We got THE CALL!!!!

Let me start off by saying we have experienced God's plan for us in so many ways these past couple of weeks. As you all know, our last post wasn't the best of news, but we were still positive that we were getting closer to our child. It turns out we may be closer than we thought!!! Less than a week later (Wednesday Feb 4th), we received a call from Gladney asking us if we would be interested in a child that was out of the age range we had asked for (we originally requested a child no older than 18 months). This was not a call for a referral - just an "are you interested in changing your age range" call. The child they were asking us about was 2 years old - that is all they told us. After talking about it, we figured "sure. why not!". So, we told her yes we would extend our age range and she said she would let them know. On Friday Feb 6th at 3pm, Dennis gets a call from Gladney saying that they have a referral for us. I was actually on my way to his office to meet with him so he asked if we could call her back before she told him anything so we could hear it together. When I got to his office, we called Jennifer and she sent us an email with the referral for a 2 year old little boy. She discussed with us some of the things mentioned in the email and what the next steps are. They sent us about a dozen pictures, which we can't share right now, but we will as soon as we can - I PROMISE!! But, I will tell you he is ADORABLE - he has big blue eyes and light brown hair. So, what we have done so far is sent the pictures and the little bit of information they sent us (mainly his measurements) to a pediatrician out of Minnesota that was recommended to us by our agency and several others, who specializes in international adoptions. He has given us his feedback (as good as he can from a few pictures and a few pieces of information about him) and tomorrow we are talking with another pediatrician to get his evaluation, along with a social worker at Gladney. From there, we are going to let Gladney know that we are interested in traveling to meet this little guy and see how he is for ourselves. Once they tell the orphanage that we are interested in traveling, they will let us know when we can come. It could be in a week or a month from now - they will decide. So, once that is scheduled, we will go over for our first trip (7 days) and make our final decision from that trip. I can't tell you the emotional roller coaster we have been on the past few days - it's a miracle that all of this is happening so fast. We are feeling everything from excitement to being scared - but mostly excitement. We can't believe that we will soon be traveling to Russia to meet our referral. We know our lives will be changing in a dramatic way, especially because it has only been the 2 of us (and Maggie) for so long! The fact that it will soon be the 3 of us is AMAZING!!!!Once we got the referral, the first people we wanted to tell was our parents, so we made a special trip up to NOVA to tell them in person. It was priceless to see their reactions and just share that moment with them - it is something we will never forget. I think they are ready to be grandparents! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel and that God will give us the guidance we need to make the best decision possible and that this 2 year old little boy is as healthy as he can be. Even though we started this process in August 2007, we feel that this is the REAL beginning of our journey. We will keep you posted when we know our travel dates. Love ya'll!!!!