We Got "The Call"

It only took 2 years, 3 months and a few days!

Thursday night was a night we never want to relive. We are suppose to be in Rochester, NY right now, but with some mishaps due to United workers who can't do their job, we never made it. Yesterday (Friday) I was exhausted. Our neighbor Lisa was home from work and we went out to do some some shopping. On our way home, as Kevin and JT were sleeping, my cell phone rang. It only rang once and I missed the call. I decided to call back for some reason. I don't usually do that. It was Wide Horizons! Erin (our social worker answered and I didn't even let her talk. I just said, "So, did we get our referral?" She said, "Congratulations, you have a boy!" So she told me that we have a 10 month old son whose birthday is July 19. She gave us his family background (of what information she had, which is not much) And she told me about what paper work she was going to send us. Meanwhile Lisa is trying to figure out what is going on. I called Nicole and told her to meet us for dinner. (I was very nonchalant)

When Lisa and I got home we went right to the computer, pulled up the pictures and printed out all the papers. Kevin who just woke up came tumbling down the stairs and all I said was, "We got our kid!" He looked surprised and took the pictures. He said he couldn't believe how healthy he looked. He had the perception that he would look like those emaciated kids you see on TV asking for donations. There were no tears in usually Erin fashion.

I called my cousin Andrea. I tried to call my sister but she wouldn't answer. We met Nicole and her family for dinner and showed them the packet we received. Later that night my sister and both our parents got to see pictures. We can email pictures but they can not be on the Internet.

We have a doctors appointment on Monday to look over all the medical reports and information. If everything looks good, we send in our acceptance letter, a big check and then we wait for a court date. We should be traveling sometime in July for the first trip. If we can get there in July for our court date, then we can go get him in August/September. If we can not get a court date in July, the courts close for 2 months for the rainy season and then we would have to wait until October. Well, I refuse to let that happen! Last year anyone who got a referral before June, traveled before the courts closed.

We told JT he had a brother. He said, "No." We told him the baby will sleep in the baby's room. He said, "NO." Needless to say we were off to a great start! Before bed we showed him the picture again and he said, "Brother." I told him again he would sleep in the baby's room and JT got out of his bed, took the picture and put it in the crib!

Once we accept the referral, will give you his name! That's all for now!

A Helping Hand

Many people who adopt get financial help through their church or ask for donations. We would never ask for donations to help pay for our adoption. After reading numerous blogs and seeing what others have done, we decided we could provide our child's orphanage with a monetary gift. That is really what they need.

It's customary for adopting parents to provide the orphanage with a gift. When we go on our two trips, we will be bringing with us many items that the orphanage is in high need of. We would also love to provide them with a monetary donation.

$5 to us is nothing. But to someone living in Ethiopia this means a new life. People there live off of less than $1 a day. It only costs $17 to vaccinate a single child against six major diseases: polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and measles. $5 would buy a child a new pair of shoes, a uniform for school, grain for a whole family or medicine for a child. The best schools cost ($50) per month. To go to a normal school instead costs about ($5) per month. 89% of Ethiopia does not have clean drinking water. There is fresh water underground in most of the villages. They need money to help build wells. $75 provides safe water, sanitation, and hygiene education for one child in Ethiopia for life.

So, as you can see $5 can go a long way in Ethiopia. We would like for all of our friends and family to help out our child's (to be) country.

If you would like to join in, we have created a donation button at the top of the page. Please donate as little or as much as you can. Please click on the button at the top of the page to complete the transaction. You're welcome to use your own PayPal account for funding or a credit card.

Thanks for your support!