I woke up this morning brimming with pure joy remembering November 9, 2010.
One year ago today Josh and I finally received the phone call we had been waiting for, bringing us good news of our first baby. At this time last year, we had been on the waiting list for six months, three weeks and four days. We hadn't listed a gender preference, only that we desired a baby.
The day of The Call, Josh was in Seattle at a preaching conference and I was at work, home for lunch when our Adoption Program Director called first. What ensued for the next nearly two hours was a lot of phone calls, dropped calls, missed calls and waiting...waiting...waiting to see our baby's face for the first time. Josh promptly left his conference after receiving the call from Dove that we had a three month old daughter, borrowing someone's car to head to Starbucks to use the wi-fi to open her pictures. It was a whirlwind afternoon. And then I had to go about the next day pretending my whole life hadn't changed as I waited for Josh to get home late that night. Brutal!
Above is a raw, unedited video of Josh and I sharing a screen and reading through our referral email, before finally seeing her photo for the very first time. It gets good at around 2:15, so please feel free to skip the random, scattered beginning. Disclaimer: the audio is wonky and we weren't at all in a "Let's make an epic video" mindset, we simply knew we would want to re-live this experience again and again, and eventually show Mercy what it was like for old Mom and Dad when we heard the news we'd been matched with her.
Below is the very first picture of our daughter that I ever saw. I fell in love instantly. Click on the following links to see my blog post announcing our referral and the video I made while I was waiting for Josh to get to his computer.
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| Mercy's referral picture (actually taken Sept. 28 2010). |
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| Mercy on Thanksgiving Day 2010. It just so happened our dear friends were headed to Ethiopia to bring home their twin girls right after we received our referral. They had the joy of visiting Mercy, praying for her, holding her and getting her hand prints for us. Such a gift! |
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| Only days after our friends sent us their photos of Mercy, we received another update from our agency. Although we were sent two new pictures each month (December, January and February), this one is our absolute favorite. Mercy is nearly four months old in this photo. |
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| Mercy Michael Fikir Mann sweet as can be at fifteen months. |
Three months after receiving our referral we were packing the last of our bags, bound for Ethiopia to meet Mercy, attend our court appointment, bring Mercy into our arms forever, and finalize the adoption through the U.S. Embassy in Addis Aabba. Five months after receiving our referral we were home at last with our first baby girl. It's been nine months since Mercy became a Mann. But today we celebrate our Referral. What a gift this year has been to us. We are thankful. Our family will celebrate always November 9.
6 comments:
One of those reasons I love technology!!! To capture, literally, the joy of the moment and bottle it up to see and re-live again and again. A precious, private moment of celebration. Thanks for sharing it with us!! I'm smiling nearly as big now watching and seeing your growing girl, as much as did a year ago... Sweet Mercy Bear --- you are loved!!! Happy Referralversary!! What a great word!!! What a great fam!!! Hugs to ya'll!!!
Ah! She is SO big!! Slow down, sweet Mercy, slow down!!
Sometimes when we're living life, we don't see what others see from the outside... and what I see is God's hand smoothly and lovingly guiding your family and leading you to a life filled with His joy and goodness. I see Mercy as a specific and divine plan He had for her and for you. I see this new baby in your tummy as the same! It's so amazing to watch God work in other lives because it helps me see the ways he is working in my own. Sometimes it's not exactly as we expect! Mercy is such a precious girl! I wish I could snuggle and kiss those cheeks!! You and Josh are so blessed!
I'll never forget that day either because it was while we were in Ethiopia...the day of our court date. What a beautiful day to remember! She looks exactly the same at 3 months as she does at 15 months...stunning and so sharp. :)
Oh my. I just laughed, smiled and cried through that entire video. What a huge moment. Bex, your expressions were priceless and your joy SO evident. Thank you for sharing such a precious moment! Here's to many, many more...referralversary or not! So much love to you guys!
This was the cutest thing! I was laughing with tears in my eyes - love seeing your first reaction to her!
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