referral part three -- face to face

Our referral happened on a Thursday, which is Refuge night. I drive to church and try really hard to wipe the smirk off my face. I think it only kinda worked. My friend, Jen, said she knew right away something was up. We went through the normal Refuge stuff. But at the end, the leader asked if there was anyone who wanted to testify ... and I ran to the front as soon as I could. I spoke about how special it was that our entire group had prayed for the formula crisis in Ethiopia and for our future child. I mentioned how thankful I was that God answers prayer. Then I spilled the beans. I wanted to share with the group my praise to God for answering that prayer -- yes! -- but mostly for just being a God who is ABLE to move mountains; a God who is INTERESTED in the deepest desires of our heart; a God who is KIND enough to bless us in seeing His will accomplished here on earth. A God who doesn't need our help by any means,  but who ENJOYS giving us a role and working His masterpiece around us. I spoke about being so glad to serve a God who LOVES us and is WORTHY of all praise, of all our WORSHIP, and who deserves to be RECOGNIZED because it is HE who works all things to GOOD in our lives. How extremely blessed am I to serve THAT God, to be loved by THAT God, and to be saved by THAT God. I can't wait to teach our son all about THAT God and His amazing plan for each of us. 

Those moments were so profound in our referral day. I was surrounded by friends. The girls in my small group rushed me with screams and squeals of congratulations and big big bear hugs. I will treasure those moments forever. 

It was nearing 9:30pm, and Misty -- as well as the others -- would be heading to my home soon. I drove home and straightened up a bit. After all, my mother in law was coming over! : ) Christina made it to my house before Misty, so I made her park at the neighbors and hide in the hallway right after we stopped jumping up and down and laughing. And more crying. 

Doorbell. 

Christina runs to hide in the hallway.

I open the door and let Misty in. 

me: Hey, how was your day.

M: Good, how was yours? 

(I can tell she is confused...hehehe, I'm smirking on the inside!)

me: I love your hair!! blah blah blah  What did you do today?

M: well, I went to work and then hung out with my family. It's pizza night. Blah blah. What about you?

me: Well, you know, I had a son today. 

M: WHAT?! (crying starts now) OH MY GOSH! (crying really going now) I can't believe it! I KNEW it! I told Joey before I left that something was up! I KNEW it! (Christina runs from the hallway and now we're all three jumping and screaming and crying) When I got here I thought to myself, "hey, where are all the cars? what's going on...?" But I knew something was up!

I was so proud of myself. I had totally forgotten to remove the nametag from Refuge that said, "Mommy". But she didn't even notice. She immediately started calling more people to tell them. I'm pretty sure she talks about our baby more than we do. 

Other family and friends start to pour in. I think we had about 15 family and friends around. Justin was home before I knew it...but we had to wait on his Dad for nearly 20 more minutes and that was torture for everyone. We were all so ready! When everyone finally showed up, Justin and I sat at the head of the table and looked at all our pictures first. We oohed and ahhhed and giggled at some of his expressions. Justin said, "there are a lot of naked ones" and I said, "well, that's how babies come!". We finished and someone (I think it might have been MeeMaw, Justin's mom) said, "Hey! Let us see now!" So we did. Everyone else oohed and ahhed and commented on his expressions. It was so sweet to watch their expressions as they gazed at our boy. So precious. Misty and Christina were crying. We had celebratory cake (thanks Christina!) and looked at him over and over picking our favorites. 

The night was settling down when my friend & neighbor came home and Christina and Misty ran outside to invite her in. She came in and thought we were just hanging out for cake. I randomly asked her if she'd like to see pictures of my son, and she stood really still, eyes bulging, and screamed! It was so fun to do that over and over again! 

I think everyone was about gone around midnight. It was such a perfect day and night. I couldn't have come up with something better if I had planned it. I mean, I wish I could have told more people in person, but there just isn't enough time in the day! I've run into several people since then who hadn't heard yet and the first words out of my mouth are not hi or hello, but instead, "We have a son!!!!" It still gets good reactions. I'm going to use this up as long as possible. 

We have a son!! 

Oh, and p.s. Happy One Month Birthday, Little One! - Love Mommy and Daddy.