I can't believe that we have our referral. I serve such a faithful and loving God. So honored to be His and to travel down this adoption road that he told us to go down 2 years ago. I have actual pictures of a beautiful baby boy that will hopefully soon be ours! My head is still spinning from last Tuesday morning when we got the phone call.
I was at home with the kids in the morning before I went to work, and I looked at my phone and saw a missed call from Christian World Adoption. I called our fantastic case worker back immediately and then she dropped the good news that we were the next waiting family on the list. She said that there was a little boy for us and wanted to know if we wanted to see his referral papers. I immediately called Jordan at work and could barely get out the words, "babe, we got our referral!" Sweet Stella came up to me and said, "mommy are you ok? Why are you crying?" Then I got to share the news with her that we get to see pictures of her baby brother right now. Jordan and I decided that we would wait to look at the pictures together when we got home from work that evening, but I couldn't help myself. I had been waiting for 13 months to see this sweet baby's face and I couldn't wait a second more knowing the email was sitting in my inbox. So, I opened the email and me and the kids looked at the pictures. (and for the record, Jordan was not upset!)They were both smiling from ear to ear. Stella said she just wanted to pinch his cheeks and kiss all over him and Max came up and said, "Awwww, who's that? He's cute!" I called Jordan and fessed up and then sent him the email. He opened it while he was still on the phone with me and we got to share that moment of pure joy together. It was such an amazing day, and I swear, I stared at the pictures every free second I had. It was great when we were all home together and celebrated the referral of our newest addition as a family. In my adoption community a lot of the parents I had talked to said that you will know that the child is yours when you see him. You will have a feeling. I have to admit, I had a small amount of fear thinking, what if I see pictures of this baby and I just don't feel it. It was not the case at all. I saw those beautiful big brown eyes staring back at me, and I knew that he was ours. I asked Jordan that night, if he had a feeling that he wasn't the one. He responded,"not even for a second. He is ours."
So, what's next......
We accepted the referral of our sweet baby boy and have completed all the paperwork to get the ball rolling on getting a court date. In the next couple of weeks, we will hopefully hear from the Ethiopian courts giving us a court date. Once we get the court date, we will start making arrangements for our first trip to Ethiopia to attend our court hearing. We are looking at late May, early June for our first trip, approximately, Maybe even sooner. We will be there for a few days. The first trip we will be able to go to the orphanage and meet our little guy in person for the first time. Yes, I will finally be able to hold that sweet little guy and give him so much lovin' that I have been longing to give him for so long now. I get teary eyed just thinking about it! We will attend court and if all goes well, the judge will allow us to be his parents. We will have to then leave our sweet boy and wait for word from the courts as to when we can come and pick him up.(usually around 4 weeks in between our 2 trips.)
We still have a ways to go before he is home. There is still a possibility that someone can come for our boy out of his family to care for him and he won't be ours. It is EXTREMELY hard not getting attached to this baby boy. What the heck am I saying? I already am attached to him. Please join us in praying in the rest of our journey. Prayer for our sweet little boy who is across the world from us, who at this moment is sleeping in his crib hopefully having sweet dreams of a momma and daddy coming to get home and bring him home. Pray for his birth family and their situation. Pray that we hear about a court date soon and that we will be approved without any humps along the way (that is practically impossible with international adoption, but hey, my God does miracles!) Pray for Jordan, the kids, and I as we try to orchestrate all of this not be overwhelmed and to completely put our trust in God. Also, continue to pray for financial provision for the crazy expenses of 2 international trips back-to-back that are very last minute, making it very expensive. He has provided thus far and I know He will not leave or forsake us now!
It has been such an unbelievable blessing to hear all of our loved ones giving us so much support and sharing in our joy. We honestly could not have gotten through any of this without your love, prayers, and support. They are so encouraging!!! LET'S GET OUR BOY HOME NOW, FOR REAL!!!!!!
