Friday December 20th was like every other day. I had gone for a run on the treadmill that morning and then taken Leighton to preschool and then went to go get my hair cut. Clint didn’t get called to a sub job so he stayed home and continued the potty training adventure with Caedmon (which has totally taken off and he is a rock star!). I picked Leighton up from preschool and came home and we started getting everything around for lunch.
I had known that the director of the Korea program at our adoption agency had been out of town all week, and even though at the beginning of the week I had thought we might get a call, by Friday I had come to accept that it wasn’t going to happen. I knew that she was going to be back on Monday and I was hoping that maybe they would get a referral in then. I was literally mid sentence telling Clint my thoughts about all of this, when he cut me off and said, “I think your phone just rang”.
I usually don’t hear my phone ring. I have it set on “chimes” which is soft and lovely but usually means that i don’t hear it ring. Plus side is that it is never annoying to those around me…
Anyway I went over to pick up my phone and immediately saw that it was our adoption agency that had called. I started shaking and called them back. I was trying hard not to get my hopes up as the phone rang but hoping that maybe they were calling to tell us that they had a referral. I think I sounded calm and collected on the phone but was near tears and literally shaking. They were calling to tell us that they had received a file of a little boy! I talked on the phone with them for a few minutes and they told me some information about him and then said that they would email his file to us.
Somehow we got through the rest of lunch with the boys and played and ran around with them until it was time to put them down for nap. Clint and I then pulled up our chairs, spent some time praying for wisdom and direction and then sat down to review his file.
It didn’t take us long to know that he was the right little one for our family. The hardest part was knowing that we now had to wait until Monday to sign all the paper work and make it all official. We told the boys after nap time, Caedmon doesn’t really have a clue, but Leighton was super excited and both boys were sitting on my lap when we opened the attachment and saw his little face for the first time.
He is a cutie! Because the adoption is not yet finalized we are not allowed to post his picture on anything remotely public, so you will just have to trust my totally unbiased opinion that he is adorable.
We decided a number of months ago that we would give him the Old English name Edric, which means Blessed Guardian. We are going to keep his Korean name that was given to him by his birth mom, JoonSoo as his middle name. It means Excellent and Gifted. It is going to be a number of months before we can bring Edric JoonSoo home, but we know that he is in a very good foster home with a caring foster family. We will be getting semi-regular monthly updates and pictures and get to send him packages with other families that are traveling to pick up their little ones.
And so Merry Christmas! As we pause this week to celebrate a Savior born many years ago on a cold night in a stable in Bethlehem may your hearts be filled with the joy and peace that only He can bring.
Hiking Mommy 