A Few Details

Wow! What a fun and crazy whirlwind the last 30 hours have been! I know some of you want to know how it all went down- so here goes my best effort at making sense of it all. Ryan's daddy is an excellent painter, so Wednesday night Ryan's parents came in from KY so that we could get the room painting/furniture swapping done before the holidays kicked in. So, yesterday (Thursday) we tore the house apart, had furniture stuffed in every corner of my bedroom and we were happily completing home improvement projects.
I had a dentist appointment yesterday afternoon, so I ran out to take care of that and make a quick Walmart run. I had just entered Walmart and before I could put anything in my cart, I ran into my good friend Eileen Mestas. Those of you in Gladney land may know Eileen from her blog, Job's Daughters. She and her husband brought home 3 children from Ethiopia last November and they were really the ones who kick-started us on this journey. So we were standing in the craft aisle discussing our referral timeline when my cell phone rang. Eileen said, "Wouldn't that be funny if that was Natalie calling with your referral?" Well, it wasn't, it was Ryan asking me to get something else for Isaac's room. So, I hung up and Eileen and I went back to gabbing. About 3 minutes later, the phone rang again and the caller ID listed my mother-in-law's cellphone. I told Eileen I'd see her later and began to walk away as I answered the phone.
My mother-in-law said, in a very excited voice, "Christy, Ryan's on the phone with the lady, it's the referral, he said to come home!"
So, I scream over my shoulder to Eileen "It's the referral, it's the referral!" She comes running back toward me grabs me and hugs me and then I dash out the door to home.
Now, let me just say that was one long trip home. I alternated between laughing, sobbing, singing, and praying. I arrived home to all four of my children jumping up and down in the front yard and waving for me to hurry. We called Natalie back and quickly were able to get the photos and see our precious son. He has a sweet precious face that we just can't wait to kiss and hold.
The remainder of the night was nuts- both sets of grandparents in and out, phone ringing, e-mails pouring in- lots of love and support and enthusiasm! Today we bought lots of sweet clothes which we think will be the right size when we are able to travel in a few months. We justified the really cute ones because these were all birthday presents, of course!
I have known all along that adoption happens because some sadness and adversity come first. That became very real to us as we heard the story of our son and his birth mother last night. Ryan and I have both wept repeatedly as we have begun to process the realities of this precious gift.
Because of Ethiopian regulations I can't share lots of information or any photos on my blog until we pass court. There are parts of his story that we may not share for years. But I can say this. He is a year old today and has 6 cute little teeth. He is very healthy and seems to have been loved and well cared for to this point. He is precious, and after reading all of the documents, we are confident that he is the right child for our family. We don't know what we will call him yet, we are processing some of our name choices with the name given by his birthmom, which is also beautiful.
Here is how you can pray for us at this time: please pray for a smooth process as we proceed through the court date so that we can quickly go get our little guy, pray for our son's health as he spends these last few months in foster care, please pray especially for his birth mom and for our interactions with her as we travel to Ethiopia. Our hearts are very burdened for her and we strongly desire to encourage and minister to her in whatever way we can through this process. Thanks so much for your prayers and support! We promise to "keep you posted."