It's been about a month, but we did in fact receive, and accept, a referral for a 1 year old boy from Ethiopia!!! You may remember we originally set our age parameters for 2-4 years old. After sitting at the #1 spot on the boy list for nearly 3 months (which is RARE to wait that long for a boy, much less a toddler) we were becoming a little frustrated. I just kept thinking "what is taking so long...what is the deal?" Then one day in church we sang "Unending Love" and there is a line in the song that says "I am humbled by Your majesty" and it hit me like a ton of bricks......I am so ignorant! I should be greatful that He is, and has, hand-picked the child that will fit our family perfectly and that we can connect with and bond with. Then, 3 days later, our agency contacted us about a 1 year old boy that had arrived at the orphanage a month previous. My immediate response was that we really preferred a toddler and then remembered that this is NOT about us and what we want, but what the Lord has for us. So, I explained to our director that we didn't want to accept a referral just b/c we are anxious, but on the other hand didn't want to be close-minded and make a snap decision based on our original parameters and told her we would pray about it, really pray about it and I would let her know. After a LOT of prayer, talking to our social worker, pediatrician and to a few close friends (and I made a pros and cons list, I'm a visual person :) we decided to accept his referral!!! Then we realized we don't even know what he looks like, lol. You have to request photos of children, our agency doesn't just email them out. We can't post pictures of him publically, as he is not ours legally....YET :) But I can assure you he is absolutely beautiful! Sweet BIG brown eyes and his ears stick out a little (like Caleb's do, lol). Our agency, Celebrate Children International, is fantastic about sending pictures and DVDs, as our director goes to Ethiopia 4-5 times per year! So, you guessed it, in the mean time we wait yet again for our court date. On this trip we will meet him and get to spend LOTS of time with him, appear in court and once we pass court he is legally our son :) Then, the tough part, perhaps the TOUGHEST part of this entire process.....we have to leave him there :( Come back to the US and wait some more for our embassy appointment and for the US to issue his visa that will allow us to bring him home. We have also connected with a family in our agency that lives only 20-30 minutes from us and they are adopting a baby girl, around 9 months old and can't wait to meet up with them and hang out!!! There's more to say, but my thoughts are still all running together, ha! Here is the song I was talking about earlier, please listen...it's fantastic!
