The News!!!!

Funny how I've been longing for over two years, to have this news to share and now I feel at a loss for words of how to share it. Maybe this will be the best way:

I pulled the bassinet out of the closet this week, in preparation for the little one who will be sleeping in it - in about 6 weeks!

Yes, we finally received THE call last week. I say finally because it feels like an eternity that I have been waiting to hear that I will be the mother of another precious child but in reality, we have not waited as long as many adoptive families do. In fact many would consider this to have been a quick adoption because our paperwork only went to Florida in May, so our waiting period will be shorter than the 9 months of pregnancy. However, our adoption process did not begin with that paperwork, but with a decision on June 8, 2008 that we would begin to research our options and prayerfully pursue the dream God had placed on our hearts. It has been a long, difficult journey and it will not be over until our little one is home with us. Then will begin the new journey of living life as a family of SIX!

So, the story of how we found out goes like this. I was on my way home from a field trip with Evan's class to Chinatown (hopefully I will have time to post those pics soon) on Monday September 27 and my cell phone rang. I didn't get to it in time, and I don't have call display or voice mail, so I called Ryan because he is the only person who ever phones me on my cell phone since I don't even know my number so I can't give it out to people. :) I had trouble getting through to him for some reason, but when I did reach him, I asked if he had called me, and he said no, but he had a message on his voicemail from a 407 area code that he hadn't had a chance to check yet. I told him, if it was important news, not to phone me back because I was in a car with 3 women I hardly knew. I promised to call him when I got back to the school in about half an hour and then I waited anxiously and listened distractedly to the moms of Evan's classmates chatting.

When we reached the school, I called Ryan immediately but he was with a customer and told me to call back in five minutes. So I paced the hallway for a few minutes, then went to a quiet corner and dialed Ryan's number. When he answered, he asked me if I wanted to go to Florida with him in November!!!! So there I was by myself in the stairwell of the middle school with 2 minutes to cry and then gather my wits about me so as not to give anything away when Evan came out of his class.

I managed somehow to gather up my son, drive to my friend's house to pick up the girls and make it home without exploding. Ryan stopped at Dairy Queen on his way home from work and picked up a celebration ice cream cake. When he got home, we called the kids to come have their afterschool snack and told them we were having a special, celebration treat for snack.

When we asked the kids why they thought we would be celebrating, Grace's guess was, "I know, it's because teddy is 4 months old today!" Yes, she loves her puppy. :)

Here are some pictures of the kids' reactions when we told them the news. Evan immediately wanted to send an e-mail to everyone in his contact list, but we convinced him to wait until we told his grandparents and aunts and uncles.

All of the kids are very excited, as are we of course. We will be keeping busy, making to-do lists, checking into flights and accommodations, preparing the baby's room, filling out last minute paperwork, and doing all that is needed to prepare our home and our kids for the time we will be away from them. So I know that these next weeks will fly by and in no time at all I will be posting pictures of our new blessing!

We are overwhelmed and grateful for all of the support and encouragement we have received from our friends and family throughout this whole process but especially in recent days as we have shared our news and we have been surrounded by the arms and the prayers of those who are dear to us. Thank you for sharing in our journey with us and for continuing to pray for us as we wait out these last weeks.