Referral Day!

I really want to type up our "referral day" so that I don't forget and so that I can share it with Eliana when she is older. Even though she isn't home yet, it is the day that we finally saw the face of the little girl that we had been praying about for so long. I am still in shock!

Let me back up a little though. The month of May has been a hard month of waiting for me. I think it's like when you are pregnant and just want to meet your baby. But I just didn't know AT ALL when that was going to happen. We were #9 on the waiting list and there were quite a few people "on hold" ahead of us. So we knew we were closer than 9. But things had been going so slow the last few months that we were preparing ourselves to not hear anything until June or July. The thought of August was when I stopped thinking. ;)

On Thursday, the day before our referral, I was putting away cold weather clothes and switching to spring/summer (finally!). That task was long and boring and I just kept thinking about our little girl and wondering what she was doing and really just longing to know more about her and to see her face. I had about 4 loads of laundry ahead of me and in a desperate moment I shot an email to our adoption agency. I asked Lesley if there were any kids' paperwork getting ready that she knew of (just for some hope!) and that if there weren't, that she could feel free to tell me to get back to doing laundry! :) She assured me that there were no kids that she knew of and to get back to my laundry. :) I laughed....I totally just needed her to tell me not to hold my breath. But I did tell her to feel free to interrupt me doing laundry at any time. ;)

That night I told Dan that I would love if when you are in the "Top 10" or even "Top 20" of the waiting process, they would send you a "Top of The Morning" email each morning that simply says, "Good Morning. Today is NOT your day."   That way, I could read it when I woke up, and go about my day without jumping every time my phone rang. :)

Well, it was now Friday, May 24th. Dan and I (and the kids) ran to Target that morning to get a few things and then came home to get some work done around the house. I knew that my case worker, Jennifer, was going to be doing her monthly phone call that afternoon to check in, but in the back of my mind I was just really hoping that she would tell us about a child. At some point, I looked at Dan and said, "Hey! I never got a "Top of the Morning" email today. Maybe today is our day?! ;) " Totally joking, but still hoping.

We were going to a film screening that night for the documentary, "STUCK" and I realized that I didn't have butter to make brownies. I ran to ShopRite and was driving home, ready to call Jennifer myself. For some reason, I just needed my  "Top of the Morning" email from her that day.  It was close to 3:00 and torture that she hadn't called yet to check in. :) I just needed her tell me to wait longer!!

A few minutes after getting in from the store, I walked into the kitchen and Dan was handing me my ringing cell phone. I didn't even hear it ringing. I also didn't recognize the phone number, but assumed it was Jennifer. (Mind you, I have both Jennifer and Lesley's phone numbers in my phone). I was also aware that Jennifer would do my monthly calls, but Lesley makes the referral calls. I answered the phone and heard, " Hi Lauren, this is Lesley." MY HEART SKIPPED!  I hope that I said hi back. Not really sure. Then she said " Are you doing laundry right now? ;)"  I wanted to scream!! :) But I tried to keep my cool for a minute and just said, "No, just got back from grocery shopping. So just as much fun." But I really wanted to say, " YAY!!!!!" because I knew what she was implying!! She then said, " I have something for you. " and I think I said "Really?!?!" about ten times and she said yes ten times. I then called down to Dan, who was  downstairs, and told him that he needs to come upstairs because today is a really good day. Lesley told us that she really did have no idea the day before when I emailed her....the referral of our daughter had just come in an HOUR before!! :) We put Lesley on speaker phone and I just couldn't stop telling her how amazing this was and I couldn't believe this was happening. Finally, I stopped talking. (Thank goodness....Dan was ready to hear about our daughter and I couldn't stop talking.) ;)

I don't really remember how she told us about her. She may have asked if we wanted to hear about her? OF COURSE! She told us all that she knew about her and then told us that she sent us an email with her picture. My brain stopped working and I said something like, "It's in an email? How do I get that?" Lesley told me to go to my computer. HA! We went, had trouble getting the email, but then we opened it and I shouted, " I LOVE HER!" the same thing I shouted when I was shown Caleb the minute he was born. I couldn't help it either time. Such an amazing moment that I will never forget.  As Lesley told us more about her and went over her medical documents and birth certificate, I tried to focus, but I just couldn't. I finally saw her face and was in love. She is 6 months old right now and has big beautiful eyes. Lesley told us that we could hang up and talk to each other to decided if we wanted to move forward and accept the referral. We asked her if we needed to hang up or if we could just accept her right now! So we did. :)

The adrenaline from that moment on was insane. I couldn't think straight and just wanted to climb up to the roof and shout to everyone about our little girl!! We were supposed to bring brownies to the "STUCK" film screening, but I couldn't stop shaking. So I decided that I would just show up with her picture instead of brownies. Way better than brownies. :)

We told family right away and then ran to CVS to print a bunch of 5x7's and an 8x10 that I carry around! The strangers I met at the park the next morning were very excited for our news. ;)

I can't wait to hold our little girl, but just having her (life-size) picture on hand is helping. :)

Thank you for all of your prayers and support as we have waited for this day. We still have a bit more waiting until we can bring her home. But I am praying that there are no speed bumps along the way and that Jesus would hold our baby close until we get to her.