Lillian Schrock

lschrock@dmreg.com

Hannah Stouffer walked into Rich's Brew coffee shop in Johnston on Saturday with scrapbooks full of pictures of her life. She'd waited 19 years for this.

She was meeting her mother.

Stouffer, 19, was adopted when she was a baby. She said that her parents, Bob and Cheryl, are the biggest blessings in her life — but that not knowing her birth mom had always made her feel lost.

"There was a hole that was in my heart that's filled," Stouffer said a few hours after Saturday's meeting.

The Grand View University student, who will run in the Drake Relays this week, said she had wanted to meet her birth mom since she was 14 years old. She tried to formally have the adoption terms be changed from closed to open.

"I always wanted to meet her and know her and figure out who I really am," Stouffer said.

Stouffer turned 19 a week ago and marked the occasion by posting a photo on her Facebook page and on Twitter saying she was looking for her birth mother. She asked for help spreading the picture, and she got it — by Saturday night, more than 53,000 people had passed along Stouffer's Twitter message, as had thousands more on Facebook.

Her mother saw the picture and tried to reach Stouffer, eventually tracking down her phone number. Three days after the original post went up, Stouffer received a text message from Nicole Reinier.

"I didn't believe it was happening," Stouffer said.

At first the pair asked each other questions to make sure they truly were related. Stouffer's family knew her mother was involved in music, so she asked her if Reinier liked to sing. She also asked for the name of the doctor who delivered her.

"We were trying to get to know each other after 19 years," Stouffer said.

They discovered some similarities.

"We both love to sing, and she told me how picky of an eater she is," Stouffer said. "She doesn't like her food to touch. My food can't touch either. I was like, 'Wow, that's really crazy.' "

Accompanied by her parents on Saturday, Stouffer said, she embraced her mother and cried. She brought scrapbooks for her mom to look through.

"She kept telling me how beautiful I was," Stouffer said. "She kept saying she was so truly thankful for my parents."

The Stouffers told Reinier that they appreciated her choosing to have Hannah.

Stouffer has a 1-year-old daughter named Gracelynn.

"She's my life. She definitely helped me cope with my whole adoption situation," Stouffer said. "When I got pregnant with her, a lot of my questions about my birth mom were answered because I knew how hard it was for her because I went through it."

Stouffer said her mother was excited to meet her granddaughter.

"I couldn't ask for a better life, I couldn't ask for better parents," Stouffer said. "All in all it was the best decision for me and her."

Stouffer is in for another big moment this week: She's planning on meeting her birth father as well. And the new family members don't stop there. Stouffer found out she has a sister and a half-sister.

"It's all new to me. I'm pretty numb to the whole thing even happening," Stouffer said.

Stouffer said she is happier now than she's ever been.

"I don't feel that empty feeling anymore. I don't feel lost anymore," Stouffer said. "It's one of the most incredible feelings. I feel more complete than I ever have in my entire life."