3-15-05

THE SEARCH CONTINUES……we hope that passing this website to as many people as we can will help us to find the remaining two sisters. They have no knowledge of the youngest two….. who, after 29 years have found each other!!!! Read on for Anna’s story………………

                                      Eleni & Anna having coffee in Eleftheroploli, Greece-Jan. 2005 

         Being adopted has always been something that my parents told me from the very start. From the time I could walk and talk I knew that I was adopted at 6 weeks old and that I was full blooded Greek. More of the events of my adoption came later as I became an adult.

      My birth mother had moved from Greece to Munich where she lived and worked on Magraw Army base. Each day she would take me to the day-care center on base in hopes that an American military couple would adopt me and provide a loving home and a life in America. Her life had been very difficult and it was important to her that I be given good life. She went to great extremes to make this happen and in doing so made the ultimate sacrifice, which I am so grateful for. She sadly never returned to Greece until her family brought her home after her death in Munich….which I learned much later in my search.

      My parents were an American military couple that was station in Munich Germany from 1965 to 1968. They had already adopted my two older brothers, Wayne, who was born in AZ (U.S.A) and Sam, who like me, was born in Munich. After my adoption my family soon came home to the states in 1968. I can remember at the age of 5, when my brother Sam and I became citizens of the United States, my Mother bent down to me and said, “You should be very proud, you are the only Greek here.”  My curiosity only grew as I got older…. for one, I was always the only Greek anywhere!!! My memories take me to a conversation I had with my beloved Grandmother when I was a child. I was asking her what Greek people look like and she quickly responded by telling me to “just look in the mirror sweetie”. I was raised with a family that has provided me with love and more support than one could hope for. I feel that God chose my family for me and I am thankful for each and every one of them!!! I truly cannot imagine living my life without having had the people that God has so graciously given to me throughout my life. My family and friends are a part of who I am, my very core….what a gift! And now….I have had the ultimate gift of finding the rest of who I am….my family in Greece.

     My search to find my Greek heritage began about 14 years ago when I wrote the adoption agency in Munich. My parents had told me about an older sister that had been adopted before me, they believe also to an American military couple that had been stationed there in Munich. After about 6 months I received a letter from the adoption agency informing me of my birth mother’s death. I was provided a death certificate with her information on it, but there was no information on the older sister. That led me a few years later to make a post on several adoption websites. One of the websites was a Greek adoption site, where I met an angel by the name of Stelios, who out of the goodness of his heart began searching for me. Stelios is a wonderful Greek man from N.Y. who answered my post by telling me that he knew where the village was in Greece that my birth mother was born in. His wife had been born in a village a few miles from the village my birth mother was born. During his search of about 3 years, he was able to find  where in Greece my family presently lives. With many thanks to Stelios and to his extraordinary contacts -- Susan in Berlin, Germany and Kaliopi in Xanthi, Greece -- the moment of all moments came Thanksgiving Day 2004!

      The first of many emails from Stelios came on Thanksgiving Day saying that through Susan and Kaliopi he had found my family in Greece; specifically a younger sister, Eleni, which I had no knowledge of. Our first contacts were made through emails, which led to a telephone conversation the next Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised she spoke English so well…I had been told she knew very little and I certainly couldn’t speak Greek! From that moment on we spoke constantly. The bond was instant, and as you can imagine, the conversations were endless.

       The overwhelming urgency I felt to go to Greece became so strong that my husband, Bob, and I quickly made arrangements for mid January. There are no words to describe what that week was like for me, for Eleni and for our families. I experienced emotions I didn’t even know I had. It was as if a missing part of my soul had connected to a time and a place that had been born within me and the feeling of completeness could only come by traveling across the world.

     My family in Greece welcomed me into their homes and hearts. They were eager to hear about my life, as well as tell me the history of where I came from and the circumstances that led to my adoption. Which now leads to the whole purpose of sharing my story through this website…. Eleni and I have two more sisters that were also put up for adoption.  They are both older than me and were adopted within days of their birth. They too were born in Munich. One, we believe, was also adopted by an American military couple around 1966.  The other, we aren’t sure of the year. All three of the oldest sisters’ adoptions were handled through the same agency that we are currently in contact with in hopes of obtaining more information about them.

     Eleni and I are hoping that through sharing our story and passing this website around to as many people as we can, somewhere, someone will know our sisters and help us make contact with them. The four of us are full blooded sisters and much of the family history is not being shared due to the circumstances of the events that took place. We also are in hopes that the sisters may know some of the facts about their adoption, through their parents as I did, that could help verify to all of us that we indeed are sisters!  So, if you can help us by passing this website on to people in your address book……who knows, maybe…just maybe we’ll have an update to post to this website!!!!!! We thank you and God Bless you.

        For any messages or information to be passed on to Anna & Eleni please refer back to the "Contact Anna" tab  for the email address. We also will respect any privacy to the sisters if they are found and for any reason do not want to make immediate contact.