Sisters separated for 47 years meet for the first time

— -- Two sister met for the first time in South Florida -- after 47 years.

When Jennifer Braica, 47, was born, she was adopted before she and her sister, who was two years older, ever met.

April Kreppel, 49, said she was never told as a child about her sister. And Braica did not know about her sister, either.

They both lived on Long Island in New York for some time.

When Kreppel was 19, her mother explained that she had given birth to her sister and given her up for adoption. Though Braica was told she was adopted at 10.

"I always wanted to find my biological parents," Braica said, "not to replace my adoptive family but out of curiosity, to see where my roots were."

She did not learn about her sister until she was 27 when she said some of the adoption details were released to her from the state.

After they learned about each other, Braica and Kreppel kept searching. After at least 20 years, neither was successful.

But then when Jennifer tried the website ancestry.com, she finally got a break. Distant relatives gave her some key information that eventually helped her track down April.

When Jennifer and April finally met at a Florida airport, both women had tears in their eyes as the hugged. They said they spent a week together and promised each other to speak every day and one day live near each other.