L for David, my sis is having me try to help find the mom of a girl she went to school with. Hopefully there will be a happy end for her search too.

Joolskie: Thanks for the info about International Soundex Reunion Registry. I passed the info on to my sis for her friend. And congratulations on finding your dad.

Harleigh: Hopefully your mom will change her mind about finding her mother. You have a right to know about your birth grandmother.

L told David she found her birth father, but he''d passed away a few years prior. David, L and K all have the same mother but different fathers. David also has a brother and sis from his dad''s 2nd marriage which he was raised with. After all the searching I''ve done, it makes me feel so lucky to have my family....even if we do have our differences and don''t talk much. I need to try to have a closer relationship with my own family.

 

[oshinbreez]

I have to share a story David told me he found out while talking to his new sis yesterday.

L used to ride horses. She was in all kinds of competitions. Every once in a while when she was practicing, people would stop and watch her. As she was growing up, there was a couple she''d see every so often. The people would always stop and chat with her and then she wouldn''t see them for quite a while.

When L was getting married, she called David''s dad (father on her BR, but not her actual birth father) since her foster father had died to walk her down the aisle. When David''s dad and step mom showed up, L noticed that they were the same nice couple that would stop by to see her every so often.

 

[oshinbreez]

I keep asking David questions about his new sis and he says he hasn''t asked her any questions. He said he doesn''t want her to feel like he''s giving her the 3rd degree. I think she''d feel like he was interested in getting to know her. He doesn''t even know where she lives besides MI. He also doesn''t know if she has kids, grandkids etc. Or her husbands name.

Am I being nosy?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I don''t think you are being nosy just curious and interested. I think those are pretty straight forward questions. He must have a reason for wanting to take it slow though.

 

[Joolskie]

Date: 8/9/2007 6:52:36 PM
Author: oshinbreez
I keep asking David questions about his new sis and he says he hasn't asked her any questions. He said he doesn't want her to feel like he's giving her the 3rd degree. I think she'd feel like he was interested in getting to know her. He doesn't even know where she lives besides MI. He also doesn't know if she has kids, grandkids etc. Or her husbands name.


Am I being nosy?

You're not being nosy Oshin. Reunions can be delicate though. Neither side wants to come on too strong and risk turning the other off. It is totally normal to tread lightly at first.

While my birth dad and I bonded quickly... my aunts were concerned about coming on too strong even though they really wanted contact with me. They did not want to overwhelm me. And I really appreciated that they recognized this. Having a whole bunch of new family members takes a little getting used to!

 

[oshinbreez]

Thanks for the input.

I''m letting him handle it the way he wants to now.