Our Referral Story

Alright, I need to get this all down before I forget it all...

On Monday, July 14 around 3:15 pm, my cell phone rang. I was at work and didn't recognize the number (why I didn't have HIH's number saved to my phone is beyond me. Anyway...), so I didn't pick it up since I was at work. About 15 minutes later my office phone rings, and when I answered, Dave was on the line. He said, "Rach, are you sitting down? Karin (from our adoption agency) just called me". Okay, two thoughts ran through my head in the split second before he broke the news. The first was, "I know why she called, we are getting our fingerprints renewed soon and we just sent the paperwork in for that". And my second thought was, "If he is calling to say we got our referral, then that is a mean, cruel joke. We have another year of waiting. It's not like Dave to be mean like that". Yep, that was all thought in a split second.

Then he says, "We got our referral. We have a son! His name is Ezekiel!!" I answered by saying, "No... no... no we didn't. No we didn't! What???" When Dave started telling me details about our son I started crying. I just couldn't believe it, and I was in such shock. He asked me to call Karin so that we could conference call all together. I told him I wanted to do it in private, so I was going to go out to my car and call her. I shut the lid on my laptop, left my snack and paperwork sitting on my desk and bolted out of there. As I was running out, I was crying and the receptionist looked at me funny. I just shot her a half smile and kept on going.

I got in my car and called Karin. She answered her phone and said, "Happy Birthday, Mama!!!!" Ah, this is by far the best birthday present I ever could have imagined. We got Dave patched into the phone call and she proceeded to read us the 10-page fax she got with all of Ezekiel's information on it. I tried to write down as much as I could, even though I knew she would send the information to us by fax that day. My mind kept racing. She told us that we would hopefully get a picture the next day (Tuesday).

After Karin finished telling us the info and celebrating with us over the phone, she hung up and Dave and I stayed on together to talk. We were both in complete disbelief, and I kept starting to cry as the impact of what I just found out hit me. Our lives were turning upside down, and it was the best feeling in the world!! It's what we've been wanting for years now. While we were talking, Dave told me the story of how he found out...

(Rewind to 3:16 pm) After Karin tried to call me, she called Dave. He picked up the phone and she said, "Hey Dave! This is Karin." He wondered why she was calling her, and his stomach dropped as he thought maybe it was the referral, but quickly squashed that thought, knowing it was months out from now. She said, "I realized it was Rachel's birthday on Friday and I wanted to wish her a happy birthday!" With that, she started crying, then said, "Okay, I can't hold it in any longer - You guys got a referral!!!! I was trying to get ahold of Rachel and wanted to tell you both together".

While Dave and I were talking, he told me that he (oops) spilled the beans to my dad. I was a little disappointed, but it cracked me up that he couldn't keep his excitement in when he was trying to get ahold of me. We decided that we wanted to drive to each of our family members' houses tonight (except the ones who live far away) to tell them. We met up with each other in the parking lot of the hospital in my parents' town so that we could finally see each other and celebrate with each other in person. As soon as he got out of the car we hugged and grinned at each other. Dave grabbed my hands and we started jumping up and down in a circle (we're dorks, we know :) Then we drove to my parents' house to tell my mom and grandparents.

Karin had faxed us E's information, and the cover page said, "It's a BOY!!!!" So that was what we used to surprise people. My favorite reaction was my younger sister C. She lives in the same town as my parents, so after we told my mom, we drove to where she was. I kept her talking on the phone so that she wouldn't leave before we got there. Thank God my sister is a talker. I just let her talk. I don't think I could have held a conversation since I was so excited about telling her the news!! We pulled up into the driveway and I said, "Hey C, you should come outside right now". She came out and I held up the sign as she walked toward me. She freaked out and started screaming/crying/hip hip hooraying, then hugged me and we started jumping up and down for joy while we were hugging. She was so happy to finally be an auntie and to be getting a nephew, as she has 2 little girls. We called her fiance to tell him the news, and I filled them both in on the story of how we found out. She just kept crying and smiling and exclaiming how excited she was, and how surprised she was as well.

We proceeded to drive all the way over to Dave's parents, who also had a great reaction. I called them on our way up to thank them for my birthday present (and to secretly make sure they were home). They had just finished supper and were relaxing, so I got off the phone with them and we continued on our way. We got there about 45 minutes later and knocked on the door. We heard them say, "Oh! How nice! Dave and Rachel are here! I wonder why?" As they answered the door, we walked in with our sign. Dave shouted, "We got our referral! It's a boy!" They were so surprised, and wanted to get some champagne to celebrate, but we let them know we were trying to get to the rest of Dave's siblings yet that night. We told them a lot of what we knew about Ezekiel's story, and had a great time celebrating with them.

It was great fun telling Dave's family that they were getting a new addition to the family. I only wish we could have told our nephew J - he is on a camping trip for 3 weeks in the mountains. I have to say he is my favorite teenager, such a cool guy. I can't wait to tell him the news when he gets back.

After we got home, we quick went over to our BFF/neighbors' house - Aaron and Nikki. He had gotten a tattoo that weekend, so we wanted to see it, and of course surprise them with the news. We walked in all non-chalant and listened to Aaron tell us about the tattoo. They were about to tell us another story about their weekend when I said, "Wait, before you start your story I have a quick question for you - how tall is Sam?" They told me and then I said, "Oh, well OUR son, Ezekiel? He's 29 inches tall!!" Then we held up our sign and they stared in disbelief for a split second before screaming and hugging us (we woke Sammy up, oops). My favorite part was that while I was hugging Nikki I told her that Ezekiel is almost exactly 2 weeks younger than Sam. She started crying even more then and praising God. We are so amazed at His goodness!!

We got our picture of him on Tuesday, and fell absolutely head over heels in love with the face of this little boy we already loved from his paperwork. I just wish I could post his picture for the world to see, but due to Hague Convention laws, I can't post his picture until we have him home with us forever. But if I see you, I can promise you that I'll have his little picture out of my purse to show you before you can say, "Filipino Bambino".