By Lorie Ham
According to the Adoption Network, one out of every 25 U.S. families with children have an adopted child. Mennonite Insurance/Mennonite Aid board member Janine Bergdahl was one of those children, as was her brother. But there was also a sister named Ann Elizabeth who was taken back by her birth parents before Janine was ever born. It had always been Janine’s wish and prayer that they would meet in heaven someday. She never dreamed that she would meet Ann on earth. “Little did I know that God would give far above my wildest dreams.”
“She was born before my brother and me,” shares Janine. “My parents were so very proud of her and loved her until their dying day. I know they prayed for her regularly, and I knew that losing her was the hardest trial of their lives.
“Mom and dad adopted Ann when she was a newborn. They had her for almost six months before her birth parents took her back. There was nothing they could do to legally keep her. Her story was memorialized in a precious box with pictures, baby cards, booties, a stuffed animal, a blanket, a few clothing items, and a lock of her hair that was cut the day they lost her. This box sat in a closet for sixty-six years.”
A year later Janine’s parents adopted her brother and then a couple of years later adopted her. Their parents always made them feel like they were special—they had been chosen. “We were told that other parents get stuck with the kids that they have – but they chose us. We knew we were special. Our parents were godly people, and we were loved. We lived a blessed life.”
After their parents passed away, Janine went through their adoption files and items that her mother had so lovingly saved. When she went through Ann’s box, she was moved to either find her sister or throw the stuff away and move on. She decided to search for her. After only half an hour on the internet, she found a possible address.
With a degree of trepidation as to whether she was doing the right thing, Janine wrote a letter to Ann. They didn’t know if she was even aware of being with their family those first few months and feared that if she didn’t, the news could be devastating. But three days later Ann phoned! She had known about her adoptive family from the age of six and many times over the years had tried to find them but without any success.
“Oh, we talked! We cried! I sent her lots of pictures—mind you, as the first, there were more pictures of her than my brother and I combined! I sent her the box of her things. There was so much to catch up on.”
Sadly, Ann’s upbringing was nothing like what Janine’s parents would have provided. “It was rather tragic,” continues Janine. “But she somehow knew that she had started out well and that someone did love her. That’s all she knew…until my letter.”
In May of 2022, they finally met for the first time. Since Ann had never been baptized, she asked if she could be baptized in Janine’s church. “On Mother’s Day, I was the one who helped her out of the baptismal. What a joyous day that was!”
Even though Janine’s parents never saw their prayers to see Ann again answered during their lifetime, Janine feels their prayers were answered and they will get to see her again in heaven. “I never expected that I would meet her on this side of heaven. But God has given me the privilege of getting to know my big sister. On the day we parted, she hugged us and told my brother ‘You’re now the MIDDLE child!’ We all laughed. Even though we had barely met, the three of us felt so very right.”
Do you have an adoption story or a story of reuniting with a long-lost sibling as an answer to prayer? We would love it if you would share with us on our Mennonite Insurance Facebook page.
