Adoptive Mother's Post About Oologah Basketball Game Goes Viral

A Collinsville woman's Facebook post about a pickup basketball game is going viral.

Christy Rowden took her two younger children to the small park in Oologah on Monday, May 21, 2018. 

"We just discovered the park a few weeks ago," she said, and fell in love with the splash pad and basketball court.

They had the park to themselves for about 30 minutes on Monday, until a large group of 5th graders from Oologah arrived on a field trip.

"Some boys started playing basketball & Asher kind of stood back and watched for a while. Then something happened that melted my heart. All the boys came over & shook Asher's hand & introduced themselves. Then they asked him to play with them. They were so kind - they included him by letting him catch & throw the ball & they cheered him on and high-fived him. It seriously brought tears to my eyes - especially being the mom of a black boy in a mostly white community," she wrote.

Rowden and her husband, Steve, adopted both Asher and Mercy from Uganda. The younger kids join the Rowdens' two biological children who are teenagers.

The Rowdens adopted 7-year-old Asher in 2013. They adopted Mercy, who's 5 years old, in 2016. 

Rowden said they had to spend nine weeks in Uganda for each adoption. The Ugandan government changed that requirement to a full year shortly after the family returned home with Mercy. 

In her post about the basketball game, Rowden said she hoped parents of the boys who played basketball with her son would recognize them so they would know how much she appreciated their kindness.

"There is good in this world! I need reminders of it sometimes," she wrote.