We Know Who They Are!

We were having a particularly busy day at work on Tuesday, when I felt my my phone vibrate in my pocket...

3:01 pm - I take a look at the number, a 651 area code, and think to myself that it might be our adoption agency. We were not expecting a call before the Ethiopian courts close for the rainy season and our agency recently started checking in with waiting families by phone, so although I feel a quick pang of "what if" excitement, I try not to let myself get too excited.

3:23 pm - I go into the break room at work and listen to the message. "Hi Teague, this is Amy from Children's Home Society and Family Services. If you could give me a call back as soon as possible, that would be great 651..."

3:30 pm - I call Robert and ask him to call Amy back. Robert doesn't get a hold of Amy when he calls back, so he leaves a message.

4:14 pm - I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I look and see that Robert is calling back and my heart starts racing. I know that he is either calling about the Angola Mission information dinner we were hosting later that night or about whatever Amy called about (what if?).

"They have a referral for us" he says calmly. "Do you want me to get the information or are you able to do a conference call right now?" I reply with, "hold on let me tell my coworkers what I am doing. I'll call you back." I walk briskly to the nurses' station and had this conversation with a few different people: "we just got the call, the referral call" What? "We are going to find out who our babies are! Is it all right if I go in the break room and listen to this conference call?"...Of course they were cool with that.

4:16 pm - I call Robert back and we have a conference call with Amy. I sit in the break room at work and listen to her tell us about our siblings under four. They are boys! Efesson, who is about to turn four years old this month and Biruk, who turned two years old in May. Efesson is the Amharic (the Ethiopian language) rendition of Ephesus mentioned in the Bible. Biruk means "Blessed." We love their names!

Needless to say, I did not function very efficiently at work after that. My coworkers, who have watched me wait all this time, were eager to share the excitement with me. Thankfully, I had already planned to leave the hospital one hour early to go to the Angola dinner, so I only had to make it about an hour and a half before I could see and hold my husband.

So, we got "the call" 13 months and 17 days after we submitted our dossier. We officially accepted the referral yesterday July 9, 2009 at 2:47pm. The emotions we have been experiencing are indescribable. Here are a couple of pictures of Robert on the phone officially accepting the referral and a picture of Robert and me on that day.






Now what?

We wait a little more. Our agency is hopeful that families who receive referrals this week will pass court before the court closure (which begins sometime in August). After we pass court they estimate about 8 weeks before traveling to Ethiopia to meet our boys.

So stay tuned to find out when we are scheduled for court and be praying for our family in the meantime!