Our family is super excited to share with you that we have received our referral- a very important step in our adoption journey!! In short, he is an adorable little boy, currently 10 months old, from South Korea. As of right now, we will probably have to wait about a year until we can go to get him and bring him home.
When our social worker called to share this news, Eric was in Colorado with the high school youth on their summer trip. I knew there was a slight chance we could get the referral that week, but the most recent information had indicated that the referrals were coming in more slowly to our agency, so we probably wouldn't get one quite yet. But, we did! This was great news, but also meant all the information was at our local agency, and since I wanted Eric to be there too, I had to wait! So, our social worker told me just a little, and we set up a time to come in first thing Monday morning after Eric arrived Sunday night. Waiting these four days just gave me practice for our next wait which will be the hardest- waiting to meet him and bring him home!
I was also glad I was able to get a hold of Eric that day (who often didn't have cell phone coverage in the mountains of CO) and share this wonderful news.
So here are a few of our family's thoughts on this little guy joining our family!
Jill shares:
I'm filled with joy. Now that we know a little about him, I feel like he's our little boy, and my love for him just keeps growing. I pray for him every day, and am amazed to think that God has had this plan for us, and known the future of our family, and this little boy, our son. I'm so thankful he is bringing us together. I wish we could go to pick him up so much sooner- both to pick him up to give him a hug, and to pick him up to bring him home!
Eric shares:
The morning that I received a text message from Jill telling me we had received our referral was almost a shock for me to receive. In the middle of our h.s. summer trip I was beginning to feel exhausted, tired, and emotionally spent. But reading the words "referral" on my phone immediately brought excitement and anticipation about who this child was.....and when I was going to know more. Needless to say, it was hard to keep this news under wraps for the next 4 days (even though I did share it with my fellow adult leaders later that day - I just couldn't contain it to myself!) It's so exciting to finally have a little guy to look forward to holding, loving, and welcoming into our family. His picture is already framed and put beside Nathan & Brooke's as if he's one of us, and it looks so good. But waiting another 11-12 months is going to be really difficult and challenging, since I'm eager to bring him home and have him in our family. Patience.....patience......patience.....
Nathan shares:
"I'm very happy. He is so cute. I'm excited to have a little brother to play with. The hardest part is WAITING!"
(When we were getting the information from our agency, Nathan was at soccer camp. They were inside due to stormy weather, and had a little down time at the end where they could draw. When we picked him up, he hopped in the car, and shared his drawing with us- a picture of our family of five- mommy, daddy, Nathan, Brooke, and his new little brother! That's his drawing at the top of this post.
You can ask Nathan if you want to see a picture of his new little brother, because he carries it with him in his wallet. He's a proud big brother!)
Brooke shares:
"I'm going to play peek-a-boo with him, and put him on my shoulders and give him a piggy back ride." A few days after we found out all about him, she announced, "Now I know who I'm going to marry- YS!" (She said his Korean name, but I am only using initials.)
(When we first got the referral and she saw his picture, she smiled and blew him a kiss!)
