Quote From: alone86hey amanda. my name is jenna and i wasn't adopted, but my half-brother was. my mom always told us that she had a baby before she was married and gave him up for adoption, but she didn't know where he was or how to find him. turns out his adoptive parents always let him know he was adopted, so when he got older, he wanted to find my mom. (also his real mom) anyway, when he was 19 he found us and we have been in touch with eachother ever since. that is a happy ending and i thought i would share it just so others could be encouraged if they are having a difficult time finding their birth parents. well, that's all i wanted to say. i'm sure they think about you every day if they are still alive.
Jenna
Dear Amanda,
For some reason, I thought you were on another board a long, long time ago and we had talked. Anyway, I used to go to Truth Seekers and it was in Park Ridge, IL. I don't know if they have that near you, but that helped me a lot!!! I went for a year to prepare myself to find my son. After that, a Private Investigator used by Truth Seekers found him for me at a minimal fee in a day!! He was living in Colorada at the time and it took another year of great e-mails to finally meet him. I guess we were both very scared. But all worth it. What a relief 
!!!! This whole thing started in 1998 (I think). We used to keep in touch more, but I realize he has his own life and so do I. It's been shaky and it's been great. It definitely did have a huge impact on me. I was so happy he was alive and well. That was all I wanted in the beginning. Then I couldn't talk to him enough. Everything has died down. He married in April and wrote me in July or Aug. So we do not go to any family functions at all with each other. So you see, it is a slow process learning all of this, but that's how I did it.
I thought maybe if you could find Truth Seekers in your area, you may want to hook up with them and go to some meetings. It definitely prepared me for what was to come.
There wasn't a day after he was born that I didn't think about him. I gave him up (with no choice at the time) with a ton of love and wished so hard I could have kept him. I was only 17 and now I see after raising my own, it would have been impossible.
Take care Amanda and I am rooting for you!!
Susie
