1 year ago today!

One year ago today I boarded a plane in Rome bound for another foreign land....a land that was the birthplace and home of my two youngest sons.
One year ago today I saw Africa, for the first time in my life.
One year ago today I saw Ethiopia, the only home my sons had ever known.

One year ago today I saw the sign for KVI, my boys home for nine months of their little lives.

One year ago today I trembled as we entered the gate of the orphanage.

One year ago today I gave two little boys their first bath.

One year ago today I watched my little bitty boy drinking from a cup. A cup he shared with all the toddlers in the baby room.

One year ago today I was able to watch my little boy eat a meal.

One year ago today I watched a little boy who had lost so much sitting in his mamaw's lap.

One year ago today I watched our big boy sing and dance leading his orphanage friends.

One year ago today I was kissed by my 2nd son for the first time.

One year ago today I held two little boys that I had loved for 8 months but had only held in pictures.

One year ago today I stood on one continent with two children I had waited for, prayed for and imagined in my head for over a year.

One year ago today I watched my precious husband cry as he held our son for the first time.

One year ago today I saw the tenderness in the little boy that held on to his new daddy for dear life.

One year ago today I saw the maturity in a teeny tiny boy who asked "Is it my turn to go, my turn to go to America?"...really he knew what was happening?!?

One year ago today I was a mother of 5 and actually felt like it.

One year ago today I could verify that giving birth to a child and traveling down a gravel road and being handed a child is all the same.....love at FIRST sight.

One year ago today I examined every little piece of each boy...toenails, eyelashes, belly buttons and ears.....just like I did on my newborns.

One year ago today I realized that I waited for nine months from our referral until meeting my boys....funny that is how long I waited to meet the bio kids!!

One year ago today I could not imagine that today my Camden would be so smart, so healthy, so American, so MINE!

One year ago today I turned around and there was my new "baby".

One year ago I ached for your to dive into my arms.

One year ago today I held you as you trembled and cried silent tears.

One year ago today I thought I would hurt you, I wanted to squeeze you so tightly and you seemed so fragile.

One year ago today I saw you as scared, frightened, sad, worried and unsure. I would never imagine that in 365 days you would be bright, bubbly, brave, funny, sassy, charismatic and so, so much more!

One year ago today we arrived in Ethiopia to change the lives of two little boys. Two little boys who had lost everything. Two little boys with no family, no food, no shelter, no toys.....Well guess what? They changed our lives instead. They changed the lives of a middle class family who has family, who has food, who has a home and toys...too many toys!!! They have changed the lives of neighbors, friends, church members, family, strangers....

Their precious spirits just draw people in. Their outgoing personalities strike up conversations.

Their crazy hair makes people stop. Their little bodies but big smarts amaze.

They were "known when they were in their mothers womb"...God knew they would be Americans, God knew they would be Maynards, God knew they would change the world even if just as an adoption story.

One year ago today I became your mommy!