Our Referral!

Okay, I realize its a little past time for me to post. Honestly, I had not had time to catch up from Thanksgiving, work came too fast! I spent the weekend putting luggage away, etc. Also, my feet didn't touch the ground for a while. I'm not sure they still have and I'm still on cloud 9. We are beyond happy!

There have been a few moments in my life that were PERFECT, happily memorable, and/or just plain wonderful. Some of those: my first kiss, being baptized, graduating high school, meeting my husband for the first time, getting married, etc. It's interesting because with each of these what I envisioned was entirely different than what came to play out. Still, these times stand out and they are the memories that I never want to forget. Speaking of which, our referral day was nothing as I had pictured but it is now included on my list and encompasses everything. It was amazingly wonderful! The first time we got to see our boys face! What could be greater?

David had joked with me one day that the reason our referral hadn't came yet was because I wasn't being patient. I laughed but was aggravated all the same time b/c I didn't think there was ANY way I was going to gain patience. Try as I might, it is a huge character flaw and I didn't know if I could honestly become patient. I tried several times and failed miserably. However, the week of our referral I just decided that it wasn't a big deal and it would come sometime in the future. I still checked to see where we were on the list but with far less frequency than before. I knew it would come when the time was right. The day of the referral I checked it right before leaving to go home and saw we were still second and figured "tomorrow, maybe". I guess David was right, b/c our referral came a day or two after my newly gained patience!

I went home that night and was exhausted. David, luckily, was home on vacation! Our cupboards were bare so I suggested that we go to Wal-Mart and get some much needed groceries b/c if not I would be going to bed at 4:30pm! I really hate going to Wal-Mart and so I figured it would be a good day to get it over with and it would certainly keep me awake! We were out of Clairitin so we figured we'd better hit that line first, before it became too busy. While David stood in-line I shopped for some other items we needed (well maybe not patient entirely). David made a weird face while he listened to a message on the phone. He is always missing messages and things so I wasn't too surprised. But then he had a serious look on his face. It scared me b/c he didn't say anything. He just was all serious and said Mary called. I thought he was meaning someone from church so I was trying to decode what he just said. I kept trying to ask questions and he said a couple of things and then handed me the phone. It was so strange b/c he really didn't say anything more. Just motioned to me to say something! About that same time the ppl. in front of us left and we were at the cash register. They had a big sign posted "NO CELL PHONES IN THIS AREA"! (Apparently it interferes with their equipment.) I heard a familiar voice on the phone say, "Chelsea, this is it!" I realized it was Mary with Gladney but really didn't believe that this WAS it. I really don't know what she said after that. I was in shock and the lady at the cash register started yelling at me to put the cell phone up. Dirty looks were flashed my way by other customers. I wasn't about to do that so I just stepped back. I could hear David trying to calm the lady and explain to her what was happening.

Mary was still talking, as I listened I realized she was trying to schedule a time to go over everything with us. She said something about another referral at 5:30PM, staying late, and what would be the best time for our referral. I was so surprised that I think I mentioned something that we needed to finish grocery shopping b/c we needed groceries, then I realized what I said and I agreed that 5:30PM would be workable and we were on the way. Mary was nice and re-assured me that the other family would be getting their referral at 5:30 so we couldn't get ours at that time :)! Then said how about 6PM? I said that would be great and didn't think to ask anything else, so Mary prompted and asked if there was anything we wanted to know about the baby. I didn't think she could discuss that before our "referral at 6PM" so I was really glad she asked! My first question "boy or girl"? Boy! We had been back and forth, during this process so much, on what we wanted and I was afraid when she said one or the other I would be disappointed. The minute she said boy I thought PERFECT! Then she told me his name and how old he is. The name was unique and fun. It has a great story behind it. I was so shocked when I heard his age. 2 months! Wow! We couldn't get much luckier! How perfect, we won't miss that much of our child's life! I knew how blessed we were and everything was even better than I imagined (minus being at Wal-Mart). I handed the phone back to David and it was my turn to check out. The lady at the register scanned my license while I appologized for being on the phone. The lady was nice and said that we could stay on it! It was funny.

The rest of the shopping trip was a blur. We started putting items in our cart. I was so excited I couldn't think. I really don't know what we came home with, grocery shopping after receiving such wonderful news isn't a great idea. I know there were a few things I saw I knew we needed. Other than that I don't know what we came home with! It really didn't matter, suddenly nothing else mattered. The lady was amazingly fast at checkout (as I am sure you well know, usually its forever of a wait) and we were on our way home planning how things would go to get ready for 6PM! We called a friend and asked to borrow her high speed connector. She was sweet and said she would bring it by. Then we got our digital camera out and called Mary. We were able to record the whole referral with our camera. She went over all of his information. We were trilled to have as much background information as was provided. It was sad but interesting. We couldn't see half of what she was talking about (b/c of dail up), although she had provided attachments, but we were able to pull up one of his pictures. He was/is BEAUTIFUL! David and I both ooohed over him and Mary was in agreement. Our friend came over with the high speed hook up and ooohed over him too! We didn't let Mary off the phone before we accepted our referral!!! We plugged in the high speed hook up and looked, stared, and marveled over our new baby boy. We put the pictures on a disk and went straight back to Wal-Mart to print out tons of pictures! We called everyone we could think of on our way to Wal-Mart and while in the store to tell our good news! We have the 5 pictures, 500 places around our house! Every time I see him I think I fall more in love with him. He is perfect!