Bloomington High School North, Nikean, 2011, Page 24

Description:	hiding l:anrij$ory by Megan DferPhoto by Rachel ThickstunAll it took was one click.A single click brought junior Kyli Walls to what she^ had wanted to find for as long as she could remember.^\| As long as she had known she was adopted.A single click brought Walls to her biologicalIE mother.always wantedbiological momWalls said. I have always been curious because I knewshe sent me things when I was younger, so I knewshe cared.The only key Walls possessed to finding her birthmother, Stephanie Carter, was a picture of Carter inhigh school, wearing her basketball jersey.When I first discovered Stephanies last name was \Carter, I Googled all the keywords I knew about her,Walls said. Her name, her basketball jersey number,her high school, and the years she attended there.That site directed me to a site called classmates.com. It ■gave me a married name once I created a fake account. 0I copy and pasted her name and her married name] into the Facebook search engine. One person popped yup. It was her.Carter, now married with five children, has becomea large part of Wallss life since last May.Stephanie and her mom [were the first] to visitme, Walls said. That stands to be the best day of mylife. I ran out to her car.It is truly insane to have suclla strong love for someone and then to suddenly b _Itouchinp them for the first time since you were dayAfter meeting Carter, Walls began to look intofinding someone else.I found Toby [Cripe], my biological dad, onFacebook as well after I asked Stephanie for his name,Walls said. I am very close to both of my birthparents. As time goes on, I get to see how much incommon I have with them, and it is crazy. But themost awesome kind of crazy.Over the summer, Walls even attended her biological \|fathers wedding, where she met her three uncles and \the rest of Cripes family. Walls says that Cripe wasvery open to other people about her, and his Facebook ^page even fists her as one of his children. Carter,Walls explains, has told few people about her, butWalls understands and doesnt let this keep her fromspeaking regularly with her biological mother.Stephanie and I talk every Monday, Wednesday, and ^Sunday, Walls said. We have a litde schedule workedout, and planned dates to visit in the future. I hope tocontinue having designated times to see her and talkto her. I look up to her so much and hope that shewill always be a big part of my life.Walls is also in regular contact with Cripe.I talk to Toby and his family a lot as well, Wallssaid. I get to Skype with them often, which makes it a Ilot easier to stay in touch, not to mention texting and 5Facebook.Now that Walls has found her biological family, sheis determined to be a great daughter.Since meeting my birth parents, I really wantto work to the best I can be, Walls said. I am somotivated to be someone they can be proud of.00E
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomnorth/id/7017
Collection:	Bloomington High School North

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