Facebook

I have been sharing my story on Facebook for a year now. I started by uploading my video of the new report from 8 years ago to my youtube and asking my Facebook friends to share it. Some did, but most didn't. Nothing ever came of it. I always knew that Facebook was my best bet in finding my family. With all the people on Facebook, someone on there has to be in my family. 

In January I made a Facebook page with the name Maybelle.  Maybelle was the name given to me by the Tulsa PD. The paper quoted the Tulsa PD as saying "We have to name the baby out of necessity so since she was found in a Mae Belle phone booth we named her Maybelle." I figured that would be the name my birth mom would recognize. I posted pics from the newspaper articles that I have from 1978. I asked my friends to share but again, not much came of it. I have been sharing my story on Facebook, twitter, instagram, vine, youtube and blogging. All in hopes that my birth family will see it. 

When I read that the Burger King baby found her mom I was so excited! It gives me hope that I am on the right track. Her mom saw her post after 11 days. That is amazing!! 

I spent all day Friday making a poster! Yes it took me all day to trace out the letters. lol  there is so much that I wanted to say but not much room on the poster. I had my husband take a picture of me holding the poster. This is the finished product. 

I posted this Friday at about 4pm on my Facebook page. I asked that everyone please share it. The response has been amazing. As of this morning this pic has been shared over 5,000 times on Facebook!! WOW!! I am overjoyed and scared. Its a crazy mix of emotions. I don't want the sharing to stop until I find her. It took the Burger King baby 33,000 shares before her mom saw it. So I am well on my way. 

I have gotten so many kind comments and messages from people all over the United States. The kind words mean so much to me. I think people have no idea how much this all means to me. I have got a few rude remarks too, but thats ok. Haters gonna hate I guess. Someone even called me a 'prom date dumpster baby.' But thankfully the outpouring of kind messages and comments have way out weighed the negative ones. 

I received one message last night that may be a lead on a sister. I don't want to say to much about it right now. I know that there can be some false leads before I find the right one. I am going to follow all leads until I find my family. I am going to be calling her today to talk and see if we may be related. I will keep you posted on this lead. I am really not getting my hopes up on anything until I know for sure. I guard my heart very closely. I guess its one of the side affects of being abandoned. I don't want to set myself up for a let down. 

I am very nervous about this call though. I am not sure what to say or what is going to come of it. I have never been this close before. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone that has been sharing my story. It means everything to me!! My dream for as long as I can remember is to find my family and with everyones help by sharing my story I am closer than I have ever been. Please keep sharing. The more times it is shared the closer I am to being reunited with my family. Feel free to share it on any social media or anywhere that you may think will help. Feel free to leave me comments too. Believe it or not your words keep me going. Just knowing that there are people standing behind me on this helps me find the strength inside myself to keep going. Thank you all so much!!

Check out my full story on youtube

Tube of Spit

I was beyond excited when the UPS man  rang my door bell. I answered the door smiling from ear to ear. He had no way of knowing that he was delivering something I have been waiting years to receive. 
I ripped open the box to see what was inside. Who knew it would be so simple. The first thing I saw was the instruction book. It instructed me to go online and enter the number on the tube to activate the test. This is how the test is linked to me. Next it stated that you can't eat, drink, smoke, or chew gum 30 minutes prior to the test. So i decided to wait and do it right when I woke up Thursday morning.
This morning I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm went off. After tossing and turning for several minutes I decided to get up and take the test. I got out the instruction book and reread it to make sure I was doing everything correct. I opened the tube from the package. The instruction book says to fill the tube up to the wavy line with spit. This felt very odd spitting into a tube. It read that its only 1/4 of a teaspoon but it felt like a cup of spit. I didn't think I was ever going to reach the wavy line, but I finally did. 
The next step is to screw the included lid onto the tube and shake it. This releases the sustaining solution. Once I shook the tube my spit mixed with the solution and the tube was filled. I put the tube in the included bag and then box. Then it was ready to ship. 
I was still excited when I placed that box in the mailbox for the postman to pick up. My future is in that little box. Who knew my spit could answer so many questions for me? This was so simple I can't believe it has taken me this long to do it. I should receive the results in 6-8 weeks. Knowing me I will be checking the status of the test daily. 
More exciting news….
One person I contacted yesterday on adopted.com contacted me today. Her aunt told her that her mother had a baby girl in 1978 and she was adopted in Oklahoma. That is really all she knows. She wants to see if we are a match. I'm not getting my hopes up because this is really the first person ever that has even been a possibility. I will keep everyone posted on what we find out. 
A lot of exciting things are happening in my search. I am closer than I have ever been to finding some answers. Thank you to everyone who has been sharing my story and praying for me. I truly appreciate your support. This search is not easy, but the more my story is shared the closer I get to the right person seeing it!!

