To say I was extremely shocked to get “the call” yesterday would be putting it mildly. I had just spoken to Julie, our caseworker, last week after we found out that we were #5 on the wait list and we talked about how realistically I should plan on getting a call sometime in 4 to 6 weeks. So when the phone rang yesterday, I thought Juile just had a question for me. The conversation went something like this…
Julie: Hey Emily, is this a good time to talk?
Emily: Ummm…Sure. Talk about what?
Julie: Well, I have some exciting news for you….
Emily: (insert high pitched scream and imagine me running back and forth through my whole house:) WHAT??????? SHUT UP! ARE YOU SERIOUS? TODAY? THIS IS IT? THIS IS THE CALL! Oh my goodness…oh my goodness…I am SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! Is this really happening!!??
Julie: (Laughing and probably holding the phone at a generous distance away from her ear!) Yes! This is THE CALL. No joking here! We have a little girl we want to tell you about.
Emily: OKAY! Wow! I just can’t believe it! I’m so excited!!!! This wasn’t supposed to happen for another month! I’m SO surprised! I’m so excited! Let me call Bryson and we will give you a call right back.
I was working from home on the Passion2010 project with a friend, Kristin, who is helping me. I am so glad she got to see me be shocked and heard the conversation with Julie, because there was a part of me that wondered if that call really happened! 🙂
After figuring out how to use my hands and dial the phone, I immediately called bryson to tell him the news. He too was shocked and walked out of a meeting he was in. We decided to meet at Jittery Joes and my friend Kristin was going to stay at the house and watch Nash for us. (She did ask….”do you think you are okay to drive?”. I think I really freaked her out!). Bryson and I had not even talked about our plan for what we do, where we would meet up, who would watch Nash, etc. when we got “the call” so we were just making everything up as we went!
I jumped in the car and called my sister Olivia to tell her the news to which she screamed as loud as I had! My stomach…my brain…everything was spinning. I was so not prepared for “The Call” to come so soon…but I was ECSTATIC!! Bryson and I met at the coffee shop and grabed an empty meeting room to call Julie. We called…and called…and called… and called about 15 more times and she didn’t answer! We waited for about 45 minutes and didnt hear back. She finally emailed and said she had to step into a meeting and would call us at 4:45EST. (You were killing us Julie!!!) So we jumped back in the car and headed home. The next hour we waited patiently (okay, I paced the floor, jumped up and down a lot, and tried to stay semi-calm.). We put Nash in front of the TV with food and water to keep him occupied.
Finally Julie called.
We have been matched with a 4 month old baby girl from the southern region of Ethiopia. She has been at Hannahs Hope since early October. We were told she is healthy (& fat!), smiles a lot, and is happy. Julie talked us through her story, her medical labs, and life journey so far. Wow. Nothing can prepare you for that. What a precious little life!
Then comes the pictures!
Waiting for that email to pop up in your inbox made my stomach feel like I was on the world’s highest roller coaster and about to go over the big drop. Pure adrenilian! Finally the email popped up and Bryson and I were giddy with excitement as we opened her first photo. When it opened I exclaimed loud enough for all of Athens to hear, “SHE’s BEAUTIFUL! SHE SO PRETTY!!”. Our sweet baby in our dreams finally has a face…a personality…chubby kissable cheeks…the cutest smile and a perfect poof of hair on top of her head! I understand the meaning of “Love at First Sight” now! She is amazing!
We are on cloud 9 and don’t plan on coming down for awhile! Thank you for celebrating in our joy. What an honor to join a long line of amazing families who have felt the call and taken the step of faith towards adoption. We are humbled and grateful beyond belief to welcome this precious baby girl into her forever family.
I’ll post a video of “The Call” soon!
PS: congrats to the families behind us in the wait list line…your time is coming SOON!
the vogeltanz family 
We are an AGCI family in the very early stages. I just had a dream last night that we got our referral, and woke up to find that two families had recieved theirs!!! CONGRATULATIONS! I cried all the way through reading your blog! So happy for you!
Wow! I love the call story. You won’t come down from cloud 9!!! I’ve been there since our referral on the 14th of August. It just gets better and better!
Congrats!
I’m in tears. I’m soooo happy for you. I hope you’re right that our calls are coming soon, too.
Take care, and I cannot wait to see your “getting the call” video.
Oh my gosh! LOVE it!!!! I am really in awe of how surprising the timing was! And I died laughing about how you “put Nash in front of the TV with food and water.” Just struck my funny bone. 🙂
AWESOME story and can not wait to see a picture of this precious little girl!!!!!!
When do you travel!!!!
Love love love love reading your story and can’t wait to meet her SOON!!!!!!!!!!!!
YEAH! I was so excited to read the post! Thanks for sharing the details! When I think of you and Bryson, it’s 9 years ago in our Crown group! Where does the time go?? God has blessed this little girl with an amazing forever family. I can’t wait to meet her. Soon you will be a family of 4!
Dear Emily and Bryson and Nash… So, incredibly excited for you guys. Little Baby Opi with the chubby, kissable cheeks is just going to love her sweet parents and adorable brother. Many blessings and I continue to pray for you… can’t WAIT to see pictures!
Dear Emily and Bryson, great news! I read about the CALL with so much happiness for you both. You have waited for this moment WOW!
Congratulation—and GOD bless you all on this wonderful journey. Will wait to see pictures. Out of town till Friday, but will check soon after. Fondly, Collette and Eric
Love your call story! Our call was a big surprise as well. We have been floating around here since we received our referral on the 7th! It is so amazing isnt it? Maybe we will be traveling together!!!!
These are amazing!! I love the tolelry picture I can’t wait to see the rest. I had no idea that you were there at the end Rachel! Tell David thank you so much!!
You were right! And I had a feeling, too! Thank you for your excitement about our referral! More info about our call will be posted soon. 🙂
M
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