One year ago...

One year ago today we received the phone call that we'd been waiting on for so long. I don't think I ever really recapped "the call". I can't believe it's been an entire year. It seems like it was just yesterday. It's still so fresh in my memory......

It was approximately 11:38 am on January 21, 2009. I was at work getting ready to leave - sadly, to attend the funeral for the mother-in-law of one of my coworkers. That morning I emailed our agency, Holt International, some basic information about us, the special needs we were open to and a few pictures of us. This was information they had requested and was needed before we could proceed any further with their Child of Promise program. Holt is on the west coast so when my cell phone rang at 11:38 am I just assumed they were calling to confirm they had received everything that they needed that morning. What happened next still makes my heart pound when I think about it. The phone call went something like this:

phone rings.
me: hello
Beth @ Holt: Hello Jennifer, this is Beth from Holt. How are you doing?
me: I'm good, Thanks. How are you?
Beth: I'm good. Well, I'm calling because I have a file here on my desk for a little boy with the sweetest little face you've ever seen.
me: (after picking my jaw up off of my desk. my whole body is now in shock. you know the feeling when everything in you leaves your body?! I'm shaking. trying to remember what I'm supposed to do/say/ask when "the call" comes as I'm scouring my desk for a sticky note to write on!)Oh my gosh! Are you serious?
Beth: yes, I'm serious. (she went on to tell me his name, his date of birth, what city and province he was in, and what his special need was, etc)
me: oh my gosh, Beth. Are you serious? (I must have asked this ten times. She probably thought I was crazy!)
Beth: Yes, I'm serious. If you are interested I will email you his file and pictures for you to review. (she went on to tell us what was next should we decide to accept the referral)

I was in such shock when I hung up the phone. I couldn't believe we received our referral so soon. I mean, we just submitted our application to them at the end of September. They knew we were open to a boy and we knew that would shorten our wait, but still.... we thought it would be months before we heard anything.

At this point, I grabbed my cell phone, told my office manager I had just received some major news on the adoption front, couldn't go to the funeral with them, and I had to go call Matt immediately. I ran outside to call Matt (there is no privacy really in my office). When he answered the first thing I asked him was "are you sitting down?" I went on to give him the recap of the phone call. And probably said "oh my gosh, can you believe this?" a million times on the phone. He was in shock. I could tell by his voice! He was getting ready to go to lunch so he said he'd come over to my office and we'd open the email together. That was our deal from the beginning - we would take the phone call or open the email together. So I went back inside my office and began checking my email. Well, silly me.... I have two email accounts. I kept checking and checking the one account. Nothing. Refresh... Refresh... Nothing. Where is the email?? And then out of the blue it occurred to me - check your other account, just in case. And there it was......and there was that same feeling again.... everything in my body just left me. The email was there, in my inbox...waiting to be opened. Where is Matt? Come on. Get here. knowing he had to come all the way across town to get to me.

Finally, Matt arrived and we stood at my desk and opened the email together. After a few technical difficulties, this is the picture we saw....


Oh my gosh! There's our child! Here's our baby boy! The baby we've been praying for for months. The child I've been asking God to protect and comfort for so many months......here he is. He's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen! We knew right then and there that we'd be accepting this referral.

I'm not sure how I made it through the rest of that day! Or how I managed to keep it a secret for the rest of the day - especially from my parents! I even called my mom that evening on my way home to feel them out and see if they were going to be home that night. Never said a word about the referral. We had to tell our parents in person. We made surprise visits to both of our parents that evening. They were naturally shocked and excited just like we were. We spent the rest of the evening and the entire next day completing our Letter of Intent, various other forms and doing as much research as we could on the city and province where our little boy was from. And for the next 7 months we waited.....

And here we are one year later with the most amazing little boy. Not only has it been one year since we received his referral, we've been home with him for 5 months today as well. We are constantly amazed at the things he is learning to do. Trying to figure this little boy out is taking some work! He's really testing our patience in the sleep department right now, but that's all just a part of the journey. And our journey together is really only beginning.