On this day in our family history

What a year!  It was last year on this day (March 25th - a Thursday in 2010) that we received our referral for Dude.  Pretty cool!  Super Lu has written a bit about it on her blog in case you haven't read it.

It was 11:43am when our phone rang (yes, I actually remember).  I was home that morning trying to work on a correspondence class I was taking.  Previously I had put a note by the phone with our case worker's number and had recently signed up for call display - the number didn't quite match, so I didn't think too much of it.  Turns out our case worker was sick that day... and BAM!  We have a referral!!!  I walked around the house for about 30 seconds in a bit of a daze before falling to my knees.  It was another moment that will be etched in my brain forever....  And I know it will sound weird to you, but all I could think of was the last verse of the hymn 'All Creatures of our God and King' and Psalm 8 ('What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?').

In a cool turn of events during the call, I mentioned that my wife was away at some training and the case worker 'happened' to have a wife who was in the exact same training as my wife (2.5 hrs away) and had an office & phone at the facility.  So that's how I was able to get in touch with her about our news!  She had to frantically track down someone that would actually let her use their computer so that she could see pictures & read about him - and for some reason, some of the computers couldn't get into her email account, so I think minutes felt like hours for her!

Hearing the news!!!!

After waiting for the kids to finish school & daycare, it was time to tell them!  I grabbed them some fast food and raced home to call Candra (now in her hotel room waiting for us to call).  I got each of the kids on the phone with her and while she told them our news, I handed them each a picture of Dude.  It was quite a moment!  Spark-plug began sleeping with that picture immediately until we returned home with him.  Sparkles and Mario were ecstatic and took his picture everywhere to tell people about him.

On a gross note: It was a few hours later before I realized I hadn't eaten (lunch or the supper I had bought).  I looked at my cold Filet-O-Fish sitting on the table.... and yes, ate it.... quickly.  Most people make fun of me for liking them, but there's something about the tartar sauce that keeps me coming back.  More than the fish, that's for sure!  Anyways...  Then friends started arriving as I was calling other extended family members!

I had to wait over 2 more days before Super Lu got home to celebrate with her in person (and officially sign the acceptance document) - and even then it was crazy because of a couple birthday parties the next day.  But we'll talk more about that in my next post!

What a day!
I.B.