REFERRAL!!! (long)

I have such good news to share!!  WE GOT A REFERRAL!!  It's such a crazy God story, but I will do my best to write it here...

Last Monday night, March 8th, I was coming home from a school board meeting at 10:15pm.  I called Mark to tell him I was on my way, and he shared that our social worker had called.  We have the absolute best social worker that calls to check up on us every now and then so I didn't think much of it until he said she had a sibling group to talk to us about!  WHAT?!  I was overwhelmed and didn't even know what to say.  Some background...  A lot of you know that we had asked and gone to committee for a sibling group in January/February and were not chosen for them.  At that point we had returned to our original request which was one child from age 0-3 years.  We had both relinquished any idea of siblings and were expecting a referral around May.  So, this phone call blew us out of the water!  God had different plans for us!  I emailed our social worker that night, but at this point we weren't sure if this was a real referral or if this was another waiting child process.  We were told we would get an email on Tuesday.

Tuesday, I was on a kindergarten field trip all day.  I tried to call our social worker about 3pm, but she wasn't available.  We still hadn't received any emails!!  About 4:30 our social worker called to see if we had gotten an email.  I told her no, and she said she would call me back.  She called back shortly to tell me, yes, it was a real referral, and that I would receive an email any minute!!!  Our family was considered for these girls because they knew our interest and because we had gone to committee for the sibling group that was very similar to this one.  Of course Mark was at work until 10pm that night, so our first glimse of our daughters was apart.  :( 

Because of our extreme differences in our expectations and our referral, it took us awhile to process through it all.  But last night 2 little girls became ours!!  They are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2 and so gorgeous!  I can't wait to hold them.  I can't post pictures here, but I can show them to you if I see you, and would share them with you via email.  :)

We're praying they will join our family by Christmas, and would cherish any of your prayers!  (Of course I hope it's sooner, but I'd rather be happily surprised than disappointed.)

So, there you have our crazy referral story!  It's not at all how I expected it to be, but I wouldn't change it for anything either.  Our referral verse is:

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  AMEN.