THROWBACKTHURSDAY: 4 YEARS THIS OCTOBER

Four years ago I met my biological family for the first time.  I still remember the day I first talked to my biological mother and sister:

I got a call yesterday from LDS social services explaining that my biological mother was trying to get a hold of me, and if I filled out some paperwork and turned it in, she would have my information and I would have hers.  I was quite overwhelmed getting off the phone with them-particularly because all I had to do was print off a couple of papers from my e-mail, sign them, and suddenly I would be given the information about this person that made me.  whoa.

So I did, and ran down to LDS services here to have them notarize and fax everything.  After waiting a couple of minutes, I was handed the paperwork-with a name, address and phone number.  holy cow.  Unfortunately I left my cell phone at home, and when I returned I had already missed a phone call.  So I put Paisley down for her nap, and called her back.

My first impression is that she has the most darling southern drawl.  I was born in Atlanta, Georgia and she still lives there-amongst most of my biological extended family.  I have siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins…and I was finally able to hear the stories of how I came to be, why I was put up for adoption, and how things are now.  super interesting.  I\’m still just reviewing it all, and so grateful I started taking notes.  There is still so much to learn about and I have yet to see pictures!! (my biggest curiosity) So I\’m sure I\’ll be updating here and such as this story unfolds…

This went on to talking to my other 2 biological sisters, my biological father and grandparents.  Because I was pregnant with Stella at the time we decided to wait a bit to fly out and meet everyone, and it was nice to get to know them all over the phone first before going.  One of my cousins happened to be living in Utah at the time and came down to meet me and that was a wonderful first introduction to the family.  She came with us when we flew back the following October and met everyone for the first time (you can see more of that full story here):

It’s nice being back in reality.  It’s been a crazy week…good crazy but still crazy.

Back in February I spoke with my biological family for the first time.  I found out I have not only a Biological Mother (obviously) but a Father, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and siblings all interested in talking to me and getting to know me.  These people spent their entire lives wondering about me, praying for me and even celebrating my birthday.  It was an overwhelming feeling finding out that I was loved by so many people I didn’t even knew existed.

Sometime last year I was introduced to a TV show on MTV called The Buried Life (we missed it on air and watched all the episodes on netflix).  I fell in love with the idea of the show and it’s mission to accomplish things in your life and help people.  A few months ago they teamed up with Subaru with a contest to accomplish The America List and asked their fans to write in ideas that were unique to do in their town.  I wrote them a short note on a whim listing off a couple of fun things we love to do here in St. George…

A few weeks ago MTV called me and said they were interested in coming to visit and play with us. I was blown away.  I talked to them about everything and they spoke with them again, submitted some video chatting and then found out that the time they wanted to be filming was when I was going to be in Georgia meeting my biological family for the first time.  I explained that to them wanting them to understand the weight of the situation (and hoping that they would adjust filming timing seeing that I was doing something kind of huge).  Instead they asked if they could come with us!! (honestly not what I was expecting).  So they did.

We met up with my biological sisters, my biological father and finally met my mother (cameras in tow for that one on Monday), flew back Tuesday and spent all day yesterday filming with them.  They are a crazy bunch of boys and we really do just love them.  The production crew they brought was so kind and wonderful to work with…waking up this morning back in reality was so quiet compared to everything we\’ve been through in the last week!!

I still have really mixed feelings about agreeing to have The Buried Life come with us.  Honestly, I\’m grateful for the footage BUT it added an element of craziness to the entire thing that made what was already an overwhelming experience…even more overwhelming.  Overall meeting everyone was incredibly positive:

Everyone keeps asking me if meeting your biological family is something I would recommend.  Honestly, I feel like one in a million with the positive experience that I\’ve had.  I don’t feel like it’s often that things go so well-we truly were surrounded by so much love and I\’m grateful to have met them and to continue a relationship with all of them.
We are continually so very blessed.

Now I\’m often asked what my relationship is-do I still stay in contact?  How is that going?  It’s going well.  To be completely honest, I struggle with completely staying in touch with our families as much as I probably should, and I absolutely need to call more.  It’s just that we now have 5 sets of parents, lots of siblings and that many more people to fill in and talk to.  It’s one of the reasons I\’ve opted to be so open on social media-we’re able to reach our entire family (spread across the country) in one swoop.

Being loved by so many is a wonderful blessing and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.