This summer, The Olympidis Family was given the wonderful opportunity to meet a new family member, Niki Burge, who was a true surprise. In July, the whole family got together to welcome her into their lives, but the story doesn’t start there.
About 39 years ago, Laura Mayhew gave birth to a baby girl who she named Shawn Michelle on her birth certificate. The nurses let Mayhew hold Shawn briefly after she was born.
Mayhew was young, single, and had very limited finances at the time. Because of this, she believed that it was best to give her daughter up for adoption, but she had to wait 21 days from Shawn’s birth to sign the adoption papers. After the three weeks had passed, Mayhew went to sign the papers but just couldn’t do it. She went back home and didn’t sleep as she tried to think of a way to keep her, but in the end, she decided that adoption was the best idea.
Niki Burge grew up as an only child with a single mother. Her mother raised her on a teacher's salary and, as Niki shared, she was an incredibly hard worker.
“She worked hard to make sure I was given a good life,” said Burge.
Burge’s grandparents were very generous and provided her with many opportunities to support her growth, including one of her biggest passions, soccer. She has played in competitive leagues since she was five years old and was the “leading scorer” on her high school varsity team.
After high school, Burge attended Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. She currently works as a speech-language pathologist in the school setting where she services individuals from preschool through eighth grade who have a wide range of disabilities.
Beth Olympidis explained how she found Burge, whose name – Nichole Marie Burge – was found on both her and her sister Margo’s Ancestry.com results. Uniquely, Margo’s sister, Laura Mayhew, had also been looking for her daughter.
“Margo has been searching for years for a son who was unselfishly given to a family that did not have children when she was 17 years old on March 6, 1974,” Olympidis said. “Margo called her sister Laura and told her she is almost positive she found her daughter.”
Mayhew and her husband Greg, along with their sons Joe and James, were excited when they heard the news and called Burge right away.
“My heart raced. I got in contact with her and we were able to actually talk to her!” said Mayhew.
Later on in the year, Mayhew and her family flew to Arizona to meet Burge. When asked how it felt to finally meet her daughter, Laura described how surreal and heartwarming the experience was.
“Right away, I felt comfortable with her like mom and daughter would be,” said Mayhew. “It felt so good to hold her and love her. Meeting my daughter was a dream come true and truly a blessing.”
The rest of the family got to meet Niki at a Fourth of July celebration this summer. Burge discussed how being with her biological family felt like a dream.
“It has been a dream come true,” said Burge. “I instantly felt at home, surrounded by so much love. I am very much at peace with a sense of completeness now.”
It’s indeed a sense of completeness as Burge also shared how she notices similarities in herself to her mother’s looks and actions, bringing her a sense of confidence in who she is.
“It is a magical feeling to see yourself in another person. I do resemble my biological mother in so many ways; not just physical, but our characteristics and mannerisms as well,” said Burge. “This has given me insight into the topic of nature versus nurture.
It was especially rewarding for Burge, who was raised by a single mother, to be welcomed into such a large family.
“Finding out that I have such a big family has certainly been overwhelming since I was raised without a father or siblings. It was incredible to discover I have brothers and a stepfather,” said Burge. “I am so lucky to have the most welcoming and loving people in my life. My aunts, uncles, and cousins are all so amazing!”