Why This Boy's First Encounter With His Adoptive Grandfather Will Make You Believe in Fate

When family members meet an adopted child for the first time, it's always an emotional exchange, but the initial encounter between a young boy from Kazakhstan and his adoptive grandfather seemed almost fated.

The 4-year-old, who was adopted by Canadian couple Lesley and Doug Facey, was born without his right hand, and it's what prevented him from being adopted six times from his orphanage, where he'd lived since he was 3 weeks old.

But when the Faceys were sent a picture of Kirill during the adoption process, it was his disability that actually made them want him even more — partially because Doug's father, Chris, was also born without his right hand.

"I turned the [computer] screen for him to see the picture and all he did was point at the screen and say, 'He's like me,'" Doug told CBC News of his father's reaction. "And you could see the tears."

When the Facey family returned from Kazakhstan with Kirill, loved ones were waiting to greet him at the airport, including Chris. When the two saw each other, the boy stared wide-eyed; he'd never before seen another person who looked like him.

"I went over and knelt in front of him and I just stuck out my hand," Chris said. "[Kirill] was sort of taken aback and he reached out with his stump, and he touched mine. . . . He now knows he's not alone."

As for those who questioned the couple's decision to adopt Kirill, Lesley put it best: "How could I sit there and say 'This is going to be a problem,' when you're looking at this man who's been to the Paralympics," Lesley said of her father-in-law. "He's a great philanthropist in the city, he's a very successful businessman. He's the absolute perfect role model to show that this is not a disability, that he can do whatever he sets out to do, there's nothing going to hold him back."