The Call!!

I can hardly believe I'm typing this post!!! It has been 18 days since we got our Referral Call from our adoption agency! We are still pinching ourselves and just staring at her sweet little pictures over and over again. The picture above is right after Isabel and I saw her pictures for the first time together. I wanted to share how it all happened on Friday, May 31! For a good while now I have been checking my phone various times during the day and making sure that my phone is always turned on right when I leave school. We were #3, then #1, then #2 so we really had no idea when it could be. So, on Friday afternoon Isabel and I were heading home after a long week at school. We were listening to music and very close to home when my phone rang. I picked it up to see that a case worker from our agency was calling me! I didn't get TOO excited at first because it wasn't our regular case worker.  It was actually the very first case worker we ever had at AGCI.  We had just participated in a webinar session with our agency and she was leading it.  She had e-mailed me the day before to see if I had any additional questions and so I thought maybe she was following up about that.  Well, I WAS WRONG!!! :)

She said, "Hi Angela.  Are you busy?"  I told her no, that I was just driving home from school.  She said, "Well, I called to talk to you about a little girl."  Right then, I completely choked up.  Seriously.  I couldn't speak!!  I cried and said, "Are you serious???"  She said she was very serious and wanted to know how far away from home I was.  I was super close.  She told me just a few details, had me call Brian, and then told me to call her back when I got home.  I hung the phone up, looked in the rear view mirror at Isabel, and screamed!!!!!  She grinned the biggest grin EVER!!!!!  I said, "Do you know what that was about?"  She smiled and said, "My sister?!?!"  I said, "YES!!!" and we both screamed and laughed together all the way home!!!

I called Brian right away.  He was at work but he answered.  I asked if he was busy and he said no.  Then I said, "Are you ready for this??  I just got a phone call from AGCI and they want to talk to us about a little girl!!"  He was shocked and said, "NO WAY!!"  I assured him that I wasn't joking and I shared with him the little bit that I knew.  Brian wasn't able to leave work but he was able to be a part of the call.  We were able to have a conference call and hear all of the details and even see her pictures at the same exact same time.  Isabel was amazing and found something quiet to play in her room while we listened to our sweet baby's story and learned more about her.  She is absolutely adorable.  When we got the call we found out that she was only 6 weeks old!  We were so surprised about this because our parameters were 0-4 years old.  We felt for sure that we would receive a referral for a toddler.  We are sooo blessed.  We are amazed at all of the details and how the second we saw her little face, we knew....she is our daughter.  She is.

After the call, we had a lot of work to do.  We had 48 hours to contact our International Pediatrician and review details with him.  Then, we completed and notarized documents for our referral acceptance and completed a plan to help us be prepared when we bring her home.

The next week we found out that our case was submitted to the court system in Ethiopia!!!  Our next step is waiting and PRAYING for a court date!!  No one is sure about the exact date of the court closure in Ethiopia....maybe July 6th or maybe August 6th.  We are hoping that we will get a court date soon so that we do no have to wait until October. :(  Pray for our family and other families that are waiting on court dates!

**DISCLAIMER**
While I SO wish we could show you all our baby girl's picture, we cannot.  We would never want to do anything to jeopardize our case or our agency or the relationship they have with Ethiopia.  So, we both carry her picture around with us and if you ask, we will be HAPPY to show you in person.  We will not be sharing many details and definitely not any pictures online until AFTER we bring her home.  Thank you all for understanding and being patient and gracious with us.