By Jeffrey Miller
Feature Writer

SEOUL - For anyone, who has ever played or loved the game, it’s a baseball fan’s dream come true: to throw out the first baseball on opening day. However, when nine-year-old Adam King threw out the first ball at April 5 opener of the Korean Baseball League at Chamsil Stadium - by invitation of First Lady Lee Hee-ho - it had a much deeper and profound meaning for him.

"God had a plan for me to come to Korea," said Adam, "to show other kids if you’re disabled you can still do a bunch of things."

Adam, whose Korean name is Oh In-ho, was born in 1991 without tibia in both legs and with syndactyly of both hands. After being adopted by Charles and Donna King in 1995, he had both legs amputated above the knee. These days he gets around effortlessly on multi-colored titanium prostheses (or what his dad calls "bionic legs") embellished with Pokeman stickers.

"I was thinking and it just shot up to me," explained Adam. "I thought why did God want me to do this? And then dad told me there were going to be other [disabled] kids there. That’s why I thought God had a plan. God put me in this plan and he wants me to follow it. That’s why we came here."

One thing is for certain: being physically challenged hasn’t slowed Adam down at all.

He’s just like any other nine-year-old kid in America or Korea. He likes rock and roll, Batman and Superman, reading, collecting Pokemon cards, and playing computer games. In school, he likes math and spelling.

At home, he has his share of chores to do. (Although his dad pointed out that, it’s usually picking up after himself.) He has to clean up his room, take out the trash and clean up the kitchen.

"I also have to clean up the dog poop," he laughed, referring to the onerous task of having to use a "pooper-scooper" to clean up the "dog poop" in the yard.

He loves Korean food, especially kimchi. And like most kids his age, he also likes pizza and ice cream. His favorites? Pepperoni and chocolate, of course.

When he grows up, he wants to be either a writer or an artist.

"I like reading," said Adam, "especially adventure stories and Dr. Seuss."

Adam and his father who are back here at the request of First Lady Lee, first met her with nine other adoptive families when she visited the United States in June 1998. As the result of a question from Adam to the First Lady, (he asked her if he could visit Korea someday), those families were invited to Korea in November of that same year. And just last year, when First Lady Lee visited America again, Adam showed her that he could walk without crutches when, as a flower boy, he presented flowers to her when she visited the University of Southern California (USC).

From their first meeting, the First Lady and Adam wrote letters to each other. He wrote that he was in Cub Scouts and that he was doing well in school. First Lady Lee wrote him and said that she was really proud of seeing him walk at USC. She also sent him a baseball uniform, with a bat, a glove, and a ball.

Adam’s story of how he, and seven of his siblings - three of them from Korea - were adopted by the Kings cannot be told completely without first telling the story of his parents who have also followed God’s plan.

"My wife read about Harry and Bertha Holt when she was in high school and that got her interested in Korea itself," explained King, "We had these plans before we got married to have two children and adopt two children. We ended up having three and when it came to adopt, Korea was still in my wife’s heart. It was something she really wanted to do."

By chance, when they opened the phone book, to look for an adoption agency, Holt was the first one they saw. Holt had a main office in Oregon, but there was one located in Southern California where the Kings still live.

Today, in addition to their three birth children Matthew (23), Amanda (20), Jessica (17), the Kings have adopted seven children besides Adam - Leena (17), David (14), Rebecca (11), Sarah (8) Peter (8), William (3) and Jonathan (3). Besides Adam, David, Rebecca and Peter are from Korea; Leena is from India. Five of their children besides Adam are physically challenged - Leena, Sarah, Peter, William, and Jonathan.

There will be one more addition to the King family. The Kings are preparing to adopt their fifth Korean child, Kim Kyung-bin (Joseph). He will join the family later this summer.

Although one might think that raising five children with disabilities would be challenging, King doesn’t think so.

"It can be difficult, but we don’t look at it as a big challenge," King said. "The highs are much, much higher and the lows can be a little bit lower - and even much, much lower than with raising normal children. On the other hand, instead of looking at it as something difficult, we look at it as something that’s really enriching and fulfilling in our lives." Nonetheless, taking care of these many special needs children is not without its own share of special care and responsibilities...

"There are a lot of doctors appointments to go to and a lot of physical therapy," said King, "But we’ve also met a lot of great people and great families who also have special needs children whether they are adopted or their own children. It just makes your life a lot busier."

When it comes to taking care of all the medical bills, King pointed out that they go payday to payday.

"We always pour all our money into our family no matter how much my pay has gone up or how many children we have," noted King, "it’s all been pretty much the same."

Fortunately, they’ve hooked up with a Shriner’s Hospital where all orthopedic surgery is free. Also, King’s health insurance from his employers has been outstanding. Additionally, a medical bill passed seven years ago provides coverage for the treatment of preexisting medical conditions for an adopted child as if the child had been born to the adoptive parents.

"The health care coverage is great," added King. "We have few out of the pocket expenses in that regard."

Taking care of their special needs children is not all doctors’ appointments, surgery, and other therapy, either. There are periods, when there aren’t so many appointments, when King and his wife can catch their breath. Just having so many kids, though, King’s wife is running around all the time. All the kids are in school - from pre-school to high school. Fortunately, the school times are staggered, so the Kings are able to get transportation through the school district because they are special education.

Although the Kings’ original plan was to adopt just two children, they think it was God’s will that has guided them.

"God had a different plan for our family," explained King. "We look at how the children were placed in front of us and we know that it’s God’s divine guidance."

King, who is also a Commander of a Naval Reserve Security Group unit in San Diego, (he’s spent a total of 28 years in the Navy) had never served in Korea, but he has been to Korea four times in the past to install software for his former employer Hughes Aircraft. (Interestingly, he just started a new job the day before he came to Korea.) King has also served on the Board of Directors for Holt International Services and is the current chair of the Special Education Community Advisory Committee for Southern California.

Since arriving in Korea on April 4, it has been a non-stop schedule of visits, dinners, luncheons, interviews, as well as the big event at Chamsil Stadium April 5. And even after flying halfway around the world, and all the excitement of being back in Korea, the vivacious Adam showed no signs of slowing down the day before his big moment on the mound.

As soon as he arrived at the stadium April 5, he bought souvenir Doosan Bears T-shirts, caps, and balls for his family. He even took time out during the press conference to call home.

"Tell Mom, I love her," said Adam to his brother David on the phone.

Back home, Adam plays on a Challenger Little League team for disabled children. In Challenger, everyone gets to play, they get to play every position (Adam prefers shortstop), they always get a hit and they always score. The game always ends up tied so everyone wins!

And who’s his favorite baseball player?

"I like Park Chan-ho," said Adam, who has an autographed baseball from Park.

Despite all the media attention surrounding his visit, Adam wasn’t nervous at all about throwing out the first pitch. However, he jokingly asked for a pair of sunglasses before the game because he felt like a "movie star."

When Adam took to the mound April. 5, and threw out the first pitch, one thing is for certain - he proved much more, not only for him, but also for disable d children everywhere.