But Trayan’s icy glare directed towards the orphanage worker — impossible to miss, even though Kim Shepard had just met him — said otherwise. 

It wasn’t just the way that the six-year-old organized his toys at his Bulgarian orphanage that made Kim, a 36-year-old recreation therapist, disagree with the worker’s dismissive assessment. It was the way Trayan, who also goes by Tray, immediately handed Kim and her husband James their passports and a book about airplanes when he walked into their AirBnb while pointing at the door. Like he was saying, “Let’s blow this popsicle stand and go home, folks.”

That’s exactly what the trio did in 2024 — but not before Tray had a massive meltdown when customs agents took his passport at the airport. The boy once thought to be completely ignorant of the world around him knew that he needed his passport to leave Bulgaria and become Kim and James’ new son. 

“The primary thing they were missing previously was safety and respect,” says Kim. “Trayan can tell very quickly what someone thinks of him, and he doesn't give some people the time of day and completely disengages — I guarantee that was why the people at the orphanage assumed he didn't understand, because they didn't expect him to.” 

But she and James, a 37-year-old behavioral health clinician, certainly do. Ever since bringing their first child home to Indiana, the couple has been amazed at how Trayan, whose diagnoses include autism and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), has adjusted to family life. 

“When we got home, he recognized his room from the video calls,” Kim remembers. “He asked permission to touch everything in his room (pointing — he is non-speaking), and it took him a while to realize he didn't have to get permission for everything, but he is definitely a kid who knew what family and home was and had badly wanted it a long time.” 

Tray’s intelligence manifested in other ways, too. Kim and James, who was diagnosed with autism at age four, realized their new son was chewing his bottles into a narrow shape. A lightbulb went off: Tray can't suck out of a straw and has many oral motor difficulties, so a narrow opening kept the bottle’s contents from spilling onto him. 

“That was when we realized the extent of his cleverness,” Kim says. “When we got bottles with narrow openings, he stopped doing that.” 

It was just another insight into the mind of a little boy they had fallen in love with after seeing his photo and profile on Reece’s Rainbow. Because of their careers and personal connections (Kim’s dad also had an autism diagnosis), the Shepards knew from the start of their relationship that they wanted to adopt children with complex medical needs. That desire intensified once they learned the reality of living with disabilities in disadvantaged countries. 

“We have many clients who lived through institutionalization in the U.S., and if we could stop that from happening to even one person, we wanted to,” says Kim. So when they saw Trayan through their screens — with the saddest eyes and an even sadder, hopeless description — they instantly knew he was meant to be a Shepard.

“We just had this feeling that he had just never known love, and we needed to give him that,” Kim says simply. 

Tray was shy when they first met, not to mentioned confused. After all, no one at his orphanage had told him he was being adopted, nor what that meant. Who was this strange, English-speaking couple bearing new toys and wanting to play with him? And they weren’t even trying to steal or break his toys, like the older kids at the orphanage did? 

By day two, Trayan let his new parents parallel play with him. And on day three, they showed him pictures of his new house in America and told him they wanted him to be their son forever. He promptly gathered his new toys and led them to the door. 

Clearly, Tray is a man of action who sees no point in wasting time. That attitude perfectly matches James and Kim, who started another adoption process — this time for a little brother — only two months after Trayan’s adoption was completed. Tray helped in that department, too, often pointing to the unused portion of his bunk bed and bringing it food and toys. Sibling characters on his favorite TV shows became extra-important to him, with special insistence through his non-verbal communication that the older one was Trayan, while the younger was “brother” or “sister.” 

“We decided that it'd be better to get on it than make him keep waiting and questioning,” Kim says. “We also just felt completely led about it, like logically we knew it was wild to start the adoption process two months after Trayan got home, but we knew we were equipped, felt 100% at peace about it and God just kept telling us we needed to be ready soon.” 

They got that chance when they learned about Sawyer, a boy with autism just one year younger than Tray who had originally been adopted by another family through American foster care. He wasn’t doing well, however, and needed another home. He, too, was described as “being in his own world,” with an inability to bond. 

Though it’s still quite early, Kim says the new brothers are acting like they’ve known each other their whole lives. “They are honestly super similar,” she says. “Like, it is kind of eerie.”

Trayan and Sawyer both love Peppa Pig, Bluey and Cocomelon; music and dancing; jumping, bouncing and rocking; and straws, balloons and water. They also love organizing things. Their days are now filled with snuggling with any number of the Shepards’ 14 cats (“Trayan is best friends with one of our cerebral hypoplasia cats and dotes on her non-stop,” Kim says. “He was so mad the other week that she wouldn't eat the grapes he was trying to feed her.”), tickles and music. There are little smiles — like the way Trayan can fall asleep anywhere and how Sawyer gives a little roar when you ask him if he’s a dinosaur — and big ones, too. 

“The best part about loving Tray and Sawyer is seeing them grow and heal,” Kim says. “They are both incredibly resilient and loving, and seeing them have love returned to them and a family that values them is an honor.” 

“There is nothing more valuable that giving love to others. Our boys are so beautiful and loving and they bring so much joy, energy and education to so many.” 



If Trayan and Sawyer are “in their own world,” then, it’s entirely unlike what some may presume. Instead, it’s replete with people who love them and have joined in. 

And they understand it all, perfectly.