Two Precious Blessings!!!

After two years of praying and waiting for the Lord to reveal our children to us, we received a phone call from our social worker yesterday at 12:53 PM giving us the news of our referral of our precious little ones. It was one of the most (if not the most) surreal and emotional day I have EVER experienced! Let me fast forward and give the important details first:

Our referral was for a boy and girl, both 3 1/2 years old, not twins but first cousins, one month apart! I don't think I am allowed to post their names yet (and I know I am not allowed to post their pictures) until they are legally our children, but please trust me when I say that they are incredibly beautiful and just perfectly precious! We are over-the-moon, our hearts melting, in LOVE!! I cannot even express our urgent desire to travel quickly to love on them and bring them home!!!

Okay, so backing up.....I had basically resigned to the fact that with everything going on with the courts, we would not receive our referral until the fall, court in the winter and travel in February '09!!! I did not want to expect any sooner and get disappointed!

Brad was home today, and in the kitchen, while I had just sat down to check my email. My mailbox had reached 1,000 messages and no more could be delivered so I was a little annoyed at having to clear everything off and wondering if I had missed an important email. I saw a bazillion emails from our adoption yahoo group with the title, "GREAT NEWS!", and I started to get anxious trying to figure out what the GREAT NEWS was! I quickly started reading and then I saw an email from our caseworker, and quickly opened it. I scanned the email that says that there has been some movement in the cases and so our agency will be issuing referrals.....TODAY!!! (except I thought it said next week for some reason!!) So, I ran screaming into the kitchen to tell Brad the news (my heart racing) and yelled at him to come into the study so I can read the email to him. As I am reading the email, I realize it says, "TODAY" and I immediately try to prepare myself that I won't be called today (again, so I won't get disappointed). We talked about it for a minute and then he went back into the kitchen.

I felt so sad and anxious, I decided to pray about it except I didn't even know what to pray for! I thought, "Do I pray (or more like BEG!!) that the Lord would deliver our referral today?" or "Do I pray for patience?" (since I was just positive our referral would be months away!). So, as I was praying for both, the phone rang at 12:53 PM! Thinking it was my sister calling from her new job (and the Caller ID said "Out of Area" instead of "Unknown" like many people have said our agency's number pops up as), I picked it up with ease. I heard Natalie (our caseworker) speak and even though my heart fluttered a little, I convinced myself she was calling about needing a paper signed that we had not yet emailed her. As soon as she said she was calling with our referral, I lost all time and space!! Literally, time stood still! I immediately went into the "Ugly cry" asking her if she was serious!? She assured me she was and I ran into the kitchen screaming to Brad that Natalie was on the phone and we have our referral! Poor thing....his face went ghostly white and the kids started cheering! We both ran into the study and grabbed the other phone. I had to let Brad take over the whole computer thing since I seriously could not funtion. It was the most bizarre feeling ever! She emailed us the pictures and documents on the children but my computer said it would take 48 MINUTES to download everything!! We promptly moved to Brad's email and when he pulled up the pictures of the kids, I truly believe our hearts skipped a beat! We both cried and kissed and hugged and cried some more! We then quickly opened the other documents and she went over every detail with us (which was wonderful!!) About 3/4 of the way through, I totally blanked out. I was in complete overload and I was needing to digest everything that was just given to us. And, really, I just wanted to stare at their pictures! We were on the phone with her for about an hour and afterwards, Brad and I got to stare at their faces and spend some precious sweet time together basking in the blessings from the Lord!

We then began to call everyone and I did not get off the phone until 12:30 AM!! I had sent out an email with a few of their pictures around 9:45 PM since I realized I wouldn't have enough time to call everyone! I always wondered why families wait several hours and sometimes even days to post about their referral....and now I know why. It is the most amazing experience that I know of but also an incredibly emotional one that drains you quickly. I cannot even begin to imagine what we will experience when we actually travel to Ethiopia and meet them, hold them, love on them, etc. but I cannot wait!!!

I am sure I will be posting updates soon! We are praising the Lord for His continuous guidance and blessings during this process!! Please pray for us during this time as we continue prepare ourselves and our hearts for these precious children whom we already love as our own! Please also remember the children, as their story is one of sadness and, I am sure, feeling incredibly lonely, scared and grievous. Please pray that we might receive a quick and successful court date so we can travel to Ethiopia soon and bring them home!!!

"He will bring things about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords" 1 Timothy 6:15