Good Things Come To Those Who Wait: Our Referral Story

Okay, y'all...I've been keeping a BIG secret from you for a while, and I am SO excited I can finally shout it from the rooftops...

WE HAVE A SON.

I can't even believe it, y'all. We got "the call" in the afternoon on July 12th. I was getting the kids ready to go swimming at our gym pool, and, truthfully, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself because this day was exactly five months since our dossier had been submitted. We had been originally given an estimated wait time of 1-3 months for our match, so we were obviously a little disappointed it had taken five. All that day, I had been fighting back feelings of anger and disappointment and truthfully feeling like maybe I had heard God wrong. Maybe this was His way of telling us we actually weren't supposed to adopt at all. I was feeling disillusioned and like maybe He had a different story planned for us altogether.

And then, at 2:11pm, my phone rang and the caller ID read "Holt International." My heart began to beat faster, and I immediately felt as if I'd run a marathon. I was totally breathless. After exchanging pleasantries and getting my husband to join the call, our agency director said in a very enthusiastic voice, "Well, I'm sorry you waited so long, but, you know what they say, good things come to those who wait! I think we have found the most perfect little boy for your family."

As she proceeded to tell us about our tiny little guy, not even 10 months old yet, born prematurely in a city south of Shanghai, and very, very small, all I could think about was seeing his picture. I felt like he was ours, but I wouldn't really know until I saw him. I felt so differently hearing about this boy than I had back in March when we had received our first call about a file. With that first file, the one who ended up not being ours, I felt scared, anxious, and ill-equipped hearing about that precious baby. With this second file, I felt confident, excited, and fearless. I just knew.

And then, just 23 minutes later, I opened his picture and saw my son. It was a feeling that I can barely put into words, but I immediately felt a sense of calm, peace, and joy. I looked at the most perfect baby with full cheeks, bright eyes, and a big smile, happily sitting outside in a walker and the last 17 chaotic months of our life made total sense. He was dressed in a pink onesie (because real men wear pink, obviously), and my heart immediately longed to scoop him up and protect him forever.

For the last month, we've been waiting for the Chinese government to "officially" release his file to our agency so they could upload our Letter of Intent (LOI), and we heard this morning that it was done today. I cried my eyes out in the middle of Jump Mania, and we are SO happy to say he's ours! We are thanking God for this incredible blessing, and we cannot wait to share his precious face with you all!

Time to CELEBRATE! Happy weekend!