We are truly blessed. I came home from India on Friday, September 15th. We celebrated Peco's birthday the next day, went to church on Sunday and back to work on Monday! This particular Monday I happened to be in an all day training for work. Great way to start your first day back to work in 2 weeks! Before my husband left work work, we both looked at each other and said, "Today is baby day". We had a feeling we might get the call. At this point, it had been 10 days since we were approved to receive a potential match. Any day now, we could see the little face of the child the Lord has chosen for us to love and raise. Every day that we wait, we know that the Lord is preparing the perfect child for us. Even though our anxiety is through the roof, but this day, we both had peace. We knew that this day, September 18th, was going to be baby day!
On my lunch break from training, I tried to call and check in with our agency, but my call went to voicemail. A little while later I received a text that said she would call me back soon and to keep my phone on me... Keep my phone on... Hmm... Does that mean we have a match?? No, I'm sure she just missed talking to me the past two weeks! ;) After what seemed like the longest wait for my phone to ring, it rang, but it wasn't the person I called. It was the founder of the adoption agency.... this was it! This was THE CALL! I answered the phone and the sweetest lady ever told me, "I've been praying for you and that God would lead me to the right child for your family. I believe I've found him!" Him? you found Him? It's a boy?! ahhh! My world stopped for a few minutes and then I had to get it back together to listen. She went on to tell us that he was meeting his milestones and had the sweetest little face. Told us where he was from, his special need and then she said "I hope it's ok, but I went ahead and reserved in him in your name!" You see normally, they call and say, do you want us to reserve the match for you to look at the child and their medicals and so forth. We are so thankful that God works through Pat and she felt so strongly that this was our little guy that she reserved him for us!
The hard part is that I was at training, I had her send his medicals in one email and then his photo in another. I didn't want to look at his little face without my husband! And here I am in training and can't leave, and he is teaching school. I called several times but couldn't get through to my husband. As I was about to call the front office, he called me back! His school is very involved in our adoption and they knew we were expecting a call and he might have to take it. He said, "Did you get the call?", I'm sure I screamed YES! and told him all about our son.... "our son" - how surreal those words are! I told him that they sent a photo but I would wait until I got home, so we could see him for the first time together. He was so excited, from the phone call and medicals, our little guy seems perfect for us!
So here I was, sitting in anticipation of how quickly could I make it home from Daniel Island to Summerville without getting a speeding ticket! Finally, a few hours later, class was over and I jumped in the car. Traffic flowed well and then I got into the Summerville traffic. Just listening to praise and worship music, praising God for what he has done for us, praying and thanking him! Then I started to get annoyed with this huge dump truck that wouldn't turn. I mean, Helloooo! I have to get home to see my baby's face!! I looked up and I realized why he hadn't moved. God needed me to read the writing on the back of the truck...
[Jesus Did It!]
There is was, a reminder that "Jesus Did It!". And yes He sure did! 15 minutes later I got home and opened up my computer so that we could look at his little face. There he was, so precious, bundled up with these huge brown eyes. It was such a humbling moment. We shouldn't even be in the stage of getting a match, we should still be waiting to be approved to get one, and God pushed it through and now, ahead of schedule, we see our baby's face. He is a 10 month old baby boy. He is precious.
[After we saw his face for the first time!]
We shared the news with our family and a few close friends. We were advised to not tell many people because sometimes more information may show more health concerns and you may need to un-match. Well 2 days later received 5 videos and 2 more photos. There he was... crawling, sitting up, playing with toys, talking... We are so in love. We can't show his picture on social media but just know that he is the cutest thing you have EVER seen!!
So now the most important question that everyone wants to know... When can you go and get him?? Well, we don't know. We are currently in the process of waiting on a fingerprint appointment for our i800a application. This application will approve us through US immigration to adopt internationally. Please pray for speed in this process. We are being told that it is taking on average 72 days to get through this part. We can't move forward without this, so pray that we get this much sooner! Pray for our little guy in the orphanage, we are blessed that he is in a christian orphanage, but pray for his health and well being. For his preparation to be a part of our family and for us as we go through this process to bring him home. We know that God's hand is on us and we are petitioning him for a breakthrough in the timeline of the i800a! He has already provided in the approval process and we know that he can do the same with this!
