Freshmon Melodie Hoynie poses for a picture outside the Mclnteer in January. Haynie said she wanted to find her birth mother to understand family history. ·Ru\sell lining in her room in (othmrt HolI, freshman Melodie Haynie looks through pictures of her birth mother Jan. 18. Haynie was adopted as a baby and began contacting her birth mother through letters and telephone conversations in high school. -Amber Bozorgani Ing amlY Two-year search for birth m.other comes to end Melodie Haynie's freshman year starred our like most other students: She moved inro Cathcart hall, began her classes as a broadcast journalism major and went through Shantih's Club Week. Those things aside, H aynie's year turned out (0 be quire different from the typical freshman. Haynie was a baby when she was adopted by her parents, Preston and Barbara Haynie, Feb. 23, 1987. They brought her to live in Searcy. Growing up, she attended Harding Academy, participated in sportS like track and baskcrball and attended \X/estside Church of Chrisr. Haynie said at ti mes she felt different growing up. "My parents - they're Caucasian - so I defi– ni tely don't look like rhem," H ayn ie said. "It kind of phased in and out of being an issue." But that didn't Stop Haynie from being curious about her birth mother and the reasons for giving her up for adoption. When H aynie was 16, she and her adopted mother started looking around on the Internet for some answers. H avi ng only the first name of her birth mother made Haynie's search difficult, and the search was put off until Haynie's senior history project req uired her to produce a family tree. "When I tOld mom about the project, she starred looking again," Hayn ie said. When Haynie turned 18 she was legally able to begin a search to find her birth mother, and with the hel p of a hospital worker, she was able [0 find our her birth mother's last name. By the time she found her birth mother's fu ll name, H aynie had already begun her first year of college, while her mother continued the search. "My mom worked on it while I was at school," Haynie said. "She found about 21 people with the same name; the first one she called was her." Haynie was with her adopted family when she made contact with her birth mother. "My mom caJled her and then handed me the phone," Haynie said. "It was weird because we both talked the same way, and we ended up talking for two or three hours. H aynie said it was important for her ro talk to her birth mother to answer questions she had. "The biggest thing for me was to know a little more about me personally, like if rhe things I pick up on arc because of my upbringing or because of something genetic," Haynie said. Haynie also found out, in the conversation, that she had been born in Heber Springs, Ark., and her birth mother selected her adopted parentS hersel[ "My birth mother wanted a Christian family to raise me, so she looked at all the applications and then chose my parents," H aynie said. Hayniewas content to wait for her birth mother's timing o n finally meeti ng together. ''I'm just living day by day now. I can understand that she has rebuilt her life," Haynie 5.'lid. "I don't want to overwhelm her, bm I would s61\ love to meet her." · Kati. Uilima" freshmen i~~.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==