Our adoption agency has an amazing resource that will no doubt continue to serve adoptive families throughout the years. We have an online group dedicated solely to Ethiopian adoptive families in our agency. There are families just beginning the journey, those in the "paper chase" stage, those enduring the paper pregnancy, or wait, those who have received their referrals, those who have passed court, and those traveling to bring their children home. One of the databases we keep is an unofficial list of families waiting for referrals. This list is racked and stacked and everyone is assigned an (unofficial) number. This list serves as a huge blessing, but also creates a bit of anxiety. Don't get me wrong, I breathed this list in every night. However, once our names arrived at the top of the list, I was an anxious Annie.
In the adoption world, "referral day" is one of the most anticipated and longed for days. After all of the paperwork has been done and redone, after enduring countless months of waiting and possibly having to update any number of time-sensitive documents, we wait (not so) patiently by our phones and laptops. The phone call could come at any time and we DO NOT want to miss it. We take our cell phones everywhere with us: to the gym, the shower, the bathroom, as if staring at our phone will some how telepathically communicate to our adoption agency that we are READY.
Our phone call arrived on August 19, 2010. That day will go down in the books as one of the happiest days of our lives. As our family coordinator began talking and I heard the words, "This is your referral call" the tears immediately came. I was so overwhelmed with emotion I could barely speak. We were expecting a call from her that week, but the call we received blessed us doubly. We were receiving a referral for a beautiful and healthy 11 month old baby girl AND a referral for a handsome, athletic 11 year old boy. This was it. The day we waited over one year for. The day that makes all of the prayer, hard work, and dedication worth every second.
Every time I think about that day, I still cannot believe everything is coming together. We are overjoyed and extremely thankful. We are nervous and yet as ready as we are ever going to be. As we endure these last few months of separation from our children, we ask for prayers of comfort, guidance, wisdom and peace of mind. We know the Lord is watching over our children and preparing their hearts for our love. We excitedly wait for the day when our entire family is under the same roof!
James 1:27
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
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