Referral!!!!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

These are the words I have written out attached above the picture of our precious 3 year old son.  After over a year of waiting for a referral we received a call from our adoption agency about two weeks ago and heard the words, "Well, it's a boy!"  God's timing couldn't have been sweeter.  Just that afternoon I had been driving home from work wondering if we would ever hear anything.  I checked my email when I got home and had another email from an adoption website telling me there was a child that might be a good match for us.  Once again, it was through another agency and not from Ghana.  As I was clicking on the red circle to exit my internet browser my phone rang.  It was our adoption agency.  "They never call, they always email.  Could this be the call we've been waiting for?!" were the thoughts spiraling through my head.  I picked up the phone and received the good news.  I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement and could hear the excitement from all the workers at our agency as they were gathered together to tell us the good news.  

As soon as I hung up the phone I called Ryan, who was at work.  Of course, he wasn't able to answer the phone!  I was running around the house saying, "We have a son, we have a son!"  But, I couldn't tell anyone because I couldn't get in touch with Ryan.  My dog had the only ears I could talk to at the time.  So, what did this crazy woman filled with excitement and good news do?  You're right, I opened up our backdoor and yelled for my dog to come in and began petting her and telling her she was going to have a brother.  Yes, I'm crazy.  She had no clue what was going on, but enjoyed the petting and attention, of course. = )  (Ryan did finally call me back and was so excited.  Who knows how many phone calls we made that afternoon.  Those were some of the best phone calls of my life.  I don't think I slept much that night, but you don't need sleep when you're on Cloud 9.  I think I had actually bypassed Cloud 9 and shot straight to Cloud 100 or something.)

I immediately began thanking God for his goodness.  From the beginning we've known we were following the will of God with our adoption journey.  He has made it evident in so many ways.  The verse I began this post with says it all.  We were called by God to adopt.  We have trusted Him and loved a child we knew nothing about.  All along, even when we grew faint and weary God has been working for the good of our family and this journey.  It's my prayer that God would be glorified through the rest of this journey, our little boy's life, and the start and growth of our family.  I am so happy that I have a face to pray for now.  He is precious in so many ways.  His little hands, his little feet, his smile, and the happiness that seems to radiate from him in that little picture I carry in my purse. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  

We were told things may go fast from this point on.  I say, bring it!  Our in country partner may be able to go to court for us as early as mid-October.  We could go meet our little one for the first time as early as November.  From then we would be looking at a 3-5 month wait period until we get to go back to Ghana and bring him home.  I pray that things would go swiftly and that we would cling to God and His promises even if the rest of our journey doesn't go as planned or takes a little longer.  I'm excited about the next chapter of our adoption journey.  I feel like this past chapter has been more like a novel in length.  Through it all, God was working.  That is enough to make it all worth it.  That precious boy is enough to make every moment worth it.