Becoming a parent is a major responsibility, and that means children come first before anything else. For parents, this means that other aspects of their life take a back seat, such as a social life or going out on dates regularly. Sometimes though, being a good parent means that leaving a child behind to allow them to have the best life possible is the right course of action.
Putting a child up for adoption is likely the most difficult thing a person has to decide, but people do it knowing that their children deserve a life that they are not cut out to give at that point in time. When Elizabeth Pullen found out that she was going to have a baby, she was just a young 20-year-old girl. Knowing that her daughter would have a better life if she was up for adoption, Pulled made a heartwrenching decision early on. She kept the fact that she had put up a daughter for adoption a secret all her life.
However, seven decades down the line, Pullen would not know that a DNA test would finally lead her to the baby she had to give up. There are many reasons to try using a DNA testing kit from a company like 23andMe or AncestryDNA. Some people may have questions about their heritage or want to look for potential health risks. Another opportunity the testing offers is the ability to connect with lost relatives found through a DNA match, and this is what happened to Pullen and her daughter Lynne Wray.
Be sure to reach the end of this article to see the full video đ
This story, told by Inside Edition, begins with a woman named Wanda LeBlanc. Wanda received a home DNA test for Christmas. These DNA tests tell you about your background and family history. When the results were in, Wanda saw some relatives that matched her DNA. But one name was unrecognizable: Lynne Wray. “I thought maybe she was a cousin. I wasn’t placing her as my aunt,” Leblanc told GMA.
Once Wanda clicked on Lynneâs profile, she discovered something amazing. Lynneâs profile stated that she was adopted and had never met her birth family. Lynne, from North Carolina, and had been looking for her family. “She said her mother told her that her birth mother was part Indian. I had been told all my life my grandmother was part Indian,” LeBlanc said.
This was a lot for LeBlack to wrap her head around so she drove down to talk to her mother and grandmother, Elizabeth Pullen, who lives in Louisiana, about the situation. “My grandmother answered the door and I told them the story. My mom said ‘have her send a photo,'” and it was clear that Wray looked a lot like other family members.
However, Pulled remained quiet during this conversation, and LeBlanc said that she “went to lie down” afterward. The family may not have been prepared to hear what would come next, as Pulled called her granddaughter the next morning and explained the situation.
Pullen said, “‘Lynne is my daughter,’ she said. ‘Get her on the phone,’ she said, ‘I’ve been waiting for 70 years to talk to her.'”
In the past, there were many adoptions that were closed and therefore no communication between the birth family was allowed. But once Pullen found out that Wray had been looking for her, they decided to arrange a meeting in May 2019 that would change both of their lives forever.
Leblanc had an interesting idea for when Pulled and Wray would first meet: she wanted their meeting to resemble the “first looks” between brides and grooms. Leblanc had captured many weddings before as she was a photographer according to GMA, and stated that there were practical reasons for the “first look” as well as artistic ones.
“My grandmother cannot see very well, I wanted to be able to see her face to be close up to her,. If she [Lynne] was coming from across a field, I knew she could not run to her. I thought she might pass out and if she does, Lynne would be there to catch her,” LeBlanc explained.
The videos and photographs of the meet show the poignant moment that mother and daughter first reunited. “The only way I can describe the moment they met is magical,” Leblanc said. For the granddaughter, what was particularly touching was how her grandmother touched Lynne’s face and stroked her hair. “It’s only a mother who touches their children like that,” LeBlanc added.
For Wray, this meeting was truly everything she had been looking for. Even though her adopted mother was no longer around, Wray said told LeBlanc that “her mom always said ‘if you ever meet your birth mom, please thank her for me. She gave me the greatest gift of my life.”
You can learn more about this interesting story in the video below.
