But because she was in India and the Hughes were in the United States, Uji didn’t even know it. 

The gift? Matt, a pediatric nurse practitioner, and Jessica, a special education teacher, officially committed to adopting Uji, who has epilepsy and is deaf and blind. It wasn’t their first rodeo — their first two daughters were adopted from Taiwan in 2014 and 2016 — but it was their first time finding a child via Reece’s Rainbow. 

“Always popping up in front of me was ‘Eden,’ a delightful curly-haired little girl,” says Jessica, who first found and joined the Reece’s Rainbow Facebook group. “Her advocate was relentless in her pursuit and fundraising efforts for her.”

Jessica fell in love right away, while Matt waited until Uji’s seventh birthday to pull the trigger on commitment. They officially made her a Hughes in January of 2023, bringing her home to North Carolina after spending a month in India. 

“Uji took our breath away when she was brought through the door at her children’s home. I audibly gasped when we saw her in person for the first time,” says Jessica, now the full-time caretaker for her trio. “Teeny-tiny frame, huge curly black pigtails, pale, frail and ready for someone to scoop her up.”

That’s exactly what Jessica did, with Uji immediately curling up in her lap and sucking her thumb. She slept constantly and seized what seemed like even more often, clearly very ill.

But the Hughes, now 38 and 36, were made to be her parents and advocates; this they knew from the depths of their bones. Their first two adoptions, after all, had taught them that they were capable of so many hard things. 

The couple had discussed adoption even before marrying, quickly learning that many children languish in group homes and institutions for years because of their medical diagnoses. 

“Children belong in families — every child, no matter what,” they discussed with each other. “Just because someone has needs that aren’t what people consider to be typical doesn’t negate them from the needs we all have for connection, stability, love and safety.” So they settled on only adopting “waiting children” from that point forward. 

“’Special needs’ is not a term we use in our home; our girls’ needs are the same as any other person,” Jessica explains. “It’s just the way we go about meeting the needs that may look different to people who haven’t been exposed.” 

They first found three-year-old Li-Ru on RainbowKids; she has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is a full-time wheelchair user, requiring maximum assistance with all activities. Two years later, they returned to Taiwan to adopt Xin-Jou, an eight-year-old with autism and trauma-related diagnoses. None of Li-Ru’s or Xin-Jou’s needs overlap with either each other or Uji’s — but that didn’t scare off the Hugheses. 

Thankfully, their bold courage paid off. Those first days at home with three children with medical diagnoses were not exactly Disneyland (“Controlled chaos,” coupled with sleepless nights and a thousand medical appointments is how Jessica remembers it). But there was definite progress.

“Uji is a completely different girl than the one we met in January of 2023,” Jessica says. “She is now getting healthier by the day, confident, clever, strong-willed.” 

The 10-year-old has feeding challenges and is non-verbal. But that doesn’t mean she’s non-communicative, nor passively unopinionated.

“Uji is a fun-loving, fiercely opinionated girl. She is loud and proud to be exactly who she was made to be,” says her adoptive mother. “She seeks people out for assurance but is learning that she likes to do things on her own, too. She has a wild side and loves risky activities and acrobatics.” 

She also loves her big sisters, now 13 and 16, and the feeling is mutual. Uji occasionally seeks out Li-Ru for cuddles, and Xin-Jou has stepped up to the plate to willingly help with some of Uji’s care. 

“None of them have overlapping diagnoses, so we have lots of different care jobs here in our family,” Jessica says, “but all three of them have never seen each other based on their needs, but rather immediately as someone to love.” 

The girls are homeschooled together under their mother’s care, so the pace is dictated by their natural rhythms, interspersed with lots of therapy and medical appointments. Afternoons are for art projects, walking Ellie the dog, spending time in nature, cooking and playing games. Life is sprinkled with smile-bringing adventures, even if they are mildly embarrassing (like Uji’s ability to get undressed, even inside a carrier, with Li-Ru helpfully announcing to fellow Target shoppers that her sister is naked). 

Each Hughes daughter is so unique: Xin-Jou with her tenderhearted helpfulness, Li-Ru with her quick wit and kind friendliness, Uji with her derring-do and cleverness. But they all share a driving need for family — and they have found it, not only with Jessica and Matt, but each other. 

“Our greatest joy is the ‘inch-stones’ we see each of the girls take,” Jessica says, listing them off: getting Uji’s epilepsy under better control and seeing her walk tall, head held up. Li-Ru independently pushing herself in her wheelchair, feeling confident enough to talk to medical professionals at appointments. Xin-Jou transitioning to a new place with grace, trying and liking new activities.

“We are so proud of them, each doing things in their own time, in their own way,” Jessica says. “They are our greatest teachers about life, about relationships, about everything. The best thing about our life is that we all get to do it together, all of it.”

A permanent birthday gift, you could say, better and more meaningful than any of Matt’s or Jessica’s wildest seven-year-old dreams.