A Thanksgiving Reunion Two Decades In The Making For Green Country Woman

For one Green Country woman this holiday feast will be more about family, than turkey. That's because they'll be meeting for the first time.

Her bags are packed and Jennie Woodall is ready to fly north and meet the people who share her blood, but never knew her name, until a few months ago.

"It's a miracle. It's definitely a God thing," Woodall said.

Woodall was adopted when she was three months old by her mother, Lou Ann Ruark. She says she's loved her family and her life, but questions have lingered.

"I always wondered. I wanted to find someone who looked like me. Or I looked like them," she said.

When her mom passed away two and a half years ago, Woodall tried to rediscover her past with no results. Then last summer, a chance meeting got the wheels turning.

"That was on Monday the 29th. On the 30th, she called and said, 'Guess what? I've been talking to your sister and brother. They've been looking for you,'" Woodall explained.

For 20 years, her older brother, Ernie, and older sister, Susan, had been looking for the baby who was given away.

"And I go from being the oldest sibling in my adoptive family to being the baby. It's really wild," she said.

That first phone call with her sister lasted for an hour and a half.

"And then Ernie called. We were off the phone five minutes and Ernie called. Ever since then he says hey sis it's Ernie," Woodall said.

And it's Ernie who's prompted this Thanksgiving reunion.

"My brother Ernie is going blind. He's got some retina problems. So when my husband, David, found out about that. He said, 'We need to go,'" she said

And now Woodall will be able to see with her own eyes, what she's only seen in print-outs.

"And that just blows me away. I got goose bumps. It's hard to explain. It's just meant to be," she said.

Jennie Woodall's flying to Ohio in the morning. Her family wanted to know what kind of potatoes she likes, scalloped or mashed, and she says she doesn't care, as long as they're all together.