Thursday, June 6, 2013

REFERRAL!

After two years and two days of being ‘DTE’ (Dossier to Ethiopia), we were so excited to get THE CALL on Wednesday, May 29th.  We received a referral for a gorgeous little boy!!!  Here’s how it happened …

I was at work and had just finished a meeting.  At the end of the meeting, we were talking about our adoption, when would we hear something, any news to share, etc.  I love when people remember and ask but after two years of waiting, sometimes the questions are just depressing when you have no news to share. 
I came back downstairs to my office and was doing some work at my desk when my cell phone rang.  At first, I thought it was the Target pharmacy calling with a reminder to pick-up a prescription.  The number of Target and the number for our agency are very similar.  But then I noticed that it did indeed say “MI, USA” under the number – as in Michigan, the home state of our adoption agency.  Of course my heart skipped a beat but I thought they were probably calling about some paperwork we were working to update.  I didn’t get too excited because I knew we were still a little ways down on the ‘unofficial’ waiting list.

But after exchanging a few pleasantries, she said, “I have a possible referral for you.”  My. Heart. Stopped.  I got all flustered and tongue-tied.  Mark and I wanted to be together when we heard the news for the first time so I fumbled around and finally told her that I would call her back when I was with Mark.

So I started trying to call Mark.  I knew that he was going to pick-up Simon early from school so they could have some father-son time.  My hands are shaking and I’m about to cry at this point.  I am calling him from my work phone and texting him from my cell phone.  Nothing.  No answer.  Huh.  Ok.  I keep trying.  I finally just text “REFERRAL!!!  Call me!” and decide to start driving home.  I run upstairs (Seriously, I ran.  And I never do that.) to tell my co-workers that I was leaving and why.  A friend stopped me in the hall to make sure that I was breathing (check!) and that I could concentrate enough to drive (check!)
Meanwhile, Mark and Simon are across the street from our home at our neighborhood pool.  They are swimming and having a great time!  They have no clue what is happening.  So I’m driving home, as quickly and safely as I can.  About a half mile from our house, Mark finally calls me.  He and Simon had just gotten out of the pool and when he checked his phone, he thought, ‘what is going on??’  And then he saw the word “referral” and they dried off and ran home.  We literally met each other in the driveway!  Simon was shouting, “Mommy, we’re gonna find out if it’s a brother or a sister!”  So cute!

Knowing how Simon can be when we’re on the phone, we set him up to watch a cartoon while we called our agency.  She told us all about our little boy.  Then she sent us his photos and we called Simon to join us.  He is not quite 2 years old and he has the same big brown eyes and long lashes as Simon.  He has a pudgy, round face.  He is beautiful!!
Then we began calling our families.  So fun!!  As with Simon’s referral, they were just as surprised as we were.  I love calling and telling them about our new son.  We decided to go out for dinner to celebrate and we let Simon choose.  Of course, he chose Puccini’s, his favorite pizza place.  We were even able to share the photos with a few friends in person.  It was a fun evening!!

For two years now, Mark and I have been talking about names.  We even put a baby name app on our phones.  It’s so fun to banter back and forth with possible names.  As we were walking out the door to Puccini’s, Mark casually said, “I think I already know what his name is.”  I said, you do?  Mark said, “Yes, he just looks like a Hudson.”  We talked about different names on the way to the restaurant but we kept coming back to Hudson, so Hudson it is.  J  We will keep his Ethiopian name as his middle name.
A special side note:  for several months now, Simon has wanted a sister named Rapunzel.  And if he couldn’t have that, then he wanted a brother named Flynn Rider.  Yes, he likes the movie ‘Tangled.’  When we told him that his new brother would be named Hudson, he said things like “what about Lightening McQueen?”  and “how about Tow Mater?”  He later figured out that in the movie Cars, there is a character with his new brother’s name: Doc Hudson, the Hudson Hornet.  It makes Simon smile.  And I’m afraid little Hudson is going to have nicknames before we even meet him!

So that’s how our referral day went for Hudson.  We are thrilled to add another little boy to our family and we can’t wait to meet him and then bring him home to his forever family.

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