Welcome to the the world baby girl.

If you haven't guessed we have a referral. For those Morris Chapel people we are going to announce it in church on Sunday. For those of you who asked me on Sunday if I knew anything and I said No. I am sorry I had to tell a fib until we had finished the accpetance part. We did that today.

Okay onto the story...

Last Thrusday one of my coworkers asked how the adoption was going. I told her we were driving ourselves crazy and that we did not think we would get a referral very soon. In fact Chris and I had spoken and had decided we were going to hav a baby free weekend. (aka a weekend were we don't obssess about the adoption and when is this going to happen). Instead, on Thrusday our office assistant told me at the end of my last treatment that I had a call and it was someone named Susan Fox and she said it was personal. I could not for the life of me place that name. Well, it hit me who it was. It was our adoption program cordinator (the person who gives referrrals). So I get on the phone with cautious optimisim not portraying that with my over excited voice and said, Hello Susan!! She said I have some news for you we have a referral to present to you. I think I probably screamed and started tearing up a little but tried to continue my conversation with Susan. She told me it was a little girl and that she was in the province of Tuyen Quang (look it up on a map of Vietnam) which is northern provience. She gave me some more details and told me not to get too excited it was not final yet and we still had some work to do on our end before we acceted the referral. I think I told her loved her!!! Then I asked for her birth date. She asked me was I sure I wanted to know it was in the information she had emailed to me. I said, "Yes, I want to know." She then told me her birthdate was June 14, 2006 making her just over two months old today.

Of course, I called Chris while trying to open my email and regain some control of myself. His reaction was.... Don't do that to me that is mean. You are not seroius, stop playing around.... Once, I convinced him it was true I forwarded him the email and he became a Daddy.

We decided to keep it as quiet as possible until today because we had to speak with a doctor about her medical information (nothing wrong with it just standard procedure). After that we could accept, which we did.

This is how it goes from here. Our accpetance will be forwarded to Vietnam. They will process it through IAD (international adoption department) then create a dossier on our baby Sophie. They will then assign a giving and recieving date or the adoption ceremony in Vietnam. This process takes about a month and a half give or take. We will only be given one to two weeks notice before we travel. Sophie will be home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and hopefully Halloween.

Now onto my emotions. I hae been riding on a roller coaster. Although we told many people on Tuesday and throughout this weekend. We have been trying, as much as we could to contain ourselves, to keep it under wraps until all was final. I don't think I have ever been this excited in my life except maybe the day I got married, but this is a whole different set of emotions. I can't sleep, I constantly look at her pictures. Which, by the way, she is BEAUTIFUL!!! I don't have time to fully explain these feelings which come over me. I sit all day and day dream of her. I get goofy when I get home everyday and say "hello daddy" to Chris and he gets goofy right back. This is an amazing experience that I have not fully comprehended.

Now I am getting sleepy for the first time since Thursday so I am going to talk to my daughter now

Sophie I pray you are safe, healthy, warm and feed tonight. I pray that there are people around you who love you and will care for you until dad and I get there. We are so excited to see you grow and change and face the challenge of being your parents. We have already started falling in love with you and please don't tell me there is no such thing as love at first sight. I love you and so does daddy. I would say sleep tight but you have probably been awake a few hours in Vietnam already.

Last thought in this rambling message. I have thought alot since Thursday about the birth mother and for the privacy of my child I will not expose any details. I just wanted to tell her thank you and that I have prayed for you many nights that you have kept our baby healthy. I will pray for your future and your happiness as long as I am alive.

Summer