Your first reaction to hearing this story might be that somebody had been unfaithful... But that's not what happened at all. Rachel and Aaron are two Presbyterian missionaries with a rather traditional and conservative mentality that would never have allowed for adultery.
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They wanted to start a family but had trouble conceiving. However, upon discovering that white children are more likely to be adopted than those who aren't, the couple decided that they had to do all they could to help. At first, Aaron and Rachel decided to adopt a boy and a girl of African-American descent. Aaron told the Washington Post:
There will always be the older white woman in Walmart who stared at us with sheer disgust or the African-American mother who looked at us and just shook her head. However, there was also the young black girl who wept when we told her this little boy with her skin color was our son, and the older white doctor who lovingly prayed over him and held him so tenderly. These latter experiences were rays of hope reminding us how far our country had come, while the former experiences reminded us how far we still need to go.
The couple then fell completely in love with their children and wanted to expand their family, although this time they wanted to go through the process of pregnancy.That's when they heard about the National Embryo Donation Center, a non-profit that seeks to help out those who have trouble conceiving with families that have previously gone through in-vitro fertilisation and have leftover fertilised eggs. The eggs are then frozen and stored for later use.
Aaron and Rachel then made the decision to choose an African-American embryo so that their new child would 'match' their older siblings. Aaron continued:
When we began the adoption process we knew race could play a major role in our family dynamics, which led us to ponder deeply what a racially diverse family would look like. We believe when you look into any human's eyes, you look into the face of an image-bearer of God – into the eyes of a person whose soul is eternal. While that is the common thread of all humanity, it doesn't mean our racial differences are insignificant. We see the human family's varying physical characteristics as awesome reminders of God's creative brilliance. It's not that we think race doesn't exist, or that we don't see it. In fact, it's the opposite – we see it, and we embrace it.
But, it turns out that the pair were not just graced with one baby but triplets...How cute!
