REFERRAL! The post you've been waiting for!

Mark and I are so VERY excited to share that we received the most wonderful news today! Quite unexpectedly, we received the phone call we've only dreamed about and, drumroll please, it's a BOY! We are amazed and delighted and overwhelmed and giddy that we have a SON! And let us tell you ... he is BEAUTIFUL. Seriously cute. He has the most gorgeous huge eyes and long eyelashes. He's 15 months old and is just so precious. We keep pinching ourselves -- we are just so happy!

So here's how it happened ...

I happened to check the forum that we follow through our agency and noticed that two families received referrals today. I called Mark to tell him because the families that received referrals weren't the ones at the top of the list ... one was at about #5 and the other was behind us. Hmmm. We thought that could mean more referrals were coming, and maybe our turn would come in February -- we never dreamed that it meant so many families would get a referral today, including us.

So after I hung up with Mark, I went back to concentrating on work and made a call to Florida to work on an event I'm planning for next month. In the meantime, our phone rang here at our house and Mark assumed it was me calling back again. But it was our social worker. She has been off work for the last 6 weeks or so, recently returning from Ethiopia with her second son. She chatted with Mark about returning to work, shared a little bit about her children and then said she had a belated Christmas present for us. She wanted to know if Mark and I were together and ready for our referral. Mark got a little (a lot!) flustered and told her that he would go to me at work.

So Mark left the house, left our social workers phone number on the kitchen table and our garage door open, the house unlocked and the lights on and raced over to campus to my office. Thankfully, the students haven't returned yet and he was able to park right outside my building. He came flying into my office door and we were both crying and laughing and feeling incredulous! This was what we had been waiting for!!

We found our social workers number and called her. She was so calm! And our hearts were just pounding! She told us about our son and then sent us an e-mail with his photo. Our hearts just melted when we saw him for the first time ... he has the biggest, darkest eyes that sparkle. He's smiling in both photos! We'd love to show you his beautiful face but we're not allowed to post his photos until he's home with us. Just trust us ... he's ADORABLE!

After we had time to take in all of his information, we started calling our families. And then my co-workers joined us to hear the awesome news! And then, we just started telling anyone who would listen! Tonight, we celebrated over dinner and chose a name for our son. We have decided to call him by his birth name and give him the middle name of Simon. (that's how we'll refer to him on the blog until he's home with us)

After dinner, we went shopping and each picked one outfit for Simon. It was fun to finally know who we were shopping for! We are already in love with his little face.

So there you go! It's been a whirlwind afternoon and evening. I don't know how we will ever get to sleep tonight! Thank you for all of the notes and phone calls ... eventually we will get them all returned! We are so grateful for everyone's support and excitement for us -- thank you, thank you, thank you!