more of the story:)

Finally, the morning came. No call. 9:00am.....10:00....11:00....finally me and the kids left and went to pick up something to eat. While at the drive-thru window at McDonald's around 12:15....I GOT A CALL!!!

It was Lifeline and Amy called to say that they had a referral for us. Since Lucy was 3 and the boys were 5 & 7, we had requested 0 to 2 years old. We had put a variety of needs on our list and said we would prayerfully consider something that was not on our list or more than one need on a case by case basis. Not only that but, since we had just completed the homestudy paperwork on Friday in a rush to make the release of the shared list and knew that there was a slim chance we would be matched, we had decided to do a little more research on our resources for severe cleft lip and palate before marking it. (There is more to that part of the story and I am going to dedicate an entire post to how God moved my heart toward cleft lip and palate**) Our thoughts were that we would mark everything that we were sure about and would take the month until the next list came out to research severe cl&p and what resources we had since our insurance did not cover many aspects associated with it. So, Amy called and said 'We have a referral for you- I know that this isn't exactly what you marked, but you said to contact you on a case by case basis if it was close and think you should take a look at this referral." Since I was in the drive-thru, I couldn't really talk, not to mention how kids automatically act when you pick up the telephone, so anyway, I told her we were headed home and I would call her asap...

We ran home-everybody was starving so I had to get all the kids settled with food, drink, ketchup and got ready to call Amy with my pad and pen...then, (those who know my phone struggles will understand) I went to call her and had no service and no phone!!!!!!! I was going nuts!! Of course, now my kids were fully involved in lunch and not at a fast pace I can assure you!!!! So, I rushed their food down and we headed to find a parking lot with service!!! Ridiculous....so, I got the info from Amy-she had a unilateral complete cleft lip and palate that had been repaired....and a heart need....and she was 11 days from turning 2-which would mean she would almost be 3 by the time she came home. We were SO early in the process and I guess I had just been thinking all along that our referral would be around 12 months or so for whatever reason. Anyway, I called Charles, gave him the rundown and he said on the phone that we would probably say no, that we shouldn't get our hopes up but he was going to come home for us to look at the file. We wouldn't look at her pictures...we would read the file and we would most likely say no...so, he gets home and we sit down together at the computer and start reading. We were saying no. We did not talk the whole time but just kept reading...with every sentence, something was gripping me inside and I was thinking-"i think this is our daughter"...I would read more and say "I think THIS is our daughter"....by the end I was saying to myself "THIS is my daughter!" But, we were going to say no and I was so scared to see what he thought. So, we finished reading and looked at each other with tears in our eyes...he said, "what do you think?" I said, "I think this is her---what do you think?" He said "I think so too" At that point, we still had to look at her picture...and I will be honest-I was really scared and nervous. We literally looked at it one millimeter at a time. First the hair, then the forehead, then the eyebrows...you get the idea. The first picture we saw was of her at 4 months old...she had not had surgery and she was the most beautiful baby...we both looked at each other and said "she is GORGEOUS!!" The pictures were just icing on the cake!! So, in a matter of minutes we went from saying no to saying THIS IS OUR DAUGHTER! We had the adoption clinic review her file and they had no red flags, so we decided to move forward...the rest is history!