Violence, a Tough Choice and a Happy Ending
I'd like to tell you a story that I found very inspiring. It is about an adolescent girl in 1928 South Dakota. After picnicking with some friends from a sewing class and while on a walk with a friend of the same age, Minka and the other girl were surprised by three men who raped them both.
In the process of time, her body began to change. Minka was still very innocent and quite naive. She didn't know how babies came into the world. By the time she was 17, she gave birth to a baby girl. If she had her way, she would have kept the baby and she would have brought her back to the farm and raised her. However, her head and her mother told her to give her up for adoption. So, she did just that.
Through the years, young Minka often inquired about the baby. The agency who handled the adoption responded to her requests for general health information. After a change of management the communication no longer flowed her way. Every year she thought of her baby girl, most especially on May 22, her child's birthday. Five years ago she decided to pray that God would allow her to see her.
From the other side of the story, Ruth was raised by a Norwegian pastor and his wife. Ruth would go on to marry and have six children of her own including Mark who became a teacher and an astronaut. After having heart problems and being questioned regarding family history, Ruth now in her 70's had no answers.
Her son Brian decided to find out. Brian petitioned the court in South Dakota for his mother's adoption records. Among 270 pages, he discovered some of the correspondence of a very young woman about her baby that she had given up for adoption spanning a period of time of several years, that baby being his mother Ruth. The heartbreaking account of Minka's rape was also enclosed.
In hopes that a relative could be found to talk to about family medical history, Brian's heart jumped when he found a number for his grandmother whom he assumed was dead. He called her and after initial confusion and fears of identity theft and thus a scam, the 94 year old woman on the other end realized her prayers had been answered. She was speaking to a grandson she never knew she had.
Ruth and her son Brian traveled to California to meet their mom and grandmom. Since that first visit, family members have gotten together many times. Minka has visited grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Wisconsin and Texas. To celebrate her 100th birthday, she is planning to travel to Alabama in the spring and continue the sweet reunion begun only several years prior.
Now that is an extraordinary story about an extraordinary woman. I am so thankful that she got to be reunited with the daughter she reluctantly gave up when only a teenager. There must be many more who never got that privilege yet were equally strong in character.
Read for yourself, this amazing story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45849051/ns/us_news-life/#.TwJ8TDXOxEU
In the process of time, her body began to change. Minka was still very innocent and quite naive. She didn't know how babies came into the world. By the time she was 17, she gave birth to a baby girl. If she had her way, she would have kept the baby and she would have brought her back to the farm and raised her. However, her head and her mother told her to give her up for adoption. So, she did just that.
Through the years, young Minka often inquired about the baby. The agency who handled the adoption responded to her requests for general health information. After a change of management the communication no longer flowed her way. Every year she thought of her baby girl, most especially on May 22, her child's birthday. Five years ago she decided to pray that God would allow her to see her.
From the other side of the story, Ruth was raised by a Norwegian pastor and his wife. Ruth would go on to marry and have six children of her own including Mark who became a teacher and an astronaut. After having heart problems and being questioned regarding family history, Ruth now in her 70's had no answers.
Her son Brian decided to find out. Brian petitioned the court in South Dakota for his mother's adoption records. Among 270 pages, he discovered some of the correspondence of a very young woman about her baby that she had given up for adoption spanning a period of time of several years, that baby being his mother Ruth. The heartbreaking account of Minka's rape was also enclosed.
In hopes that a relative could be found to talk to about family medical history, Brian's heart jumped when he found a number for his grandmother whom he assumed was dead. He called her and after initial confusion and fears of identity theft and thus a scam, the 94 year old woman on the other end realized her prayers had been answered. She was speaking to a grandson she never knew she had.
Ruth and her son Brian traveled to California to meet their mom and grandmom. Since that first visit, family members have gotten together many times. Minka has visited grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Wisconsin and Texas. To celebrate her 100th birthday, she is planning to travel to Alabama in the spring and continue the sweet reunion begun only several years prior.
Now that is an extraordinary story about an extraordinary woman. I am so thankful that she got to be reunited with the daughter she reluctantly gave up when only a teenager. There must be many more who never got that privilege yet were equally strong in character.
Read for yourself, this amazing story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45849051/ns/us_news-life/#.TwJ8TDXOxEU
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