The Union newspaper called and asked to profile me on the topics of Sierra College and adoption. I agreed to do so, and did a fairly extensive interview with their staff writer, as well as a photo shoot at our house with the kids.

One of the questions I often get when the media covers me is “what did they miss?” The better question is, “what did I miss?”

If there was one piece I’d add to the story, it’s the fact that serving in elected office has been both a leadership and learning opportunity. Working together, our board has made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of students by protecting their access to college through fiscal sustainability.

But it’s also true that I neither had all the answers during that process, nor did I do everything right. Especially at the beginning of my term, there are things I could have handled better. Hindsight is always 20/20, and if we fail to learn from that, we can’t improve in the future.

I also made a rookie mistake and said the words “not closing the door” to higher office. I’m certainly closing the door in 2010 and am totally focused on dealing with the budget crisis at Sierra College. While I might consider other opportunities for public service five or ten years down the road, I’m enjoying making a difference where I’m at.

To me, the most important part of this story is about adoption. From my perspective, if just one family decides to make a difference in the life of a child because of this story, it will have been worth the time we invested into it a hundred times over.

When the bell rang to start Aaron Klein’s political career, he came out swinging.

Then 26, the business owner and conservative was elected to the Sierra Community College Board of Trustees in 2004, representing most of western Nevada County on the panel.

He wasn’t content to sit on his hands and observe the machinations of his elders. For Klein, there would be no back bench.

Klein immediately demanded the community college system start funneling more money into reserves. His actions led to the eventual resignation of former college president Kevin Ramirez.

He looks back on that time, and a relieved smile crosses his face.

“It was intense,” Klein said. “Things turned into World War III quickly, a hard-edged fight. I learned change is very hard to effect.”

Some bitter feelings remain, as opposition groups tried hard to unseat Klein during his re-election bid in 2008; they still call for his resignation. But, he said, the rifts are beginning to close.

“I’m proud of the fact some of the people I work very closely with now were on the opposite side from me in that argument,” Klein said.

…the couple took on another challenge shortly after: adoption. Klein’s younger sister was adopted from Romania, and the process seemed natural for their family.

“We made the decision in 2006, right after this intense period on the college board was coming to an end,” Klein said. They went ahead with plans to adopt a South Korean child, and in November of 2007 got the call to fly to Seoul to pick up a 7-month-old named Sang-Jin. Their son is now 3 and called Spencer Daniel.

“I’m the oldest of 6, and Cacey is the oldest of 8, so we joked that we had had kids for years,” Klein said. “But it was an incredible experience to become parents, to see those first steps.”

The family was ready for a second child right away, Klein said. Smack in the middle of his 2008 re-election campaign, the two decided to adopt from Ethiopia.

In July 2009, they were matched with a baby girl named Asnakech. Now 10 months old, they picked up the daughter they call Emma Nichole in Ethiopia on Christmas day.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better Christmas present,” Klein said.

You can read the entire article in The Union here.

Photo Credit: The Union

As many of you know, we have an international multi-cultural family and we love it. My son Spencer was born in South Korea…my daughter Emma was born in Ethiopia…and my sister Dora was born in Romania.

So last night at the Olympic opening ceremonies, we were cheering for all four teams that our family represents as they walked into the arena in Vancouver. It’s going to be a fun Olympic games to watch!

This photograph has reached “iconic” status in my mind. Just days after the earthquake in Haiti, Ted and Tina Knox (family friends for many years) flew to Miami to meet a plane that brought their little girl Bethany home.

I just got to meet Bethany last Sunday at our church. She was adorable, giggling and shyly waving when I stroked her cheek and declared her “the cutest Knox ever.”

Now the Colfax Record has just run a beautiful front page story about Bethany, and how she is finally home with her forever family.

In the midst of devastating news following the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti stories of hope have emerged.

One of those miracles is 6-year-old Bethany, who has found a “forever family” with local residents Ted and Tina Knox.

The first step in the lengthy adoption process began a few years ago when the Knoxs’ 21-year-old daughter, Shanley, volunteered to spend a month working with Three Angels Children’s Relief in Haiti.

“While she was there she began writing about her experience and about the different kids,” said Tina Knox, who grew up in Newcastle.

What really pulled on Tina’s heart, though, was when her daughter wrote about the orphans longing to have a “forever family.”

…

“She literally came out of Haiti with the clothes on her back and a small ragged blanket,” explained Tina, who admits the arrival of a six-year- old is a big adjustment for their entire family.

“We got the call on Monday morning, took a red-eye flight to Florida on Monday night and landed in Florida on Tuesday morning,” recounted Tina. “When I got to the place where she was staying, I said, ‘I am here now. I am your mama.’ She just put her arms around my neck and wrapped herself around my waist and clung to me. She just hung on and hasn’t really let go.”

Enjoy this great piece of weekend reading!

UPDATE: Bethany’s sister Shanley is on the front page of Biola University’s student newspaper with her story about “Expecting Miracles from Haiti.”

Photo Credit: Elizabeth Huijskens (top), Colfax Record (middle)

The words of a Steven Curtis Chapman song came to mind entitled “What Now” and it seemed to encapsulate our trip and the incredible opportunities to make a difference that we were seeing before our very eyes.

We can’t say it better than his words do.

I saw the face of Jesus / in a little orphan girl,
She was standing in the corner / on the other side of the world.
And I heard the voice of Jesus / gently whisper to my heart,
‘didn’t you say you wanted to find me? / Well, here I am, here you are.’
So what now? / What will you do, now that you found me?
What now? / What will you do with this treasure you found?
I know I may not look like what you expected,
but if you remember / this is right where I said I would be…
You found me / what now?

So the “What Now” video that I told you I was working on is finally here. And we also finished this year’s version of “Christmas cards” – our 2009 Letter – as well. Hope you enjoy it!

