God's Guiding Hand

This truly is the year of Jubilee!
God restores that which was taken and adds a touch of  His Grace ! 

   On Thursday October the 15th , 1998 at about  1:00 am in the morning I decided to check my email.  To my surprise I had received the letter below  with the subject of "Search for Rose". 

Hello, 

My name is Mike and I was touched and shocked by the letter to Rose.  The reason I was shocked was the similarities and exact matches you gave to my girlfriend.  She was born 5-18-74 at Parkland hospital.  The adoption was represented by A. Leviton. There is at least a family resemblance 
(hard to tell from your picture).   She has visited your site and and is very excited and nervous about these  recent revelations.  I am contacting you to act as a buffer in case this is not the match we all hope for.  I am certain 
you know the exact time of birth and I feel this would be as good a clincher as any to verify a match.  We also know the exact time from the birth certificate.  I am not trying to play a  game with this but I would like to protect all parties if this is not the match.  We have also contacted  Mr. Leviton and are awaiting his call back. 
Thank you  :-) 
Mike--- 
 P.S.  If you know the Adoptive family name or where they were living at the time, I could verify the match as well. I figure you do not know this or you would have been reunited already. 
 

   After reading this letter I knew that  she was my daughter!  I couldn't see how so many things could match up and it not be.  I wrote back to Mike and told him that I thought she was born somewhere around 7pm.  That of course was incorrect.  Who looks at clocks when they are in labor?! 
     A bit later I decided to go to my web site and look at my guest book. I couldn't believe my eyes!  She had signed it!  So now I had her email address as well.  So I wrote to her with the subject line of "Are you my Little Rose?"  Within just a few minutes I had a reply!  It turns out that she is a night owl just like me! 
     She downloaded ICQ and we chatted for a while and then I talked her in to calling me.  This was at about 2:30 A.M. CST... we talked until almost 5:00 A.M. .As we compared notes we found that we had a lot of things in common.  She was a little scared and nervous and still hesitant to believe I was her birth mother.  But too many things fell into place  for this not to be a match. 
     My daughter's name is Ilysse, and she is in college working on a degree in social work.  She was raised by a  wonderful Jewish family in the state of New York and now lives in Georgia.  She told me that she has always been told that she was given up for adoption because she was loved so very much ! (Part of this story is also below in the letter that I wrote to all my friends on the web.  So I will not tell it all again here.)
     The next day I got a letter from a friend of mine who said she had received a letter from my birth daughter.  This friend had researched a little on my behalf to help me find my daughter.  She had a copy of the original birth certificate information on file.  She sent a copy to each of us and the numbers matched up perfectly. Now the roller coaster of emotions has truly begun! 
     Now I must relate to you the truly remarkable part of this story.  Ilysse was not looking for me at all!  As a matter of fact she had not even considered searching for me.  If the truth be know she was truly guided by the hand of God.  She was looking for recipes through a search engine . 
     When I created the description and keyword tags for my web site I had included Ilysse's birth date in the key words along with adoption search and the fact that I was searching for my daughter.  When she saw that, she became curious and decided to visit my site.  What she found when she got here was the letter that I had written especially for her entitled "My Little Rose". 
     She said that she read the letter and then got down to the bottom where all the information was concerning where she was born and who the lawyer was etc. .  It was at this point that she realized it was very possible that this letter she had just read could have been written to her and  she busted out crying.
     She said that she thought she had backed out on signing the guest book but evidently it had gone through anyway.  The next day I sent out a letter via email to all of my friends because I was so excited and wanted to shout from the roof tops what God has done in my life!  This is a copy of the letter I sent out.

Subject: Praise Report! 

Hello everyone, 

     I just thought since I haven't spent a lot of time online lately I would let 
all my good friends know what is happening.  Something great just happened to me.  God is being really good to me, answering one prayer after another. Of course you know that old devil tries with his fiery darts sometimes but they don't have a chance against my God! 
     The story that I am about to tell you is wonderful beyond belief!  Just a 
couple of days ago a girl was searching the web for recipes.  She happened to see her birth date in the keywords on one of the recipe sites.  That girl went to the recipe site and started looking around.  She found there a letter that had been especially for her.  A letter to "My Little Rose".

