Adoption Story

raising biological children often doesn't prepare a couple for the experience of adopting a child I can prepare because you don't know what it's going to be like India yeah but prepared or not this family will Journey Halfway Around the World to adopt not one baby but two I'm expecting mass chaos for the first six months to a year next on adoption stories I was like willing to do anything to convince these people they needed to give these boys to us as a Young Man Niraj Aurora left India to chase the American dream 15 years later he is living out that dream in Madison Wisconsin with his wife Lee and their two biological daughters Maya in Kieran it has red lips it's a girl but plans for a bigger family will take Niraj full circle back to the country of his birth I was born in Punjab that's uh in India growing up was just your typical kid you know spend a lot of time playing no friends in the park and stuff like that family was an important part of my life throughout I attribute all my professional success to my parents Niraj graduated from the Delhi College of Engineering with an engineering degree after working for three years he decided to further his education in the United States I was 25 when I left India I applied to a bunch of universities in the U.S and got admitted to Ohio State a small town girl from Kentucky I was born in Westminster California we lived there until I was four then we moved to Kentucky so I basically grew up in Kentucky in a very very very small town my parents were great when we had a dog we had hamsters we had a cat just you know stuff like that Lee graduated with an undergraduate degree in management from Morehead State University in Kentucky then applied to Ohio State to pursue her PhD I went to Ohio state for a campus visit and I had had interviews with a bunch of professors that day and one Professor was giving me a tour of the of the college I sitting in the computer lab playing hard and I see this woman and you know here's a single man and it's like I one thing led to another and then I invited myself basically to lunch my first thought was wow he's really cute so he kind of tagged along to this lunch he wasn't supposed to be at from that chance meeting a connection was made and the couple began dating he was just so sweet the whole time that we were going out and I was like yeah I could spend the rest of my life with this guy and it just kind of all evolved and very quickly we were engaged I've been dated about three weeks with the blessing of both their families Niraj and Lee married in December 1995. the first time I got married was in Kentucky and then a month later we flew to India and did it again had a Hindu wedding for his family Niraj completed his PhD program and accepted a teaching job in Virginia there the couple decided to start a family I was 30 and the biological clock is ticking by our first anniversary we were pregnant with Maya kids have been perhaps the biggest Joy of my life it's just been a unique experience in 2000 Lee gave birth to a second girl they named Kieran I love watching them become who they're becoming and helping them try to figure out you know right from wrong how you're supposed to live your life how you're supposed to treat people well that's because you can't write yet right yeah you can't read yet or spell it in the time between Maya and Karen's birth Niraj was offered a position at the University of Wisconsin the young family moved to Madison with Maya and Kieran growing older the couple found there was still more room in their lives for a larger family I grew up in a small environment you know always had small homes and then it didn't feel right to have this big house to the four of us there's so many empty rooms you know we have all the space wouldn't it be nice to have more bodies around clothes stuffed animal s very good but rather than having more biological children let's begin to look into adoption adoption was was definitely part of the equation before we even had Maya we started talking about kids and um why make one let's adopt there are a lot of kids in this world that need a home we need a child it makes sense to just adopt and India was has always been our only choice primarily because that's my roots growing up in India you see poverty everywhere my friends and I we used to go during our you know late evening study break type deal to go get a cup of tea there was this young kid who was eight ten years maximum was working there namaste I mean I saw that same kid playing Cricket at one o'clock at night and I told myself this is not right that you're talking about a nine-year-old kid up at one o'clock if given the right kind of environment um would have been in bed at that time the auroras felt that they could provide a stable loving environment for a child in need of a home they contacted special editions an adoption agency that oversees International adoptions since they had two girls they requested a baby boy and waited for a referral we had already decided we were gonna name the baby Rohan and we're having breakfast and Maya my oldest daughter says you know adopt twins because rohan's gonna need a brother and years and I just kind of looked at each other and apparently he'd been thinking the same thing Lee and Niraj went back to special editions and changed the request from one child to