(Mobile, feed and e-mail readers: the embedded video is above.)

UPDATE: I should note that the photos in the video are all taken by Cacey and me, with the exception of the three amazing ones taken by Mandy Morello, who was there in the middle of the night at Sacramento International Airport!

Martin Luther King Day was important to us even before we became the parents of a beautiful African-American daughter. As I like to tell people, “we’re just your typical Korean-Ethiopian-American family.” Dr. King’s vision – individuals being judged by the content of their character – is a profound one for us.

As one of my favorite authors, Randy Alcorn, wrote today, “…it is about a vision, a movement, a value of reconciliation between people of every tribe, nation and language.”

The earliest symptoms of racial division were slavery, and years later, we’re still dealing with its dark legacy around the world. Look no further than Haiti – a nation colonized by the French with African slaves in the mid 18th century. That country’s desperate poverty and the conditions that led to such utter devastation after last week’s earthquake can be traced directly to the bitter root of slavery.

President Lincoln is revered today for his role in making slavery illegal in the United States, but slavery was only the most virulent symptom of racial division. It took another hundred years to change enough hearts and minds to end segregation in this country, and many more years after that to heal many wounds of that era.

And while some will always try to use race to divide rather than unite, we now live in the era of the first African-American President of the United States. While his loss a year ago wouldn’t necessarily have been evidence of racial division, his victory was certainly evidence of its near-absence – and proof that the United States of America is an incredibly exceptional country.

Thank you, Dr. King, for dreaming of racial harmony. Because of your life and work, we live in a nation and a world that is a little bit closer to the equality and respect for our common humanity that God intended from the beginning.

Here’s a quick and rough shot (in poor lighting) of Emma and Spencer having fun with each other a few mornings ago.

We’ve almost got some semblance of normalcy back. Pretty soon we might even be caught up on sleep, and I might get beyond “surviving” and write a blog post or two.

Mandy Morello, a Facebook friend and local journalist, wrote this piece for the American River Messenger. Thanks for letting me share it here, Mandy!

For several months I have had the privilege to read as the Klein Family shared their journey to adopt their second child, Emma Nichole Asnakech Klein from far off Africa on their Facebook pages. This young couple, Aaron and Cacey, adopted their first child, Spencer, from South Korea. As I looked through their profile and took a glimpse into this young family’s life, the problem of orphaned children around the world became more of a reality.

I came across staggering statistics about worldwide orphans during the 2 year celebration of Spencer’s Adoption Day. Aaron posted “There are 134 million orphaned children around the world. 130,000 waiting for forever families in the U.S. foster care system. Every 18 seconds another child becomes an orphan. Every 15 seconds a child loses a parent to AIDS. And my favorite statistic: it only takes ONE person to make a difference in the life of a child. You!”

Almost a year after adopting Spencer, the Kleins decided to start the process of adopting another child in October of 2008.

There would be a few posts about their process, but mostly they shared about their love and excitement of their son Spencer. On July 2, 2009 the excited couple announced that they will be parents again! They were given the name and photo of their new baby girl born April 18, 2009, Emma Nichole Asnakech Klein. They posted, “Her birth mother gave her the Ethiopian name, which means “no one is like her.” She is currently at the Holt International Care Center in Durame, and we expect to travel to Addis Ababa in two to four months to bring her home, depending on the legal process and visas, etc.”

On December 20, Cacey and Aaron began their 11 day journey to Africa to bring their new daughter to America! Spencer stayed back with grandparents who also helped the growing family finalize the purchase of their new home. The Facebook posts were frequent and exciting. The 32 hour plane rides, countries they had to travel through and obstacles they hurdled were shared including the much awaited first sight of their “beautiful little princess.”

As the adoption process was being finalized on December 29th, Aaron posted “Stuck in Africa. Need a few Congressional Offices to Advocate to Federal Government.” Remember, this is two days before New Year’s and during Winter Break for government officials. Within an hour, this social network began helping the Kleins. They posted that there were over 100 reposts and re-tweets to help get Emma to America. The next post read, “McClintock’s Office on the Case.” The waiting game began. We saw posts about the farewell ceremony from the Care Center and their first night together at the hotel. The next morning waiting on the computer screen was a post, “”Aaron, they give you your visa today. Your “Senator” say” Our Profound thanks to Congressman McClintock and his amazing staff!”

Finally, the 2 day journey back home began. More Facebook posts about their layovers, including a stop in Sudan, and an invitation for anyone who would like to welcome them home. Finally arriving at Sacramento International Airport at 11:53 pm on New Years Day, Spencer finally saw his little sister for the first time! This beautiful little girl is now home with her family. She will have opportunities and freedoms in life that she would never have had in Africa thanks to a loving couple that traveled around the world to receive her, a remarkable elected leader and a social network. I am thankful that I was able to be part of one of the happiest and special days of their lives all thanks to a Facebook “Friend Request.”

Mandy…what can we say? We feel the same. Thanks for raising awareness on orphan care and adoption in this way!

Spencer loves his baby sister…

A family of four now…

Many thanks to Mandy Morello for coming to the airport at midnight and taking these photos. She’s using them for a newspaper story…looking forward to seeing her work!

If you’d like to join our family in welcoming Emma home to the United States, we’d love to have you. We’ll be arriving at Sacramento International Airport, Terminal A, late on the evening of Friday, January 1, 2010, just a few minutes before midnight (not on New Year’s Eve, but the following day).

If you could, send a RSVP e-mail to ak@aaronklein.com. I’ll see your message while we change planes in Minneapolis, and we’d love to know that you’re coming!

Meeting our little girl for the first time…

She loves her mama…

All smiles, giggling and playing with us…

A future Sierra College student, perhaps?