Gracie Gaines, a 10 old girl who was adopted from China at 3 years old by a loving parents Daniel and Tiffany Gaines, was brought back to the United States to begin her new life. In Gracie’s circumstances, she was left with life-altering development issues, the greatest of those being difficulties communicating verbally. Gracie was homeschooled and attended speech therapy and learned sign language for the next 6 years of her life. This previous fall she began school at Park City Elementary School, as her mom took a teaching job there.

Gracie’s family attends South Green Street Church of Christ in Glasgow, Kentucky every Sunday. In Bible Class, Gracie has a hard time focusing. She often covers her eyes or lays her head down to disassociate. From being found at the Taiyuan City Welfare Institute gate in Taiyuan, China on a February night when it was 18 degrees, to now, Gracie has overcome obstacles that most people do not face in a lifetime. Tiffany Gaines stated, “She had starved for a week prior to being left. Her age was gauged by umbilical cord health. Her esophagus was not connected to her stomach and she had zero nourishment from birth.”

In the special needs class at Park City Elementary School, the students get free time almost every 30 minutes. They have time to reset and recharge before they start the next activity. Gracie loves to spend her breaks spinning on the skinny chair time and time again.

During class reading and discussion, Gracie focuses as she is rewarded by her teachers with Skittles. Tiffany Gaines stated, “Gracie sings the praises of her teachers and her friends for hours at the end of every day and gets excited to go back to school the next day.” Gracie loves to answer questions in class discussion, and she is super social and wants to be everyone’s friend.

Gracie often chooses to work independently in Bible class while the other kids talk amongst themselves. Due to her development issues, she has an extremely hard time communicating with her peers. This makes her day to day experiences very different than other kids her age.

Gracie focuses on her coloring as she works independently while chatter from her peers fills the room. She remains absorbed in her own activity, carefully filling in each circle with the remainder of class.

During special needs class, Gracie works independently on her task folders. She said they are “Easy easy easy peasy.”

Trauma and isolation are very present in Gracie’s life. Tiffany shares more about Gracie’s past: “China was still under one child rule when Gracie was born. Maybe her birth mother already had a child… Every February Gracie has night terrors. I remember that first February in 2020. While the first few months of her adoption were rough most nights, February definitely escalated the severity of her nightmares and crying. I would awake to her screaming, crying, kicking, lashing out, eyes shut tight and body in full turmoil.”

Gracie’s teacher Brittany Meade talks about how great an addition that Gracie has been to her classroom. Assistant teacher Brandi Bowles discussed how Gracie has impacted her first year as a teacher at Park City. She said, “We absolutely adore having Gracie in here. She brings the light to the classroom and makes it a fun environment.”

One aspect of Gracie’s life that she struggles with daily is sensory issues. Gracie will hold paper, plastic, or random objects up close to her face to feel how the objects sound. This is one of the many things that makes her so lovable. Daniel Gaines stated, “Her orphanage given name was He Yuan Rong. But to our family she is Gracie Jane Gaines, named after grace and Tiffany’s mother Janie… She is no longer an orphan, but a beloved member of our family.”