We Got 'THE CALL'!!!!

It really happened! We got the most amazing, life-changing phone call of our lives on Tuesday, July 10th at 4:24 p.m.  Let me back up a bit so I can fully explain the day and the circumstances. This will surely be long, but it's mostly for our records, memory and proof of God's awesomeness. Seriously, He blows me away.


First off - I should start with the state of our hearts/minds during the week that followed up to 'the call'. We had hopes that maybe our call would come soon, as I implied in this post last week. But we were worried that if it came in a couple weeks or longer then we would have zero chance of getting to court before they closed. So we were hoping for a miracle and praying that it would come before then so we could at least have a tiny, tiny chance to go to court before they closed for 2-2.5 months. 


Moving on... so on Sunday, July 8th we were at church and I just felt the Lord telling me to have faith and act on it. I started wondering what that might mean. Throughout the service I felt the Lord speaking louder and louder to me. Have faith. Have hope. Act on it. 'What in the world Lord, ok?' and I felt Him just nudge me to fast and pray the next day. Ummm...If you know me you would know that I'm not a fast kinda girl. I like food, and I like to eat all day long. I am not at all holier-than-thou or holy at all. I am a seriously sucky person and if there is ANY good it comes from God. I just needed to throw that in so no one got the wrong impression about me. Me = nasty little sinner. Anyways, I decided to do it. What can it hurt to pray right?


Monday comes and I just kept being reminded of these scriptures....

The Parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8) And he (Jesus) told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.  He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself,‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man,  yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’”  And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says.  And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? 

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men (Matt. 9:27) And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.”  Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”And their eyes were opened. 

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Psalm 62:5-8 My soul, wait silently for God alone,
For my expectation is from Him.He only is my rock and my salvation;He is my defense;I shall not be moved.In God is my salvation and my glory;The rock of my strength,And my refuge, is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, you people;Pour out your heart before Him;God is a refuge for us.

Throughout the day I spent whatever moments I could begging God to bring our child to us. I prayed for His peace, His timing, and His will to be done. I know that He is the Creator of the universe, that there is nothing that is too small for Him, and it's just a matter of it being the right timing. I know He has a heart and love for the fatherless way more than I ever could. So I put my trust in Him, and had faith that He could do it if He pleased and I honestly just begged Him. Later that night Jamie told me 'This is the week girl, get ready.'

Tuesday came around. I was so busy that I didn't dwell on the adoption at all, but tried to pray a little as the day went on. Jamie was at work, I went grocery shopping with the boys, cleaned the house up a bit, and made plans to have Jamie's brother Tommy, his girlfriend, and her two brothers over to our house after the boys woke up from their naps. They showed up a little after 4:00 and surprised me by telling me that they are engaged! They recounted the sweet story about how it all went down, I was asking questions, and the boys were begging to show them the chickens so we went outside.

 

We were outside talking about either the engagement or the chickens (I can't remember) and mid-sentence my phone started ringing. Only - it's wasn't my normal ring tone, it was my special Holt International ring tone. I calmly pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the caller I.D. 

Yup, it's Holt. 

I told Tommy "I need to take this, sorry..." and walked away as quickly as I could without trying to draw attention to myself and I answered the call. My heart wasn't pounding, and I was honestly a lot calmer than I ever thought I would be, but things were going in slow motion. It was Jennifer (our normal contact) and she calmly asked if it's me, and how I'm doing.

Me:  "I'm fine...." pause... (why is she not saying anything?!) 

J:      "We'll....I have good news for you..." 

...pause...  (Don't get your hopes up, it could be something else...right? My heart is racing now.) 

Me:   "Okay..." (about to hyperventilate) 

J:      "Well, I have a referral for you."

Me: (Jumping around the house, looking like a complete fool, squealing and yelling) "Really?! Oh my word! AHH!!!!!"

J:  (giggling) "He's 11 months old, and his name is ____. He's so cute and has beautiful hair, really he's so beautiful."

Me: (crying) "You have NO idea how timely this is, I seriously prayed all day yesterday for this!"

And the conversation went on, I calmly (NOT) asked a few questions and she said she would send the e-mail right then. I hurried up and called Jamie as quick as possible. I told him to immediately close his computer and get his booty home because we have an 11 month old BABY BOY! He is so excited that he accidentally took the long way home and ended up hitting every red light. Figures, right?! While waiting for Jamie I did a few more laps around the house leaping for joy, and then I went out and told Tommy so he knew what was happening and why I was being so rude to my guests. He said he could watch the boys so we could look at our little guys profile. I asked him not to tell the boys yet, I wanted it on camera :)

I'm such a visual person, I love being able to look back at photos and remember how I was feeling and what was going on in them. This is what the house was like when I got 'the call' and when I was prancing around like a crazy person. I never want to forget how the light was streaming through the windows, the time on the clock, and the feeling of unbelief of hearing the coolest news in the world.

Jamie finally got home, and was told about his brothers engagement....

Then we sat down in the office together and opened up the email that had his photos and info. What an absolutely amazing experience to be able to look at your child's face after such a long wait. We laughed and cried and fell totally in love with our sweet boy. We were in awe of how great God is and how amazing it is that He chose us for this precious little life. Seriously, we don't deserve this child, he is just perfect.


Then we brought the boys in and told them the big news and showed them his pictures. Toby was SO excited and couldn't stop smiling and Jack was a little confused at first but has 'got it' since. They are really excited to have another brother and Jack cheered when I told him that he's a big brother now.

We can't show his picture online yet, but as soon as we're allowed to we'll be plastering it everywhere! 

Then we sent the pictures to the Costco and went along with the plans that we already had for the night. We went over to my sister's house for our brother-in-laws birthday. On the ride over we called our parents to tell them the good news. The rest of the night was a total blur. But the video below shows us telling my sister and her husband the good news. You think they're excited?

Then the next morning as soon as Holt opened we called with some questions and said that we love him and couldn't wait to move forward and officially accept him. A few hours later we got the acceptance paperwork, had my awesome sister come over and watch the boys, got all the paperwork notarized, wrote out our huge check, and I drove straight to Eugene so I could hand it all over to Holt personally. I mean why not drive 2 hours down there rather than having to overnight it all?! So Wednesday, July 11th is when we officially accepted our referral. The next day Holt Ethiopia was notified of our acceptance and now I can only hope/assume that they are getting all our sweet boy's paperwork ready to be submitted to court. 

I'm just a little excited ;)

So for all of you who aren't in the adoption world right now this is what happens next:

Pray like crazy people that we can get to court (and pass) before the courts close for the rainy season in mid-August (very unlikely but not at all a hard thing for God, I mean He did create the world and all...)

If we don't then we will hopefully get to travel over for court in the end of October or November. When we do make our trip we'll get to meet our boy, go to court and officially be his parents in Ethiopia. 

Then we travel home. I can't even think about how hard this will be yet. And wait for the U.S. Embassy to approve us and give us a date to come back over and get our boy. 

So the best case scenario would be bringing him home in 3 months (the embassy doesn't close during rainy season) and more practical timeline would be bringing him home in January or February of next year, or worst case scenario would be longer than that.  

We're not worrying about it, we're just praying and putting all of our trust and faith in the Lord. He still sees the big picture and knows how the story will unfold.  We feel insanely blessed to matched with our sweet boy, and he is a part of this family already. Pictures plastered everywhere, his name sprinkled in every conversation, and hopes of his homecoming all day long. We can't wait to hold him in our arms and we pray that it's much sooner rather than later, but again, we TRUST and HOPE in the Lord and Him ALONE. 

1 Chronicles 16:8-12

Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord! Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth.