More Details :)

OK, I don't know how some people recall everything about everything ... I'm not one of them ... but here we go on what I can remember...

My cell rang at 12:38pm today at my desk at work ... the caller id showed Julie AGCI. Adrenaline started pumping cause I knew...it went something like this...

Me: Hello.
J: Hey Troy, it's Julie with AGCI ... how are you?
Me: I'm goooood ... how you doing?
J: I'm alright. Do you have a few minutes?
Me: Absolutely
J: Well, I have some good news about a little boy for you
Me: SWEEEEET ... that's AWESOME!
J: Do you want me to tell you about him or would you like to get Amber on the call as well.
Me: Actually, I'd like for Amber and I to be together. Work knows when we got the call I'd be heading out right away. We live 45 minutes from the office so can we just call you when I get home? (Amber had the day off today)
J: Well, I'm actually about to go home cause I'm sick. You can call Christy back and she can give you all the details...
Me: Oh no! Well, you've been with us this whole ride ... we need you to give us some of the information ... so give me just a little. (Not that we think Christy couldn't do it ... you just build a relationship with your case manager)
J: (laughing) OK, well, his name is 'A' and he is 4 months old. He is good size (can't remember actually what she said here .... "filled out" or something)
Me: That's awesome! OK, I think that's good ... thank you so much!
J: Your welcome. Do you want to know more?
Me: I think that will tie us over until I get home
J: OK, just give Christy a call and I should be able to talk to you tomorrow.
Me: Sounds great Julie ... thanks again ... go home, lie down, get some rest, and start feeling better!
J: (laughing) OK, I will.

So, I sat for a minute in surreal world. Here it is. It came. We have our boy. Unreal. I have no idea what he looks like but I love him. Already. Unconditionally.

I call Amber and play it all cool.

A: Hello
Me: Hey, what's going on?
A: Not much ... just got done eating lunch...
Me: Yeah, me too. (Then some filler talk that I can't remember.) Well, I wanted to let you know that I'm packing up because I just got off the phone with JULIE.
A: WHAT!?!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!?! (Well, I think that is what she said ... I have an appointment with the ear doctor tomorrow to see if there is permanent damage to my left ear ... just kidding)
Me: Yep. (I told her about Julie being sick so I found out a few things)
A: WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT? WHAT DID YOU FIND OUT?

So I told her his name and his birthdate and she was in love. We decided that we would call a few people while I drove home ... so she called her parents, her sis, her bro who is in Singapore for his job, and a few friends. I called my parents, sis, my great-aunt Ann ... I love Aunt Ann ... she is 91 and is so excited for our adoption. She has a great-granddaughter from Guatemala and just loves her :) ... I also texted Julie because she was so instrumental in our adoption. I believe from her multiple exclamation points, she was pretty excited for us.

OK, so I get off the interstate onto the ramp which is about 5 minutes from the house and the traffic completely stops on the offramp. We had some pretty good storms and wind here today and it apparently knocked out the first signal after getting off the interstate. It felt like FOREVER to get through that light to get home.

Finally got home, call AGCI, and do our conference call with Christy ... who was very sweet and has the same demeanor as Julie ... she gave us all "A's" info (good healthy boy) and said she'd be sending pics soon ... and that there were alot of them so there may be a couple emails.

The next 3 minutes took forever as well. We see the email coming through and because of it's size, we see it downloading more and more and finally it's done. I save the attachments, open the first one and we meet our boy's face for the first time. I don't know how to describe it ... there are no words ... as Tom Davis has written, it's like Jesus was manifested on our screen. I know the words "CUTE" "ADORABLE" "PERFECT" and "AWWWW" were used numerous times! We looked through the pics a dozen times or so and then got another email from Christy with more pics in it! We are blessed to have ~30 pics of our little guy!

He's pretty serious in most of the pictures ... there are a couple where he's got a little smirk on his face.

The rest of the day was spent emailing, calling friends/family, and just 'enjoying' being parents. We sat and praised GOD for HIS faithfulness in this journey ... in hearing our petitions and everyone who has prayed for us. We have such a loving GOD. It has made it 'real' to me that we are adopted into HIS family and the JOY HE has for us.

We emailed Christy back to take the next steps so she sent out the referral packet today and we should get it tomorrow. We also sent all his info to the Vanderbilt International Adoption Clinic and hope to hear from them soon!

We also went to Bible Study tonight and got to report the HUGE PRAISE.

So ... next steps ... for those in the adoption world, this is old news....

OK, we are NOT allowed to post pics of him until we get home with him. Sorry. We will have to fill out all the paperwork, get that mailed back in with the second half of the adoption fee. That packet will get sent to Ethiopia and we will get a court date scheduled. We're thinking this court date will be in 2-3 months. If we pass court (50/50 shot), we would travel in 3-4 weeks after that ... we think. Our prayer is that we get a quick court date and pass on the first try!

February 11, 2009 will never be forgotten. The day we first saw our son. We want to thank everyone that have left such sweet messages on the blog and facebook ... we are so blessed. We are forever thankful for every prayer given for us and our son. God has walked the journey with us (honestly, prolly carried us most of it) and has answered every one of those for our son.

Our son :) That'll take some time to sink in.

Amber taking a look at her sweet boy...

Me enjoying the pics over and over again...

Amber talking to her sister...