Adoption Registry

Back in 2006 I spent countless hours scrolling through registries looking for some kind of match, only to always turn up with nothing. It was always so frustrating and disappointing. I quit looking through the registries and haven't looked since. Today that all changed.
I registered with Adopted.com. It seems to be a helpful website that matches you based on key words and dates and locations. I have thousands of possible matches on this site. The site breaks down the matches based in a percentage. I looked through all the 90% and 80% matches. I actually found a few to message back. They didn't have all the details but if they are looking for a baby girl adopted in Oklahoma in 1978 I sent them a message. I have thousands more to look through. I'm not getting my hopes up but it is nice to feel like I am actively searching every outlet that I can.
I read so many stories on there while I searched. So many sad stories. So many people searching. I want to share a bio from one i read that really touched my heart.
"My child was conceived on a mansion in Long Island, NY. I was attending a party with some older friends and the mother of my child and I met there. She was brought to the party by them. She was not from our town. She was beautiful, petite, strawberry blond hair. I never saw her again until about 10 years later. I saw a picture in a window of a tattoo parlor. On her back was a tattoo of a tiger. She still had the most beautiful strawberry blond hair. I saw her again 10 years later. She saw me and when the man she was with went to the bathroom, she came around to my side of the bar and said, "I had your baby 20 years ago. It was a girl and I gave her up for adoption. My husband doesn't know about it" Then she walked to the other side of the bar. He cmd out and they left. I never saw her again. This was a long time ago and noone remembers her name. I have no children to identify with…. but I do have a daughter. I would love to find her to complete my life and hers. Thank you for your time."
There were so many touching stories like this. I am just so shocked at all the people searching for each other.
The second registry I registered on was Findmyfamily.com. This site was not as easy to use. I registered so all my information is there. I only saw 2 matches for Oklahoma in 1978 and both are not matches to me. The positive thing about this site is I am registered on it so if anyone is looking for me on there, they can find me. I always try to provide as much information as possible, but sometimes this is hard because I don't have much info.
The last place i went was adoptionregistry.com. I was registered with this site in 2006. Every week I get an email of every new entry for oklahoma. I always read these emails and there has never been a match. I went in today and updated my profile and entered a new post. It is a great site because it is broke down by state. This makes it extremely helpful while searching.
I will admit searching adoption registries is very time consuming. After reading through so many you start to feel like an emotional roller coaster. I know in the end when I am reunited with my family it will all be worth it!!
Thank you all who are following me and helping me with your prayers and support. If you want to see my full story you can search baby maybelle on youtube. You can follow Baby Maybelle on instagram or May Belle on Facebook.   Please feel free to share my story. Honestly sharing my story is the only way I have to find my family. So the more who share the better chance I have. Thank you so much!!

DNA Test

One HUGE question that I have always had has been 'what nationalities I am". I am a natural redhead but not a typical redhead. Most redheads are known to be fair complected and burn easy, but I am just the opposite. I am really dark complected and tan easily, rarely burning. My hair is a deep auburn red. It seems to lighten in the summer and darken in the winter. My eyes are a very dark brown. Because of the uniqueness of my hair/skin tone combination I often get asked where I get the red hair and dark skin from and my only reply is "I don't know, I'm adopted.
My 3 daughters are also very curious to know what ethnicity we are. We talk about it often. We like to joke and say that we are hawaiian. This particular joke came about when we noticed that my skin tone matched my daughters American girl doll Kanani's. Kanani is from Hawaii.  It was fun to joke and think that maybe we could be from somewhere amazing like Hawaii.
It doesn't really matter to me what nationality I am. It is the not knowing that is a struggle. I have no heritage to be proud of. No ancestry to research. Nothing to relate to. I can honestly say this part of being abandoned has been a huge struggle. Its a big void with a lot of answered questions.
This is all about to change!! I saw a commercial on the television about Ancestry DNA. The ancestry.com site offers DNA tests. It traces your ethnicity. I was so excited. I went to the site to get more information. The test is $99. That seems like pocket change for finally getting the answers I have so desperately wanted. I knew instantly I wanted to order the test. But first I needed to talk it over with my husband. After telling him what i had found he said "go for it" .
When I went back to the website to order the DNA test kit I noticed something even more amazing! If my DNA matches anyone else who has done a DNA test I will receive their names with my results!!! Can you believe that? Have the answers been here the whole time? Now I know its a long shot of me finding a match. But it is still a shot. I haven't ever had a chance like this before.
I ordered the test last night. I paid extra for the express shipping. It should be here Wednesday. It is a saliva swab test. The only down fall is I won't get the results back for 6-8 weeks. I have waited 35 years, so I think another couple months will be ok.
If I receive names of DNA match or not, I will still finally find out my ethnicity and have a break down of my genetic pattern. I am pretty excited. If you want to know more about the DNA test check it out at ancestry.com. There is a lot of good information there under the DNA tab.
Please help me in my search by sharing my story everywhere you can on all social media outlets. It will only take one person knowing my bio family to help me reunite with them. That one person may be on your friends list. Please join me to in prayer that I will be reunited with my family.