JASPER, Tenn. - Snapshots. Small snippets of mental images, like the flashcards he used learning to speak English, are the only real memories Ermiyas Bowden has of his childhood in Ethiopia.
If he closes his eyes, the Marion County senior defensive end can see and recall little pieces of his home. A dirt road. The goats he tended to. A stray dog. A lone tree where he sought shelter with his baby sister from the heat.
His memory of the orphanage where he and Hana lived for several years is a bit clearer. Rows of bunk beds lining the cinderblock walls. A swing set and courtyard where he and more than 300 other children would play.
But his fondest memory of childhood came when he was 6 years old, the day he was told the two strangers visiting the orphanage had come to take him and Hana home with them to America.
"I don't have an emotional attachment to my home there because there aren't many memories," Ermiyas said. "It doesn't hit home because I don't remember much about my birth parents or family there. I have little memories of what they looked like, but that's about all. I just feel very blessed to have the family that my sister and I have now. They took us in from a bad situation and have given us the support and love and a home we didn't have."
Entering their early 30s, with two toddlers of their own, Sean and April Bowden decided they wanted a bigger family. But rather than trying to have more kids, they began to discuss adoption, and after months of research they decided to look outside the United States in hopes of finding siblings for their children they could bring into their home.
"My thoughts were why should we bring more kids into the world when there are already so many who need homes," April explained. "We talked about how it would affect our two children and our lives and then began the process.
"I have this constant desire to have a life that's challenging. I don't like calm, quiet situations, so as we talked about it we felt like the biggest adventure we could get ourselves into, and a way to give our two children the opportunity to experience a whole other culture, would be to find children who needed a home and the support of a big family."
The Bowdens' search settled in Ethiopia, but the process was painfully slow and tested the couple's commitment to the idea of international adoption. It took two years, which included countless background checks, written letters of reference, financial checkups and health tests as well as home safety inspections before a happy ending finally was within sight.
The couple flew to the capital city of Addis Ababa for a nine-day trip in which they would meet the brother and sister toddlers they had been assigned, then finally be allowed to bring them home.
"We didn't want to bring a child here alone," April said. "We especially didn't want to bring a black child to a white family alone. We wanted them to have a sibling to talk to and identify with about adjusting to their new surroundings. We did not want our kids to ever feel like outsiders."
On the first day of their trip, the Bowdens introduced themselves to 6-year-old Ermiyas and 2-year-old Hana on the orphanage playground, breaking the ice and coaxing a smile from the shy little boy by kicking a soccer ball and countless pushes from Sean on the swing set.
The next day the couple bought new clothes for the kids and the family stayed together at a hotel, where it became obvious the toughest obstacle would be the language barrier.
"The only English Ermiyas could speak was to count to 10," Sean related. "The emotions we were going through were kind of overwhelming. We were excited, happy and scared all at the same time. But the kids accepted us so easily. By that second day, Ermiyas would sit in my lap and Hana had decided she didn't want any of the other children near her new mom.
"Besides the difficulty with language, the biggest hurdle was that Ermiyas knew he was supposed to look after his little sister, so we had to convince him to trust us to be the parents and take care of her, and it was OK for him to just be a kid.
"Once we got home with them, our sons (Brennan and Evan) came running in wanting to play together. They've all been close from day one."
To maintain that closeness and avoid the possibility of any sibling rivalry, the family's first three Christmas mornings did not include any individual toys.
"We bought toys and gifts that all the kids could play with and enjoy together, but we did not put name tags on them so that they would know to share everything," April explained. "When you adopt children, there's no given that they will love you or accept you as parents. It's a blessing that our kids truly feel we're their parents and know that they make our family whole."
Within a year there was no longer a language barrier as Ermiyas was speaking fluid English and began excelling in school. Soon after, the couple signed him up to play soccer, basketball and baseball, and similar to the classroom, there was an obvious drive pushing the kid to stand out.
"Whether it's school or sports, Ermiyas is a perfectionist," Sean said. "He had a lot of natural ability but also worked really hard because he's just so driven. We finally allowed him to play football in middle school, and he loved it. Everything about the game seemed to appeal to him. He loved the team aspect of it, and there's a lot of structure because the coaches here are very intense, almost like the military, so it all just clicked with him."
By the time he reached high school, it didn't take long for Ermiyas' drive and ability to earn a spot in Marion County's starting rotation, and eventually he became a two-way player at receiver and defensive end. Last year he was one of the quiet leaders who helped the Warriors reach the state quarterfinals, and so far this season the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior leads Marion in tackles for loss despite often being double-teamed.
"He's a high-motor kid who is always where he's supposed to be on the field, ready to give everything he's got to make plays," Marion coach Joey Mathis said. "He's one of the most goal-oriented kids I've known. Here's a kid with a 25 on his ACT, and all he can talk about is working to bring it up to a 30. I have no doubt he'll get it, because that's just the type of young man he is.
"There's no doubt that his better days on the field are still ahead. He's only 16, and still growing and figuring out how to use his leverage and strength, so there's no telling how good he's going to be at the next level.
"To come through the adversity he has, and never complain or even talk about it, speaks volumes for what type character he has. Ermiyas is everything that's right about high school football."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.