***** WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!!! *****

She is a beautiful baby girl about 6 months old! I am in complete shock. I was not expecting it to happen so soon. I spent the rest of the day yesterday after the call alternating between grinning and crying.

The agency wasn't able to get ahold of me, so they called John and told him at work, and then he called me. It took me about 5 minutes to believe it was true. Then we sat on the phone together repeatedly hitting the refresh button on our computers waiting for the email with all of her information and that long awaited picture. The first thing I thought when I saw her was, "Oh my God, she's beautiful!" and the second was, "Can I be instantly biased?" :) But my mom thinks she's beautiful, too, so it must be true. LOL

That is one of the most amazing parts of this: my mom was suppose to visit last October, but it had to be postponed, so she's visiting now. I am so, so happy that she got to be here when we got the news.

I wish I could give you all more details and post her picture, but the Ethiopian government prohibits any public posting of a child's image or information until she is legally adopted. If all goes well, the courts should rule us her legal parents in about 2 months. About a month after that we will travel to Ethiopia to meet our daughter and bring her home!

We could not be more excited!