Adopted identical twins from China reunite ten years laterhttps://t.co/aIbiUwG1LT pic.twitter.com/OCI9z9xlmo
— NBC Right Now (@KNDUKNDO) December 17, 2016
Gracie Rainsberry and Audrey Doering never knew they had biological siblings, much less an identical twin sister.
Born in China and separated at birth, 10-year-olds Gracie and Audrey met each other on FaceTime in early December. It was the same week each learned the other existed.
“I did not even know I had a sister at all,” Audrey told KHQ, an NBC affiliate in Spokane, WA.
Both wore square glasses, plaid shirts, and mid-length hair. With zero pre-planning, they were twinning like pros.
"I mean, it's crazy," said Nicole Rainsberry, Gracie's mom. "Because not just do they look alike, their voices are the same. Their mannerisms are the same."
Audrey's mother, Jennifer Doering, discovered the sisters' link through a what's called a finding ad.
In China, orphanages publish classifieds of abandoned children, including their headshots, where they were found, and their orphanage location. If a parent or relative doesn't claim a child, after a certain period of time, they're legally classified as abandoned and can be adopted.
Tracking down Audrey's ad led them to a family photo of the infant sisters, which set the reunion in motion.
"Essentially from, between Monday and Wednesday, we were able to locate the Rainsberrys," Doering told KHQ. "And by Friday, everybody kind of knew."
Everybody including Gracie, who was unsurprisingly taken aback when she first saw a carbon copy of herself on Audrey's Facebook.
"I was very overwhelmed and started to cry," Gracie said.
For most of their lives, the sisters lived a six-hour flight away from each other, with Audrey in Wausau, WI, and Gracie outside Spokane, WA. Doering's sleuthing also revealed the sisters' finding ads were published on the same newspaper page.
After 10 years of unknowingly being so close, yet so far away, Gracie and Audrey have found the other half of themselves they never realized was missing.
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