The Harveys play with their two boys, Connor and Corey. Paige Lavender and Ben Hancock photo
According to Tracy Harvey, there's no better place to grow up than Boone County. They settled into a home in Ashford so Tracy could take over the family trucking business he had helped with as a young man. He was ready to start his own family, but not in the conventional sense -- instead, he and his wife chose to adopt children from Korea.
Tracy felt strongly about adopting from another country after he learned of the poor living and family conditions some Asian children experience.
"You read and see so many kids who don't get good families over there," Tracy said. "If you can help two, I know it's just two, but that's two that's not having to be worried about."
After looking at several options, the Harveys chose to adopt from Korea. The agency there provided an escort service that could bring the child to America, which was comforting to Tracy because of his fear of flying.
The process was not simple, and the anxiety of becoming new parents brought a new level of suspense to the couple's relationship. Tracy said the process made their kids even more special to them, noting that seeing the first photos of his kids was as great a moment as being in a delivery room.
"From the time you get the first picture, you realize that's your baby now."
To this day, Tracy says adopting is the best decision he and Amanda ever made.
"We probably should have done it while we were younger," Harvey said. "It was the best thing to ever happen to us."
Although Connor and Corey may not have Tracy's nose or Amanda's eyes, the couple said they never thought of the Korean boys as anything other than their kids.
Others have been interested in the Harvey's unique situation and their generous nature, including the director of a foreign exchange program in Charleston.
Knowing the Harvey family makeup, the director called Amanda and asked if they had room for one more addition. In a process that took less than 48 hours, the Harveys had welcomed a Korean foreign exchange student into their home.
The student, whose American name is David, had been staying with a family who encountered financial trouble. Tracy said he and Amanda felt for the teenager, but never considered helping to this extent.
"I wanted to help, but still, bringing a stranger into your house, it's just different," he said.
The Harveys soon learned they could provide more help than they could have imagined. David was quickly moved to Ashford, and Tracy's sister, Sherman High School counselor Jennifer Jarrell, set up all the proper paperwork for his enrollment.
Although the move was quick and unexpected, David said he is happy the Harveys took him in.
"The people here are really kind and open-minded," David said. "They make me feel like a real family."
That feeling of belonging is important to Tracy, who doesn't want his children to feel foreign in their own home.
"I actually feel that they're from here."
For the last two years, students from the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism have crisscrossed the back roads and small towns of West Virginia, working with about a dozen weekly newspapers and looking for untold stories. In addition, the participating newspapers receive training in online and multimedia journalism at WVU. The West Virginia Uncovered project is supported by grants from the McCormick Foundation, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the Ford Foundation.
Click here to go to the West Virginia Uncovered Web site for more stories.
Paige Lavender and Ben Hancock
For the Sunday Gazette-Mail ASHFORD, W.Va. -- According to Tracy Harvey, there's no better place to grow up than Boone County.
The 35-year-old has lived in the place where "everybody knows everybody" all his life. He graduated from Sherman High School, and shortly after, married his longtime girlfriend, Amanda.
They settled into a home in Ashford so Tracy could take over the family trucking business he had helped with as a young man. He was ready to start his own family, but not in the conventional sense -- instead, he and his wife chose to adopt children from Korea.
The humble twosome's decision to adopt from abroad was unconventional for a place like Boone County, where the population is 98 percent Caucasian.
But after putting their newly honed parenting skills to good use for a year with their first adopted child, Connor, the couple decided to adopt a second son, Corey.
Despite being born half a world away, Tracy said his two boys were at home in Boone County.
"The boys fit right in," he said. "Everyone wants to see them, talk to them, play with them. We get more attention with them, but we've never gotten any bad attention."
Corey, 2, and Connor, 4, love riding in their Fisher Price pickup trucks and pushing toy motors around the spacious green lawn behind their home. They spend hours playing in the sandbox with Amanda, who takes every Monday off from her job as a cosmetologist to be with her sons.
"What do we like, Connor?" Tracy will ask.
"Trucks and hot chicks," the 4-year-old will respond, shooting his dad a mischievous grin.
The Harveys always expected a similar family scene to happen in their back yard, but they didn't quite know how it would play out.
The couple was happily married for years before they ever thought of children.
"Me and Amanda, we didn't want for anything," Tracy said. "We thought we had everything."
As they entered their 30s, they still hadn't conceived, so they decided to look into adoption.
"It's something that Tracy has always wanted to do, so when we got closer to the time when we realized we wanted to have kids, we started in on the process," Amanda said.
Tracy felt strongly about adopting from another country after he learned of the poor living and family conditions some Asian children experience.
"You read and see so many kids who don't get good families over there," Tracy said. "If you can help two, I know it's just two, but that's two that's not having to be worried about."
After looking at several options, the Harveys chose to adopt from Korea. The agency there provided an escort service that could bring the child to America, which was comforting to Tracy because of his fear of flying.
The process was not simple, and the anxiety of becoming new parents brought a new level of suspense to the couple's relationship. Tracy said the process made their kids even more special to them, noting that seeing the first photos of his kids was as great a moment as being in a delivery room.
"From the time you get the first picture, you realize that's your baby now."
To this day, Tracy says adopting is the best decision he and Amanda ever made.
"We probably should have done it while we were younger," Harvey said. "It was the best thing to ever happen to us."
Although Connor and Corey may not have Tracy's nose or Amanda's eyes, the couple said they never thought of the Korean boys as anything other than their kids.
Others have been interested in the Harvey's unique situation and their generous nature, including the director of a foreign exchange program in Charleston.
Knowing the Harvey family makeup, the director called Amanda and asked if they had room for one more addition. In a process that took less than 48 hours, the Harveys had welcomed a Korean foreign exchange student into their home.
The student, whose American name is David, had been staying with a family who encountered financial trouble. Tracy said he and Amanda felt for the teenager, but never considered helping to this extent.
"I wanted to help, but still, bringing a stranger into your house, it's just different," he said.
The Harveys soon learned they could provide more help than they could have imagined. David was quickly moved to Ashford, and Tracy's sister, Sherman High School counselor Jennifer Jarrell, set up all the proper paperwork for his enrollment.
Although the move was quick and unexpected, David said he is happy the Harveys took him in.
"The people here are really kind and open-minded," David said. "They make me feel like a real family."
That feeling of belonging is important to Tracy, who doesn't want his children to feel foreign in their own home.
"I actually feel that they're from here."
For the last two years, students from the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism have crisscrossed the back roads and small towns of West Virginia, working with about a dozen weekly newspapers and looking for untold stories. In addition, the participating newspapers receive training in online and multimedia journalism at WVU. The West Virginia Uncovered project is supported by grants from the McCormick Foundation, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the Ford Foundation. 
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