REFERRAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was the day!!! God has blessed us tremendously today! Our hearts are overjoyed and we are absolutely grateful for God's timing for our baby Easton. 1 James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." This is surely our scripture to cling to as we praise the Lord for Easton!!!

So, here's what happened: As I was driving home from work, around 4:00pm my phone rang. It was a (703) area code and I just stared at my phone. Suddenly, I took a deep breath and calmly answered. It was our sweet family coordinator Caitlin. Obviously, I wanted to scream, "IS THIS OUR REFERRAL CALL???", but somehow I composed myself and waited for her words. Then she said it, "Ashlie, this is your referral call!" Tears automatically streamed down my face and I tried to catch my breath. I cut across 2 lanes of traffic to pull into a gas station parking lot. She then attempted to call Ryan's cell phone to conference him in. She tried 3 times with no success!! (Come to find out, Ryan was downstairs at his office, getting a soda!!!!) In a panic, I accidentally hung up on Caitlin. Ugggh, this was NOT going as I had imagined. In a last minute effort I quickly texted Ryan "REFERRAL". Finally, we were able to get him on the conference call!!! Caitlin then informed us that our referral was for a baby boy, and I mean a baby, baby, baby boy!!!!! He is 7 weeks and 2 days old today!!!! He is one of the tiniest referrals we have seen!!!!! She couldn't stop telling us how precious his pictures were and how excited she was for us!!! Again, tears were uncontrollably coming down my cheeks! Luckily, I turned on my Flip video recorder and captured the whole thing to show Easton one day! (It's a little to emotional and raw for the blog, maybe one day....)

Ryan and I raced home, where my dear friend Nikki met us. She was the videographer of the moment we have been longing for (video below) As we opened the email we both nervously shook and held on to each other. Then, just like that, there he was, our baby Easton!!!!!!! He has beautiful, big, brown eyes and a toothless smile that will melt your heart!!! I wish I could accurately describe the smile he is giving us in one of the pictures. He looks so happy and alert, like he knows we are meeting him for the first time!

We have more details about Easton but cannot share them or his picture until we pass court and he is legally our son!!!! We will keep you updated on the next step in the process. Right now we are preparing to travel to Ethiopia in the next 4-6 weeks for his court date. Stay tuned!!!!
Here are pictures of Ryan and I signing our Referral Acceptance! Tomorrow I will be happily Fedexing it to American World Adoption Agency in Washington, DC!!!



We thank each of you for your prayers and support of our adoption process. It has been a long journey but today made it all worth it. Now we are preparing our hearts for meeting our son for the first time and bringing him home!!!!!!!!!
Love, Ashlie and Ryan