SIBLINGS REUNITED AFTER 28 YEARS

Seen together, Ralph Temple and Barbie Washer look related. Both have slim builds, dark brown hair, sky blue eyes and radiant smiles.

It's no coincidence. They're brother and sister. But for 28 years they were apart -- separated by fate.

On Dec. 28, 1993, their broken bond was refastened with a phone call from Washer's adopted family, who informed her that her biological brother was looking for her. For Washer, it was a long-held dream come true.

Nearly three decades ago, Washer and Temple lived with their mother and father and three other siblings in Cape Girardeau.

When Washer was 5 years old and Temple was 3, the family fell on hard times, forcing distraught parents to turn to the state to support their children. Each child was taken into a different foster home. The older children went through a series of temporary parents before they settled down with adoptive families.

Washer, the oldest, has the most vivid memories of her early childhood.

"I remembered my family and missed them terribly," she said. "I had so many memories of my biological brothers and sisters, but as the years wore on, they began to fade."

Temple added, "I remember being placed in a series of foster homes, separated from my brothers and sisters, but I couldn't remember details, like their names, or ages."

Since age 18, Washer had searched for her family. Four years ago, she ran advertisements in area newspapers, providing what information she had about herself and asking for information on the whereabouts of her family.

A glimmer of hope shone when a family in Caruthersville answered her ad, filling in some of the blanks in her life.

"The blood tests were inconclusive, and ultimately it turned out to be the wrong family," said Washer. "It was odd, because there were just so many similarities in our lives. It was really eerie."

But that changed late last year while Washer was living in North Carolina and she heard of her brother's attempt to find her.

"I thought my brother was dead," she said. "I had a nightmare when I was 7 years old, where I saw him die. I had accepted that as the truth.

"But at the same time, deep down inside, it just felt right," she said. "So I returned the call."

On Dec. 28, Washer talked to her brother for the first time in 28 years.

"He drove all the way to North Carolina from Blytheville, Ark. the very next day," she said.

Temple added: "The weather outlook was horrible. But I just knew I had to get there."

Temple found their mother about a month before, who had moved to Dexter from Texas to search for her family.

"Mom had already found the other three kids," Temple said. "Barbie was the only one we were missing."

The siblings' mother had paperwork that led Temple to find Washer's adopted parents, ultimately leading to their reunion.

"I really expected Barbie to have her own life and had accepted the fact that she might not even want to talk to me," said Temple. "You take that chance when you do something like this.

"Even if it doesn't work out, it helps to know. It makes living easier," he said. "And for us, everything turned out fine."

In Temple's search for his sister, one of the foster families Washer had stayed with provided him with pictures of his lost sister. In one of the pictures, a deep scar was visible on her shin.

So when Temple first talked to the woman he believed was his sister in North Carolina, he asked about the scar.

"I couldn't believe it," Washer said. "It was then that I knew it was him. I knew I had found my family."

When Temple arrived in North Carolina, he and Washer went to a local pizza restaurant, where the two talked for hours over coffee.

"We had so much in common," Washer said. "It was such a wonderful feeling looking at him, talking to him.

"All my life, I didn't know myself -- where I came from, who I really was," she said. "Growing up was like watching the family I was living with from the outside, not really belonging anywhere. I've got my place in the world now."

Temple also felt somewhat like an outcast as a child.

"My adoptive family was wonderful, and I will always consider the man who raised me as my father," he said. "But growing up like that, you know you're different. There's something missing in your life.

"Once Barbie and I found each other, we realized how hard it was growing up among people we really didn't have anything in common with," he said. "Now, we know who we are."

As the two got reacquainted, they discovered that both were budding portrait artists. Each had considered going into business, but neither had taken the initiative.

"We decided right then and there that together we could do it," she said. "We're trying to start a business -- either in Chaffee or Cape Girardeau. I guess you could say we're chasing a dream together."