'God Sent My Son to Me': Mother and Son's Emotional Reunion After 48 Years
Kirk Kellerhals was just two years old when he was adopted from an orphanage in Vietnam.
Now 47, the Virginia Beach resident never imagined he would ever meet his biological mother.
"I've grown up, since I've known I was adopted, with the knowledge, whether real or perceived, that my parents perished in the Vietnam war," Kellerhals said in an exclusive interview with CBN News.
But that's not what really happened.
CBN News was there Tuesday when Kellerhals and his birth mother, Thuy-Nga Thi Nibblett, of Vietnamese decent, were reunited in an emotional meeting in Virginia Beach.
STAY TUNED FOR THE IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW ON THE 700 CLUB
Nibblett and her husband, drove all the way from San Antonio, Texas for the miraculous mother and son reunion.
Kellerhals nervously paced the sidewalk in front of his home awaiting the moment of his mother's arrival.
When she pulled up in his driveway, there were tears. Lots of them!
"Thank you God for bringing my son to me," said a tearful Nibblett as she jumped into her son's awaiting arms.
"Thank you for finding me," cried Kellerhals, as the two embraced for the first time.
The reunion happened just weeks after Kellerhals received an email from a woman who asked him to call her after he submitted information in an online DNA database.
It was a call that changed his life.
"The very first thing she said was yes, I think you're my son."
Nibblett was just 17 when she became pregnant with her son during the Vietnam War.
She said her father frowned upon her pregnancy because she was not married and the baby's father was an American serviceman.
"When you have kid half-American, half-Vietnamese, people look down on you, especially your family," she explained.
When her son was born she said her father immediately took him away.
"He just took it right after I had him," she said.
Her son's father, she said, was transferred to another military base and never knew about her pregnancy. The two eventually lost contact with one another.
Nibblett, who now lives in Texas, said she never stopped praying that she would one day find her son.
Two years ago, she turned to the website Family Tree DNA to aide in her search.
Kellerhall on the other hand, had always wanted to know more about his birth family but was reluctant to conduct an online search.
But last month, at the urging of his wife, he decided to take the risk, and just days after doing so, he was notified about a possible match.
"I got the email from Family Tree DNA that the results were back and they had a match," he explained.
"It said parent-child match. I just kind of shook my head and said that's a mistake. That's impossible."
That impossibility was an answer to his mother's unwavering prayers.
"I knew that God would answer if I just keep faith and keep believing," said Nibblett.
"God sent my son to me."
"I remember in the Bible it said knock and it shall be opened, ask and you shall receive. I wouldn't let go," she said.
While it took nearly 48 years for her prayers to be answered, Nibblett said God's timing is perfect.
"Forty-eight years for us, but for God it's not," she said.
Meanwhile, Kellerhals, his wife, and kids along with Nibblett and her husband are spending time getting to know one another.
He says meeting his mom has strengthened his faith, calling the entire experience surreal.
"To see her pulling up, I don't want to say out of body experience, but pretty darn close."