The Call

When you are in the adoption process, you wonder about the call--that moment when the phone rings and you find out that your family has been matched with a child. Questions come to mind: Where will you be? What time of day will it happen? Will you be surprised?

Our big moment came last Friday, and I completely missed it!

Let me explain ...

So life has been pretty nuts around here the last several weeks. Actually, if I think about it, we have been very, very busy since before the holidays--you know, one thing after another. Like a lot of families, I suppose. But for us, it seems the busyness has been pretty extreme.

Take last week, for example. Kate and I started the week in Tennessee, where we were visiting family and attending my niece Abigail's birthday party. (Tanna had to work, so he stayed here in Georgia.) Anyway, we were going to come home on Tuesday, but we both got sick--so sick, in fact, that there was no way I could drive home that day as planned. Thankfully, we were both feeling better on Wednesday--so we came home and took it easy that evening and the next day, as I still wasn't feeling that great. We'd just moved to our new place less than two weeks prior--and we'd been out of town for almost a week--so things were (and are) in a state of disarray, to put it mildly.

Anyway, when I woke up on Friday morning, I was feeling more like my old self. YAY! I remember telling Tanna, "I finally slept through the night!" (I'd been waking up multiple times throughout the night for several sleeps in a row.) I kissed him goodbye and fixed breakfast for Kate when she got up for the day. I thought we'd venture out to look at some furniture and to run a few errands later that morning.

While Kate ate breakfast, I was fiddling with the television. When we'd returned on Wednesday, we had no working cable or Internet, and the cable guy had come over late Thursday afternoon to get it all up and running again. I was making sure the television schedule had been uploading so I could schedule some recordings--including the ever-important Yo Gabba Gabba.

After a while, Kate and I ventured upstairs, where we were hanging out and getting ready to get ready for our errands. I had left the television on (bad, I know) and at one point heard what sounded like Yo Gabba Gabba going off the air. I quickly raced downstairs to make sure that it had recorded. (Anyone who knows a child with an affinity for this show understands the importance of this. We had lost all of our recorded episodes on the DVR in the move, so I was anxious to get our stockpile going again.)

Well, I discovered that Gabba DID record (big sigh of relief). I also discovered that I'd left my phone downstairs--something I have been bad about in this new house. I can't hear my phone when it's upstairs and I am downstairs, and vice versa. Anyway, I picked it up and saw that I'd missed a call or two. And I had voice mail.

Here is what I heard when I checked my messages:
"Hey, Karen, this is Laura (Last Name) calling from Bethany Christian Services. I hope you're doing well. I had something to discuss with you, so if you don't mind giving me a call when you get a chance. My number is 867-5309*. Thanks so much, and talk to you later. Bye!"

It had been almost two weeks since we'd moved, and I hadn't contacted Laura, our social worker, to give her our new address. I had e-mailed her to let her know that we were planning to move and that we were under contract on a house, and she told me to get back with her once we closed and had moved and everything was official, etc. We would need to have a home study update, and she'd need to come out to the house for a new home visit, etc. I figured that's what she was calling about last Friday morning.

I will say that there was a very, very brief moment when the thought of a referral blinked past my thoughts, but I quickly dismissed it. I mean, we had been told that we could receive a referral sooner rather than later because of Tanna's Korean heritage. But I thought that "sooner" might mean a month or two (or maybe even three) less than the average year's wait for a match. So I wasn't seriously thinking referral when I called Laura back. I really thought she was checking in with us after the move and wanting to get our new home visit on the calendar.

When Laura answered the phone, she quickly put me on hold for a second. She had given her direct line on her message--which I don't think I'd ever called before--so I figured she had to get settled or get something up on her computer before our conversation. After a minute or two, she came back on and asked me how things were going, etc.

And so I started this long explanation of how busy we'd been, how our house was still a mess, how we needed furniture and window treatments, how Kate and I had been out of town for almost a week, how we'd been sick, yadda, yadda, yadda. I ended with something like, "It's been so crazy!"

And she said, "Well, things are about to get even more crazy!"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

(Yes, that is what I said!)

She then explained that she had a couple of other folks from the agency on speaker phone (I thought she might have had me on speaker). We all said hi and they offered congratulations. Then Laura proceeded to tell me about our son and explained that she would e-mail photos and his file in just a few minutes. She said we'd need to meet early the next week to discuss the referral and the next steps.

I immediately called Tanna at work--we were both ecstatic and sooooo surprised! He said he could meet Monday afternoon, so I e-mailed Laura and continued to hit refresh on my e-mail about a million times, looking for the photos and file to come through. Then I decided to go the stalker route and just call her again. She had literally just sent the e-mail when I called. LOL! We confirmed our meeting time for Monday afternoon--as well as Saturday plans with an adoption group, which we already had scheduled--and I opened the e-mail.

PURE LOVE.

I scanned the file quickly before forwarding it to Tanna. (I knew he wouldn't mind if I saw everything first; otherwise, I would have waited for him--or I would have at least attempted to wait! LOL!) A bit later, we shared our awe and excitement and surprise (again) over the phone. I then proceeded to read the file and look everything over about 3,000 more times before realizing that I needed to upload the pictures and get them printed. I took off for Target soon afterward and promptly picked up the first images of our son and Kate's brother.

Not a bad way to spend a Friday morning!

P.S. Today, March 16, is our six-month "waiting" anniversary--meaning, it's been six months since our home study was approved.

*not real number given (Laura gave me her direct line for my return call, but the number that showed up on my cell phone--see top photo--is the agency's main number.)