This post-referral phase is a mash up of emotions that is hard to process. The deep frustration of waiting has been brought into sharp contrast with the overwhelming joy of seeing our daughter’s face, knowing her name and hearing her voice. We anticipate updates and photos of her like Christmas morning, and then after we see them we realize we will have to wait to hold her, and talk to her and be with her, and I feel like a six- year- old after Christmas day, when the presents have been unwrapped and the family has all gone home. I know that’s not it, I know it’s about something bigger and better to come, but there is no escaping the let-down.
Monday, October 06, 2014
The Waiting is The Hardest Part - by Linz
This post-referral phase is a mash up of emotions that is hard to process. The deep frustration of waiting has been brought into sharp contrast with the overwhelming joy of seeing our daughter’s face, knowing her name and hearing her voice. We anticipate updates and photos of her like Christmas morning, and then after we see them we realize we will have to wait to hold her, and talk to her and be with her, and I feel like a six- year- old after Christmas day, when the presents have been unwrapped and the family has all gone home. I know that’s not it, I know it’s about something bigger and better to come, but there is no escaping the let-down.
Posted by Linz at 1:15 PM 2 comments
Monday, June 16, 2014
It finally happened! - by Linz
For the last year I have been imagining what it would look like when our referral call finally came. I have kept my phone close, ringer loud in anticipation of seeing the (703) prefix of our agency phone number popping up. I envisioned myself in the middle of a normal day, looking down and seeing the number and thinking "this is it". I would then pick up the phone and they would conference Brad in and then tell us all about our referral...which I was sure would be for two boys.
This is not at all how our referral call went down. First, my phone that I have held close as if my life depended on it completely failed me! It didn't even process the call until an hour later as a missed call and a voicemail. By then, Brad had received the call. But it wasn't quite the call we thought. It was a call asking if we would be willing to accept a referral for just one child and one that was a year older than what was listed as the maximum age on our current request. So the call I got was from Brad and went more like this:
Brad: So I got a call from Virginia
Me: Who?
Brad: Virginia, 703, our Agency
Me: You don't sound excited enough for it to be a referral call, what's up?
Brad: They want to know if we would be open to a single child who is 7
Me: I think so, what do you think
Brad: (he proceeds to tell me his thoughts on the matter and I have to cut him off)
Me: I'm dropping the boys off at school and they are fighting over who has to get out of the car last, can I call you back?
So, we talked and decided that we were in fact open to one seven year old. But here's the kicker. We knew our family coordinator was preparing all of the referral information in case we said yes, but we had to attend an awards assembly at the boys school that morning. So we had to call our family coordinator back and tell her that we would love to see the referral, but have to go to a school assembly in five minutes. We were finally on the phone call that we had been over a year in the waiting and we had to say, "Can we call you back in about an hour?" WHAT?! I didn't not want to wait a minute longer to hear about our new kiddo, but real life was happening, what were we supposed to do?
We went to the assembly, where lots of kids got lots of awards. It felt like it took FOREVER! As proud as I was for my boys' accomplishments, I was completely distracted. I was fidgety and couldn't stop wondering if it was seven year old boy or a seven-year-old girl. I tried to weigh my feeling on the fact that it wasn't siblings, but couldn't land on anything concrete. I had so many thoughts and my brain was trying to process all of them at the same time. The only thoughts I could manage to settle down in my brain were ridiculous details. I said things like, I guess I won't need those bunk beds Bridget was keeping for me". And Brad would look at me like I was a crazy person. Because while all of my thoughts were buzzing around fighting for processing space, all of Brads thoughts were overwhelmed and looking for a cozy place to nap! Opposites attract, right?
After every child that ever went through the doors of Washington Elementary received an award for existing, we went home and finally had our official referral call. We prayed first, grabbed our phone and called our coordinator...who was on another call, so we left a voicemail. But then it happened, we saw the (703) pop up on the screen, we answered the phone, turned it to speaker and heard the words "Well, I am looking at a photo of the most adorable seven-year-old GIRL".UM, GIRL? You guys, I wish everyone could have seen Brad's face, I cannot describe it, but I will never forget it. So they gave us details and sent an email with all of the information and some photos.
This is not dramatics, or exaggeration at all...she is the cutest little girl ever in the history of little girls! As soon as we saw her face, this whole big adoption thing became about one little girl.
Posted by Linz at 12:31 PM 2 comments