Facebook's been getting a bad rap recently. The teens are over it, you're over it, and now, it's revealing your deepest, darkest secrets. It's time for some Facebook love, though, don't you think? Enter 29-year-old Abbey Donohoe of Iowa and 39-year-old Paula O'Brien. The two had been friends for four years after meeting at a party and had been Facebook buddies for about the same amount of time.
So when Paula posted a short status update about the selfless act her brother and his girlfriend made 29 years ago when they gave their newborn daughter up for adoption on September 19, Abbey was all, hey, wait a second.
September 19 was her birthday, she was 29, she had been given up for adoption, and yada, yada, yada, these women who had been friends for years just discovered that they were actually aunt and niece.
More from The Stir: Mom Finds Out About Daughter's Death on Facebook
Abbey had never wanted to find her biological family, explaining that she felt so loved by her adopted family, but Paula had prayed to find her niece for years. The reunion, it seems, was a happy occasion for both.
Facebook reunited them, and it feels so good. I mean, guys. Come on. How sweet! We all may hate on the social media juggernaut and complain about their privacy settings, lament people's desperate pleas for attention, and protest the posting of breastfeeding photos, but see? Facebook's still doing what it was designed to do (besides make money and get Zuck laid) -- it's still connecting people.
So show FB some love, why don't you, and see what it can do for you.
Do you still see the good in Facebook?
KWQC-TV6 News and Weather For The Quad Cities -
Photo via KQWC
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Kanye West is Gay?! 
Comments 15
That's really sweet! I found 2 of my half sisters on fb, neither of whom I recall meeting, though Im told we have.. I've considered giving up facebook, but the truth is, it's the easiest way for me to stay connected to family and friends from my hometown-and I use it mostly to share pics of my kids and update on their latest accomplishments/funny things they've said. I could blog it all...but I won't keep up with it, so I utilize my fb.
I agree with Stephanie Caldwell, I too mostly use my facebook to post pictures and funny things my sons says. My parents split when I was barely 7 and I didn't get to spend much time with my dad much less his family. Facebook has connected me with a lot of family members I didn't get to see as a kid. I really cant complain about Facebook.
This also happened to me. I was reunited with my little sister who I hadn't seen since she was born last year around this time. It was completely by accident and almost two decades had passed since we were separated. Her mother had taken her to Florida, but then she came back to live with her grandparents in fifth grade. It turns out that she'd gone to the same school district as me for many years, and I'd even seen her once, but never knew her real name (she was a friend of my friends and they called her a nickname). We accidentally got reunited when she 'liked' a post I'd made on the Facebook page of a mutual friend, and I recognised her first name (Kiani; she was the only Kiani I'd ever heard about, but her surname was different than the one I'd seen on her birth certificate in our photo album). So I took the plunge and messaged her. Basically, "This is going to sound really strange, but is your mother's name Jill?" Her response didn't even answer my question, she just typed back "You're my sister, aren't you?" Two decades separated and you'd never know it! We're very good friends. Unfortunately our father passed away before she ever got to meet him, but she now has a family she never knew existed until she was a teenager. Facebook is amazing!
I was adopted in 1987 and it was a closed/non voluntary adoption so there was no contact allowed until I was at least 18. Through Facebook I managed to find both parents last year and am still Facebook friends with my biological father. :-)
It was nice because agencies make it very difficult to reunite even though they're the #1 source of information. I would've had to submit my information onto a 'registrar' and it could be over a year before they matched it to my [bio] parents and only if my parents allowed contact would I get word. Then I would've had to fly across the entire country on my own expense, spend several days (and hotel related costs) recieving "pre reunion counseling" and then a supervised, sterile reunion at their agency.
No thanks. This way was free, fast and from the comfort of my own home without a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit tape.
facebook is awesome for finding people.... if you have a name you can find them. my mom was adopted in 1959 and i found her brother through facebook