REFERRAL!!!

Today was the day!

After a lunch meeting I was running some errands for the school and on the way back my phone starts vibrating. I look down to see 817 and just couldn't believe it... I answered cautiously excited and heard Kristin (our caseworker) on the other end. She pretty quickly told me she was calling with our referral to which I replied- "are you kidding me?" Seems funny that I said that- that would be the worst joke ever- but she replied that she really did have it and asked where Ross was. I told her that he was at work- and that I'd call him right away and call her back. When I called him he was on the other line and asked if I could call him back in a five minutes. This is hilarious to me now but I said yes.

I was close to home and figured I could try not to risk wrecking while I continued to drive. As soon as I hung up my sweet friend Carmen called and I just blurted it out to her. She screamed for a good bit while her sweet daughter (adopted from ET as well) looked at her like she was crazy! I told Carmen that I had to call Ross back and hung up. When I called back I just said, "Baby, it's time! Come home!!" To which he replied, "are you serious?" (apparently we both think that this is a joking matter) and then said he'd head our direction. I called Kristin back when I got home and told her I would call her as soon as Ross made it home.

Carmen was the only one who knew at this point so I called her back, we freaked out together, and she prayed for us. I changed clothes a couple of times, paced a lot, but the time passed pretty quickly. As soon as Ross got home we called Kristin who answered immediately (bless her!) and we spent some time learning about our little guy. He is 17 months old- born on Christmas Day 2008! He is beyond precious and we are thrilled that we get to be his parents. We were so humbled to learn what his life has been like up to this point but we really feel that is his story to share- not ours, so we'll be keeping those details between the two of us.

The rest of the night has been spent celebrating. We called and shared our news with our family and Jennifer and Jared met us at Walgreens to pick up our pictures and see their nephew! Ross had to run an errand to a drop something off to a student he is mentoring- so Jared and Jennifer drove me to a friends house (where I was planning to be for the evening) for a surprise going away party for a friend. I was tackled on the sidewalk by my sweet friend Laura who was hosting this party (and assured me that everyone would want to celebrate this too). I told the guest of honor and she insisted we share the news with everyone. The ladies who hugged me tonight are some of my dearest friends- some I've known for a short while- others for years and years. I didn't make it past the doorway without bursting into tears so Laura grabbed our little guy's picture and took it into the room introducing everyone to the newest member of our church!

We left soon after and met Ross at our favorite Mexican restaurant to continue the celebration. Suffice to say this day has changed our lives! My jaw literally hurts from smiling so much. Our friend Mendy sent the sweetest text message to us tonight- "He was not created to be an orphan but a son....YOUR son." We can't post pictures or share his name until we pass court. But if you live near us or we see you often, be prepared to see some pics of this little fella!

And if you're curious as to now what? Now we wait for a court date in which we'll travel to meet our little guy and say in court that we want to adopt him. This happens anywhere from 6 weeks to several months after referral news. Courts close for about 2 months in Ethiopia in August and September so we're trying to prepare ourselves not to have a court date before then, though we will be praying for the opposite. Once we return from the court trip we will have about 4-6 weeks before we fly back to bring him home. Please pray for the rest of our process to go smoothly! We appreciate your thoughts and prayers so much!