Adoption reunion stories often have sweet endings, but this story comes with a cherry on top. Colorado resident, Martin Schmidt, officiated the marriage of his birth parents over the summer. His reunion with them rekindled an old flame between the couple. On August 4, 2018, Schmidt pronounced them husband and wife.
Back in 1982, when Michele Newman was only 15 years old, she learned that she was pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, Dave Lindgren. At that time Lindgren had moved on to a new relationship, so the pair decided to place their child for adoption.
When their son, Schmidt, turned 18, he considered looking for his birth parents, but it wasn’t until he became a father in 2014 that he decided to make the search happen. He contacted the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. Newman and Lindgren received separate phone calls requesting permission to release the adoption file to Schmidt. Soon after, Newman sent a text to Lindgren, thanking him for agreeing to have contact with their son. That text led to several others and then a phone call. It was the first time they had spoken to each other since 1981. Dormant emotions began to stir.
Lindgren was living in Wisconsin. He had been married and divorced three times, and he now had three more children and four stepchildren. Newman had been married twice and was going through her second divorce. She never had any other children. Lindgren traveled to Hawaii to visit Newman, and he knew right away there was a connection. The couple got engaged in 2015 and were married three years later.
“Miracles do happen. Somebody up there or out there figured out the timing for all this to come together,” said Lindgren.
In the end Newman says, “From really sad decisions, tough decisions, a lot of good has come.”
Your first step in your search and reunion journey is to register in Adoption.com’s Reunion Registry.
