Andrew and Mommy

Andrew and Mommy

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

UNBELIEVABLE--A REFERRAL!!!

Yesterday, after work, I looked at my cell, and there was a missed call from my adoption agency. I thought to myself--this is either really good news or possibly bad news......but my gut said "this is your referral!" This morning, I got the call from Sally! She told me I had a referral....a 2-month old boy that she described as a "cute little peanut." I couldn't breathe--excited, amazed, scared, thrilled! I started to cry immediately, but tried to hold it together while Sally gave me details about his health ("healthy baby"), his birth mom, where he was born, and where he is now. I asked her about possible travel, and she explained that the courts are closed in September. It will take a few weeks for them to assign me a court date when they return at the end of the month. She anticipates that those of us accepting referrals today will travel around the holidays for the first trip. This is perfect!! Very exciting news! I called mom and dad, brothers and sisters, friends, other adoptive parents, my local agency, etc. So fun to share the good news! She sent me an email with a picture of him as well as his orphanage and medical info. I decided to send all of that to the International Adoption Clinic here so that Dr. Chambers can give me her input, but I did accept the referral pending her evaluation!! Sally also put me in touch with a family that's traveling to my guy's orphanage next week, and I talked with them tonight. I'm going to send them a care package to deliver to my "peanut," and they agreed to take some more pictures for me! So exciting and so fortunate!!! What a great day! My birthday is in 5 days--happy birthday to me!:-)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Time to wait for a referral!

My dossier is officially in Ethiopia and has been for a couple of weeks now. My agency told me this week that there is only one other family ahead of me for an infant referral, either gender! This is great news! They estimate that I should hear something in 2-3 months. That means that I should be matched to my baby by Thanksgiving! Once that happens, then I would travel 2-3 months after that to meet the baby and for court approvals.....and then about 6 weeks later, I will make a second trip to bring the baby home. A possible hold up in the timeline could be that the Ethiopian courts close completely for about 6 weeks from August 6th until mid September. So, this timeline could be pushed back another 6 weeks. Either way is fine with me....I'm just hoping to have a baby home by this spring!!

In the meantime, I have plenty to keep busy. My students come back this Saturday, and we have band camp for a week...and then school and the busy football season begins! Plenty to do while I wait for a referral!