10 Years Ago (Beginning of Caleb's Adoption)

Ten years ago Tony and I lived in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Ten years ago we had a major snowstorm in Raleigh that closed down the city and we were stuck in our house.

Ten years ago we had dial-up Internet.

Ten years ago we were still waiting "for the call" that told us we were going to be parents through the miracle of adoption.

Ten years ago we learned of a small church where we met many wonderful people, some of whom helped us and supported us during our waiting and after Caleb's adoption.

Earlier today I was thinking back to how ten years ago from now (give or take a couple of days) we were at our house due to the snow storm and needing to do something on the internet (dial-up!).  It was a Friday night.  We were on for quite a while and when we got off I noticed that we had a voicemail.  I checked the message and it happened to be a counselor from our adoption agency in their California office wanting us to call her back.  However, by the time we got the message their office was already closed.  We had to wait the entire weekend, which for me seemed to drag on - especially after being cooped up due to the snow storm!

Then I had to wait the three hour time difference before I could even call them.  I did try to call our local office that morning but, of course, they had no idea what was going on.  So I still had to wait!

When I was finally able to get a hold of the counselor, she told me about a birthmother who was wanting to place her child for adoption, was due in eight weeks, just went through a match disruption and asked if we were interested.  I called Tony, explained everything to him and we said we were interested.  I was told by the counselor that the agency was going to send this birthmother via overnight service our profile and one other family's profile for her to choose from.  All we could at that point was wait!  (I really do NOT like waiting!!!)

The next day Tony and I both went to work and when we got home we went about our normal routine of dinner and relaxing!  Our phone rang and I answered it.  On the other end of the phone was a lady named Nova and she said that the had chosen us to be the parents of her unborn child.

We were ecstatic that it appeared our waiting was finally over.  There was so much we needed to do to get ready.  Thankfully we had a lot of clothes, a crib and baby stuff.  We told Nova that we would get in touch with the agency and would be making arrangements to fly out to meet her in a couple of weeks.

Less than two weeks later we flew out to Sacramento for a long weekend and had our "match" meeting with Nova and our adoption counselor.  Then we had to "wait" again for about six weeks!  (Do you remember how I said I do NOT like waiting?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

We visited the Capitol Building while in Sacramento on our "match" weekend!

There were many ups and downs during that six weeks, but we survived and have a precious son to show for it!!!!