- I am outside a courthouse in Orange County
and it's gonna be one of the most emotional days of my life.
But I need to give you a little backstory
to what we're doing here.
(cheerful music)
It all started in a dance class
where this girl caught my eye and eventually,
I built up the courage to ask her out
on a date and luckily she said, "Yes."
The date was a terrible disaster,
first of all my car broke down,
so we decided to ride bikes to a Pho restaurant,
but I had these really fancy road bikes
and I had forgotten to show her
how to unclip her feet from the special pedals,
so at the stoplight she fell over.
(bike crushing)
I mean completely sideways, right into a bush.
So we're having dinner at this Pho restaurant
one of her knees totally bruised and bleeding.
And during our conversation I come to find out
that she had adopted siblings in her family
which was super neat because I had an adopted sibling.
And both of us share this future dream
of having a family made up of adopted kiddos
and biological kiddos and so I was completely in love.
The night had finally taken a turn for the better
and then we started ride bikes back to my house.
And no joke, she got her foot stuck
in the pedals again and fell
(bike crushing)
completely sideways bursting open her other knee.
And the bright side of the situation was,
while I cleaned up her knees with rubbing alcohol
I got to hold her hand and help ease
the sting, and a few years later,
I got to ask for her hand in marriage.
And we threw an incredible backyard wedding,
and that was the very beginning of our family.
Life felt like it was speeding up so quickly,
we bought a home, Rachel started pursuing her career,
social work while my own film career was taking off.
I once felt like I had the easy fun dream job,
while her job was emotionally draining.
She was case manager for foster adopted kiddos
and help them process
their stories of abuse and abandonment.
I watched her everyday carry the weight
of these foster kiddos pain.
In the evenings, we would talk about this huge
need for more foster families in L.A. County.
Rachel and I share the same view
that if there's a need and we have a resource
that could help, then why not.
We had an extra room in our home
at the time and it was completely empty
and we thought we could do this.
It was so frustrating and heartbreaking
to know that these kids didn't have anywhere to go at night.
We were ready to take on the foster system.
But like big dreams tend to do,
it went to the back burner for a little longer.
Hidden behind excuses like, huh, someone else will do it,
we don't know anything about raising kids yet,
or maybe we should have a biological child first.
Yeah, we'll do foster care later.
Hey am Zack.
- And am Rachel.
- And we are applying to be on the amazing race.
- I mean, we wanna have a big family
both biological and through adoption.
- And this kind of our last like big trip.
This was our audition video for the amazing race.
And to our surprise we were accepted
to be a part of the TV show.
But before we left, Rachel and I made a vow
to each other that we when we got back,
we would actually open that empty room
in our home for a foster placement.
Soon after we were racing around the world,
competing for a million dollars on this reality TV show.
I won't give you any spoilers,
but I will tell you that when we got back,
we stuck to our word
and we went through the foster training.
And the same day that we finished our certification process
we got a call for our first placement.
Unlike having a biological child,
where you have nine months to mentally prepare
and get yourself ready to be a parent,
foster placements start with that phone call.
Usually information like a child's name,
age and any known backstory.
I still remember the nervous feeling I had in my stomach
walking down the dark alley, with our empty car seat
in hand, ready to meet and pick up our first kiddo.
I had never changed a poopy diapers,
swaddled or even fed a baby before.
What had we signed up for?
but the moment I saw his face,
all those thoughts went out the window.
He was brilliant and beautiful
and we were now a family of three.
And we did all the stuff regular families do.
Morning walks, strolls at the beach,
dinner at the park, extra cups of coffee.
And we put all of our love into this little guy
for six months and then we got a call
that he was going home.
We were on the one hand joyful that he could go
back to a healed family but we were sure gonna miss him.
And what happened that same week, some call destiny, fate.
I call God, another kiddo was born,
who we had yet to meet, his name was Mason.
He stayed in the hospital for the first month
of his life because he was born prematurely,
and we got to meet him when he was seven weeks old.
I took this video the very first time I met mason,
my hand was almost bigger than his entire body.
But boy, did he grow up quick.
Look at that little face,
how can you not love that little asian face?
(baby burping)
- Oooh! (laughing)
- Ooh.
And before we knew it, he was walking.
(soft music)
He was full of energy and life.
(baby wheezing)
We had our hearts full and that's when everything changed.
- Read his shirt.
- This little pumpkin, is gonna be a big brother!'
What?
I'm pregnant.
- What!
( upbeat music)
- Oh my gosh!
(people cheering)
(laughing)
- Stop!
- Those nine months flew by.
(soft music)
(Liam crying)
This is my first time holding him.
This is my biological son, Liam.
Who quickly bonded with his older brother.
A brother who is about to stay in our family forever.
Mason, tomorrow you're gonna be adopted.
(cheering)
I am outside the courthouse,
it's gonna be one of the most emotional days of my life.
- And we wish you the best, congratulations.
(crowd clapping)
(crowd cheering)
(gavel banging)
(upbeat lively music)
- Mason is officially adopted.
(cheering)
Family looks different for everybody in the world.
I like how Mother Teresa once put it,
"to change the world, go home and love your family."
(soft music)
I don't know exactly what my family's gonna look like
in the future.
But I do have a feeling,
this is just the beginning.
(soft music)