The call came at about 1:00pm EST on Wednesday, June 23. Just 2 days prior, my iPhone decided to crash, so I actually had been phone less for about 2 days. Needless to say, I was a crazy woman. It was so hard for me to get to the apple store, while juggling work and chauffeuring my son around to all his evening activities. I finally, got my new phone on Weds. I had just begun to let my guard down because it seemed that referrals had slowed down a bit. I honestly thought we probably wouldn't hear anything until the first week of October or so.
Well, as I sat at my desk for lunch, I decided to call my home voicemail, and try to catch up on calls that I had missed while my phone was on the fritz. As a dialed, listened, and ate my lean cuisine, I heard Mary's voice whispering through my phone's speaker. Our caseworker was on vacation this past week, so Mary acted as her surrogate. As Mary's words continued to flow from the receiver, I proceeded to have a mini panic attack. All I can remember hearing was "we have a referral for you...i just left a message on Shawn's phone, but there was no reply so call me back". After jumping, and sweating, and breathing very heavily, I called Mary back. She answered the phone, and told me that she would love to give us our referral, but she was in the process of giving another family their referral. So we agreed to schedule a time. I then hunted down my husband, who happened to be home after injuring his back coaching my son's baseball team. We agreed to come together at 6 to look over the referral.
I called Mary back after DH and I agreed to a time, and we tried to coordinate the best time. Unfortunately 6pm was no good . She happened to have a previous engagement, so she wanted us to talk sooner than 6, but before the agency conference call at 5pm. It was already 4. That left about a 15-20 minute window for us to receive our referral. If that couldn't work , we would have had to wait until the next day.
Meanwhile, my office is filing with patients, and I'm trying to work while figuring out how the heck I'm gonna steal 20 minutes to get our referral. I snuck into my office, barricaded the door, and called Mary for our meeting. She then called my hubby at home, who decided not to answer the phone because the number was strange. I had to then call him on my office phone, and tell him to pick up the phone so we could get our referral (phew).
After the dust settled...we opened our emails and saw a sight of pure perfection. She is wonderful! My precious little 2 month old angel, with the loveliest eyes, and most joyous smile you will ever see. We were told she was a happy baby. She even smiles in her sleep. She is 9.9 lbs and over 21 inches long. My eyes swelled as I listened to her story, and life for us has definitely changed! I think my hubby may be in love with another woman (LOL)!
After the call, I had fun telling my son about his new baby sister. I showed him her picture, and he had pure joy and happiness in his eyes. He was so excited. I couldn't get him to stop talking, and he even outdid himself in Lacrosse practice as a result of his excitement. He proclaimed that he wanted to bring her picture to school the next day to show everyone. This little girl is in trouble, because he is already being a very protective big brother! I called our family, and they were all smitten by her. (Many of them we hadn't told because we wanted to have a referral before we announced our plans). They were beyond supportive. Honestly I hadn't expected to be so well supported, but it has been wonderful. Now they are all asking if she will be home in time for Christmas. (I sure hope so)!
We officially accepted her referral on Friday!!! Now the second phase of waiting begins. There is so much I have to do, because I had done nothing up to this point. The first task has been to come up with a proper name for our babe, and we are almost there. I have even located her furniture. I'm glad I did, because it will take 8-12 weeks to ship (yikes!). I've got several bedding favorites, and my son picked out some very cute onesies for her. We are also in the process of updating our homestudy and medicals (it just seems that paperwork never really goes away..yuck)!
The last thing I'm hoping for is a family traveling soon, to bring a few items to our precious babe, and maybe take a few pics! I so want to see more pictures of her because I think we have burned a hole into the ones we have by staring at her so much (LOL)!! Anyone traveling soon?
Happy Saturday.... I'm hoping for more referrals, and speedy successful court dates!
12 comments:
Congratulations!!!!!
I had been checking the FBI list every day to find out if you received your referral. I went out of town on Friday and wasn’t able to check while I was gone. I almost jumped out of my chair when I read your comment on my blog. I really hope we get to travel before Christmas, actually I’m believing that we will travel in November. I’m ready to go now!!!!!!
Congratulations! I got goosebumps when I read about you telling your son... we just got on the wait list to adopt again, a little sister for Mimi. I cannot wait for the day that I get to show her who she is. We got our referral for Mimi last year during the rainy season and were issued a Nov. 3rd court date once the courts reopened... we were in Addis by Thanksgiving... hope you fly through court and are in Ethiopia very very soon!!
Congratulations!
I am happy that you received your referral and I hope that you all get to travel before the holidays to bring home your daughter for the holidays. Keep us posted.
Wow I just saw this post!! Congratulations on your daughter!!! Such amazing, joyful news!! Hope you're through court fast and on your way to your little girl very, very soon!!!
congrats!
Congratulations. I am so happy. She probably won't be old enough for Ethiopian Culutural Camp but there is always 2011 :-). Welansa and I can't wait to meet her.
I LOVE reading "the call" posts and can't believe how many there are since last week. Huge congratulations to your family!!!
Congrats to your family.
Enjoy this amazing time as you connect for the first time with your daughter.
Blessings!
Shawn, I'm doing the happy dance right now (with a chicken bone stuck in my throat that hurts every time I swallow)...that and laughing at the image of you holding a door down!
Congratulations to the three plus one!
I love the call stories! Congrats and hoping for very speedy court/travel dates for you!
yay! congratulations!!!!!! can't wait to see photos!
Shawn!!!!! Lord have mercy, how could I have missed this glorious news??!! Please forgive me for being late with the congrats but know I am jumping & praying for joy. Hope she's home for Christmas. Congrats again!
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