details and "the call"

Ok, an apology first because I know you've all been waiting. So here goes. All the info you've been on the edge of your seat for. 

We have a son. 

His birth day was January 8, 2009.

As of today, he is three weeks and two days old. 

He weighed 6 lbs and 6 oz at one week, and was 18.8 inches long.

And yes, he's absolutely adorable. 

"The Call":

It was Thursday, and after a quiet morning, I was headed to the other side of town to visit with my grandparents at the nursing home. I'd been there around an hour when the phone rang. I tend to ignore most phone calls when I'm with them, but I checked it anyway. 

A friend. I'd call her back. 

We continue to visit and the phone rings again.

I see that it is Julie from All God's Children. 

I smile. 

I know what's coming. 

I answer.

me: Hi Julie...

J: Hi Nell Ann. How are you today?

me: Good, I'm visiting with my family. How are you today?

J: Oh, I'm good. Do you have a few minutes to talk?

me: Of course I do! (And I immediately start looking for a pen and paper.)

J: Well, good because there is a little boy that I wanted to talk with you about.

Commence the tears. 

I'm sitting very close to my grandmother's bed and whisper, "It's a boy - I have a son."

She smiles, and I can see the joy in her face as she shares this precious moment with me. I write down everything Julie says -- on the only paper I can find -- the Moving Up (used car) section of the Houston Chronicle. She pats my hand and shoulder as she smiles. My grandfather, who had been sitting on the other side of the room, looks up and realizes I am crying. "What's wrong", he asks, "What's the matter? Why is she crying?" He's kinda deaf and doesn't pay attention sometimes, so he had no clue what was happening. I hang up the phone and try to hold back the tears. (I then called Justin, but will save that for another post.)

I am convinced that I would have squealed and jumped up and down had I been anywhere else when I got the call, but this story is great. I told them all about my son, and that Julie would be sending pictures soon. Justin and I had planned to invite our families over for a big unveiling, but I knew my grandmother couldn't be there, so I waited for the email. Then, I very carefully opened it on my phone, and scrolled to the bottom of the text, showing my grandfather how to do it. I sat down in the corner of the room and watched their faces as my grandmother and grandfather looked through the pictures of their great-grandson. It was such a precious and sweet moment for me; to know that they could see him and already start to love him even if I couldn't yet. 

There's a lot more to tell about that day -- we're only at like 3:30 pm and the story goes until midnight. I'll post that later because I'm out of time for tonight. Enjoy this and more will come!!!

it happened today

i am a mommy. 

number one!

Sweet, sweet Kim received her referral today. A precious boy. 

That makes me

no. 6 siblings

no.6 girl

no.1 boy

Yes, you read that correctly. 

NUMBER ONE!!!

I already have the cutest stories of how people responded:

1. I called Justin's mom to tell her. She's super-excited about her first grandbaby, especially since she's the last to get one. Anyway, I called and this is what happened:

me: I have some news. We're number one.

JK: I already knew that.

me: wait, who told you?

JK: told me what?

me: we're number one! 

JK: I already know that.

me: no...we're...(cuts me off)

JK: OH! You're NUMBER ONE! On the list! Oh! OH!

It was so cute. She thought I was just reminding her that we are her favorites or something silly like that. I wish I had recorded it. Too cute! 

2. I posted on facebook that we were number one. I answered the phone when Christina called to straight up screaming. It was hilarious. 

3. When I told one friend, this is what I heard, "SHUT UP! ONE? SHUT UP!"

It's been really fun around here! 

Also, for those of you who would like to be notified as soon as we get the call, you can post a comment with your email address and we'll send you a little shout out when we get the call...you know, since it could be anyday!

it's just me

Our official numbers for January 2009 are as follows:

girl: 12

boy: 8

sibling: 10

Unofficially, (of course) we know that we are #2 on the boy list, #8 on the girl list, and #7 on the sibling list. And you know what? I'm pretty much, totally ok with that. 

I'm not going to lie. Last week while all the referrals were flying out I was pretty close to "crazy". I let that tiny thought creep in that it was my turn! A year in the making and it was finally my turn! 

But it wasn't. And that's ok. Our fingerprint issues are still not settled. There is no nursery. In fact, there is no anything for a baby other than a couple pair of footy pajamas. It's not our time. The Lord has been so good to pace our excitement --and anxiety-- level, and to give us a peace beyond understanding. I mean, I am so ready for our baby. I am so ready to paint the nursery, and put together the furniture, and settle on a name and for crying out loud, see a picture of our baby! 

But it's not so overwhelming or overpowering that I can't stand this a little bit longer. I'm trying to really relax and appreciate all this time when it's just me. And just us. 

Because once we see that face, it will never be the same. 

one more left

More referrals today. More beautiful babies finding their way into the hearts of families waiting. 

