Love at first sight

At 2:30 in the afternoon on a Friday we got THE call. It was a wonderful day. The timing was obviously orchestrated by our Loving Father. We are never together at 2:30 in the afternoon on a weekday…except for August 17, 2012. Jeremy had a lull in his usually busy work schedule so he decided to work from home that day. It just so happened to be my day off work. My aunts were in from out of town and I had planned to meet them and my mom for lunch and spend the day together. After lunch they convinced us to stop by a local coffee shop for a blended pick-me-up. We were in a separate car so that Jer could easily get back home to finish work. As soon as we got back to our car with frozen treats in hand Jeremy felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He had a message and a missed call. He looked at the number. Area code 703. Voice shaking he said, “I think we just got our referral call.” With a racing heart I looked at my phone and saw I had a missed call too. It had been too noisy in the coffee shop to hear my phone. Our family coordinator said in the message that the office was closing for the day (as they are on east coast time) but she graciously gave us her personal number so that we could get in touch with her. We hurriedly dialed the number. She gave us the news we had waited 21 months to hear. They had a child for us. She is 4 months old. When we started this journey our social worker told us that more than likely we would get a boy because they had a higher adoption rate. Throughout the wait both our moms and several close friends told me they dreamed our baby was a girl. What an unexpected gift. We got to listen as she told us some background information and medical history on our little girl. I had to pinch myself to be sure it was actually happening. By the time we got to my parents house over 20 minutes had elapsed. We knew my family would be wondering what took us so long. They teased us by asking if we had been making out in the parking lot. I wasn’t sure how to tell them - so I just blurted out with tears in my eyes, “We got the call!” Chaos ensued. My mom jumped out of her seat and knocked over (Jeremy insists she karate kicked) my aunt’s coffee as she rushed to give us hugs. Once everybody settled down we went inside to their computer, checked our email and got to see her face for the very first time. It was love at first sight. The rest of that day and the next were spent sharing our joy with family and close friends. We even got to call Jeremy’s mom and sister-in-law all the way in Tanzania!


Since then we have been getting a lot of questions about her. Unfortunately we are unable to share her name, pictures or really any information until we pass court. When will that be? Courts are closed for the rainy season until October 1st. We hope to be assigned a court date sometime that month. So for now we are staying busy getting ready to bring her home. Jeremy is working on a big project redoing our backyard and Megan is reading up on attachment and everything else that comes with adoption. Each day we gaze into her smiling face and know this is the child that God chose for our family.


 

In the car right after we got our referral call.    

 

A care package we put together for our little girl.  Another family will deliver it for us next week!