Judah Gundersen isn't like other toddlers in Santa Clarita. The eighteen-month old wasn't born to privileged parents in West Ranch or Valencia. He didn't enjoy excellent pre-natal care at local hospitals. He may have parasites and some minor intestinal problems in his tiny body. And when Judah was born, a test revealed the infant was positive for HIV. As if all that wasn't enough for a baby born into a world of war and suffering, Judah's birth parents abandoned him after his mother gave birth. Judah Gundersen was born alone, a world apart from Santa Clarita sometime in late 2005. com Featured Story.
But Judah's got a new home and a new life. Last Friday, Judah came home to Santa Clarita ending an exhausting and complicated 16 month adoption process for his new parents, David "Gunner" Gundersen and his wife Cindi. After a long flight with his new mother from Kampala, the capital of the African country of Uganda, Judah is settling in and adjusting to his new life at the couples' Newhall home.
The arduous adoption process
Gunner, 26, isn't your typical 20 something male living in Santa Clarita. The new father holds a Master's degree in divinity, and is in charge of an apartment complex housing Master's College students in Newhall. Gunner is aiming for an additional graduate degree in theology at The Master's Seminary. He and Cindi, high school friends since before they moved to the SCV to attend Master's College from Tulsa, say the decision to adopt a child from Africa sprang from their faith.
"True Christianity has hands and feet, and those hands and feet are willing to get dirty and bloody by helping people in need," Gundersen told SCVTalk.com. "There are millions of orphans in Africa who need families."
The Gundersens started the adoption process in January of 2006. Gunner says the only thing predictable about the process was its inconsistency. "The process was more complicated and unpredictable than I could begin to describe," he said.
Some of the obstacles that the Gundersens had to overcome before Judah could come home included corrupt officials in Africa, delays in the Ugandan Judicial system, and conflicts in the adoption process between the United States and Uganda. Through it all, Gunner believes God was firmly in control. "Our conviction is that God was guiding the process the entire way...we would believe this even if the process had been canceled and ended badly," he said.
The Improbable Judah
Finding Judah may have been predestined, but the Gundersens also searched Rwanda and Liberia, two war-torn countries in Africa for an orphaned child to adopt. A friend who also works at the Master's College suggested that the couple look at Uganda too. On an unrelated missionary trip to educate pastors in the Central African country (once ruled by despot Idi Amin)in January of 2006, then 24 year old Gunner met his future son when he was just six weeks old at a baby home in Jinja, at the head of the Nile river.
"Judah was the first child I met, even though I didn't remember meeting him until a few months ago when I found an old picture and recognized his face," he said. "By divine providence, the boy that we were matched up with was the first child I saw when I stepped out of the Land Rover at the baby home."
In comparison to some babies born in Uganda, Judah's birth at the Kampala hospital and subsequent placement at the Jinja baby home was incredibly fortunate. Gundersen says some parents in Uganda -desperate because of rape, poverty, or AIDS- abandon their babies in bushes, the trash, and even "pit latrines."
The deck may have been stacked against Judah from the outset, but the infant baby was able to receive care immediately. "Abandonment at a major hospital is probably the best orphan situation out of the various possibilities, because the baby can be taken care of from birth and taken directly to an orphanage," Gunner said.
Of Judah's birth family, not much is known. Gunner told SCVTalk that he knows Judah had both a mother and a father but doesn't know if they were married. The mother was aged 23 and had AIDS. No one at the Kampala hospital or at the baby home know who they are since they abandoned Judah to the hospital so soon after his birth.
Because Judah was born to a mother who had AIDS, he tested positive for HIV. Gundersen explains that such tests are often positive because the newborn has the mother's antibodies, which show the presence of HIV. A subsequent -and more expensive- test can reveal whether the child is truly HIV positive. For those children who test positive for HIV a year after they are born (when the mother's antibodies have faded away), little hope remains for adoption; Gundersen says HIV positive children can't be adopted internationally.
Judah's improbable good news continued when the subsequent test revealed that he was actually HIV negative, clearing the way for the Gundersens to bring him home.
Homecoming
Cindi's first experience as Judah's mother occurred last Thursday and Friday. Gunner explains that Ugandan law required one of the adoptive parents to be present to apply for the adoptive child's passport, so Cindi embarked alone to the African nation to complete that process and bring Judah home.
The long flight home from Africa revealed a bit about Judah's personality. On his blog site, Gunner says Judah was playful and happy and even interacted with passengers as they disembarked from the plane in London. "Judah took advantage of the line of exiting passengers and said “bye-bye” to every single one of them," Gunner said, relaying what his wife told him about the flight.
Finally, Cindi's British Airways flight was wheels down at LAX shortly after 3 p.m. on Friday, July 13. The new family met together for the first time in the Tom Bradley International terminal, where Gunner greeted his new son.
"He was very sedate and calm, looking a bit numbed by the new people and bustling environment, though not fearful. I bent down and said, “Hey, buddy!” He looked at me, and looked around. Cindi said he might let me pick him up, so I did," Gunner reported on his blog.
Back at the Newhall apartment complex Gunner serves as Resident Director of, Master's coworkers had hung a big sign on the Gundersen's garage door saying, "Got Judah."
Inside their home, Judah got to play with the Gundersen's turtles. The family posted a video of a smiling Judah being entertained by the turtles for friends and family to view. Readers expressed their joy for the Gundersens in replies to his last post on Saturday, less than 24 hours after Judah came home.
Gunner says the young family is trying to duplicate the warmth of Judah's home in Uganda, where the humidity is much higher at night than Santa Clarita's dry, cool summer nights. He says he feels the whole situation is a bit surreal, and Cindi says she doesn't feel like it's permanent, but the family is relying on their faith to help them grow closer.
What's next for this improbable, young family? The parasites and intestinal problems are easily fixed. Gunner says he, Cindi and Judah will be in Santa Clarita for at least the next year as he finishes up this portion of his education. "Then we plan on moving on, probably to a doctoral program in biblical studies or to the mission field." Their destination? Perhaps Africa.
In the meantime, Cindi and Gunner will get to know their new son, and, as Gunner said in his blog: "I will say that as Judah clung to me and put his head on my chest this afternoon, I simply wanted to be a good and godly dad. May our Father teach me how."
Welcome home, Judah
Welcome home, Judah
Attributed to Jeff Wilson (editor-supplied)
Comments (2)