two to their surprise the couple was soon contacted about twin boys at an orphanage in Pune India I get this picture of these babies and they have these enormous black eyes and I was like oh my gosh they're just beautiful they were just absolutely gorgeous the family immediately expressed interest in adopting the twins the orphanage however first wanted to exhaust all possibilities of finding a home for the boys in India the auroras would have to wait I was like willing to do anything to convince these people they needed to give these boys to us there are two ways of looking at children that they're lost and that they are found so everybody had a double music class today Lee and Nira girora had been waiting for permission from the Indian authorities to adopt twin boys almost a year after applying there was still no decision the auroras were losing hope my phone rings in its bath from Special Edition since she says you got the boys and it was the greatest day ever we got the boys the 11-month-old twins whom the auroras named Rohan and Urgent would soon be part of the Aurora Family that's rooting on the airplane we're gonna fly into here and then your brothers are just a little farther south it's like about two and a half to three hour drive from Bombay you are excited you're thrilled you're scared uh you feel really good and next moment you're thinking about four kids what what have you just done I'm expecting mass chaos in my house for the first six months to a year it's got little Froggies on it did you see this I don't know what I'm going to be like as a parent of four children I hope good but I don't know for sure but we'll get there just like it did with the first two I think these two are going to teach us how to be better parents okay this is not going because it's too loud how about we fill all the bags first and then we'll tie them does that sound like a good idea Maya and Kieran are very excited about getting Brothers they're telling all their friends for months and months and months we're going to India to get our baby brothers I think Maya gets it pretty well she knows what we're getting into Rishi is going to be a great big sister he's in for the ride she knows something big is happening I don't think Kieran really gets the fact that she's gonna have to share you know Mom with these two babies we may have some issues on hand once once we uh come back but both of them are very very excited about what's what's about to happen foreign the day they've been waiting for arrives trip to India unlike any trip we've ever had oh I'm extremely excited I haven't been I haven't slept in three weeks I was like I sleep maybe two or three hours a night and I wake up and lists are going through my head and I have to do this I have to do this and I have to do this our whole life had been uh playing around this this for the last few months I mean every little thing we do is around okay when do we go when do we go when do we get the boys to know that it's now just a few days until we get to meet them it's really exciting after an exhausting 8 000 mile 17 and a half hour flight the auroras arrive safely in Mumbai India Every Time I Think of India I think of this just smell it's the dust in the air it's the spices it's I don't know how to describe it it defines India for me when I smell that smell every time I go back to India it's just a pretty uh interesting experience it's like connecting with your roots um all over again it's the loudness and then the activity and people people everywhere I miss that seeing people on the street to meet the two newest members of their family the auroras will have to travel 80 miles to the city of Pune and the sofas orphanage Deepika Maharaj Singh is an executive committee member of the sofas orphanage every day she Witnesses the difference sophosh makes in the lives of orphaned children there are two ways of looking at children that they are lost and that they are found we like to think of them as found orphanage has been home to Rohan and urchin for almost a year they have known love and care in their short lives tomorrow the auroras will add to that love when they finally meet the two little boys they know almost nothing about we don't have any information on their birth family at all it's like meeting the girls for the first time I mean you have this this child growing inside of you and you want to see who they are it's the same thing you know I want to see who are these these children what are they like you know we've heard they're one's naughty I want to know how they're going to fit into our family first time I said those were my sons it just felt kind of cool after a Restless night's sleep the Aurora Family is on their way to the sofas orphanage in Pune India where they will meet their soon to be adopted twin boys for the very first time today we meet the babies I was calm I'm not calm anymore we've been waiting for this day a very long time over 15 months so it's good to know that it's here so there's a bit of a sense of relief I cannot compare that to anything else that's happened in my life in terms of the magnitude of it and then how it's going to change our life forever they've grown in our hearts for the past 15 months and we already feel even though we've never held them that they're our sons they've always been our children they always will be Kieran