The BIG day....

On March 25th we went to meet with Stephanie. She reminded me not to get discouraged. She said..."Laura, it has only been 2 months." She gave us some options as we knew with adopting from Korea we would only be able to get a child with special needs. The children we had seen were sad situations and I felt discouraged because ultimatly I want to be a mom.

Quick back up....a week before on March 19th I had the ultimate breakdown. Poor Stephanie was at a conference and called to talk to me about a waiting child and I began the ugly cry. She was so helpful and sweet, but I continued to cry. This was at 1:45. At 3:00 I was still crying. I sat behind my cubbies at work as all of my kids had already left before any of this developed. I got myself under control and in came Ashley and Traci. They obviously could tell I was upset and we began to talk. Rachel joined us and they just listened and encouraged me. I don't know what I would do without my friends that has been so willing to travel this journey day by day with us. At the end of our conversation, Traci asked if we could pray together. With Ashley and Traci both holding on to me and Rachel sitting at my feet Traci prayed (through her tears) for hope and peace within and for God to bring us a child. We left that Thursday afternoon and from then on I felt peace. I was ready for the wait! I had finally given my control over to God....something I have struggled with this entire journey. For those who know me...unfortunately I am a control freak and this is way beyond me.

Back to March 25th. We left our meeting saying that we were not interested in the other options and that we were prepared to wait for our Korean child no matter how long that may take. John and I left our 2 hour meeting with Steph and went to eat luch at Otter's. We headed home and crashed on the couch. My cell phone rang about 2:45. I told John...'leave it, I will call them back in a bit.' (we were practically asleep) I then got a text. I said the same thing, 'leave it.' Finally, the house phone rang and it was Stephanie saying, "where have you been?" "Do you want a girl?" I think I screamed and said YES!!! She immediately emailed us her referral and a couple of pictures. I was in love. It didn't matter what the referral said, I knew she was my daughter the minute I laid eyes on her. I was in shock that it was a GIRL as we were told that we would only receive a boy the first time.