NORTH AUGUSTA --- A misspelling kept Sandra Neal from finding her dad for 22 years.

But on Friday, she not only had the right spelling, but she got to meet her dad for the first time.

"I often thought about you," said her father, Sam Stevens. "I think the Lord was what brought us back together."

Mrs. Neal and a friend stood in the yard of her Kirby Street home Friday to see whether her dad could figure out which one was his daughter. He didn't pick her right away, but their personalities couldn't hide it for long as they both enjoy country cooking and seem to have a quick wit.

For Mrs. Neal, 55, the meeting came years after learning she had been adopted at three months. She found the adoption papers at age 9 and got more information from her adoptive parents but never saw the papers again.

Years later, she started searching for her parents -- mother Helen Hutto, of Bamberg, S.C., and her father, whose name she remembered spelled as Sam Stephens. The search began more than 20 years ago when Mrs. Neal needed to track down her birth parents' medical history when she thought one of her sons might have had leukemia.

She found her mother in Bamberg, but the connection didn't happen after attempts.

The hunt for her father, who is remarried, was unfruitful until a maternal aunt passed away two weeks ago. Mrs. Neal and her husband, Bobby, received news from a family member that the spelling Mrs. Neal had for her dad was wrong, and that Mr. Stevens was still in town.

Mrs. Neal tracked down an uncle to see whether her father would be receptive to a meeting. He said he would give it a shot.

"I decided I would drive down there to go to his church just to see what he looked like, even if he wouldn't see me," Mrs. Neal said.

On Thursday, she got a call from Mr. Stevens.

"I tried to go to bed three times," he said. "I didn't sleep a bit since I've talked to her."

Almost every hour Thursday evening, Mr. Stevens called just to talk.

"It sure makes me feel so good," he said. "I don't think I've had this feeling in many a day."