There is only one more referral to be made before it's my turn...

y-i-k-e-s!

Kim is sitting at number one.

I am sitting at number two.

In all seriousness, I ask that you would go to the Father for us. We have still not heard back about Justin's fingerprints and we do not yet have our FDL. In short, without this really important piece of paper, we don't have permission to adopt. So I beg of you to please boldly pray for a miracle that the fingerprints would be accepted and we would quickly receive our paperwork. 

For fun, I thought we could make some guesses about when we'll get a referral. Now, it's pretty obvious that it will most likely be a boy. I know, there are those of you who knew that from the beginning. Anyway. Let's take a poll...

When will Baby Galindo be announced?

There's some generic guesses on the sidebar on the right, or you can place a real guess in the comment section. If you win, we'll work out some kind of prize (something from etsy, bragging rights, first to hold the baby, whatever!) and if you don't, it will still be fun to play along. And I'll end up with a baby! Fun!! Start guessing!

holy toledo batman!

There were three referrals today. One baby boy and two tiny girls, all less than eight weeks old. I am absolutely delighted. 

I am also absolutely blown away that my new unofficial numbers are estimated at:

girl: 9

boy: 3

How about that? How about that in-deed!

I am certainly hoping there is at least one more call for dear Renee tomorrow. 

On the other hand, I am still in pain from my broken toe. Who knew such a little toe could be such a big pain?

asking for prayers

Hi all, I come asking prayers!

We have friends who have a court date tomorrow and we're praying for a speedy, positive outcome. Join us in praying for that. 

Also, Justin is having his fingerprints done again at noon 12/30.  Please pray that these go well and are accepted (miraculously like our homestudy prints) so that we can accept a referral. Without these prints, we won't receive our FDL (important piece of paper that says we can adopt a non-citizen & bring them back to the U.S.) and our agency won't be able to give us a referral until that is done. 

Please pray that the technician be skilled and know how to get the best prints possible off Justin.

Please pray that Justin be patient and have God's peace about this process. This can be so frustrating.

Please pray for quick processing of these last documents so that we'll be ready to accept a referral as soon as one is ready for us! 

Thank you for praying with us; it blesses our family and allows you to play an important role in the making of our family!

Welcome Family and Friends!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to our blog. We keep this pretty up-to-date with all adoption info...and anything else that interests us. Check out all the links on our sidebars for more information on our agency, All God's Children International, our home study agency, Family 2 Family Adoptions, or any of the other adoption blogs listed alphabetically. These are other families in various parts of the Ethiopian adoption process that we communicate with regularly. 

In our next few posts, we'll try to answer some common questions we receive and also add some facts about adoption, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, or our journey thus far. If you have some questions you'd like to ask, simply click on the comment section and leave one. We'll be sure to answer them all. 

Please feel free to check out our archives and older posts, laugh at the stories and pictures, and absorb all the info. Thanks for stopping by, we're so glad you came!

interesting things

1. I had a dream last night where Julie (our case worker) called to tell me that our new official number was 1/2. I kept asking her, "What does that mean? How can our number be one half? That's only a fraction!?!" And she just kept repeating herself over and over. Weird. Maybe it's a hint that I'm half way through the wait for my referral. 

(There are rumors around that I may be unofficially #5 on the boys list...but I'm choosing to ignore that. Better to stick with officialness if you ask me.)

2. It snowed in Houston. It's crazy, I know. Yesterday it was 75 degrees and today it snowed. For hours. Real snow. It even stuck to stuff. Amazing. 

3. The etsy site it actually up and running. I've even had a purchase already. Amazing! New items will be added soon. And I can make different versions of anything you see on there in other colors or themes.  I also went ahead and designated the sale of all Africa items to go directly to orphan care. 15% of all other purchases go to orphan care as well. Check it out. If you'd like. No pressure. : )

woo hoo!!

It's in! Our new numbers are in!! Let's review, shall we?

October:

girl: 25

boy: 15

sibling: 9

November:

girl: 19

boy: 11

sibling: 9

And now, for December:

girl: 15

boy: 8

sibling: 10

Holy Smokes, Batman! Single Digits! Yay! 

Sidenote: we received our info at 4:45 pm (CST) on Friday, so we have the most up to date numbers after some officially accepted referrals. So, other bloggers, adjust off us! 

Also, I do realize that our sibling number went up. Another family in the program ahead of us changed their homestudy to accept twins, so they ended up in the siblings list ahead of us. I've been assured that it is still very highly unlikely that we would end up with siblings because they aren't referring many of them lately. And that's fine. Just keep those referrals coming!

Plus, there were several referrals that went out this week so I know that unofficially, we are even lower on the girl's list for sure. Yay!