'Holding her was unbelievable': Sask. family reunited with aunt taken to Europe during Sixties Scoop

After spending her flightfrom Wales, U.K., keeping her children busyand wondering what it would be like in her original home, Kim Thomas-Jones was greeted at the Saskatoon airport by drums andsinging.

"It was just very emotional," she said. "It is completely everything I dreamt of."

Thomas-Jones had never known her Saskatchewan family. She was taken as a child during the Sixties Scoop. Now she washome for the first time in more than 50 years.

"I think the overwhelming feeling was relief. I think I hadn't dared to believe that I was actually going to be home," she said.

Watch the tearful reunion between Thomas-Jones and her niece here:

Sask. family reunited with aunt taken to Europe during Sixties Scoop

5 years ago

Duration 0:21

Fundraising allowed Kim Thomas-Jones to see her niece Erin Parenteau for the first time and show her two sons her original home in Saskatchewan.

Thomas-Jones embraced her nieceErin Parenteau, who worked to bring her here. They cried in each other's arms.

"Holding her was unbelievable," Thomas-Jones said.

Parenteau, who has lost both her mother and grandmother,said Thomas-Jones is the only close-family relative she has left.

"It took my breath away. I just, I started just sobbing," Parenteau said. "It's life-changing for me."

Thomas-Jones was taken from her mother at six months old. She was adoptedin Big River, Sask., by a Welsh family whothen moved back to Wales.

I keep saying to everybody I can't believe that everybody has gone to so much trouble. It's overwhelming. There's so much love.- Kim Thomas-Jones

Parenteau said she never stopped looking for her Auntie. The breakthrough came whenThomas-Jones matched with one of Parenteau's cousins on Ancestry DNA. Parenteau and Thomas-Jones connected over Facebook and started planning her visit.

Parenteau helped raise money for Thomas-Jonesto visit Canada. They didn't want to wait for the Sixties Scoop settlement money to come through.

"I keep saying to everybody I can't believe that everybody has gone to so much trouble," Parenteau said. "It's overwhelming. There's so much love."

Thomas-Jones decided to bring her two teenage boys along for the trip as well to meet their extended family.

"They're kind of getting to know their relatives here and they're now relaxing into it because obviously it's kind of a whole new experience," she said. "It's kind of a life-changing trip for them as well."

Thomas-Jones and Parenteau will both celebratetheir birthdays during the visit, as the two were born only one day apart on the calendar:Thomas-Jones on Nov.20, Parenteau on Nov.19.

Thomas-Jones has met cousins, friends, family of friends, people who have invitedher to their homes, and the list continues to grow. She's keeping a journal of everyone she's met, she said.

"It doesn't feel awkward. It doesn't feel uncomfortable. It just feels right," Thomas-Jones said. "Like I've known them forever."

Little moments have been important, Thomas-Jones said. She spoke about wakingup to the smells ofcoffee and bacon, and the sound of her niececooking.

"It's the most normal thing It's just the simple things you take for granted," Thomas-Jones said.

Parenteau said it reminds her of doing the same things with her mother.

"It really brings a lot of healing to my heart and it kind of gives me a little bit of that history that we've missed out on all these years."

Holdingher mother's belongings

The visit has also given Thomas-Jones the chance to learn abouther ownmother. A cousin kept Thomas-Jones's mother's brooch, a pearl, curlers, teacups and more.

"It's overwhelming to know that I am holding something that my birth mother had been using," she said.

Parenteau said they'll be taking Thomas-Jones to her mother's original home, from whereThomas-Jones was taken. Other plans includea sweat lodge ceremony, meeting her cousins, hearing Cree in person, and spending as much time as possible together as a family.

"She has my grandmother's eyes," Parenteau said. "When I look at her, I see my grandmother who raised me."

Thomas-Jones's familyin Wales is supportive of the trip and helped her prepare emotionally, she said.

"I can't wait for us to return home to show them photographs and share stories," she said. "Who's lucky enough to actually have that kind of support from two families?"

Thomas-Jones said she hopes to be back next year to visit her uncle in Edmonton and see more of her original home.