In 2007, Debbie and Scott Bryditzki had settled into a comfortable life at their Lake of the Pines home.

Gone from their abode were the signs of small children: No toys peaked from behind closet doors, no crayon drawings hanging from the fridge. Their two daughters had graduated from high school, and son Brandon was a self-sufficient 12-year old.

“We were getting ready for the empty nest,” Scott Bryditzki said.

But life has a way of changing even the most secure plans midstream.

That year, the Bryditzkis met a 4-year old Haitian girl named Claire on a mission trip to the country and fell in love. Orphaned from her biological family and living at the home of the mayor of Pétionville, a small town in eastern Haiti, Claire was one of 50 children residing in the house. Brandon first broached the idea of adopting her, and after some initial reluctance, Debbie said the family prayed about it.

“When I was young, I'd always said I'd love to adopt,” Debbie said. “But we weren't thinking of it at that time. We'd already had three children.”

But prayer, Debbie said, changed the Bryditzkis' hearts.

“You know, you have a plan for how your life will work out. You go to college, get married and have kids. You go on vacations,” Scott said. “It's very comfortable and kind of self-serving. But sometimes, life surprises you.”

So they began a painful two-and-a-half year process to adopt Claire. Paperwork and bureaucracy blocked their path at every turn. Then, on Jan. 12, a major earthquake hit the already poverty-wracked Caribbean nation. The family was months away from securing Claire's adoption and suddenly didn't know where she was.

“A piece inside of me told me she was OK,” Debbie said. “If God has us go through all of this, why would he let her die?”

For nearly a week, the Bryditzkis frantically tried to get telephone calls through, searching for Claire before they received the news: Claire was safe inside the mayor's home, which was still standing.

The couple flew to Port-au-Prince, and a succession of good Samaritans delivered Claire, Debbie and Scott home to the Sacramento Airport Thursday morning. That plane also brought Claire into a very different world.

Claire's life is completely different at her Lake of the Pines home.

Now 7, she plays with new games and toys in a room painted especially for her. She's in a new country, a black face in a predominantly white area, and a survivor of an earthquake of historic proportions.

“Claire was used to just one meal a day, maybe some snacks if she was lucky,” Debbie said. “Now, when she sees food, she wants to eat, eat, eat.”

Claire's new life will include grief counseling. Though her biological parents had left her at the age of 1 year at the mayor's house because they could not feed her, they continued to pay occasional visits.

She also leaves behind the children she lived with and the mayor, a mother-figure to the orphans she is known for taking in.

“Whenever an orphan leaves an environment they're used to, it's a loss of security,” Debbie said.

Grasping English is a priority for Claire — though she understands quite a bit — and she'll start at Cottage Hill Elementary within a week or two, Debbie said. Dentist and doctor's appointments await her in the upcoming weeks.

As she grows up, Debbie said Claire also will have to deal with the prejudice some white people hold against African-Americans.

“We already heard a gentleman say a rude comment at the airport Thursday,” Claire's first day in the United States, Debbie said. “But it's something she'll have to learn to deal with, and she will.”

She'll have the support of a family facing those issues with her.

“She's going to have four parents,” Scott said of himself, his wife and older daughters Danielle, 25, and Ashley, 22.

To contact Staff Writer Kyle Magin, e-mail kmagin@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4239.