It was 1956. Kissman was just 19 and two weeks married.

Her new husband, Hans, was vacationing in Germany where Sigrid lived at the time. After the two tied the knot it was decided Kissman would come to Canada to start a new life with her husband.

Moving to a new place was scary for Kissman. But life in Germany was changing with the building of the Berlin Wall.

She finally agreed to leave her baby daughter, Christa, with her mother until she settled into her new life.

Kissman said although she was raised by her grandparents, her mother had always been good to her. She had no reason not to trust her.

"I thought my mother was looking out for my best interest," said Kissman. "She was my mother and I thought she wouldn't give me bad advice.

"She told me try life in Canada for a year, and once you are settled you can send for the baby."

Kissman never imagined the next 52 years of her life would be spent searching for the child she left behind.

She never imagined the same woman who gave her life, would take something so special away from her.

A year had passed since Kissman left Christa in Germany.

Her mother always had some excuse to put off returning the child.

One year turned into two, then turned into three.

After three years of being separated from her child, Kissman received a disturbing letter in the mail.

It was from her mother.

"She told me not to contact her anymore," an emotional Kissman said. "And then I lost contact."

What happened over the next few years baffles Kissman.

Without Kissman's permission, her mother and step-father were able to adopt Christa and her daughter would grow up without knowing her real mother was thousands of miles away.

Christa would believe her grandmother was her mother.

It wasn't until Christa was getting married she would learn otherwise. Yet, it would still be two decades before Christa learned the truth.

When she confronted her grandmother, Christa was told her mother abandoned her in the hospital after she was born.

This was a story she would believe until July, when, after 52 years, mother and daughter, would speak for the first time.

"She thought I had abandoned her," said a tearful Kissman. "But I never stopped looking. I never gave up hope."

Kissman's husband, Hans, had been searching German phone books for years looking for a relative of his wife. This past summer he tried looking using her stepfather's name.

That search led him to Kissman's nephew.

While her nephew didn't know where Christa was, he was determined to help.

It was another three weeks before the Kissmans were able to locate Christa.

Speaking to her daughter on the phone for the first time gave Kissman shivers. After that Kissman and Christa would speak regularly. The long distance charges didn't mean anything to Kissman, she had found what she had been looking for for so long.

Kissman missed her daughter's first birthday, and 52 birthdays after that. She didn't see her daughter walk down the aisle.

She wasn't there when her granddaughter or great-granddaughter was born.

"I've missed so much," said Kissman. "But I always had hope."

The Kissman's eldest son had purchased plane tickets for the whole family to Germany in the spring. It was a chance for the Kissman children to see where their parents came from.

The trip turned into much more than that.

Last month, 52 years after Kissman kissed her baby daughter goodbye, she was able to finally embrace her again.

"I had shivers," she said. "It was so wonderful to finally find her. We look a lot alike."

Kissman and Christa keep in touch through e-mail and a weekly phone call.

"Now I can be a part of her memories," she said. "It's a shame I missed so much.

"But our family circle is finally complete. There is no more gap in the circle."