After a year-long ordeal that saw them living in five different countries, sometimes together and sometimes apart, a Fraser Valley family returned to Canada with the son they adopted in Nigeria.
Clark and Kim Moran used a Canadian adoption agency and when they met two-year-old Ayo, they knew they wanted to give him a home and a new life in British Columbia, but the Canadian government didn’t make it easy.
Back in December, the federal government told the family a third-party had come forward, questioning the legitimacy of the adoption.
"That part was really challenging for us because they were making accusations of child trafficking," said Kim.
Living in Ghana at the time, the family eventually moved to Dubai, before spending the last three months in Amman, Jordan.
Kim received an email from the federal government only a few days ago saying Ayo’s Canadian citizenship had been approved, and the couple could bring their son home.
Instead of sharing the joyful news with relatives over the phone, the family hatched a better plan.
"We just thought, wouldn't it be fun if we could pull this off?" said Kim. "Nobody knows at this point, nobody knows that we're coming home so what if we just tried to surprise everyone."
And surprise them they did. Videos posted on social media show the ecstatic reactions of family and friends as the trio made the rounds to different houses after landing back on Canadian soil Monday.
"You could see that they really felt it. And they felt it because they've carried the weight of this whole thing with us," said Clark. "So to watch them experience it and to watch them express it was really quite special."
After a tumultuous year, the Moran family is ready to settle down at home in Abbotsford.
"We're looking forward to being a family," said Clark. "And doing some of those things that we've always kind of envisioned."
