Referral!

We never expected that our adoption referral would sit quietly in our email inbox as we busily tended to work and school. People often say that the referral comes when it is least expected – and perhaps in our case in a manner that was unexpected. Typically, our email is checked feverishly throughout the day, in anticipation of an impending referral; however, last Wednesday, our email had lain dormant for nearly nine hours while the picture of a beautiful four month old boy waited to be discovered.

Inside our email inbox we discovered a brief description of our little boy and a picture of a chubby, happy, smiling baby being held by one of his nannies.

We know very little about his life prior to coming into AAI’s care last month. What we do know is that he was destined to be a part of our family and that we will be ecstatic to bring him home. We will call him Micah Thomas, a name that seemed fitting after we saw his face for the first time.

The next several months will be challenging as we again wait. Wait for paperwork from the adoption agency; wait for our home study to be updated; wait for a court date; wait for travel arrangements to be made; wait to travel; wait to bring Micah home; however, the next several months also promise to be filled with a rekindled excitement, knowing that there is a face, a name, a child at the end of a long journey – knowing that there are preparations to be made and prayers to be said.
Though the wait has been long, our journey to and with Micah has only begun. We look forward with fear and enthusiasm to the journey and the inevitability of change.

Updating Everything

The call has been made to our social worker, and a homestudy update will soon commence. Our agency has said we won't be home with a child by the end of 2010, let alone by mid-December when our immigration approval expires. So, we're on paperwork round two.

It's hard to believe nearly 16 months have passed since our file went to Ethiopia.

The good news is that being here, in the spot we wished to avoid, isn't nearly as bad as we imagined. We like each other a great deal, so another 6 months of just-the-two-of-us is a blessing we never expected to receive. :)

Rebecca