REFERRAL CALL!!!!!

OK...This post is LONG overdue! We are so excited to announce that we have received our referral call, and... it's a girl! She is three years old and is absolutely precious. We would love to post a picture and tell you her name, but we are not allowed to do so until after we "pass court" in Ethiopia.

Getting our referral call was similar to my labor and delivery experiences in the sense that it was not like I imagined. I had always assumed that I would be home alone (all the kids at school, hubby at work) and I would get a call from our agency director. I imagined driving to my husband's office and anxiously talking on the phone to the director of our agency as we opened up an email with our little one's picture...We would both look fabulous and someone would take a picture of us during the "big reveal." Well, our director did call me, but everyone was home! School was starting late that day so all three kids were home. My husband even had the day off from work! My heart jumped when the phone rang and I saw that the area code was from our agency in KY. I talked to our director, gathered a little info from her and WAITED until the kids went to school so that my husband and I could have our "moment." We sat down and opened an email from our director. In front of us was a giant picture of the cutest little girl! She is just so sweet! She has beautiful eyes and the cutest little lips on the planet. We both smiled and looked at each other like...ok...this is it...wow...I think it is safe to say that we are overjoyed with our referral and we can't wait to see more pictures of her and get some updates from our agency.

SO...one day we get a referral, and the next day we learn that the rules have changed a bit with Ethiopian adoptions. We were told that we might be needing to travel to Ethiopia twice to complete the adoption. As huge as this news was, we were pretty darn calm. It was such a blessing that we received our referral before we got the news of the changes. After looking at her sweet little face, we would travel ten times to bring her home! Since learning about the changes in the process, we also learned that we may be able to travel one time since our case will be filed before April 9th... The adoption process will still take a few months to complete. Now the really hard waiting begins!

So, for those of you that have adopted, isn't it crazy how you can literally fall in love with a person through a photo? It is amazing to just sit and look at her in the pictures we have....crazy to think that, as we go about our days, she is half way around the world going about her day. Every time I look at the "current time in Ethiopia" clock on my blog, I imagine what she is doing. Is she sleeping now? Has she been playing with the other little ones? Did she nap today? Is she feeling alright and getting enough hugs? It is crazy!!!

We want to thank everyone who has stepped up to help make this adoption journey a reality. Thank you so much to the wonderful friends of ours who have been listening to us talk about adoption for years. Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to help us with our fundraising efforts...the kindness and support that you have shown has been incredible. Thanks to those of you who have ordered t-shirts, bought necklaces, come to my gold party, made a donation to us or who have been praying for us. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. When we are done raising funds for our adoption, we look forward to "paying it forward" and doing the same thing for others that are adopting. We continue to be amazed at the generosity of those around us. Just the other night, we were out for dinner with a friend. He was so kind and told us that he thought what we are doing is "noble." We want to emphasize that WE are going to be blessed as much as our little girl, but we thanked him for his kindness...THEN, he offered us a his airline miles for a round-trip plane ticket to Ethiopia! AMAZING! We continue to be amazed at the wonderful ways adoption has touched our lives - and our little girl isn't even home yet! Thank you so much Mr. Z... we appreciate your kindness so very much!

You may have noticed that I changed our blog music to celebrate our referral (even though I know many of you are like me and you mute the sound :)). I love the song by Michael Buble' - "I Just Haven't Met You Yet." The words are so sweet and fitting for us right now..."just haven't met you yet...it'll all turn out...might have to wait, I'll never give up...wherever you are, whenever it's right..." and my favorite, "your love is gonna change me..."

Thanks for checking in on us. I promise to have tons more to write about now that we are ON OUR WAY TO ETHIOPIA!!!!