you want to go meet your brothers nearly a year has passed since Lee and Niraj first submitted their adoption request now the moment they've been waiting for has finally arrived oh my God first time you saw them it's kind of magical between the pictures but seeing them in person it was quite an experience I just couldn't take my eyes off them have them in my arms after you know this all this time of waiting for them and to actually be there physically with them was just overwhelming I had told myself whatever happened I'm not going to cry and you know it's going to be a normal uh experience and then saw Lee holding what the voice that was just a beautiful moment the minute I saw those babies I forgot all the pain of going through the process it was great it was everything I thought it would be my first time I said those were my sons it just felt kind of cool I've never said that you know my girls I'm used to saying that my my boys is is my sons is a very different experience I look at them and I feel about them the same way I feel about my and Kieran there's no difference I look at them and these are my my sons as the day ended we began to see that they are beginning to at least form a little trust in these two new phases the next day everything is ready for the boys to leave the orphanage first they receive a final medical exam he came with a weight of 1.8 kilograms a little less than four pounds and now 7.8 kilograms a little more than 16 pounds so he's doing well and most important thing is developing well we've been getting your reports regularly so we've been looking through yeah Lee and Niraj then complete all the necessary legal documents gold has approved your case and I'm glad to hand over the court orders and all supporting documents to you today Rohan and urgen are now officially members of the Aurora Family with the paperwork finalized the staff of the orphanage gathered to say goodbye to the Twins and bless the new family you walk in there and they have this whole event planned for us that was quite quite wonderful it was a beautiful ceremony I wasn't expecting something as formal it was really neat and they include the girls in it which I thought was really neat it was wonderful to watch because it really showed us how much they care about the children it makes you feel good about where they've been for almost the first year of their life the whole experience was was quite memorable and we'll stick in our head forever Lee and Niraj leave the orphanage with their twin boys bringing their long adoption journey to a close but they know that the days and weeks ahead will bring new challenges and adjustments for the entire Aurora Family or chaos that's going on the happier they all seem to be kidding can you make your brother laugh okay okay after the adoption is finalized the auroras spend the next few weeks in India it is an opportunity to get to know each other better and introduce Rohan and Urgent to their new grandparents after three weeks in India the family arrived back home in Madison Wisconsin they attempt to settle into a daily routine but business is not as usual the first days back were not good days they were we were just in survival mode just making it yeah really exhausted it's 24 7 kids really no time for us time for us is sleep time no surprise that we were expecting that what would actually happens it still is a surprise my mom got here the day after we got back thank God because I'm not sure we could have survived without her and I'm not exactly sure what I'm gonna do when she leaves church that has twin boys I've told them as my daughter's adopted me she's adopting twins I said yes she's adopting twins I said does she know what she's doing I said well I don't know but she's going to try it's funny because I don't know it seems like the more chaos that's going on the happier they all seem to be you know it's like if it's really really crazy they're all really really happy but every day gets a little better everybody sleeps a little better every day and kind of settled in see you in the morning when the sun comes out she seems to be really getting the handle of it so I feel free I can go home Saturday adults aren't the only ones adjusting to life with the boys they both like it these are good for the most part they hit their moments Karen's still having her moments where okay I'm not the youngest anymore and this is not real good right now but every day she gets a little bit better some of the Aurora's friends are getting together tonight for the boy's first birthdays the addition of two little persons to our family has been a blessing and they they've touched Us in in ways that are uh that's we didn't think there's no way I could ever complain about my life I mean I have beautiful children I have a great husband through this experience I think you really see what great friends and great support you have it's made us richer chaos but it's great next it's another joyful Union of child and parent step into the life of another family on the road to adoption and witness their new beginning adoption stories continues next on Discovery Health Channel real life medicine miracles

Channel: Leigh Arora

Views: 323,812

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Id: oLHEFuPxC9I

Length: 22min 11sec (1331 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 26 2015