It'll probably be too expensive, I thought. But I drove there anyway and we went inside to look over the packages. The photographer struck up a conversation with my son. "I'm Rebecca," she said. "What's your name?"
"Sam" he replied. "Sam Hieb." His unusual middle name was my maiden name.
The woman stared at him, then at me. "That was my father's name!" she exclaimed. "Samuel Christian Hieb." We spent the next half hour untangling our family roots. It turns out that my great-great-grandfather Jacob was her great-great-great-grandfather Balthasar's brother. We were distant cousins! After Rebecca took Sam's picture, we exchanged phone numbers and hugs. I smiled all the way home. I had prayed for a friend, and God had given me family.
-Mary Hieb-Ekstrom