How God Turned Strangers Into Family: The Story of Us

By Diane Johnson

My journey in finding all of my biological siblings and how God brought us together as a family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jun 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543903935

Book preview

Edith

Have you ever stepped back and wondered why, what if or how come? Well, there was a time that I did and found that I was one of seventeen children that my biological mother gave birth to. In looking back, I realize that God had a plan for us to find each other. It is God’s timing on events that allowed doors to open, lives to cross paths, and the perfect moment in time for thirteen individual siblings to become US a.k.a. United Siblings.

The time in my life when I asked those questions, I was in my late thirty’s, married, and had three young kids. We lived in north Texas and just a few miles from both my parents and my in-laws. Both sets of parents were involved deeply into genealogy. As they continued to find out more and more information about their family history, I thought it would be fun to start doing some of my own genealogy research. Ok, but who do I research? My parents (Dorothy and JC) have done their families. My in-laws (Larry and Hallie) have done theirs. So, what was left for me?

Let me go back to my beginning. I have known for as long as I can remember that my twin brother and I were adopted. My biological mother, Peggy, moved to Monahans, TX after her second husband, my biological father (Porter), had been killed. Peggy had with her a son from her first husband and five children from her second husband. Jackie was nine, Chuck was six, Jessie was five, Gay was four and David and I were around seven months old. After Porter was killed and Peggy moved her family to West Texas, she did her best to take care of us. With little education or job experience, it was hard. She eventually found a job but realized she still needed help. Peggy had been to a Church of Christ in the past for help and that is who she turned to again in Monahans. Dorothy was the church secretary at that time. She was the one that went to where Peggy and the kids were staying to see what help the Church could provide. Immediate needs (food, clothes, and shelter) were met and in the long run, the help that was provided was that homes were found for five of the six children. Peggy did not want to give Jackie up for adoption but did allow the five younger children to have new homes. Dorothy and JC made the decision to adopt the twins…David and myself, Chuck and Jessie were adopted by another family, and Gay found a new family as well. As with most of my siblings that were adopted, our new parents became the only ones that we called Mom or Dad.

My new family attended church regularly. My parents had faith in God to help them make the best decision for everyone involved in the adoptions. There were a lot of prayers that went into those decision, not just by them but by their church family as well. After Dorothy and J.C. met with Peggy, they found temporary housing for each of us. David stayed with Dorothy and JC and I stayed with the local veterinarian and his wife until the adoption process could be started. The decision was made to keep the twins together and Peggy wanted Dorothy and J.C. to raise them. My new family already had two girls, Karen was eleven and Barbara was nine, and they were glad to have a set of twins join their family. Each of my new sisters now had a twin to help take care of.

My new parents tried to keep tabs on where all of my siblings were and how they were doing. They wanted to be able to answer any questions I might have in the future. They had found out information that would be very helpful later in my life. They found that Peggy had been married before. They found that she had other children by her first husband. Peggy had five children from the first husband, Edith, Lona (died at birth), Tommy, Jackie and Gloria. All but Jackie had already been adopted. They also found out that before Porter was killed, he had spent time in prison. While he was in prison she had taken Jackie, Chuck, Jessie and Gay to a children’s home in south Texas for a few months. Sunny Glenn Children’s home played an unknowing part to my story that I wouldn’t find out about until September 2010.

Mom and Dad decided not tell their parents about getting David and I until the adoption was final. My Grandmother Eula. had a unique reaction when she was introduced to her adopted twin grandchildren. I was told it went something like this: Now Dorothy, you know that I won’t be able to love them like I do Karen and Barbara, don’t you? Mom just shrugged her shoulders and probably snickered to herself. My grandmother Eula was the one who taught me to sew, to crochet, to cook, and loved me with all of her heart. I spent many summers with her and have very special memories of our time together. When doing any crochet project, I always think of her. I still have a baby doll quilt and a big girl size quilt that she helped my make. So much for not loving me like her own.

Barbara and Karen loved to tease David and me. Barbara would tell David that they only adopted him because they wanted me and didn’t want to separate the twins. Funny thing was, Karen would tell me nearly the same thing, they only adopted me because they wanted David. Another tease had to do with cookies. Not sure about David, but I do know that I will not eat date cookies. Barbara and Karen told us that they were smushed bug cookies. I was not going to eat any kind of a bug. Even though I know better now, I still can’t bring myself to eat them. In spite of all the teasing, they still loved us unconditionally.

In 2009 when my life started to change, it effected a lot of people around me as well as it did me. Gary now had a lot more in-laws; my kids had a lot more aunts, uncles, and cousins; Karen and Barbara had a lot of extended family that they weren’t sure they wanted; and mom and dad watched David and I get used to a lot larger family. Karen and I had now lived in the same town for many years. Our families enjoyed playing cards together. We even worked together for a few of those years. We had become very close sisters. Karen was a little concerned about my feelings changing toward her and Barbara as I began meeting my biological siblings. I described my feelings about that like this: Karen—you, Barbara, David, Mom and Dad are my real family. These others are my DNA siblings and they will not ever take your place. I love you and you will always be my big sister.

My real Family

Well, as time went on and I got to know each additional sibling, the lines not only blurred, they kind of disappeared. The terminology DNA did stay around for a while but lost some of its importance. After our first reunion in October 2010, it was in word only. Karen and Barbara never did (and won’t) lose their place in my heart. However, my DNA siblings did find their own places there and are there to stay. In 2013, I lost both Edith and Karen. It was very hard to say good bye to my oldest two sisters within four months of each other. I believe that they both went to be with God and will always be in my heart. Karen is probably up there singing and Edith no longer feels the need to put anything in front of her face.

Here is a brief rundown of my biological family, this story is to tell how God brought thirteen very individual siblings together and they became UNITED SIBLINGS:

Peggy Joyce Jones was born on August 4, 1930 in Corpus Christi, TX as Velma Zueler Caddell. We are not sure at what time or for what reason she changed her name to Peggy Joyce, but she did. This story is going to be more about her children than her. I will try to fill in details about