"THE CALL"

Here's our story about "The Call."

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, Referral Day
I was anxious to hear about the cutoff date after reading on RQ the day before that February 9th might be inlcuded in this referral batch. Rick gets to his office much earlier than I do, so I'd asked him to check RQ and then my emails to see if there were any updates or if we'd heard from CHI, our agency. I was expecting to hear from CHI first thing via email saying that referrals had arrived in their office. But we didn't. It was agony. RQ had updated her site giving the 9th rumor an R5, which is as close to fact as you can get without hearing from the main source itself. I was feeling so excited I could burst.

When I got to the office, I told Jim (our Pastor and friend) that I'd be on the internet a lot looking for any news I could find. After about 35 minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer and emailed Rebecca, our Social Worker, to see if their was any news. When she didn't respond quickly, I got flustered. Yes, in my excitement and anticipation I didn't think about the time zone difference - ha! Their offices weren't even open yet. But by the time she did respond, two other countries had confirmed the 9th as the cutoff. However, her email said the internal box for the CCAA had not changed and they were checking into whether or not referrals had been mailed and what the cutoff might be. What?!? This was so hard to read.

Around 11:30 am, Jim needed to pass a phone tree for prayer requests, which means we have to log off the internet (yep, we still have dial-up at the church). My response ... "You're killing me!" So I left a little after noon and headed home to log onto the internet there. I'd read a comment on our blog from another blogger friend, Laura, that we probably wouldn't hear anything from CHI until we got "The Call." Good grief! Then another email saying we'd probably just get "The Call." Good grief again! And then it slowly began to sink in...today was the day. Today could very possibly be the day we'd finally get that long awaited phone call introducing us to our daughter. So, before heading back to the office, I rummaged through some papers to pull out "The Call" sheet to record our precious first tidbits about Malia ... still guarding my heart just in case.

So back to the office I went, after taking an extra long lunch at home to surf for news. When I get back to the office the phone tree was still going and there were two messages on the machine. The first at 1:38 pm - a hang up. The second at 1:50 pm - I'd just missed it - and it was from Rebecca from CHI!! Good grief once again ... I'd missed my first "The Call" moment! I just knew it! I called Rick on his cell phone and had to leave a message, "Call me back as soon as you can." And after taking a few deep breaths and sending up a little prayer, I called Rebecca back at 2:10 pm and ... had to leave a message! Good grief, where was everyone?!

So I begin to pace between my office and Susie's office to check on the phone tree status. It had to be done before I could log back onto the internet. I sit, I pace, I take deep breaths ... Finally, at 2:21 pm, the phone rings and I receive the phone call that I'd waited over three years for. "I called to tell you congratulations. You have a daughter." My response was a teary one, "Praise God! Thank you." For seven minutes, Rebecca told me pieces of info about Malia. I had to have her repeat several things. I still ended up mis-hearing the last name and orphanage. I thought the last name was Chuang (instead of Zhuang)and the orphanage SWI of Wiseng County (instead of Yifeng). Imagine my disappointment in myself when I saw her paperwork and realized my mistake. Bad momma!

After I hung up with Rebecca, I called Rick and ... had to leave another message! So I continued to call his cell phone, hang up, call back, hang up, call back, hang up. I figured even if he was in a meeting he'd realize something important was up. I finally decided to leave a message, "Call me back right away." Then, after several more attempts, I left another message, "Okay, I'm going to stop calling you, but you have to call me back so I can introduce you to your daughter." And then I waited ... 15 MINUTES!!! I couldn't take it any longer so I called him back again and this time he answered. "Where have you been?" I asked with frustration. His response? "I accidently left my phone in the car after lunch and I'm just now getting it. I'm sorry." Again I say, good grief! And finally at 2:47 pm, Rick heard the first details about his daughter.

After a few more phone calls to my Mom, Tonya and the school to inform them of Spencer's absence the next day, I headed home so I could tell Spencer in person as soon as possible. I was pulling into the drive when he called my cell phone (an after school ritual). "Hey, where are you?" "I'm pulling in the drive. Let me get inside and I'll tell you about your sister." "You got a call?!?!" He was so excited. I'd told him first thing this morning that I'd call the school to leave a message for him and let him know what I found out about the cutoff. Little did we all know that we'd get "The Call" instead!

This day was an utterly emotional day. From anxiousness and anticipation to utter joy and elation to feelings so overwhelming there are no words for them. Tears came without warning and thoughts of my precious 8 month old Malia swarmed in my head. Still no face, but even more real to me than when I'd awakened this morning. We had a name! A birthdate! A location of where she was right this moment!

As we united as a family on this evening there was such a peaceful joy. We were content to wait overnight for the "brown stork's" arrival with Malia's picture. Our referral was here. Finally.

(I record all this for future reference of these precious moments ... yet another step of this precious journey to our daughter.)