For many this 4th of July weekend is a patriotic celebration with family and friends, and for one Lafayette family it's a reunion of a lifetime in the making.

After searching for more than 20 years Shelia Richard says she finally found her first born,Kevin Thomas after being forced to give him up for adoption 35 years ago.

For the last 23 years with hopes of finding her son, she used four different agencies trying to track him down but without any luck.

That changed last week .