Monday, May 19, 2014

A Night at the Softball Field

I have been extremely busy since Spring Break. I have spent most of my nights, usually at least 4 nights a week at the softball fields. I have been blessed that most nights Emily and Katey play at the same place back to back. Its the little things like that I am so thankful for. Emily decided she wanted to play softball this year. She is 9 years old and never played ball, but this year she wanted to. So she started with coach pitch softball. She has a really good coach and they have won most their games. The coaches wife keeps the score book for the team and almost every game I sit a few people down from her if not next to her.
Tonight we started talking about our mutual love of Florida. We talked for quite a while about it. She made a comment about her sister and brother in law living in Florida. She said her brother in law has his own reality show and helps people find missing people!! My heart sunk when I heard this. I honestly thought I was hearing wrong. My husband asked her who her brother in law was and she answered "Troy Dunn."  I could not even believe it. I sat their in shock and laughing to myself. I sat here for weeks trying to get my story to Troy Dunn and his sister in law was sitting next to me  4 nights a week. I told her how I sat right here next to her and read Troy's book on my kindle. I told her my story. She gave me her email and I emailed her the link to this blog. We visited about it a little more and then she text her sister and told her she had an interesting story for her.
I have been told for months that I needed to get my story to Troy Dunn and now my story will get to him. It is no secret that I am not a big fan of living in this tiny little country town I live in. No offense to it, but I grew up in a small town and really loved it when I moved to a bigger city. I am tired of small town. I often wonder why we are here. It is not more convenient to work or really have any thing to offer us that we didn't already have before we moved here. I often wonder what God's plan is for us here.
As I sat at the softball game tonight I realized that I am in this town  for a reason. I don't know very many people in this town, but of the very few I know one is Troy Dunn's sister in law. I don't know what he will think of my story or if he will even think he will be able to help me. I know he gets thousands of requests a day and I really doubted if he would ever hear mine. I am so thankful for this connection that I made from my baby girl wanting to play softball. It reminded me that God is working in our favor when we don't even see  the result of it yet. All this time I have been so negative about living here and God was just paving the way for me to this divine connection. I am so thankful. Even if nothing comes of it, at least I know he heard my story.

I want to thank everyone who viewed and shared the story that Lori Fullbright did Friday night on News 6. If you missed it you can see it at www.newson6.com  I will upload the video to my blog once I get a copy.
I showed up at the park on Friday morning and I was nervous. I tried to hide it. I struggle with not knowing what she is going to ask and also talking about something so personal for everyone to see. I tell myself to stick to the facts and not so much emotion. Once Lori showed up I forgot everything I was nervous about. She is such an awesome lady. I really felt like I was just visiting with a friend.
 I wasn't nervous and forgot about the camera. I am very pleased with the story Lori Fullbright did. I am thankful for another divine connection. An amazing lady that has helped me with a few things on this journey is a friend of Lori's and she shared my story with Lori. I have been so blessed to meet so many nice people along this journey.

Thank you to everyone that has shared my story in any way. I believe it is from these shares that I am getting connections that could possibly lead me closer in my search. Please keep sharing. I believe that with every share I am a step closer to the end of my journey. I am going to sleep smiling tonight knowing that even when I don't see it God is in control and working in my favor.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Tulsa News 6 at 6pm tonight

My interview with Lori Fullbright today went great. She is such an awesome person. I'm so honored that she took time out of her day to talk with me about my story. I'll post the story here after it airs. If you can tune in tonight at 6pm to Tulsa channel 6. I'm excited to see what she puts together.  You can watch at newson6.com
 http://www.newson6.com/story/25540947/green-country-abandoned-in-phone-booth-at-birth-looking-for-parents

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Troy Dunn, Ancestry DNA, Mother's Day, News 6

 Softball games, cheer practices, and all the end of the school year activities have occupied most of my time the last few weeks. During all this I have had a lot of things happen with my search. I apologize for not blogging sooner.

Two weeks ago I saw a post on Troy Dunn's Facebook. He had helped a young man reunite with his family. Troy Dunn said that he received hundreds of emails asking him to help this man. I shared the video on my Facebook page. I also shared my story on Troy's Facebook page. I downloaded his book "Its never too Late: Lessons for life from the Locator" onto my kindle and read the whole thing in less than 24 hours. It was an amazing book for someone searching for a loved one. At the end of the book is a list of resources. I wanted to search all the resources, and that led me to the Locator's Club.
The locators Club  is a website ran by Troy Dunn and his staff.  I set up a profile and watched the getting started video. I was really excited with all the information I was getting. I noticed under the getting started video people left their story in the comments and Troy or a staff member responded. It appears that his staff is helping people in their search through this website. I immediately shared my story. I haven't received any response from them yet. I shared my story on that site and on Troy Dunn's Facebook page.  He gets thousands of requests a day so I know it is a long shot but hopefully he sees my story and wants to help.

I also watched his first quick start video. He gave me things to work on and I am excited to get started. I am hoping these steps get me closer in my search. There seem to be a lot of information on the Locators Club site and  I can't wait to read through it all.
When I first posted that picture on Facebook in March I met some amazing girls. It all started with their cousin who saw my post and thought it was her cousin. She shared the post for her cousins to see and messaged me. The resemblance between these two sisters and  I was remarkable. After chatting with them we thought there may be a chance that we could have the same father. I originally talked to DNA services of Oklahoma about doing a sibling DNA test with one of the sisters. That night was when a woman posing as my mother told me she was my mother. I changed the test from a sibling test to a maternity test and tested with the woman. It was not a match. After I found out she was lying to me the whole time we decided that one of the sisters could go ahead and test through ancestry. The results are longer to get, but the price is more manageable. Unfortunately we are not a match either. I was really disappointed. These are two amazing women with beautiful families. They were so open to welcome me in and I felt like they actually wanted me to be their sister. I called ancestry and told them my situation. I asked if their test would match half siblings and he said yes. One thing I have learned is that just because you have a strong resemblance to someone doesn't mean you are related :(.

 I have contacted my closest matches ( 3rd-4th cousins). Some have messaged back. Everyone is intrigued with my story and willing to help, but nobody knows anything. We don't even know how we are related. I have been considering doing the 23andme.com DNA test to see who I match there.
This past weekend, Mother's Day weekend, was when I was suppose to meet the woman who was posing as my biological mother. We were in the process of planning a trip to Ohio when she dropped the bomb on me that she had been lying. I celebrated my 36th Mother's Day still not knowing who my biological mother is. I believe that you can't understand what that's like unless you experience it. Despite this my children gave me an awesome Mother's Day. My youngest gave me tons of gifts she made for me at school. My middle daughter and her best friend cooked breakfast for me and then brownies. She also gave me a gift card to iTunes. My oldest gave me a gift on Facebook. I was completely shocked.





I love this so much. She is an aspiring singer/songwriter. My kids made my day special. I am so thankful for them. They inspire me everyday. Having three daughters really  increased my desire to find my biological family, but they are also a reminder that if my search never comes to an end I will be ok. 

During this search I met a wonderful search angel who has helped me whenever I needed anything. She is an amazing lady that lives in Tulsa. She contacted Lori Fullbright from News 6 in Tulsa. I have an interview tomorrow with her. I am so excited and nervous. This is another change for me to get my story out there. It will air in Tulsa, the town I was born and abandoned in. I will let everyone know as soon as I know the air date and time. 

Thank you to everyone who continues to share my story, pray for me, and send me words of encouragement. I have wanted to give up plenty of times in the past 6 weeks. Your encouragement inspires me to keep moving forward.