Memories

I was emailing a friend today about the wait for referral and how hard that can be. I was wanting to encourage her. (Hang in there L...we're all waiting for that news!)

It was this time last year that our referral came.

I remember on Good Friday 2006, sitting in our living room so depressed and miserable. I thought our referral would never come. We had heard from our agency only that week that referrals were slow, that the wait for siblings under 2 would be probably a year or so.

I asked Dave if we had made a mistake. I didn't really mean that, but I was despondent and depressed. Were we crazy? Could I wait for a year?We went to church on Easter Sunday, good service, great reflective time. A friend came to me and tried to encourage me..."your referral could come tomorrow, you never know" she said. I gritted my teeth..."maybe, don't think so, but thanks" I muttered.

On Easter Monday I got up, got my cup of tea, checked my emails and saw an email from CAFAC (Agency)

I thought it was a country update and clicked on it to read,"This is the email that you have been waiting for since your dossier went to Ethiopia"

I thought, "How weird, I haven't been waiting that long for a country update?" I read on,"You have been matched and your referral papers are on their way to your provincial agency. You should hear from them in the next few days" I have to say, I must have read that sentence ten times before it slowly dawned on me that our referral was here. (Hey, I never claimed to be a genius!)

I remember starting to hyper ventilate and running to the bottom of the stairs screaming for Dave. Dave came tearing downstairs because he honestly thought there was a fire or a serious emergency. All he saw was me standing with tears pouring down my face and my hand over my mouth.

"What! What!" he shouted. "Our referral" and I pointed to the computer...

We got our phone call from our Provincial agency the very next day. I remember my social worker saying "Good morning Lesley.Congratulations! We have a referral for you"

She sent the package over and Dave and I sat holding hands waiting to see the details of our new children, to see their faces for the VERY FIRST TIME. Here are those pictures.(It makes me sad to see Ayana looking so scared and miserable :( )

A little girl, Kalkidan (her Ethiopian name, 17 months old) and her baby brother Ermias (his Ethiopian name, 3 months old)

Joy. Tears. Hugs. Joy. Tears.

Can words really describe that moment, that very first glimpse of your child? From despair to complete utter bliss in a matter of a few days.

We got updated pictures 6 weeks later after a group came back.

Here they are after 6 weeks of food and care in the foster home.

We scrutinised these pictures and others that were sent during our wait to travel. We knew every mm of their beautiful faces. We loved them without ever holding them. We couldn't wait to kiss them, stroke their little cheeks, hold onto them very tightly. We adored them.

So, this Easter as I remember our Easter last year, I want to encourage all those waiting, waiting, waiting for your referral. It will happen and when it does, that glorious moment of seeing their face(s) for the first time will be worth the wait. I promise you that.