Today is my Maggie’s fifth birthday. Josh often refers to Maggie as “the one that started it all” because she was our very first adoption.

In 2001, Josh and I had three biological sons, who were five, three and two years old. We had taken permanent measures to ensure that we would not be having any more children the “old-fashioned way”, as pregnancy was dangerous to me because of injuries I sustained in a riding accident.

And yet I knew we had more children out there (it’s probably a good thing at that point that I didn’t know how many more!). I started researching adoption, first half-heartedly, and then more and more with a persistence in my heart that this was something that really felt right.

There were many bumps along the road to Maggie…Josh thought I was nuts at first…he thought we were too young and too poor (which we sort of were). Josh very much wanted to adopt, but didn’t think it was the right time… “some day” he said.

After more prayer and research and finding a program that felt just right, Josh conceded that “some day” could be now. We started the homestudy and dossier gathering process to adopt a baby girl from Vietnam. We felt that three little boys and one little girl would be the perfect family.

You can read all about Maggie’s adoption here, but in a nutshell, the Vietnam adoption program changed from one trip to two during our process, Sept. 11 happened just a few weeks before our referral, the Cambodia program closed completely, and the INS started holding families in Vietnam, refusing to issue visas for the children while they investigated. Oh, and throw in there that Maggie got sick in between my two trips and was hospitalized… Once we got her home we swore we would never, ever, adopt again.

Maggie came home at just under four months old, and she weighed in at a whopping nine pounds. She bonded to us very quickly, slept well from day one, has always been the slowest eater you have ever encountered and has been a drama queen for as long as we can remember. She is strikingly beautiful and she knows it. She is sweet and very tenderhearted. She has more nick names than anyone you know! She is still tiny…at five years old she just barely breaks 35 pounds. She loves all things pink and pretty and sparkly…princesses, dress-up, Barbies, ballerinas…she is all girl.

Some time after Maggie came home we started to feel that we didn’t want her to be the only adopted child in the family…we didn’t want her to be the only Asian person in the family…we didn’t want her to be the only girl in the family. And then we saw Amanda on Rainbowkids, and things sort of “snowballed” from there. Today our “perfect family” is a lot different than we imagined five years ago, but it is even more perfect than we could have guessed.

So happy birthday sweet Maggie…happy birthday to “the one that started it all.” We love you!