Referral Time!!!

Months passed as we completed tons of paperwork and of course, waited.

 

On August 23, 2012 we finally got our referral!!!  We were walking on the clouds with joy!  After waiting for so long, we finally got matched!  We could not wait to find out more about our precious baby!  We received the expected call from CCAI on August 24, 2012 (Friday). A friend of mine told me I should tape the call which I thought was a great idea.  I’m so grateful that I did this.   

Joel and I were at work at the time of the call.  We met in one of the nearby offices so that we could be together when we heard the news.  We waited for what seemed to be an eternity.  We finally got the call at 12:10 PM.  We were so excited that we could hardly communicate.  Luckily, I typed a bunch of questions up prior to the phone call.  The CCAI representative, Julie, introduced herself.  She was very nice, patient, and understanding with us.

Julie went on to tell us that we have a gorgeous daughter named Yue (last name) Li (first) Le (middle).  The translation of her name means beautiful.  She is from Yugon City in the Province of Jiangxi, China. Her birthday is 11/12/11 and she is nine months old and healthy.  I remember thinking about how special this is considering my birthday is 11/21.  Julie advised us that baby girl was found on her birthday outside a public  hospital door.  Her mother left a note with her.  She weighed around 13 pounds and around 20 inches. She also advised that our baby’s favorite thing to do is play outside and she adores music.    Julie mentioned that they received fifteen matches from seven different orphanages. 

I was writing down statistics profusely when all of a sudden Joel said, “Look at the computer!!” I was aware that Joel was fumbling around with his laptop and trying to write down information, but I was more focused on trying to write down statistics myself.   I looked up and saw baby girl’s sweet face for the first time! Tears immediately started flowing down my face!  At that point, I realized why she emailed baby girl’s picture last.  We could hardly speak we were so choked up. Joel's face filled with love and happiness.  If Julie would have shown us her picture first, we would not have been able to listen or write any statistics down!   I managed to get out, "she's beautiful!!"   Joel asked a few more questions that Julie happily answered. 

 

Julie indicated that we would be getting a package from them (CCAI) the next day that would include additional pictures, more statistics, and a letter of acceptance. We were so excited for this package to arrive.  We couldn’t wait to get home so that we could share the news with Brittany and Justin.  They were overjoyed and full of delight! They could not believe that they were finally getting to see a picture of their little sister! We decided that evening our daughter’s name would be Gianna Grace Li Mangas!!!!