The Referral Story

Where to start??? So much to say! It has been a whirlwind since last Thursday June the 16th - the day we found out we have a son! It sure was a shock to us. As you can see, the post before was quite somber. I was pretty down about more waiting and wondering where our paperwork was. I was definitely not expecting a referral on that day!!

First of all let me say thank you for all the warm wishes - phone calls and emails. I haven't been able to get back to you all yet - but give me some time and I will. The weekend was a busy with showing off our beautiful son to anyone who would listen :) My mom and sister managed to sneak in a surprise birthday party as well on Saturday. What a great time to show off Bedilu to all my girlfriends!!!!

Our boy is amazing. His eyes are huge and beautiful - and his cheeks are ready to be pinched. He is so sweet!!! I wish I could show you all his photo - but we will need to wait till after our court date.

We have not officially accepted the referral but hope to do that in the next few days. This should put is in a good place to have a court date in August!!!!!! That has my head spinning!!!

So, on to the 'referral story'.

Thursday, June 16. I was out of the office for most of the day. We had a team building 'staff day'. It was a good day. Most of the staff enjoyed a picture scavenger hunt but i stayed back to help a friend get the bbq lunch ready. We had a nice visit and talked about all sorts of things including the adoption and next steps. At lunch i sat with 2 co-workers who have adopted and they each told the stories of adopting their kids. It seemed like i was talking 'adoption' alot! Near the end of the day, I gave a co-worker a ride to a store near our house and then decided to go home. I actually turned into the driveway but then decided i better go back to the office (5 minutes away) as i still technically had another hour of work. As soon as i got back i noticed a phone message. I was expecting a message from one of the stores, as i realized i forgot to do a message saying i was out of the office. It was a woman (who's name i didn't recognize) saying "we just sent you a very important email, you really need to check it, you will be very happy, please check it right away". I knew instantly what 'it' was. I was shaking so hard i could hardly think straight. Not sure how many tries it took to dial Mike's cell phone. I have no idea what i said something like ' you need to come home NOW - we have an email, we have an email!!!!!!' I was just beside myself!!! I got my stuff together and found the only other person in the office - i am pretty sure i scared to socks off of her!! i was jumping up and down, babbling away - we got an email, i have got to go - we got an email!!! she looked at me like i had 10 heads, she hugged me and then i left. I do remember that she had tears in her eyes.

I got in the truck and i remember thinking i need to settle down or i would get in an accident! So, i took a deep breath and drove home. A bit down the street, a few more co-workers were returning and i pulled over and rolled down the window and said 'we have an email!!!!' and then i sped off. They must have thought i was off my rocker!

When i got home, i opened the computer and saw the email - sent at 10:30am - and by now it was 3:30pm! I called my mom - still shaking!!! She kept me on the phone till Mike got home, so that i wouldn't open the email without him!!! It seemed like forEVER till Mike got home. He rushed in, and we hit the button and the face of our beautiful SON appeared. It took a while to figure things out because i just couldn't focus long enough to read the details. Later on Ange would ask things like, what orphanage is he at - and i had no idea cause all i could handle was that he was a boy named Bedilu. What a moment!!!! The first time you see your Son's face. So amazing!!!!!!!!!!! He is absolutely wonderful. I just looked at Mike and said 'we have a boy!' Its so crazy, cause we have been waiting for 3+ years and still nothing prepares you for the moment you see your boy!!!! Eventually, Mike had to go back to work - and i starting calling anyone who would listen! I still wasn't making much sense... I left alot of messages on machines where i was pretty much just screaming - and got quite a few call backs of screaming in my ear!!! SO MUCH FUN!!!!

That first night i didn't sleep too much - WAY to excited!!!! But you know what? I now have a peace about where he is and how he is being cared for. I didn't expect that - I thought i would be worried more. Do i wish it was me rocking him to sleep and feeding him? Of coarse i do. But now that i know where he is, i can relax because he is being well cared for - the folks in that orphanage are doing a great job caring for him - I have no doubt about that. Up until now i just didn't know where he was or if he was being cared for and now i have no doubt about it.

It is still sinking in. I look at Mike a few times a day and say 'we have a boy!' It feels hard to believe!! And then i see the photo and i just can't stop staring into his eyes!!! I can't believe that we have such a beautiful boy!! He is the cutest baby i have ever seen!!!! I am sure that you will all agree with me :)

The rest of the weekend is a blur. A great day of shopping and hanging out on Saturday. A wonderful day on Sunday celebrating Father's Day and here we are. We are so blessed to have our son. It is just amazing to me to have him in our lives. I know that its been a long haul and lots of times that i didn't believe it would happen. I need to thank all of those who rose up after the bankruptcy and made things happen. I didn't believe in it at first. I just didn't believe it would work. I need to thank all you - our friends and family for encouraging us and praying for us through this whole process. We couldn't have made it this far without all of you. Thanks to God for blessing us so much more than we imagined or expected. We are humbled by the honour of parenting this amazing boy!

WE HAVE A BOY!