What a week this has been! Emotional, exciting, scary, wonderful. Surreal, to say the least. I’ve been walking around in a perpetual fog since Monday. I seem to have forgotten how to function normally. My mind and my heart are in Ethiopia.

Let’s see…”the call”. I’m at a loss for words, so bare with me. I was at work. My cell phone rang at 3:00 pm exactly. When I saw Toni’s name on the display, I knew. I actually had to let it ring a couple of times before I answered because I suddenly felt like I couldn’t talk. Have you ever felt an emotion so deeply that it just grabs ahold of your vocal cords and renders you mute? Well, that was me. I answered and Toni asked if it was a good time to talk. I think I grunted an affirmative. She then said let me get Owen on the line. I was about to tell her she’d have to call his work and have him pulled out of class, but she was way ahead of me. She had him on the other line! From that point on I remember very little of the conversation. I do remember Toni telling me “don’t cry” and me saying “but I can’t help it” as I sobbed uncontrollably. I remember bits and pieces. Me telling Owen to write everything down because I was shaking too badly to hold a pen…telling Toni that she could overnight his paperwork to our home because there was no way I’d be going to work the next day…Owen asking me if I was okay to drive home. Man, was I that bad? Probably. Definitely. I think I’ve been holding so much in over the last months that when we finally got the call, all that emotion came out all at once.

Owen and I had made a promise to each other that we would wait to open the email with his pictures together. We both raced home. I’ll never be able to describe what it was like seeing his little face for the first time. The first thing I saw were his eyes. A friend of ours said, “What beautiful eyes…deep, warm.” I’ve been staring at them ever since.

We received our acceptance paperwork from CHI the following day and sent them back yesterday. So, the ball is rolling. Unfortunately, referral to travel time has increased to 3 1/2 to 4 months. I don’t know how I’m going to wait that long. The waiting before was nothing compared to this now that I’ve seen his face. The good news is CHI will be sending updated photos every 4 - 6 weeks, so at least we’ll have that while we wait. In the meantime, I have lots to do. My desk is covered with lists and sticky notes. Did I ever mention that I’m one of those anal retentive, uber-organized people?

Tomorrow morning we’re meeting with our group of bloggy friends for brunch to share pictures and gush over our little ones. Michelle and Meredith leave for Vietnam in two weeks to pick up their little boy. Steve and Aimee have a court date in Ethiopia for their little girl on February 3. Angie and Joe’s court date for their little boy in Ethiopia is set for April 6.  Jennifer and Matt just received their referral for a little cutie in China (we’ll miss you tomorrow Jenn!). This group of ladies has been there since we started this whole process way back in the Vietnam days. They have been a huge support. I see many playdates in the very near future. We’re going to have the coolest multicultural playgroup ever!!