Before I forget the details, I want to share how we got our referral call. It is such a tender and special moment and I don't want to forget any details. So...now that it is several months later, I want to keep a record of it.
It was Thanksgiving weekend. I had my whole family visiting for the holiday and we were having a good time. Rejoicing in the blessing that our dossier had been sent in (a prayer of mine from the beginning - to have our dossier in by Thanksgiving). There was much to be thankful for.
We had a busy and very loud house. I was trying to catch a few seconds to check my email and I noticed an email in my junk mail from
AGCI. I clicked on it to open it and it was listed as "waiting children". I had a pretty good idea of who was on the waiting children list and none of them fit our parameters. Curious of who these new waiting children were.
My heart began to race as I scanned the email and noticed the ages of the waiting children were just what we were looking for. 2 brothers, ages 4 and almost 2. I hadn't even looked at the picture attached to the email, but my heart was already committed. My gut just said...these are our boys. But I couldn't figure out why were not contacted.
I quickly called Chuck and told him to read the email and I then emailed Julie, our case worker. And also called her to leave a message and mentioned that I saw the email for the waiting children and was wondering why we were not considered a match for them.
I then read the email again and noticed they would not be contacting anyone for another day or 2 about these children. I was praying for wisdom and wanted to be cautious of not manipulating the situation. I wanted to make sure that if it was God's will for these boys to be ours, that He would do the work for me and allow me to trust in Him.
By then, I saw the picture of the boys and my heart just melted. I fell in love, even though I was trying to guard my heart for protection, I just had a peace. All along I believed we would get 2 boys, ages 4 and 2. And here they were.
These boys were the talk of our
listserve and everyone
ohhed and
ahhed and thought they were just adorable and wanted to take them home. I was still trying to figure out why we were NOT called about them in the first place. The email stated they didn't have any family approved for them. ********
You see, we had originally stated in our homestudy that we were looking for siblings ages 0-3. And the day we were finalizing our homestudy we changed the ages to 0-5. That is where our peace was. Our case manager still had it in her file that we were only 0-3 and not 0-5. ********
Realistic that we had only been on the waiting list for 2 weeks, I knew were would have to wait longer for a referral. We were told we would have to wait 6-8 months for siblings. Well...the phone rang and I noticed it was
AGCI area code. It was our case worker and first off, she said she needed to ask for forgiveness, it was her mistake that the letter went out to the waiting families. She had it in her file that we were only up to age 3 and now that she remembered that we were approved to ages 5 and this is our referral if we would like it.
Oh my goodness !!!!!!
A referral !!!! We have only been on the waiting list for 2 weeks. Are you sure???? She said any other family that was before us, either had younger age range or they wanted at least one girl and we were willing to do either gender. She said she would email me the referral package and to look at it and this would be considered the "
pre-referral call". She shared what she knew about the boys and I was trying to pay attention, but I was in la-la land. Couldn't really hear what she was saying. Too excited !!!!
Chuck rushed home, the family all gathered around ( and I mean the WHOLE family - my parents, my sister and her family and our girls). We gushed over these sweet pictures and were praising God for His timing and plan. We were able to spend the evening praying as a family, all 11 of us praying over these boys. It was such a special time. It was so special to have my sister there (we only see them a few times every 3 or 4 years). And we had our friends drop by to see the pictures and share in our excitement.
Then we prayed...we prayed for the money we needed to accept the referral. We prayed for the boys. We prayed for our family. We rejoiced in this fantastic news of our boys.
Dear Sweet Peas,Now we know...God has chosen 2 boys for our family. And we couldn't be happier. Such peace about this whole situation is amazing. Can't wait !!!!Love, Mom
We arrived early Saturday morning (and boy...it was cold). We really didn't know what to expect. Would any one shop at this??? Would they sell anything??? We were hoping that these girls would not be disappointed with how things turned out. It turns out they had a great time.
There wasn't much room to display their things. And we had recently had yard sales and had gotten rid of a lot of toys already. So to make up for the lack of things to sell, we made some brownies, a friend made some cookies to sell. Hope made doggie treats and reign deer food. Even her younger brother made soap to sell.
My friend Robin came and made balloon flowers and swords to give out to the kids. She wanted to help in any way she could to be a support. We were so thankful and appreciative to these families.
Here is the gym full of kids selling their stuff. The girls worked all morning and raised about $100. They had a great time and it was important for them to feel like they were able to help and contribute.
