A woman left her young daughter outside a church, but twenty years later, the daughter was still searching for her—until she finally found her.

“Carly, stay here, and mommy will be right back!” a woman told her little girl as she left her near the church steps.

“Okay, mommy!” the girl replied, beaming at her most cherished person in the world.

The woman then climbed into the car and drove away.

That was the last time little Carly saw her mother. She watched as the car became a tiny speck in the distance, then sat down on the church steps.

Minutes turned into hours. Carly waited, but her mother never returned. The sun climbed higher in the sky, and soon Carly was incredibly thirsty. The heat began to make her dizzy, and just as she was starting to lose consciousness, a blurry figure appeared before her. A concerned voice spoke.

“Oh my Lord… What are you doing here, child?!”

“I’m waiting for my mommy,” Carly replied, “She said she’d be right back.”

The woman muttered to herself and gently placed her hand on Carly’s forehead before dialing a number on her phone.

By dusk, a slender woman and a police officer arrived to take Carly away.

Carly was placed in an orphanage.

Though no other children tried to befriend her, there was one boy who did. His name was Peter. The other kids said he had a weak heart.

They became inseparable, and in fact, Peter was the only friend Carly had.

The years flew by, and before long, Carly was nearing eighteen. She had one goal in mind: to find her mother as soon as she was free from the orphanage.

Three days after her eighteenth birthday, Carly left without saying a word to Peter.

Over the next two years, Carly finally tracked her mom down in a trailer park just outside of St. Louis, Missouri.