Amazing

There are so many things that I can classify in my life as amazing, and I think this is one of them.  Saturday night a stranger knocked on our door.  After a few minutes we learned that he was my mother-in-law’s long lost brother.  He found us through extensive on-line and physical searches through records and archives.  Our address just happens to be the same one my husband’s mother had once resided at. (Our home was a boarding house for a long time, she had rented here while finishing high school!)

Sadly, this isn’t my story to tell, but I can tell you some of it.  My mother-in-law was the second of five children.  They were removed from their parents when their father was imprisoned and their mother was unable to care for them.  There were horrible stories that went along with the life they lead prior to being removed.  Some of the children were adopted, a few spent the rest of their minor years as wards of the state in a local orphanage.  At the age of 17, MIL was on her own, finishing high school, and working.  She was able to remain in some contact with her siblings, but not her younger brother.  Both had tried in the past to find each other, but met with many roadblocks. 

We invited her brother to join us the next day for lunch.  He brought his wife and stacks of paperwork they had found from agencies that had handled their cases, as well as prison records that finally had all lead them to us.  We invited my husband’s brother and sister and talked about our plans.

Today my mother-in-law will see her brother for the first time in over 50 years.

Amazing.