Dear Chosen Children,

I am Cherryl Gutierrez, one of the twins that was kidnapped at birth (46 years ago). In November 1996 I received a telegram from International Locators. It explained that I had a sister who was trying to locate me. When I called IL I spoke with a very nice woman named Arlene who put me at ease right away with her calm reassuring way. She told me I had a natural sister who paid her to find my twin and me. She asked if I had any objections to being reunited with my natural family. I explained that our adoptive parents had both died and we would love to be reunited. She asked if I knew how many siblings we had and I said no, only a guess from the hints that my adoptive mother told me. Well, Arlene told me that we have ELEVEN in our family!

I was living on social security income due to my multiple sclerosis, and my twin brother Duane, who was living with me, was receiving food stamps. After a year of phone conversations with our newly found family, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t save enough out of the monthly $640 S.S.I. to get one of us to Indiana, much less both of us.

I prayed God would work a miracle. In desperation, I called Arlene at International Locators and told her about our plight. She told me that she had a friend who started a charity called Chosen Children. When I called the telephone number Arlene gave me, a woman named Paytra answered. She explained how through donations from kind people, her charity helped people like my twin and I who didn’t have the income to pay for transportation to be reunited. God answered our prayers through Chosen Children!

Paytra kept in touch with me in California and with my sister Lois in Indiana. Then Paytra called me and told me my Mom wasn’t doing too well and to get ready to fly out of Sacramento. I called Lois and she confirmed that Mom was in the hospital with pneumonia. "How bad is she?" "You had better come as soon as you can."

We left at 4:00 AM to drive to the airport. Paytra had made all of the arrangements. I was even met with a wheel chair at every stop. I had never flown since I was a small child and was quite nervous! As we entered the plane, I saw the pilot sitting in the cockpit. I grasped his hand and said, "God bless you." He looked up and said, "God bless you, too!" The plane began to taxi and I began to pray and pray. As it began to climb, I thought I was going to pass out. But thanks to my twin, he calmed me down and talked to me. I finally regained some composure.

I concentrated on the wondrous thought that, after 46 years, we were finally going to look at, talk to and kiss our Mom! The one who gave us life! And meeting our brothers and sisters, too. It was Thanksgiving and, boy, did we ever have a lot to be thankful for!!

As the plane landed in Indianapolis I was met once again by an attendant with a wheel chair. I told him that we were here to meet our natural family. He said, "Oh no, you’re the one!" I didn’t have time to ask what he meant by that. All of a sudden there were bright lights, cameras and a man holding a microphone with NBC on the side. He asked me how it felt to finally meet my family and what was our childhood life like. I told him it was a dream come true, that until last year I thought I would die and never meet our family. I told him how the people who raised us had kept the secret of our kidnapping. There never was a legal adoption, unlike the story we were told. I told him how the drapes were always pulled shut and we weren’t allowed to play with other kids. As he began to interview my twin brother, Duane began to weep.

We were hugged by all of our brothers and sisters. Boy, what a home coming. And it was all thanks to Paytra and Chosen Children.

Lois’ husband John drove us straight to the hospital in Seymour, IN. I can’t describe how exciting it was to know in about an hour we would finally be looking at her sweet face. On the way to the hospital we were all briefed on her condition. We were told she was very ill and had stopped breathing earlier today, but she had been revived. I know Duane and I were praying the same prayer, "Dear God, please don’t let us be this close only to find she has died!"

We finally reached the hospital and rushed to the Intensive Care Unit. There we saw this beautiful white-haired woman in bed with tubes in her mouth and machines blinking all around. Lois bent down and said, "Momma, can you hear me? Your twins are here!" Mom didn’t rouse. I held her hand and kissed it. Duane was tall enough that he bent over the rail and gently kissed her head. In a broken voice he said, "Momma, I’m your son. I’m here." I did something I vowed I would do if God ever let me see my Mom. I uncovered her feet and kissed them. This is my precious Mom!

She laid unconscious for another three days. We could only talk to her and look at her and hope she could hear us. As we left her that first night we laid hands on her and asked God to not take her yet, to keep her safe and to please let us meet and talk.

John and Lois had a big Thanksgiving feast for us. We felt like the story of the prodigal son in the Bible, except we were the prodigal twins who finally came home. We met and talked with all of our brothers and sisters except two brothers and one sister who lived some distance away. My brother kept breaking into tears. "It’s okay, my brother. We are finally home!"

One of my sisters is a beautician. She dyed my white hair and made me look beautiful. Well, I felt she did. The Tribune in Seymour ran our story on the front page – TWINS REUNITED!

We got a call from our aunt on my father’s side. She always bought shoes and socks for the children in the family. She is an elderly kind aunt. She told me on the phone that she loved us and she told Lois that she left a $150 gift certificate at J.C. Penny’s. "It’s for the twins. Buy them shoes and socks." How sweet. We were just like newborns to the family once again.

Well, when we saw Mom on the fourth day she opened her eyes. She smiled a big smile at Duane and stared at me. She turned to Lois and asked, "Is this me?" Mom and I look just alike. I knew that with my MS I don’t have much of an immune system and even though Mom had a horrible, deep cough, I didn’t care. This was my Mom! I kissed her as much as I could. There were years to catch up on.

Before we left, we met our oldest brother, James. He is 6’5" and handsome. I said, "Just great. I found the man of my dreams and he is my brother." We all had a laugh.

Mom became stronger and stronger. She even led us in prayer. She told us she loved us. She told us how the people that took us were only going to have us until she recovered from her illness 46 years ago. But the day she sent for us, the people fled with us. She told us that she didn’t know where we were or what happened to us. She told us she never stopped loving us.

We vowed then and there we would move back to Indiana and that she would never want for anything. This is our prayer – that God provides another miracle and we can be with our family forever. Thanks to Chosen Children our dream came true. We are not alone and we are not lonely. My twin and I were FOUND! We’ll always have what we only dreamed about – our family. So we want to thank Chosen Children and our angel named Paytra and people like you who changed our lives forever!

Love,

Cherryl Gutierrez & Duane Garrison