a year ago...

A year ago...

we received the call that we had the referral for our sweet girl.

we laid our eyes on her beautiful face for the first time.

our hearts over flowed with joy a year ago a world away from our sweet girl.

Tonight....

I sang a song, gave her kisses and rocked her to sleep.  happy. safe. loved.

Please join us in celebrating!!!! Referral!!!

Please join us in celebrating the referral for our sweet girl!!!!  Here we are with a referral for a beautiful 10 week old baby girl.  We are blessed beyond measure and over joyed!  She is healthy, healthy, healthy.   She is beautiful...with big brown eyes, baby smooth brown sugar skin, and beautiful long curls.  I wish I could share the 2 photos I have with you but I can not until we pass court and she is officially our daughter.  We feel so much love for her and can't wait to have her in our arms and bring her home.

Her given name is Tesfanesh.  I believe the name is pronounced just as it is spelled.  It is a bit of a tongue twister!  For now, we are calling her "T".  Eventually, we will know what her name will be.  I already have many thoughts, but we haven't decided just yet.  I can say that her name literally means "you are hope".  How perfect is that!?  It amazes me actually....this journey to her has all been about hope!!!

Everything appears to be in order.  No problems with paperwork....no issues that could cause delays.  This is a comfort to us.  We will now wait to be assigned a court date, hopefully this fall, and then after we pass court will make arrangements to travel about 8-12 weeks later.  We are hopeful that she could bring her home when she is 6-7 months old!  

The boys were very excited to see T's photo.  I gave each of them a photo turned upside-down and had them flip it over at the same time.  This photo shows their reactions!   yeh!

Thank you all for your support during this roller-coaster of a journey.  I pray it is smooth sailing from here.  Our hearts are still mending from the heart-break of Tirunesh.    While she is not far from our thoughts or hearts, we are so over-joyed that we have arrived at this place with the referral for our daughter and do not feel that the joy of this has been tainted in any way.  It is just as amazing and joyful!  We will pray for both "T"'s and their adoption journeys to their forever families.  

Referral Day!!!!!

 
(The boys checking out their sister)

What a day!  This morning, bright and early at 7:05 a.m., we received a call from our social worker with the much anticipated referral for our sweet girl.  We were so happy because Andy was still at home to receive the phone call and see the email come through with all the information.  That was sure a moment.  My head was spinning with emotions!  Our daughter!  Our daughter!  This is our daughter.  We looked over all the information, but I could hardly take my eyes off of her!

To see her photograph for the first time was overwhelmingly wonderful.  She is just a beautiful, sweet girl.  My first reaction to her photo was that she looks sad and confused...and really maybe she is right now.  Or perhaps she just wasn't in the mood for a photo, who knows, but it isn't surprising to me that I would project what I think she might be feeling onto her photo.  Her little face is just precious, fine features, beautiful chocolate skin, fuzzy hair, perfect rosebud lips and big brown eyes.  She is a beauty.  She is also very healthy!!  It looks like she is a underweight at approximately 14 pounds right now, but that isn't surprising considering the state of many children in Ethiopia.  It is good to know that she is now getting all of her physical needs met in the orphanage....enough food and I pray and trust that she is getting enough love and attention.  I would love nothing more than to just hop on a plane to Ethiopia and snuggle this little one!  I wish I could share her photo with you, but they restrict us from doing that until she is "legally" our daughter and that will happen after court.  When the court date is is still unknown and will hopefully be scheduled before the court closure that begins August 7th.  Oh, how I hope we will get through the court closure!  So, there will be more waiting, but know we know who our daughter is. 

 All the feelings I have had over the last many months have left me worried for her, wondering where she is and what could be happening.  I have the answers to some of those questions and believe I now understand why I was worried.  I think I have been connected to her for some time and now I will actually get to know her and guide her on this journey of life.  What a tremendous and joyful honor that is.  I love you sweet girl....