Samantha Thomas, of Owasso, Oklahoma, who was adopted at 2 days old, wanted to search for her birth parents after realizing “how big of a sacrifice giving up a child was.”
At 16, she met one high schooler who had given up a baby for adoption.
Samantha began searching for her birth parents when she was 18, without success.
Almost 10 years later, she tried searching again. She was even more adamant to find them after becoming a mom herself.
This time round, she was ecstatic to learn that they had left her a letter, a blanket, and a photo.
However, hope of finding her birth parents was dashed when she was told the attorney had recently destroyed the letter and photo.
Samantha was devastated, hurt, and angry.
She was left with one last option—to get her birth mom’s name through the original, unsealed birth certificate.
To do that, she drove 2.5 hours to see a judge to retrieve the closed adoption record.
It wasn’t an easy task, but somebody happened to work her a miracle.
“Without even stepping foot in the courtroom the judge signed off on my request and, an hour later, I had my sealed birth certificate in hand,” Samantha wrote for Love What Matters.
On the certificate was her birth mom’s beautiful name—Valerie Lopez.
With the pieces of information she had from her adopted parents—her birth dad’s name was Eddy, and that they lived in the Chicago area—Samantha scoured the white pages for “Valerie Lopez, Chicago.”
She narrowed down the pages of search results, and one result caught her attention. “It had the correct middle initial and it said she was related to an Eddy!” Samantha wrote.
Samantha then took to Facebook to search for her mother. She found one person—the similarities between this woman and herself were incredible.
Samantha’s husband urged her to reach out to this woman; she did.
Samantha sent a voicemail and an email, introducing herself.
She nervously waited for her reply.
Four days went by, then on Friday, she received an email that read: “Hi Samantha, Thank you for reaching out to me. I am your birth mother.”
“Please know the decision I made at 19 years old on January 5th, 1990, was the biggest mistake of my life. I am full of regret and that will never change.”
Her birth mom’s reply left Samantha crying her heart out.
The following morning, Samantha called her birth mom for the first time. “Her voice was so warm,” she recalled.
They chatted on the phone, and Samantha found out she married her birth dad four years after they had her. They had two more boys and a girl and had been married for 23 years before divorcing.
Knowing she had three full siblings, Samantha cried hysterically.
Her birth dad, Eddy, was over the moon to find Samantha. Eddy had once searched for her, to no avail.
“I called him, and he answered but I didn’t even get a sentence out before he broke down,” Samantha wrote.
On Aug. 1, 2017, Valerie and Eddy broke the news about Samantha to their three children—Alex, Bri, and Neeko.
Finally, on the morning of Sept. 2, 2017, Samantha nervously embarked on a trip to Chicago with her husband and kids to unite with her birth parents—Valerie, Eddy, and her full siblings.
It was a touching reunion filled with tears and hugs.
The journey that led to this reunion was a roller coaster ride. Thankfully, the ending was a happy one.
Samantha not only put together the missing pieces of her life’s puzzle, but she has also gained the love of an entire new family: her own family.
“My heart is so full,” Samantha wrote.
Wishing Samantha all the best for her future happiness together with her newfound family!
