TAMPA, Fla. — The Smith family from Plano, Texas came to Tampa full of hope and now they have their daughter.
This is crazy. It’s all been hitting all at once," said Kathleen Smith.
Two years ago, they matched with a little girl from Haiti, named Love Ester.
But with gang violence and much of the country in chaos, they’ve been dealing with the unknown.
“Our agency went back and forth on whether she might be coming home any day. They may pull her out. They may not," Kathleen said.
Tampa-based Grey Bull Rescue coordinated getting the children out of Haiti.
WATCH NOW:Haitian children rescued from crisis and brought to adoptive families
They specialize in helping American citizens trapped in conflict and disaster zones.
On this trip to Haiti, Grey Bull also rescued two sisters adopted by the Joraanstad family from North Dakota.
“We have airplanes, helicopters, people on the ground and Grey Bull’s teams are all a part of getting these girls out today," said Jake Joraanstad.
The Joraanstad’s say they are thankful their girls had an English tutor in Haiti for more than a year.
“And then he’ll call us after their lessons, so we’ve been able to do a lot of video calls and get to know them that way. So it doesn’t feel like strangers so much," said Maribeth Joraanstad.
Meanwhile, the Smiths say their new daughter will fit right in with the three Disney-loving kids at home.
“She has tons of princess dresses, which I don’t know how they get them, but they have them," Kathleen said.
Three kids made it out of Haiti on this mission, but there are 15 more who are still stuck because of red tape.
“We are glad to be in this position, but we wish that all 15 of those kids were coming home," Jake said.
Pasco County woman trying to rebuild mobile home after hurricanes
"I cried, of course, because I've worked very hard getting it nice, which has been difficult for me since I lost my husband and being alone,” Kelly Welty said.
Welty's mobile home lost its roof during Hurricane Milton. She said it was the only one in the Buena Vista community to get totaled by a tornado.
