Rejoicing!!!

 

  

It is so amazing to see God's plan unfold, and I feel so privileged to be a part of it!

We joyfully announce that we received "The Referral Call" for little man "G"!!!  We are so excited and just love him!  I know all parents feel that their children are beautiful, but he really is just so precious.  His big brown eyes and little smile will just melt your heart!  (I cannot show a picture of him until he is home with us.)  He is 3 1/2 years old and is just perfect. 
    
The last several weeks have been pretty emotional.  Two weeks ago, I had left an voicemail for our Case Manager stating that I wanted to talk to her about our age range.  Our stated age range was 12 to 24 months.  A couple of days went by, and we didn't hear anything back.  So, I sent her an email stating that we wanted to talk to her about openning our age range to older.  Even though we were quickly making it to the top of the boy list, which is comprised of almost all 0-12 monthers, my heart was leading me to older not younger.  We still didn't hear from her, which is very unusual.  The following week (last week), we found out why we hadn't heard back.  There was an Ethiopian adoption law change (mentioned in previous posting), and there was chaos.  I can only imagine what their email/voicemal volume was.  Later that same night (Tuesday), a waiting children's email came across to all of the folks on the waiting list.  (He came across the waiting email, because he did not fall within anyone waiting's age parameters.)  As I was openning the email and saw little man, my heart just stopped.  I think this is my son!!  I quickly got hubby.  We both were in love!  This could be him!?!
  
We got on the phone and called our friends who just got back from HH.  We had been holding off on bombarding them with questions, but we couldn't wait.  The more we talked to them, the more excited we got and felt like this was our son.  After we got off the phone, I had to go to the Word.  It gives me comfort!  Well, we sent an email and left a voicemail for our Case Manager that night stating that we were interested in little man!!!  Wednesday goes by, nothing...that night an email stating that she got our email and will call us tomorrow.  She calls on Thursday...we miss the call.  What!  How did that happen!!  She didn't call our cell phone!  Her voicemail basically says that she is meeting with the group that afternoon for a meeting, and that she will get back to us later that day.  At this time, I feel like a liar to my previous posting about "resting in God".  I'm not doing any resting.  I'm praying..."God, your will be done", but my heart is saying "He is my son".  I leave her a voicemail saying that I really feel like he is our son.  Then, I wait.  At this point, I have done all I can do.  It is all in God's hands!  After the call, I do feel at peace.  Nothing that day.  Of course, I have literally had my phone with me 24/7 in anticipation.
 
Friday around 2:30, the phone rings, it is AGCI.  Deep breath!  It's the call!  Our Case Manager casually askes what I want to discuss first - all the Ethiopian law changes or "G".  "G"!  She emails me all the information and says that she will call me back in 45 minutes to discuss.  Hubby rushes home.  We go over all the information and just soak in the 2 additional pictures we receive.  He's perfect!
  
Normally, we would have just screammed it from the rooftop, but there literally was a car in the driveway waiting for me.  Me and AB along with several other moms and girl scouts were going cave camping.  Yes - cave camping.  I just couldn't tell AB the good news as were getting in a car to go cave camping, and BB wasn't even home yet from a friend's house.  I did secretly share the news with Molly, fellow mom and designated driver.  So, I had just received the most awesome news, and I was off to a place with no cell phone signal, and I couldn't talk about it.

Finally, on Saturday, we were able to share the news with the girls.  They were so excited and just studied the pictures.  AB immediately said that she liked his smile and was hoping that we would be getting him that week - so sweet.  Later that day we started making calls and had SB's family over for dinner.  It was so great to finally share our joy with family and friends.  We have been so blessed by the support we have received from our family and friends.

So, now we are getting all of our paper together to "officially" accept the referral.  We've tested the water, cautiously put one foot in, then another, now we are splashing around!!!  I tried telling myself that I would guard my heart, because adoption is a crazy unpredictable ride.  But in reality, he is our son, and we love him.  We have no idea when we will actually be able to bring him home, but any day longer than tomorrow is too long!

We give praise to God and ask for continued prayers on this journey to Little Man.

This hymm - To God Be The Glory comes to my mind
 
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done!