Home One Year...How Far We've Come...

China 1/9/2012

Zoë giving Poppi a kiss goodnight.  Home 1/20/2012

We've been home with our sweet whispers from God (this is what I called them before I knew them because I always felt their presence in my life during the five year wait and it felt like a whisper, soft and gentle. )

The girls have come so far from those wobbly first crawls in the solitude of our hotel room in China.  They were so fragile at first, but as the days went by their burgeoning personalities blossomed and they grew stronger and their small smiles became lilting laughter. 

In all honesty, the first six months here at home were some of the hardest I have experienced in all my days.  The overwhelming need for sleep so that I could be strong for them coupled with the desire to be vigilant and protect and nurture were at constant odds.  Now, though, a year and some distance from those difficult days have brought me peace.   And when I see how far they've come, I am certain I "[w]ouldn't take nothing for my journey now."

I understand now what it meant all those years ago when my mother used to tell me "you have to find your inner strength."  I dug deep in those first few months and did whatever it took to make my girls feel my love.  They are safe now and are where they were meant to be--nestled deep inside my heart.