     After she read the top portion she found at the bottom that the information matched her!  She started crying and was very nervous and even a little scared.  She called her adoptive mom and she looked at the site.  She read the letter and said... " They gave me the Smith baby when I adopted you, but I thought that was just a name that they gave all babies that didn't have a name." And she also told her that the content of the web site was so much like her.  One thing this girls mom told her that I am so thankful for is this.  She said " There is always room in your heart for someone else. And there is always room in our family."  God bless this lovely woman! 
     My beloved daughter for whom I have been searching has found me by the direction of the Almighty God.  This is God's timing!  Her name is "Ilysse and she lives too far away.  She was raised in New York and I am in Texas! But she lives in Georgia which isn't as bad.  I haven't seen a picture of her yet but the birth certificate number that I have and the number on the  one that she has matches perfectly.  And her boyfriend told her that by the 
picture of me on my web site we look like we could be sisters. 
     I talked to Ilysse on the phone in the wee hours of the morning on the 15th of October.  She told me that her Aparents had always told her that 
she was adopted and that the reason she was given up for adoption is 
because she was loved so very much.  I am so grateful to this family for being so honest with her.  What a blessing! 
     The family that raised her is Jewish and she says that her Mother and that side of the family is very devout.  IIysse says that she isn't very religious and that she has explored many avenues and still doesn't feel that anyone is right but that it is just where your heart is.  She has basic good morals and has had the benefits of an excellent education.  As we compared notes she is so much like me!  She seems to love learning... she says she was reading Shakespeare in the 5th grade.  I told her she was smarter than me then! But she was raised by people who wanted her to learn.  They encouraged her and loved her and gave her everything she needed.  And she thanked me for giving her to this family.  She said, " I am so happy with my 
family.  They have been so good to me and I have been spoiled and loved all of  my life." 
     I am so glad to finally find out that I made the right decision.  I know I 
would have never been able to give her all those things.  Even if I had 
money I wasn't raised right myself and I had no good example of how to 
raise a child!  I know that she got the better life because of this. 
     Now that is the story that I have for now , more or less.  Kinda pressed 
together really!  haha   Life is a whirlwind of emotions and happenings 
right now!  I just wanted to share my blessings with my friends.  God bless 
you all and please pray for Ilysse that she will find her personal walk with 
God.  And also for our reunion that all goes well and we will find a 
wonderful relationship with one another. 
Love in Christ, 
Deb 

     At this point in my story I want to say that I am so thankful for Ilysse's Mom and Dad.  If it had not been for them she would probably have never known the love and family closeness that she has known. 
     My own family is not what I would have wished on her.  I love them but I have always felt that we were not a real family.  I have friends that have been more of a family to me then my own family has been.  I told my mom that in some ways I wish that I had been given up for adoption.  Funny thing is that she understood! 
     I pray that God might bless Ilysse's  parents beyond their wildest dreams !  They are wonderful people and from what she says about them I am ready to adopt them!
     Ilysse also has a brother that is 16 years old.  She says that he has always been protective of her and to make a long story shorter, he isn't exactly thrilled with me getting in the picture.  I am sorry about this and I understand.  I don't want to be a threat to anyone.  She will always be his sister and the people who adopted her will always be her parents.  I hope that he grows to understand that by being her friend I in no way intend to try and supplant the relationships that she already has with them! 
     I just want to know her and be her friend.  She is a part of me as surely as my own heart that is beating within my chest.  Adoption did not change that.  It only changed the people that she knew as mom and dad and it made her life better. Adoption took a lovely baby and turned her into a lovely young woman who knows what family is supposed to be.  Because of Adoption My Little Rose has been given a chance to blossom.  I am forever grateful for the people who have done this for her and I would love to meet these people someday soon . May God Bless each and every one of them and pour His love out on  them as they have her. 
    Well that is my story except for one thing.  I have a picture of Ilysse now and she is building a web site.  Her picture is also on her site.  Here is the only picture I have ever seen of her and of course she is beautiful !

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