Seventeen years ago, seven thousand miles away, an orphanage in south Hunan China took in two baby girls. Despite their infancy, the girls forged a friendship during their short time together.
Then they lost touch, adopted on the same day by different families from the United States.
That could have easily been the end of the story. Two girls on two different paths, separated by time and distance. But fate had a different plan. 
A few years ago, the two girls discovered they lived just miles apart, both, astonishingly, having ended up in the little town of Ojai. What are the odds?
They are both high school seniors: Ella Schuette attends Ojai Valley School while Serena Cornell goes to Nordhoff. Both are working through the college application process and planning their futures.
And today, December 5, is their Adoption Day.
“It’s crazy,” Ella said. “It’s definitely the definition of a small world.”
On a fall day in 2005, eager mothers Dalhia Schuette and Diane Cornell were about to adopt their future daughters at the Heng Yang City Social Welfare Institute of Hunan, China.
The parents even met each other prior to the adoption.
“We met her [Dalhia] in one of those parenting classes,” Diane recalled. “We loved talking to her, there was an instant connection.”
There was an early bond between the babies too. In a sea of babies, 9 months old Serena and Ella wore matching outfits and always crawled towards each other in the playroom. 
“Our babies would always roll to each other, out of this whole room of chaos,” Dalhia said. “They must have shared a crib.”
After the adoption, the two families went their separate ways. They lost touch but always kept in Facebook contact. At the time, Dalhia lived in Los Angeles and Diane in Ojai.
When it was time for Ella to apply for high school, she was supposed to attend a boarding school in Pasadena. Due to the Pandemic, however, they couldn’t finish construction in time for her admission.
Ella ended up choosing Ojai Valley School out of all the high schools she toured afterward as her favorite. Unbeknownst to her, Serena enrolled into Nordhoff High School just seven miles away.
Upon finding out the families were so close, they met up for the first time in 2019.
“Two years ago we ate lunch together and Ella announced she was going to OVS,” Serena said. “I was just shocked. I couldn’t believe it.”
“Now we live so close to each other after all this time,” said Ella. “It’s really cool that we can understand each other’s experiences and keep in contact.”
The two reunited families are planning to do more together now the pandemic is diminishing, such as plans to see each other during the coming holidays.
“For me, it just confirms that everything is the way it’s supposed to be,” Diane said. “It just feels right. It feels right that the girls are with the families they’re supposed to be with, and we found each other after all these years.”