Without even knowing his name or seeing his face....we said YES!
We even had the option to say no after seeing his picture, knowing his name and reviewing his medical history....we still said YES!
This was THE phone call we had been waiting on for so long. I was driving and Charis was sitting beside me in the passenger seat. I almost didn't answer it because I was afraid it was a telemarketer. But I answered it and I am so glad I did! As soon as I heard our family coordinator say her name, I KNEW what the phone call was about! WOW! What a moment! I almost broke down as soon as I heard her voice, but I held it together. (I probably should have pulled over, but thankfully, I was able to get through the phone call while driving!). Our family coordinator laughed and said, "This is the fun part!". This would be the fun part of her job, calling families about referrals! Charis knew after a few minutes what the phone call was about and immediately she began to cry too. I got off the phone with her and called Caleb, but I couldn't even talk to him on the phone, so I went to his work instead so we could talk about it. There were a few minor health concerns that our family coordinator wanted us to be aware of before we made our decision.
We all three sat in the car and talked about the phone call and this little boy waiting in Ethiopia for a forever family. Charis has a birthday coming up and she said through her tears, "This is the best birthday present ever!" We wholeheartedly agreed with her!
We talked about the health issues knowing that he will receive great medical care here in America. But the two biggest things that sealed the deal for us were two things: God's sovereignty and the Gospel.
We trust in God's sovereignty and that his plan for us is perfect. We couldn't imagine saying no after waiting for THIS phone call.
The Gospel of course always plays an important role in every decision and aspect of our lives. Adoption is the most beautiful display of the gospel. God adopted us into his family. He doesn't care what we look like, what our past looks like. He loves us no matter what. He accepts us no matter what. So in light of this, we said this was the little boy God hand-picked for our family!
We have been able to FaceTime and Skype with family not living around here to show his pictures and videos and that has been so much fun! We've been able to share his pictures with our friends and family here. It brings us so much joy and excitement in seeing their reaction to the little guy's pictures and videos. I love that our family and friends are so excited and happy for us! The consensus is all the aunties can't wait to pinch his little cheeks! This little guy is already loved by so many people...he is going to be so overwhelmed (in a good way)!!
I can't wait to be able to post his picture online, but we can't until this adoption is finalized. We have to be super careful about what we share. We may not be able to answer your questions about his background to protect him, his background and story. We will let him make the decision on how much to share when he is older.
For now, I will share his name and age. We had the name Calvin picked out previously, but we have since changed it to Corey. We changed it because Corey means 'Chosen'. His name will be Corey Kelley. He is 3 years old, loves to dance (as evidenced by the two videos we received!). His middle name will be his given name, but we can't share that at this time.
We have to take two trips and are awaiting dates for the first trip. Ethiopian court closes from mid-August to Sept/Oct. due to the rainy season. Roads become pretty much impassable during this time. We aren't sure if we can make our first trip before this happens, but if we don't our first trip will be in Oct. sometime. We have approximately 8 months from the time of our referral call to when we can bring him home which would be in March!
We are anxious to meet Corey face to face and get to know him on our first trip! We will have to say good-bye which will be incredibly hard, but knowing that we will be able to bring him home on our second trip will hopefully make it a little easier to say goodbye...doubtful...but we're so close to the end of this part of our journey! The real journey will begin when we bring him home! =)
