October 2, 2003; The Call

It was October 2nd, 2003. We had been reading on the "rumor mill" of the December Dragon's yahoo group that the call was to come on October 1st. Well, we never got the call. By the end of the day of October 2nd, I was more than disappointed. Driving home alone from the dentist office at 6:15 (with cell phone on my lap where it had been all day), I was in the middle of having a "pity party", complete with kleenex and some sappy country music on the radio when the phone rang. As I looked at the number, I realized it was Curt. I picked up the phone and whimpered into the phone, "Can you believe we did not get The Call again!" He replied, "Well, that is why I am calling. I did just get the call." I of course let him have a small lecture on what is appropriate to joke about and what not to joke about. "I'm not kidding," he yelled, " We have a daughter!" I felt myself choking up, "WHAT!!" He continued, "Since our agency is 2 hours behind us, it is only past 4:15 there. Listen, our daughter is 11-months old and her birthday is on November 18th, 2002 (this was much younger than we expected as we requested a slightly older child). She is from the Jiangxi Province, city of Yichun. Her name is Yi Hong Meng, which means "Vast Dream". And, she is wearing a cute little blue dress in her photo." Of course, I heard almost nothing after "we have a daughter". Thankfully, I was only 3 miles from home, tears streaming down my face and just speechless the whole way. Of course, I got my voice back when I came into the house and made Curt go over the entire call over and over. And then came question after question; did you ask about travel, what does she look like, what is her personality like, is she in the SWI, or in foster care, what does she like to eat, etc. etc. ??? Well, Curt forgot the whole list of questions that I prepared ahead of time and set on the counter for easy access. It is just when that call comes, it is soooo overwhelming, even when you get it from your husband, so it was hard to be too upset:) We of course, called all the older children, grand parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. So today, 4 years ago, was the day we rejoiced about "the wait" being over, at my becoming a mother for the 6th time around, at Curt becoming a father, about parenting a child together for the first time, about our older children welcoming a new sibling, etc. etc. etc. It was a wonderful day of thanksgiving and celebration. But then we had to wait again for 2 whole days (and I swear all the waiting is worse than labor) to see the first picture of our sweet daughter wearing that cute little blue dress.............