By JOYANNA LOVE | Managing Editor

Finding her biological siblings was something that Laney Stanford Holland had thought about off and on during her adult life.

However, she thought the research would be too expensive.

Holland had been adopted by a pastor and his wife around the age of 3 in 1966.

“When my mom and dad adopted me, my name wasn’t Laney,” Holland said. “It was Nancy.”

Now, at the age of 59, Holland, who lives in Mississippi, began considering finding her family at the prompting of her friend Jo Rodrigus.

When Rodrigus offered to find her family for her, Holland was hesitant. Rodrigus has an enjoyment for genealogy, and she wanted to use these skills to help her friend.

Rodrigus used Ancestry.com, the corresponding DNA kit and Facebook to track down Laney’s biological family in Chilton County.

“All of a sudden she calls me Sunday before Memorial Day on Monday … she said, ‘Pack your bags. We are going to Prattville, Alabama,’” Holland said. “I said, ‘Why are we going to Prattville, Alabama?’ She said, ‘I have located your family.’”

Rodrigus’s plan was to stay with her sister in Prattville and take Holland to meet her biological siblings in Clanton.

At first, Holland did not believe Rodrigus. Once Rodrigus convinced Holland she was serious, Holland said she was “very, very happy.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Rodrigus said.

She started crying because she was excited.

Holland discussed the plan with her husband Lane, then started getting ready for the trip.

Jerry Cleckler in Clanton had showed up as a first cousin to Holland through the genealogy website. Cleckler said he had received a friend request on Facebook from Rodrigus, which he accepted without even really meaning to.

After that, he…