I want to give a huge thank you to FTDNA for assisting me in finding my kit number, how the photos got lost, I'll never know. That being said, the people I was connected to within FTDNA were extremely helpful and I'll be eternally grateful for them.
On Saturday April 27th I received my results from my DNA test. I don't even know how to describe the feeling that I got when I saw the email. Anxiety, excitement, fear all swept through me at dizzying speeds as I stared at the email. I've spent years wondering and wanting to take the test and in that moment all of the emotions from those years came flooding back.
Unfortunately, they didn't reveal much. A lot of 3rd-5th cousins, some 2nd-4th cousins, nothing closer than that. I reached out to a few of them and am waiting on replies back from most. The one woman who did reply was also adopted from South Korea and has not found any information on her birth family yet.
I had run countless scenarios through my mind of finding the results. Finding that I had many matches, no matches, close matches, distant matches. If there was an option for it, I probably imagined it multiple times. While I didn't expect much I had a tiny sliver of hope that maybe, just maybe, I would find a sibling, an aunt, a family member that was close in relation that could tell me more about where I come from.
I've submitted my report to a few other sites to try and find closer family members, but it's an overwhelming process. On one site alone, GEDMatch, I have 2,570 matches and I don't even know where to begin with searching through them.
While I feel slightly disheartened, I knew this was never going to be an easy search. For now, I'll continue hoping for replies back, searching through the results, and trying to find any information on my birth family that I can.