Mother and adoptive daughter found on doorstep hit milestone

(WMC) - A Mid-South woman thought she would never become a mother until she fell in love with a little girl abandoned on a doctor's doorstep.

Friday marks 18 years since Janessa Gibbs was abandoned as a newborn at the front of a Corinth, Mississippi doctor's office. A nearby hospital worker made the difficult choice to take her in, and it's a decision that's changed two lives forever.

Sara Gibbs isn't Janessa Gibbs birth mother.

"I had never, never let a birthday of hers pass, that I didn't think of her mother," Sara said.

Janessa was called in to work at the hospital next door where she was a nurse. So she was there when first responders found who would soon be her daughter.

"I was single. I worked night shift. I worked 12-hour-nights. There was nothing in my life that had prepared me for a baby," Sara said.

With help from her pastor and friends at the hospital, Sara received the courage to officially adopt Janessa.

"She always tells me that whoever my mother is did it for her," said Janessa.

"I feel like it was divine intervention, it had to be, because I wasn't even supposed to be there," Sara said.

Nearly two decades of memories in their baby book are proof that these two were put in each other's lives for a reason.

"She's the best mom ever," Janessa said. "She's always been my mom."

"I wanted to be the one to teach her and mold her," Sara said.

Sara Gibbs works at Methodist Hospital in Germantown. This fall she'll send Janessa off to college. They believe their bond will only grow stronger after 18 years they'll never forget.

"She truly is a momma's girl," Sara said.

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