On this day exactly one year ago I received a surprising (yet wonderful!) phone call. Around 11:30am the phone rang and it was the Admin from the Bethany headquarters office in Grand Rapids. I was expecting her to tell me that there was some additional paperwork that needed to be completed, but instead she told me that she had our REFERRAL!!! After waiting only 2 months after our paperwork was completed, we had a son!!! While on the phone with her, she mentioned that travel could be soon, but she needed to get some additional information before telling us to go ahead with making travel plans. She was going to e-mail us a file including medical information and pictures immediately. I called Mike at work, and he didn’t answer his office phone….so I had him paged! He was in the middle of a meeting, but busted on out of the office to come home to see our little guy! The 15 minutes it took him to get home felt like hours, since I knew I had pictures waiting in my e-mail. But with every ounce of self-control I could muster, I waited until Mike got home and him and I and Marina all looked at our sweet Oleg together for the first time. He was sweet, so innocent looking and we wanted him home! We accepted his referral the very next day after having his information evaluated by an International Adoption specialist. It was then that we were told to prepare for travel on Christmas Eve! WHAT??????? That was just 4 days away, we needed to get our visas, travel arrangements, rearrange our Christmas arrangements, pack, etc. And the thought of leaving Marina on Christmas Eve just about broke me! Needless to say it didn’t work out that way and on January 7th we boarded plane after plane after plane to end up in Siberia!
It is on days like today that I get caught up in the emotions of how our family came to be. I remember vividly the excitement and disbelief I felt when I heard that we had a son! I remember the way Marina stared at me as I was screaming and crying after hanging up the phone! I remember the way she danced around the room with me celebrating that she was going to have a little brother. There is nothing more to say except that God is truly amazing!!
Thanks for reminiscing with me today! God is SO good!!!
Then.....this was the very first picture we saw of Oleg one year ago today
And now....our precious little Alexander Oleg one year later! :O)
Then.....this was the very first picture we saw of Oleg one year ago today
And now....our precious little Alexander Oleg one year later! :O)
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