Adoptive Family Profile

let's go for our walk earlier in 2016 the Taylor family celebrated the end of a tiring but extremely significant and satisfying journey and the beginning of a new chapter filled with a sense of Joy they had envisioned for over 8 years go it's a tale of heartbreak persistence and infinite love and it All Began many years ago when the couple first met and started to talk about adoption I just said this is something that I feel is just meant to be for us and are you open to that and and he was it may have been the biggest decision of their lives up to that point but their minds were made up and their hearts were fully engaged as they began the process for international adoption what they may not have been prepared for was the weight both International and adoption within Canada can take an average of 2 to 3 years for Stephanie and Mike it was much longer it even overlapped with the birth of their two daughters Chloe and Brooklyn when the girls were young and when they were both born we moved our file to an kind of inactive is what you called it so if you include those two years that we were in active our whole process uh was 9 years over the years years the couple have had two referrals fail due to various reasons and in 2015 8 years after starting the adoption process they receive their third for an infant in Ethiopia we spent a long time talking about what if this one doesn't come together as well are we are we emotionally able to open our hearts up and take that chance Steph stepped up on the third referral and was really excited knew it was going to work she was convinced 100% that we're traveling this is going to happen like six months from now we will be home and we will have a daughter I I knew I knew I knew them I knew yeah at the beginning of 2016 Stephanie and Mike traveled to Ethiopia to finalize the adoption it was then that they first met their daughter with all of my heart I do not feel any differently than I did the day Chloe was born the day Brooklyn was born the minute they walked out of the orphanage with Nala in their arms and I saw her that was our daughter the couple received full custody soon after their arrival but were faced with a daunting amount of paperwork before their daughter could leave the country during this time many parents will travel home returning when when the process is finalized but for the tailor it was different they knew they needed to be with their new daughter with Stephanie traveling back to Canada Mike spent his time with his daughter Nala in Ethiopia while completing the paperwork we just thought if we have to go back and forth um cuz obviously our other two were here at the time then that's what we would do so when I first returned after that first month I had no idea if Mike would be far behind me if he be 6 months behind me after 5 weeks on his own the paperwork was complete and following a 30-hour flight Mike and Nala finally arrived in Canada to meet their family dad dad who who M Mama that moment was a pretty a pretty amazing moment I think for both of us because it was that moment she stepped foot on Canadian soil and that was that moment sorry it's emotional that we had talked about for so many years through our process when we stand on Canadian soil that's when we just know we made it we made it Nala will turn two in January and continues to develop and Thrive with her new family especially with her sisters Chloe and Brooklyn I feel like she was never gone and she was was here when she was first born yeah I feel like she was here forever since I was born so it doesn't really feel like a change I know that we're giving her an opportunity for sure at um a life but she's given us something that it's just it's it's something that I can't even explain almost what she's given us and given our family although she's learning and developing as part of Canadian culture the family understands the importance of staying true to Nala's African Heritage and finding ways to blend the two cultures within their home she's going to know um you know exactly where she's from uh what her story is um and she's going to be the first one to hear it we will be wanting our our two older girls to understand everything about where Nala came from it's it's who we are now it it's our family so yeah we're not taking her from her culture we're blending we're blending two cultures together for more information about International and Canadian adoption you can visit BC adoption.com whether it was 2 years 3 years or nine like it was for us um once it's complete it just like it feels like 6 months reporting for go on Sha TV I'm Brendan Osborne in Colona elepant

Channel: ShawTVOkanagan

Views: 81,521

Keywords: Shaw, TV, Okanagan, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, adoption, stephanie taylor, mike taylor

Id: 7vGUlZMUtHs

Length: 5min 58sec (358 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 29 2016