An emotional TikTok video shows the moment Rachel Ruiz was reunited with her birth mother, Angie Howard. The tear-jerking video has upward of 4 million views.
The emotional video shows Rachel opening the door of her home and running out to embrace her birth mother. Both women squeeze each other in a sentimental hug before Angie grabs Rachel's face and presses their foreheads together.
In Rachel's TikTok caption, she credits Ancestry.com for being a monumental part of making this moment possible. "I finally reunited with my birth mom after 34 years! My adoption was closed and I’ve been trying to find her for over 10 years with failed attempt after failed attempt."
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Angie is accompanied by her husband, and both proceed to meet Angie's adoptive parents, her husband, and their 2-year-old son, Enzo, who is also adopted.
The video brought a load of emotions upon many of its viewers.
"Oh the hugs were so genuine. This made me so happy," one user commented.
"You can tell she never stopped loving or thinking about you for a second," another one wrote.
In another video, Rachel goes on to give details about how she found her birth mother. "It is literally a miracle how it happened," she exclaimed. She then went on to talk about how her adoption was closed in 1988.
"They didn't do a lot of open adoptions back then," Rachel explained, "Which meant that the information given to you about your birth mom or whoever filled out the papers was just very limited." Her birth mom was 17 at the time.
Rachel talked about how it was about 10 years ago that she started yearning to know what her story was. When she turned 18, her adoptive parents shared with her a note that Angie wrote to her on the day she was born. The letter expressed wanting to reunite one day. Rachel's adoptive parents were very supportive in the efforts of helping her find her birth mom.
Rachel took a home DNA test through Ancestry.com in 2014. Through a series of events, she found her maternal grandfather. Upon searching him online, she stumbled upon his obituary and found that Angie was listed as a surviving relative. She looked her up on Facebook and sent a message, and from there everything unfolded.
Rachel and her husband are also expecting a baby girl via surrogate. With that news, her adopted son, stepdaughter, husband, adoptive parents, and having met her birth mother, she believes her family is now complete.
