You might think we have come a long way as a society. But even today, in 2018, we still see racism and prejudice on a daily basis.
Although most of us think that it’s up to the individuals to choose who their family is, many people have views on how a family should “look”.
Aaron and Rachel Halbert know this all too well. Despite the harsh comments and hate for adopting African American children, the couple have stood their ground – they did not want to let anything as superficial as skin color stand in the way.
But their story didn’t stop there.
Aaron and Rachel Halbert had long dreamed of becoming parents. But after having trouble conceiving, they instead opted to adopt two children, a boy and a girl.
Unfortunately, that decision provoked some strong reactions – simply because the children were dark-skinned.
“We knew, especially in the South, that a white couple with non-white children would draw a myriad of different reactions. 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,” Aaron told the Washington Post.
But Aaron and Rachel were thrilled, and proud of their little family.
When the couple heard of embryo adoption, they knew it was perfect for them.
Rachel implanted two African American embryos, which had been frozen for over 15 years.
The couple wanted the new babies to “match” their already existing siblings.
“They agreed with our thoughts about our kids matching each other racially and were supportive of the decision to select African American embryos,” Aaron writes.
After six weeks, it was time to visit the doctor, who lived in Honduras, to receive their tiny embryos. And when they arrived, the couple was met with a completely different surprise.
“We began to describe everything to our doctor in Spanish (broken Spanish, that is). He asked us a few times if we were sure that we had transferred two embryos. Yes, of course we were sure, we said.”
The couple then discovered to their shock that one of those embryos had split in two inside Rachel’s womb. She was indeed pregnant—not only with twins, but triplets!
The birth went smoothly and soon Aaron and Rachel were parents to not two, but five dark-skinned, beautiful young children.
“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,” says Aaron.
“I felt sheer delight during this pregnancy watching my son and daughter, with his dark brown skin and her with the ringlet hair and slightly tan skin, kiss my white wife’s growing belly. Each evening they said good night to those three growing little girls in her belly, and now they get to finally say sweet dreams to their baby sisters—face-to-adorable-face.”
Aren’t they just adorable?
Aaron beautifully describes his family:
“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.”
Below you can learn more about the Halberts very special journey:
Love for your children is more important than DNA, blood and skin color! SHARE this story if you think that all humans are equal and that every parent has the right to build their own family, without prejudice.
