The Call

Our phone rang, when we least expected it of course. The past couple of weeks, Matthew and I have left for Grandma's house around 10:00 a.m. weekdays, to spend a few hours each day helping her reorganize and rearrange her home. This project has come at a good time, and has kept me from stalking my own telephone. Although I am out of cell phone range, Jon is reachable at his office and can contact me if/when The Call comes in. I have convinced myself, though, that the phone will not ring until we are in Disneyland, so no worries!

August 12, 2010. 9:33 a.m. I am sitting on the couch, quickly typing out a response to a question about Christians' view of usury with reference to a Boston Globe article, "How Puritans Became Capitalists." Yes, I am a geek, this is the kind of thing that I do for fun between breakfast and chores!

The phone rings. I jump up to answer, expecting it to be Grandma calling to remind us to bring some soda.

The caller ID says "AGCI." AGCI!?! OH MY GOODNESS. This must be it.

I answer, my voice shaking. Our caseworker, Julie, begins to talk. It takes her at least three sentences to confirm that this is, in fact, the long-anticipated Referral Call. As I begin to hyperventilate, I ask Julie if she has ever had someone faint on her. I love being "first" at things, after all...

Julie launches into the details: "I have a little girl to tell you about. She was born June 20..." Oh, wait, Jon isn't on the phone! He will want to hear all of this first-hand! I catch my breath long enough to interrupt Julie and ask her to conference Jon in. She puts me on hold while she dials Jon's number. I grab my office phone and dial our friends/neighbors.  A phone in each hand, one for each ear. Now if the brain in between can just function long enough to get through the call!

Our friends' son answers the phone. Me, stumbling to get the words out before Julie comes back on the other line: "This is Angela, tell your mom to come up here right now!!!" Click. Cheri will know what this means. The Referral Call. Photos. Video. Excitement. Joy.

Julie comes back on the line - Jon didn't answer! NO! Julie gives me her number, and says she has a 10:00 a.m. meeting. My dilemma: if I can't reach Jon in time, do I wait?!? We'll pretend the answer would have been "of course." Fortunately, it didn't come to that.

I leave Jon a message that Julie is calling with our referral, then run and change my shirt. I am a pre-shower, pre-makeup mess, but at least I can have my heart-Ethiopia shirt on for one of the more memorable moments in my life.

I call Jon's office again, and this time he answers! "Okay, now hang up, and be sure to answer when Julie calls in a few minutes!" I call Julie, she conferences Jon in. This is it. Here we go...

About this time Cheri knocks on the door. She understood the cryptic message and came right over, PJs and all. The mark of a true friend.

Her Ethiopian name is Feven (variation of Phoebe), meaning Bright, Shining.

Her birthdate is June 20 - our anniversary! God is chuckling.

She arrived at her first orphanage on July 21, the day that I blogged that I had this verse stuck in my head:  This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118)

She is from the same region as our friends' daughter.  

She came into care at Hannah's Hope one week ago today, August 5. She is two months old, under-nourished (only 6 pounds now), but otherwise beautiful, healthy, and smiling.

We have decided that the rest of her story is personal to her. Most importantly, she will be coming home soon. Our daughter is coming home.

Julie finishes reading the file to us. We laugh at parts: they say that she is content "when all things are going well." Me too, what a coincidence! I cry at parts. By the end, we say "Yes! Send the referral!" We receive the official Referral email with all of the information and six precious photos a few minutes later.

I show her photo to Matthew and say "this might be your baby sister!" Matthew, looking at her photo, asks matter-of-factly: "What's her name?" Me: "Well, we haven't named her yet." Running off, he shouts: "Okay, I need to go find my gun and shoot some bad guys!" So, not quite the perfect-for-the-baby-book response that I was looking for (how about "oohhh she's so pretty!" or "I love her already!"), but what can you do? Life, unscripted.

Cheri's husband offers to take Matthew with him and their boys to the County Fair. Matthew, still in his PJs, manages to find clothes and dress with help from Bob, and off they go. Good. I would have been a terrible mother today. A 20 minute phone call and suddenly I have mommy-brain.

We share the news with our immediate family. We send the file off to the international pediatrician. We decide to wait to tell the outside world until we receive the independent medical evaluation and complete the paperwork to officially accept the referral.

I call Julie back and say that we can't wait until tomorrow to receive the referral binder. I'll pick it up. Grandma decides to keep me company on the 90 minute drive. We take her vehicle, because the A/C is broken in ours, but I drive. Grandma drives too slow on a day like today. Of course the highway is closed for roadwork, so we detour through Hood River. Jon decides to meet us for a quick lunch at McDonald's:

We are in shock and awe.

Then it's back to work for Jon, and on to Portland for me.

The detour should have only added 40 minutes... but then another 30 minutes at McDonald's... and then road construction on the freeway... we do not arrive at our agency's office until 3:00.

It took all of 10 minutes to share my joy with agency staff and our caseworker, Julie:

We Have Our Referral Packet!

Then we're back on the long road home, with a quick stop at the Gymboree outlet store, where Grandma bought an adorable pink kitty outfit in size 6 - 12 months!

I keep pulling out the file and grinning at her photos. We have a baby girl!!!

We get home, pick Matthew up, stop off at Grandma's for some quick chores, then race back home where our amazing friends bless us with flowers, baby gifts, and a yummy dinner, topped off by homemade vanilla ice cream (my favorite).

Their own daughter has been home for six weeks and is too adorable for words. We are so very excited to watch them grow up together, and still so amazed at the story that is unfolding between our two families (see my first post, Setting Out, for more details).

I do not want to forget a moment of this incredible day. I am overwhelmed by all of the different emotions.

A few minutes ago, our international pediatrician sent us her evaluation. It is nearly midnight where she is at - we are thankful and impressed with her diligence. There are no surprises in the evaluation. It's a go!

Tomorrow, we will sign/notarize all of the acceptance paperwork and I will drive it to our agency. As we have learned, as long as this process is, every day matters. A few days' delay now may mean a week difference in our initial court date. A week difference in our court date may mean a month difference in embassy dates. Every month means the world to us.

We are praying that we are assigned a court date sooner (October) rather than later (November). Our embassy appointment, when we get to bring our daughter home, will likely fall 4 - 6 weeks after our court date. How long the wait has been. How much longer the wait will be!

In the meantime, we have her photos. We have her story. We are confident that she is receiving the best possible care outside of our own arms.

We love you, sweetheart.