It's a Boy!!!

Yup! We got a referral and are headed to Moscow in under 2 weeks to met our little guy!! He is 9 months old and has big dark brown eyes, brown hairs, and is absolutely adorable and perfect! We truly feel so blessed right now and honestly just can't believe how fast this is all moving now!! The last week has been a complete whirlwind for us and been completely crazy! Last Tuesday, exactly 8 days after being told we were "officially on the wait list" we got the call! It was so unexpected that we'd hear anything this soon! We were told that we should expect a referral by early 2012 so needless to say, when I woke up on October 18th, I definitely didn't think, "today is the day!"

Ironically, I was walking out of school, talking to a friend that is currently covering for a maternity leave. She was asking when I thought I'd be going out on adoption leave since her "job" was going to be up in mid January. I told her "Oh, I don't think that we'll be bringing our child home before late April early May.." and two minutes later, when I got in my car, I realized I had a missed call from the agency. Yet, still, I didn't think anything of it. Then I heard the message that said to call back when I could. Even though it was so early, and we were told only a week before that we had a few months still, I felt my heart pounding as I drove home. I called my husband and said, "I know you'll think I'm crazy but I think we are getting our referral today."
His response, "No. It's way to early." Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling, and as soon as I got home and we were together we called. Yup!! They had a referral for us and were overnighting us his dvd and medical record! I couldn't believe it!! I barely slept on Tuesday night and don't even know how I got through teaching Grammar, Reading, Writing, & Social Studies on Wednesday. I ran out of school like the building was on fire and rushed home to get our mail!!!

I can't even describe the feeling that came over me when I saw him for the first time. Talk about love at first sight!!! My husband and I were both just in awe of him and both of us instantly felt that he was in fact, our child! So, we then went back to the post office and overnighted his records to our international doctor at the Children's Hospital here in Boston, to double check that she had no concerns. We got the "all clear" from her on Friday and accepted the referral!!!We got our travel dates yesterday, booked our flights and hotels last night, and are leaving for Moscow on November 5th!! It's just so surreal!!! When we started this process last February we had no idea what this would feel like when it finally all became real! It's so amazing, and now I just pray that all works out and that we will in fact be adopting this little guy!!

I have to admit that although I'm so excited and am just bursting at the seams to get there and see him, and smell him, and hold him.. I'm also a bit scared. It's all really overwhelming too. Originally we were told last week that we would most likely be able to go to the baby home on Monday the 7th to meet our child. However, we found out yesterday that we won't be able to meet him until that Wednesday! Since our boy is still so young, our process is going to be a little bit different than others as we are going directly through the Ministry. On Monday morning we have an appt. with the ministry to present our case/documents ourselves in order to recieve an official referral. (Our coordinator will be there with us too!) Has anyone else had to do this? I'm sort of freaking out about it.

Anyway, after our appt. on Monday they said it will take a day or so to get an invitation to the baby home, so the earliest we'll go visit is Wed am.  While I know I should just be happy at how fast we got our referral and thankful at how perfect our boy is, I can't help but be a little sad that we aren't going to be able to spend the whole week with him! : (

So, for the next week we will keep busy with buying a few toys to bring over with us, making a photo album to leave with him, and packing for the COLD weather, and we'll be set to go!! Hope to post updates when we are there or right when we get back!!! Wish us luck!!