Two weeks today we received the ever-so-sought-after phone call. This is the phone call that adoptive families wait for, and for us, it was over 7 years that we waited for that call. Our paperwork had been logged in or registered in China since 11-27-06, 88 months.
We had been corresponding with our agency in Texas more frequently since the first of February and by the 18th they told us we should anticipate THE CALL by the end of the month. This was the call to reveal the gender, age, location, and name of our child. So the last week of February and until March 11th, we were on high alert. Our phones were with us constantly and the volume turned up, they went to the bathroom with us, lay on the table while we ate and were carried in pockets, transported in cup holders in our cars and placed on desks in plain site. This level of watching and waiting produced some significant symptoms of anxiety and some psychosomatic symptoms as well, ie, disturbed sleep and gastro-intestinal junk, chest pain and concentration issues.
We had a little reprieve on Friday evening the 28th and then a week later on the 7th knowing we wouldn’t receive a call over the weekend . So we waited it out and we kept ourselves busy until Monday. We were told a couple times by the agency that we “might” hear by Monday or Tuesday but maybe not until Thursday or Friday. So you see, each day took on a whole new level of anxiety.
Finally the day came, but we didn’t know it would be “the day”. In days prior I would often get up and make a blog entry or comment or two on face book so we’d have some documentation. But honestly when Tuesday the 11th of March came around I had doubts the previous night that our adoption would even happen. Sorry to say my friends, my faith was wearing thin, not because I didn’t trust God, I was so worn down emotionally that I was starting to build the wall back, as I'd let my guard down for two weeks.
So, anyway, . . . Tuesday was really warm and anticipated to be one of the first warm days in the 70’s. We were picking my Mom up after work and taking her out for a belated birthday celebration. We had bought tickets to see Shen Yun Performing arts. However; Mom was getting ready to get the most surprising birthday present ever! We went to work like any other day the past few weeks but maybe with a little less anxiety and just trying to be “normal”. I had carried my phone with me all morning but no call. I had returned to my office and left my phone and went to the restroom and grabbed some lunch in the hospital cafeteria. Country fried steak and gravy, potatoes and lima beans! I love lima beans! I had debated taking my phone but left it in my desk. I came back to the office with my lunch and was rambling on about how gravy was all over my lunch including the bottom of the container, my lima beans, and my sweater sleeve. Literally “up to my elbows” in gravy. Then my co-worker gently said, “you’re phone just rang, just a couple minutes ago”. I picked it up and recognized the number. It was our agency and the number said “Austin, TX”. So I got my drink and borrowed a tissue from my coworker (mine were covered in gravy) and she told me to take my drink. Good thinking. I headed to the lobby and saw it was a voicemail. I could barely hear it and realized I didn’t have it on speaker, I was yelling at the phone, “I cant hear you”. I pushed speaker in time to hear, “ I didn’t get you on the phone so I didn’t call Larry but she is 25 months old and she’s soooooo cute.” The rest of the message said for us to call her. I tried to call Larry and the call failed 5 times as he was trying to respond to an e-mail from our agency that she had left moments after the message she left for me. So I texted Larry, then I called him. He was trying to call the agency again. I finally got him- he hadn’t got my text or talk to anyone at the agency. So I told him we have a girl and she’s 25 months old. We cried and praised God and then said we’d try to conference with the agency. I called back and left a message saying we were both available and would call back by 1:00 if we hadn’t heard from her. All this started at 12:15.
I tried to return to eating but was shaking and ready to burst with excitement. I waited 10 minutes and called back- she conferenced Larry and told us we have a beautiful Little Girl from Shaanxi China. She's 25 months and her name is Wei, He Mei and she is living in the Weinan Children’s Welfare Institute. I had this lovely print out of “the call” questions and didn't want to write on my nice neat sheet so I was scrounging for a scrap of something to write on and wrote the name down wrong and misspelled a lot of other things and really have a very illegible piece of paper for our scrapbook.
We got off the phone with the agency and called each other back. We made arrangements to run home and meet each other so we could open the agency e-mail together and get the info again. I was on cloud nine, I remember thinking all the way home, “her name is He-Man” (obviously I was so excited I didn’t write it down correctly). And obviously this wasn’t the only think I thought about on the way home. Could she talk? Was she petite or stout? Was she light or dark complected? Would she like us? Oh, no, she hasn’t been anticipating us like we’ve been anticipating her. What if she’s mad because we take her from China. Oh my the joy and the unknowns!
I got home and Larry was showered and ready. We just stood and held each other and sobbed and laughed and praised God. We set up the computer and videoed ourselves opening the e-mail. We were a little clumsy and our minds would not allow us to think real clearly, we even had trouble opening the e-mail! Something we do multiple times a day.
After the e-mail we were off to tell the parents and family we could find. More on that later. I know this was a very long entry, and not terribly exciting for you . There is no way to capture the emotion we felt and the relief we had knowing she was ours and this day was finally here. We were overjoyed and I was speechless for the most part. I just cried and we laughed a lot and praised God some more. And this went on pretty much for hours and into the night.
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