There are lots of families today who come from mixed racial backgrounds. This can happen often through adoption.
But some families are choosing to adopt embryos and give birth to children who are of a different race.
This includes the Halberts. They a white evangelical couple from who are missionaries who serve in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
They adopted the embryos and wife Rachel Halbert gave birth to African-American triplet girls.
They also have an African-American boy, 3, and a 2-year-old biracial sister who were adopted as infants.
Husband Aaron Halbert explains how he was influenced by racial diversity growing up.
“I grew up as a child of evangelical missionaries in Honduras. Very aware of racial diversity because I was the blue-eyed, cotton-topped white kid who stuck out like a sore thumb, but all the while felt deeply connected to the people there, even though we looked very different,” he told The Washington Post. “My wife, on the other hand, grew up in the delta of Mississippi and it wasn’t until she took a few trips to Haiti that the veil of racial prejudice was lifted from her eyes.”
Aaron says that his faith had a lot to do with his decision to adopt non-white embryos.
“One of the central themes of Christianity is, after all, that God, through His Son, is calling people from every tongue, tribe and nation. Grasping diversity will make the world stronger as we marvel at God’s creative genius on display through His people’s varying pigments, personalities and proficiencies. Our differences are cause for celebration, not scorn,” he says.
The Halberts were fertile but they have always wanted to adopt children.
If they were going to be pro-life they wanted to give an unwanted child a home.
“When we were still dating, a common bond that drew us together was the fact that Rachel and I both wanted to adopt. While we were fertile, we were both deeply convicted that one of the ways to be pro-life is to involve ourselves in adoption,” Aaaron says.
They decided that to visit an adoption agency in Mississippi where they were living at the time. The Halberts were also trying to conceive naturally during this time.
They said they would take any children that isn’t white.
“We did this with the deeply held conviction that if the Lord wanted us to have a fully Caucasian child my wife would conceive naturally,” Aaron said.
Aaron says that having a racially diverse family requires one to change the way they “think, speak, act, and live.”
“There is something beautiful and enriching being the only white face sitting and chatting with some of my African-American friends as my son gets his hair cut on a Saturday morning. There is also something wonderful in the relationship that is built as my wife asks a black friend on Facebook how to care for our little biracial daughter’s hair. The beauty of a multi-ethnic family is found there, in the fact that the differences are the very thing that make ours richer and fuller,” he says.
After they had adopted their two older children they decided they would further commit to the protection of the unborn by being artificially inseminated at the National Embryo Donation Center, a Christian embryo bank.
“With our adopted children keeping us busy, we hadn’t been exactly looking for anything to add to our already-full plate. However, we had recently run into a couple who highly encouraged us to look into embryo adoption. We were deeply moved by the idea of adding more children to our family by rescuing these tiny lives created from in-vitro fertilization and intrigued by the thought of Rachel getting to experience pregnancy,” Halbert says.
They reason that if life begins at conception they should be willing to support and take place in embryo adoption so that some of the hundreds of thousands of embryos that are frozen in the U.S. are all given a chance at life when most of them are destroyed or kept frozen.
“We were not saying that those lives are any more important than the lives of the babies and children waiting to be adopted all across the world. No, they are not any more important, but they are no less important either.
All of our children’s lives are valued,” Rachel told Babble.
They also decided to adopt African-American embryos so that their children could feel connected to their new siblings.
Aaron says that he and his wife never planned on artificial insemination when they were dating and talking about adoption 12 years ago, but he is thankful that God brought him his triplets.
“I can remember a friend going through the adoption process telling me he had always wanted his family to look like a little United Nations. As I look at my growing family, I prefer to take it a step further, daring to hope that our family picture is a little hint of Heaven,” Aaron says.
Aaron says that he’s received an overwhelming amount of support from family and friends.
“It’s been heartening to see virtually all of our friends and family express overwhelming support for our family and the unusual ways we’ve built it. In our minds, we are just living out our dream. A dream that may not look like the average family, but one that we are thankful could come true in light of our country’s history,” he said. “It’s especially encouraging to see so many of our fellow millennial evangelicals now placing a high priority on life, adoption and multi-ethnic families.”
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