Thomas Rhett’s Wife Gushes Over Parents, Friends Who Helped With Adoption
Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren Akins have just welcomed home their newly adopted daughter, and they couldn't have done it without support from family and friends.
The country superstar and his wife both posted to social media on Friday (May 12) to announce that after a long wait, their new daughter, Willa Gray Akins, is finally home with them, and to share the first pictures of them as a family. In an emotional post to Instagram, Akins -- who is pregnant with the couple's first biological child, another girl -- thanked her parents, calling them the "Parents of the Year" for traveling to Uganda to bring little Willa Gray home, since she cannot travel by air.
"Thank you mom & dad for bringing her home since this pregnant mama is officially grounded due to baby Akins #2 coming in August," she writes, adding a shout-out to her "Friend of the Year," Kailey Dickerson, "for capturing some of the most special moments for us & for traveling with me to Uganda and back" during the lengthy adoption process.
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Akins also thanked the tight-knit group of friends and family who stuck by the couple through the long, arduous process of adoption, which they described as "an emotional roller coaster."
"Y'all have walked through and prayed through every single moment of this adoption with us, were our ROCKS through it all, kept it a secret, and truly had faith & hope for us when we felt like we had none left. I could cry thinking about each one of you-y'all know who you are & we are beyond blessed with our community God has given us," she writes.
Rhett and Akins announced both her pregnancy and the adoption in February, explaining that they were already well into the adoption process when Lauren discovered she was pregnant. The couple have always wanted to adopt, since Akins' mom is adopted. She is also very active with the non-profit group 147 Million Orphans.
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