And Now For the Story

As promised, here is what actually transpired last Friday:
My dad and I had gone out to lunch somewhere on the east side, the Tie Dye Grill (side note: they have amazingly fresh hamburgers). I had had a strange but comforting feeling all morning that today could be the day, but I was trying hard not to get my hopes up. Spending the last three weeks on high alert had been very taxing on both of us. Then, just as we were getting up to leave, my cell phone rang. I recognized the 703 area code, and my heart leapt in my chest.
"Hello, Sarah. This is Terra. I have some good news for you, this is your referral call!"
Even now, as I write, I can still hear her say those words and I can't help but smile and cry. We have waited so long for this moment, it is hard to believe it's actually here. I grabbed my dad's arm and said, "It's our referral call!" and Terra asked if I wanted to conference Travis in. A few seconds later I heard Travis answer; my voice was almost too full of emotion to say a single word.
"Good afternoon, Travis. This is Terra and I've got your wife Sarah on the line." I have to say it was an awesome blessing to hear Travis' reaction to the call. Terra went on to tell us about our beautiful one month old baby girl. After that, the rest of the conversation is honestly a blur. As soon as we hung up with Terra, I called Travis right back. We both just laughed with amazement and utter thankfulness. My dad took me back to work where I promptly excused myself to rush home where Travis was waiting. By 1:15, we were looking into the eyes of our daughter. I wish I could share her picture or even some more details with you all, but because of privacy issues surrounding the adoption, we can only post after we pass court.
So, you might be thinking, what happens now?
More waiting on our part. We returned our acceptance letter to AWAA on Monday, and now they begin petitioning a court date (CD) in Ethiopia on our behalf. Court dates have been traditionally been scheduled 2 - 2.5 months out, so we're anticipating a date in early June. We should hear within 2-3 weeks what our court date actually is. Soon after we receive a court date, we'll also receive tentative travel dates (TTD) of when we will actually go to pick her up. Typically, you travel within 2 weeks of passing court. However, 30% of families do not pass court on their first attempt. It is nothing we can control, so we must continue to pray that the orphanage has their paperwork completed correctly, MOWA writes our recommendation letter, the judge shows up, they have electricity, etc. You can be sure that when I know more, I will share what I can.
For now, Travis and I are continuing to marvel at her precious face and I've begun full-on nesting in her room. If you would, please pray for peace for us during this last (but oh so important) phase of waiting.

The Day We've All Been Waiting For...

This is it. The day we've all been waiting and anticipating for the past 2 years. Today at 12:20pm, we received our referral call for a beautiful one month old baby girl!!! It's been a whirlwind of emotions and activities, and I promise a nice long blog later with the story. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and support during this long process. I can absolutely say the wait was worth it! And I'd be remiss if I didn't stop and thank God for this awesome little blessing He's bestowed on us. We are your servants Lord, and we will try our very best to raise her to know and love you.

Filled with much love,
Travis & Sarah Taylor

Distractions

Well, it's been over 2 weeks since we went on high alert; we actually received an email from our agency telling us we were "on deck" and we are anxiously waiting for our phone to ring. I'm not going to lie, it's almost agonizing. Every day I wake up, thinking this could be the day, and then feel a heavy sigh when the clock strikes 5:00pm. It doesn't help that every time Travis calls my cell phone at work, I think it might be "it". Last week I actually took his call in the middle of a meeting, only for him to ask me something totally arbitrary, like, "Did you get my email?" In my frustration, I told him the next time he called he'd better have some good news. (Let me take a moment to praise the Lord for my wonderfully patient husband, who endures all the hormonal abuse I dole out...he's such a great and godly man.)

Thankfully we've had a few distractions to keep me from going completely off the deep end. Yesterday I attended my third baby shower, given by my mom, my best friend Anne's mother, Susan, and my very good friend from church (and spiritual mentor and surrogate big sister), Laurie. It was an incredibly awesome day. I was very disheartened Friday when we didn't receive our referral; I had so hoped to have a picture before the shower. I was afraid the whole day would be a constant reminder of our unfulfilled hope, but instead I found myself encouraged and filled with God's peace. I loved being surrounded with such godly women, friends, and family. Here's a few pictures from the day, including my "Ethiopian pregnant belly" made by my friend Amie and her mom, Margie. Apparently they wanted me to have my share of fun trying to open gifts and reach to the floor. Thankfully my best friend Shari pointed out that, in my defense, not too many brand new mothers have to board a 24 hour trans-atlantic flight with a new baby. Point well taken.

400 Flower Cake

Opening the Belly Present (Notice Any Redness in my Face?)

Here's the Culprit, my friend Amie

And the diaper bag my mom made me.

PS. If you'd like to see the rest of the pics from the day, got to: http://picasaweb.google.com/sarahpas0421 .

This Is Not a Test

We are now on high alert, Defcon Orange. In the 2 weeks since my last post, there have been 3 more baby girl referrals and 1 baby boy referral. Both of the "either" families in front of us received girl referrals, the one boy family received a sweet baby boy, and another family that shared our same DTE (5.2.08) received their request for a baby girl, 0-18 months. I am now, as my Yahoo chat group calls it, the Queen Bee of the referral line. We can literally receive the phone call at any moment.
Ironically, I have strange sense of calm and peace. It's surreal to think, after all this time, of her actually now existing, halfway around the world, waiting to be matched up with us, her forever family. Many of you have commented about our strength and patience through this whole process, but please believe me when I say that it does not come from us; it is by God's grace and loving providence alone that we have (mostly) maintained our sanity and sincere hearts.
Hopefully the next post you see will be news of our precious baby girl!

And then there was...

Well, kind of. We are at the top of the list for an infant girl referral! That's the really exciting news. Let me explain the "kind of" like this:

There are officially three families in front of us in line based on our DTE. None of them, however, are requesting girls. Two families are open to either gender (kind of like being surprised at birth) and one is requesting an infant boy. Previously, if you were open to either gender, you were almost automatically guarenteed to receive a boy referral because boys had traditionally (up to this point anyway) been more readily available. But we've had so many girls come through lately, it's starting to flip flip. I'm not sure they have ever had a family at the top of the list waiting for boy or either. So, if a girl happened to come up next, the referral would go to the 'either' family.

Either way, we're so very close, and my heart skips a beat everytime I see a long distance phone number on my cell phone. I've already alerted my co-workers that if the call comes, I'm outta here for the day.

The Number of the Day Is...

That's right. 2. We are now second in line for a baby girl! And you know what's funny? This morning on my way in to work, I was praying about the adoption, and I had kind of a funny feeling and thought, "What if today is the day?" And although it wasn't my day today, it was for two other families. So let's keep on praying...maybe it will be my day soon. Love you all and thank you for all your support and prayers!

Happy 1st Birthday Savannah!

Today is Savannah's 1st Birthday! Savannah's mom, Shari, is one of my best friends, and if you remember from a previous post, I spent a lot of time last February at the hospital while Shari was in labor and then during Savannah's 17 day stay in the NICU. I can't believe a whole year has already gone by and how much she's grown!

Her fingers of choice.

What a cutie!