Over twenty years ago, Audrey Shook watched a documentary about Chinese orphanages that would change her life forever.
“I knew in my heart that someday I was going to be a family to one of those babies,” Shook told Today.
Shook went on to have five children of her own, but she still never gave up hope that she would one day adopt a child from a Chinese orphanage. However, the family decided to put the dream on hold for a few years.
One day, Shook saw a video of a little girl with Down Syndrome named Lucy, and it was love at first sight. She knew right away that she belonged in her family.
Shook and her husband Brent had received the email with Lucy’s video and photo from Great Wall China Adoptions. The adoption agency asks that families foster special needs orphans for four weeks before they decide if they’d like to adopt.
“These are the kids that are unwanted, they are the kids nobody else wants, they’ve been sitting on lists for their entire life or sitting in an orphanage,” said Shannon Phillips, with Great Wall China Adoptions.
Despite the suggestion that they should foster Lucy for four weeks, the loving couple already started the adoption proceedings.
“She’s beautiful and sweet and we just can’t wait for her to be ours,” said Shook.
“We don’t see it as we are going to help her, we see it as she’s going to help us with our lives,” Brent added.
Two dozen families are taking part in the adoption program with the adoption agency, thirty special needs children would be headed to homes around the U.S. Lucy would be one of those thirty children and it would be a long journey from China to Houston.
When the plane arrived from China, it was an emotional moment for Shook and her family. They spotted Lucy right away and Shook introduced herself as her ‘momma.’
Lucy repeated the word ‘momma’ back to Shook which brought tears to her eyes and created an instant bond between mother and daughter. It was a moment that was a lifetime in the making for Shook and her family.
“I’ve always loved kids with special needs, especially kids with down syndrome,” she said.
The airport in Houston was full of smiles and tears the moment the children met their new parents. Shook is ecstatic to welcome a special child like Lucy into their family. She was concerned about how her children would react to their new sister, but they couldn’t have been more loving.
“It’s crazy to think that just over a week ago she was a baby in an orphanage and now she’s a princess,” Shook said. “She’s so treasured here.”
Lucy currently speaks Mandarin, but Shook learned sign language to communicate with her daughter in the beginning. Soon, they plan on teaching her English, although the family wants to make sure that she retains her Mandarin and her heritage.
“There are a lot of ways we can keep her culture a part of her,” Shook said. “We want her to be part of her heritage.”
The emotional footage of her arrival below is one of the sweetest moments caught on video.
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