REFERRAL!!!!!!

We were so excited to announce we received our referral on Tuesday, January 17th and accepted it Thursday, January 19th for our 7 year old son. The reason for the two day delay is his medical information is supposed to be reviewed by a doctor, even though he's a healthy 7 year old, its still formality. So many people have ask me how the course of the evening went so I'm going to try to explain it the best I can....
I was talking to my friend Angie on my cell phone while clipping coupons (yes I'm one of those) and the home phone rang around 4:55. Our home phone rings very little (yes we need to get rid of it) so when it does at this time of day my heart always does a little leap (this is the time of day they call with referrals). Mike answered the phone with his back to me and turns around and says "you're going to want to take this", I knew instantly what it was. I frantically hung the phone with Angie while my heart is beating out of my chest. I take the phone and say hello and our family coordinator Jennifer says "Erin, this is Jennifer from America World and this is your referral call", aaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!! She then says, "You need to get Mike on the other phone so I can talk to you both at the same time". At this point I can't even talk because I'm crying and she says it's perfectly normal. She starts telling us his name, birth date and then I realize I don't have paper or pen so I have to tell her to hold on again while I get these things. My hands are shaking and Mike and I are just staring at each other. She tells us a brief history of him and then says she will send an email in about 20 minutes with all his information and pictures and she tells us he's a cute little guy. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! We then sit Samuel and Will down and tell them, they were very excited and wanted to see the pictures. We thought all along we would get a child younger than Will but he is actually a tiny bit older so we had to make sure Will understood that he was still the younger brother. Will surprised us and said they were twins and the idea has grown on him. He's such a baby I couldn't really imagine him being the middle child. We then called our parents and siblings who were so excited. We sat at the computer and refreshed it about a million times waiting for the email, we couldn't wait to see him. Of course in all the excitement we didn't video our reactions or take any pictures, I always thought we would but this was just such a surprise and I was a nervous wreck. Our son is so handsome, has the sweetest smile, and beautiful brown eyes. I can't wait until he looks at me with those eyes.

In the course of these last few days I have had so many emotions. I have felt God's favor on me so much that it's overwhelming and I feel I don't deserve it. I have felt sadness for our little guy and all he's been through in his first 7 years of life, I can't tell you his circumstance because he's not officially ours until we pass court but please, please, please pray for him. Our children are so lucky they have lived such sheltered lives. I cried over all the comments on our facebook announcement and the AWAA yahoo group announcement. We could never have done this without all the family and friends supporting us and continuing to support us. Mike and I have felt nervous that he won't like us and won't want to leave with us. All he knows is being taken away and we are just strangers. Please also pray for him to accept us and not be scared. We also knew that requesting an older child is harder to transition after they come home so I'm rereading and memorizing "The Connected Child" by Dr Purvis and Mike is doing the same. Mike and I also both got sick, nothing big deal just low grade fevers and achy and neither one of us is ever sick. It's been an overwhelming but awesome last few days.

Some have ask "what's next?", well... now we get to wait some more :). What we are waiting on now is a court date when we travel to Ethiopia and either hear we pass or don't pass. When you get to court you need the famous MOWCYA favorable letter, if it's there you pass, if not or unfavorable we don't. About 50% of people pass the first time and those who don't usually don't really know the reason and usually pass the second time. We hope to travel sometime in March or April. Please pray we pass court the first time and don't have to leave Ethiopia waiting to pass. After this you wait to get submitted to the US Embassy. This process is taking longer than before and can be 2-4 months after passing court. The government wants to absolutely make sure that these kids are true orphans which makes the process longer but ensures the best is happening for them. We are hoping he's home sometime this summer. Please pray that we receive no delays.

In the meantime we have to get vaccines to travel, Samuel is pumped about the shots, HA HA. We will also be able to take donations with us, when I know what we should take I will pass this along if anyone wants to donate. When America World receives our referral payment they will send us information about sending care packages to our son and we get to ask 5 questions (I think) about him. One of the first things we are buying him is a UK shirt, it will be his first of many :).

Please continue to pray for us and especially our little guy. We are going to need your prayers so much over the next few months. I can't wait to be able to share what God has done in our lives and his life and the circumstances that brought him to us.