Roger and I had expected to receive our referral for Molly Kate in or before December. We were expecting that magic phone call on November 29 or December 6 from our adoption agency telling us information about the daughter who had been matched with us. We were anxiously awaiting the referral picture of her that was to be sent via email. I was SO excited!!!!! I handled it just fine when we didn't receive the call on November 29, because I just KNEW we would receive it the following Monday. Since I was scheduled to substitute teach on that Monday, December 6, I decided I'd better call our agency and make sure they had my cell number so they would be able to reach me when they made the referral call. On Wednesday, December 1, I made that call to our agency. I couldn't believe what I was told, though. The rep whom I talked with told me that they were only expecting referrals for the log in dates of May 24 - 26 of 2006. Our log in date was May 29, 2006. That meant that the referrals for December weren't even going to get CLOSE to our date. I couldn't get off the phone fast enough. For the first time in the almost FIVE years of waiting for our precious daughter, I put my head down on the table and I SOBBED. I cried and cried, until I couldn't cry anymore. You see, my dad had just passed away the week before on Thanksgiving, and I'm sure some of the emotions were a combination of that AND the disappointment from being told we would NOT be receiving our referral in December. I had SO wanted my dad to see a picture of Molly Kate before he passed away, but that just wasn't in God's plan. (I think God probably allowed him to get a sneak peek at her, though, when he got to heaven!) I had wanted a picture of her for Christmas---just a picture to hang on our tree, and I had really thought that was going to happen. It was truly heartbreaking. HOWEVER, I finally stopped crying and did a reality check with myself. There was NOTHING I could do about the situation. We had been waiting for 55 months for our referral, so we were just going to have to wait another month for it. Instead of it being an EXTRA MERRY CHRISTMAS, it was going to be a HAPPIER NEW YEAR. I made my peace with God about it. When my dad had been taken to the hospital the last time before he passed away, I was sitting in the waiting room with my mother and brother, when I noticed a painting on the wall with the scripture, "Be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10. I can't begin to tell you how many times I quoted that verse to myself during times I spent with my dad at the hospital during his last days of life. I found that same verse to be a comfort to me after the disappointment of not receiving our referral. Every night I would go in Molly Kate's room and sit in the rocking chair, with just the lights on her little Christmas tree on, and pray. I would say that verse multiple times because that is what I was seeking to do, AND I prayed for God's perfect timing for our referral.
The whole referral thing was very puzzling because on Monday, December 6, they weren't mailed to the agencies. On the NEXT Monday, December 13, they still had not come out for the month. I asked my friend, Bonnie, who is not only my BEST ADOPTION FRIEND, but also my adoption EXPERT (she's adopted THREE TIMES from China), if she thought that they MIGHT be doing MORE referral dates since they hadn't been announced yet. She said they MIGHT be, but since our agency had given me the dates for the referrals and told me our date wouldn't be included, that was probably the way it was going to be. I was just anxious for those referrals to come out, so that CCAA would begin to work on the batch for January and HOPEFULLY include our date.
THEN......on December 15, I was on my way home from an appointment, when my cell phone rang. I looked at the number and didn't recognize it. When I answered, it was none other that my dear friend, Bonnie. We email each other just about every day, some days multiple times. We don't talk on the phone a lot, though. When I heard her voice, I was SO surprised. And THEN, she went on to ask me if I had looked that day on the internet at the predictions for referrals for the month. When I told her I hadn't, she informed me that it was predicted, QUITE RELIABLY, that our LID date WAS going to be included in the December referrals, after all!!!!! I think I asked her if she was SURE.....and THEN, I started BOO HOOING again, but THIS time they were tears of JOY!!!!
It was two days later, on December 17, 2006 that our agency confirmed referral packages had been received, and that we would get our referral call on the following Monday, December 20!!!!! AHHHHHHHH....our dream was REALLY about to come true!!!!!
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