Country music star Thomas Rhett and wife Lauren Akins have some big news— the pair have finally welcomed their 18-month-old adopted daughter, Willa Gray Akins, home from Uganda on Thursday!
“On the way to the airport, it was like Christmas Day,” Rhett shared with PEOPLE.
Adds Lauren, “It felt like a dream. I’ve dreamed of us all being on the same continent for so long. It finally feels like everyone is where they’re supposed to be.”
The pair started the adoption process in 2016 shortly after Lauren met their future daughter for the first time during a visit to Africa with the charitable organization 147 Million Orphans, which provides food, water, medicine, shelter, and education to vulnerable children in the name of Jesus Christ. While slogging through the complicated international adoption maze the couple decided to delay trying for a biological child, well, that plan quickly changed once Lauren learned that she was pregnant in December! The couple will welcome a second baby girl in August.
“When we began the adoption process, we said, ‘Let’s wait, let’s give this adopted child his or her time with us and then we’ll continue our family,’” Lauren told PEOPLE earlier this year. “So I was convinced it was food poisoning.”
What’s even cooler about this whole awesome situation is that Lauren’s parents were the ones to bring Willa home for good! You see, Lauren was just in Uganda but the adoption wasn’t complete yet and Lauren had to return to the United States for a prenatal appointment without little Willa in tow. Fortunately, Grandma and Grandpa were able to swoop in and reunite the little family quickly.
“It is very weird to be called ‘Dad’ by a little human being,” reflected the newly minted father. “But it is one of the coolest feelings in the world. Nothing beats that.”
We are over the moon for this family of three— soon to be four! In October, Thomas and Lauren will ring in their fifth wedding anniversary as the parents of two sweet little girls.
Share this amazing news with other fans of this couple!
