Welcoming someone new into the family takes a lot of love, an open heart, and a willingness
to change life as you knew it.
These families opened their homes to new members of all ages.
Get those tissues ready — their stories will move you to tears.
Magic moment
After Dennis and Carita Chen tried to conceive for nine years, they discovered that they
had fertility issues.
It was then that they found an adoption attorney whose client was looking for an Asian couple
to adopt her baby.
Sadly, the birth mother changed her mind, choosing a family member to adopt instead.
But then, right after the baby was born, that option fell through.
The hospital social worker called the Chens in Texas, asking them to travel to California
to take custody of the baby boy.
Dennis opened up on the emotional drive to the hospital:
"Y'know the whole trip has been closing the distance between us and our son."
Then, after nine years of struggling, the Chens finally got to hold their baby.
"Hi Jacob.
I'm your dad."
"You have no idea how many people have prayed for you."
Love and fate
When Walt Manis was a kid, he had a vision of swinging his daughter around in his parents'
backyard, and of God telling him her name would be Chloe.
Annie, Walt's future wife, also had a name picked out for her future daughter — Chloe.
After marrying, the couple tried for four years to have a child, without success.
"It was really hard."
"I struggled with questioning God's goodness..."
"...because I felt like it was so mean."
And Walt felt the pain just as deeply:
"Every time we would hear about someone getting pregnant, we would just be devastated.
Because we were thinking this isn't going to happen for us."
Then, they decided to adopt.
And the birth mother revealed she'd been thinking of a particular name throughout her pregnancy…
Chloe.
Walt and Annie both burst into tears, knowing this was the baby meant for them.
Life-saving rescue
Rachel and Jim Van Eerden traveled to Ecuador with the two eldest of their ten kids, and
visited an orphanage for children with special needs.
While touring, Rachel saw a baby with Down Syndrome and fell in love.
The baby, whom the family named Eddie, had been found in a trash bag, and after a 5-year
process, the family adopted him.
Rachel shared what a gift Eddie has been to their big family:
"Of course there are sacrifices, but what Eddie pours into each of us far outweighs
any sacrifice."
Rachel told the Greensboro News & Record, "He's truly blessed our lives.
He's taught us more of what our lives are about — reaching out and loving people."
Open adoption
Two months into Callie Mitchell's pregnancy, she and her boyfriend broke up, and she realized
she wouldn't be able to give her baby the life she wanted for him.
It was then that she reached out to Graceful Adoptions.
Meanwhile, Kristen and Brian Doud, a couple in their early 30s, were looking into an open
adoption to increase their chances of success.
"We were open to anything.
Because we wanted a child."
None of them realized how open their relationship would be.
Kristen was first to hold baby Leo when he was born.
But Mitchell communicates with Leo every day, even visiting him on occasion.
And she wouldn't have it any other way.
"There's no regret or second thoughts.
Every part of me knows that I did the right thing."
Neighbor kids
When Tisha Beauchmin's neighbor, Audrey, asked her to watch her three kids while she went
to the hospital for testing, Beauchmin had no idea Audrey would quickly succumb to cancer.
Beauchmin, who grew up in an orphanage, chose to adopt her neighbor's kids, adding to her
own five children.
Mutual friend Elizabeth Thames reached out to the FOX5 Surprise Squad to help the family
of ten.
FOX5 sent the family on a three day trip and then went to work, doing much more than Beauchmin
expected.
They replaced the carpeting, painted, landscaped, and brought in new furniture and a Christmas
tree, as well as a brand new 12-seater van.
Beauchmin shared:
"It's just really overwhelming that somebody would do this for me, for my family.
I didn't do anything too special.
I did what anybody in my shoes would have done."
All at once
After high school sweethearts Kaley and Jeremy Carling got married, they learned that they
wouldn't be able to conceive naturally, and then suffered through two failed adoptions.
Then, one day in August of 2015, they received a phone call about two foster sisters who
needed a home.
That same day, they also learned of a woman who was pregnant with twin girls who had chosen
the Carlings to be their adopted parents.
A little over a year later, in October of 2016, both of the adoptions were finalized
within 24 hours of each other.
Kaley wrote on Reddit, "Our journey to get to this point has been anything but easy;
health issues, infertility, failed adoptions, death.
Heartbreak.
[...] We are here to give hope to those in a similar situation to persevere, to push
through.
When you feel like giving up, don't.
It will all be worth it in the end."
BFFs forever
Elizabeth Diamond and Laura Ruffino met when they were five years old, growing up together
in Buffalo, New York.
Then, when Diamond was just 40 years old, and raising four daughters on her own, tragedy
struck.
Diamond was diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer.
She asked her best friend Ruffino and her husband Rico to adopt her girls.
"She said if anything ever happens to me, I want you to take my girls.
And I said OK."
Ruffino, who also had two daughters, told the New York Daily News, "I told her we would
talk about her every day and her girls would know her and remember her."
When Diamond died nine months later, Ruffino stepped in and adopted the girls.
She told Inside Edition:
"We had a conversation and I told them that their real mom, who is the best mom ever,
is in heaven, but while they're on earth, I will be their earth mom."
And Ruffino discovered a new kind of love, in the process.
"I never thought you could love someone else's children the way you love yours.
And we do."
Creating family
Even though these families come in all different shapes and sizes, one thing remains constant
— their huge hearts, and their palpable love for each other, knows no bounds.
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