At a very young age, Aili McJunkin was adopted from a foster home in Vietnam and brought to Washington. At the time, her adoptive parents couldn’t have kids and wanted to adopt, and they decided to look out of the country. McJunkin knows who her biological mom is, but she has never met her. She doesn’t know her biological dad.  Her biological parents weren’t married at the time. In Vietnam, it is against the law to have a baby when two people aren’t married, so that’s why she was dropped off at an adoption center a few weeks after she was born.

“It would be awesome to visit them, but it would be hard to find them. They have a fishing business which means they are never in the same spot. Also, I am lucky because usually the norm is to leave a child at a random door step and if that would have happened to me, I wouldn’t have met my parents now,” McJunkin said.

She also celebrates two birthdays, her adoption day and the day she was born.

“My mom is always the one to put herself in my shoes. She understands how hard things can be for me not being her biological daughter. My mom is always the one I go and talk to. My dad is the one to always make sure I feel loved and have everything I need. They both support and love me unconditionally and I couldn’t be more thankful for them and the family I have come into,” McJunkin said.