Wanna' Hear Something Exciting?

WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!

Yes, I mean it!

No, I'm not kidding!

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHAAAAAHHHH!  We are so excited we could die!

So, here's how it went down.  This past Tuesday evening my sister Tabby had a work conference in Lexington and then she was spending the night there before heading home.  Her daughter Mackenzie just turned thirteen, so Tabby let her come too and skip school on Wednesday and I took my personal day from school and went down and met them in Lexington for the day.  We spent the day shopping, spending Mackenzie's birthday money, having lunch and basically just having the best time ever being together and sharing Mackenzie's first ever girl's day out as a teenager. 

Earlier, when we were planning this fun outing, I told my sister it would be great if I got our referral while we were all in Lexington together.  She was like, yeah that would be great and nothing more was ever said of it.  But, in my head I was still thinking about it.  During the day on Wednesday, I checked my phone about a thousand times.

Eventually, our great day was over and we all had to head home in different directions.  I had hugged my sister and my niece and said goodbye and headed toward the ramp for I75N from Man of War Road.  You know this entrance ramp - the one that is like a complete circle?  Well, as I was just entering the circle, my phone rang.  I didn't recognize the number, and since I thought I had programmed the adoption agency's number in to my phone, I didn't think it would be them when I answered.  It went a little something like this...

Hello? (In a questioning tone as I don't recognize this number)
Hi, is this Angela?
Yes, it is... (Still wondering who this is, and going to be mad if it is someone selling something)
This is Sally from Adoption Associates.
L..o..n..g...p...a...u...s...e... (while my brain processes)
Then I sqeaked out, Really?
She laughs and says yes, that she has some exciting news for me.
I immediately start to cry - like cry, not sniffle - cry.  And I'm still in the circle-on-ramp, holding my phone and crying and driving with one hand.
Sally says, do you have time to talk.
I blubber out, yes, but I'm getting on the interstate!!
Sally says, do me a favor - pull over so you don't cause a wreck!!

So, I pull off the interstate and hear all the details about my daughter while 18-wheelers are speeding past and shaking my car and my heart is pounding a million miles a minute.  I wrote all the details on the back of a coupon I found in my purse and that will be one coupon I won't be using any time soon, but will probably keep forever!

I can't even describe to you what it was like to call Jeremiah and tell him I had just gotten the information we had been waiting on about his sister.  He was still at the high school with Jodi who was taking him to her house to meet Carolyn from church who was taking several kids to church for play practice.  I was going to meet them there so we could open the pictures they had sent to my email together. 

I'm going to confess that I broke several traffic laws getting to Jodi's house, and it was still the longest drive of my life.  I passed the time by calling my Mom and my sister and giving them the great news.  When I got to Jodi's, the scene was a little crazy.  Carolyn had arrived and her car was in the driveway running, with the doors hanging open.  Jodi and Jeremiah and Grant were standing in the yard with Jodi's laptop waiting for me to see the pictures.  I jumped out of my car and ran - and that's saying a lot - this fat girl doesn't run much!  So, the first time I saw my daughter's sweet face was while I was standing in Jodi's yard with my son and her son, and other kids from church and Carolyn Horn looking on.  It is a memory I won't soon forget!

After the chaos calmed a bit, Carolyn and the kids left for play practice and I got the chance to sit down at Jodi's dining room table and really look at my daughter's pictures.  She is beautiful, and that is not biased at all!  She is four months old, but very tiny.  Like ten pounds tiny.  But her cheeks are just as chubby as can be and her eyes are huge and chocolatey.  I cannot wait to get my hands on that cute baby!  I'm already picturing her in some of the baby clothes I have!

I don't know how to put into words what I felt when I saw her, but it was the same feeling I felt the first time I saw Jeremiah's pictures.  I have never actually seen her.  I have never actually held her.  And yet, I already love her.  She is already a part of me.

Like any new parent, I had to have pictures of my new baby to show off, so I sent her pics to the one hour photo at Walmart and very shortly I was showing her off to a fellow teacher in Walmart and then at church when I went to pick Jeremiah up after play practice.  Since then, those pictures haven't been far from my side and Jeremiah has his own set that he took to school on Thursday and then posted all over the house, including on the Christmas tree.  I know I can't post the complete picture here so that you can get the full effect of her cuteness, but here is a sneak peek.

Is that the cutest little hand you have ever seen or what?