THE phone call!

Finally, after nearly a year of officially waiting, we got THE phone call. On September 3, 2008 the agency called with a profile opportunity. We got very excited, as we always did when we were profiled, but something felt different. If truly felt right from the very beginning. We had been profiled 3 other times, all more than six months prior to this call. It had been a very long time without a call!

I immediately called Chris to tell him the details of the case. It took a little bit of time to get in touch with him, which is not typical, but once I did, we both agreed that we wanted to be profiled! I called the agency back, but our family advocate was busy - probably calling other families, so I left a message with the receptionist. After a couple of hours I was feeling a little worried... what if the message didn't get through to our family advocate? I decided that this was not the time to have a mixed signal. We knew that the birth parent advocate was going out to meet with the birthmom that day. I called and confirmed that we were being profiled and felt much better. I was reassured that our profile was with the birthmother at that very moment and that she also had our video. Within an hour of that call, I got a call back.

Sue asked if I was driving - she knew from our last conversation that I was getting ready to leave work. I said no - then she asked if I was sitting. In my head I kept thinking OMG this is THE call. I can't believe she's going to say what I think she's going to say. Then she said it... the birthmom had chosen us to parent her child!!! I was totally ecstatic, yet at the same time, I had this feeling that this is what was supposed to happen. It all just felt so right.

A week later we were able to meet her and her mom for the first time. That meeting simply confirmed that we were in a perfect situation for us. We planned to meet again in 2 weeks. After one week, the birthmom called me to say that she had a sonogram scheduled and she asked if we would like to go with her. I just couldn't believe how much our lives had changed in such a short period of time. One week later we were having dinner with birthmom and her mom and the following week we were at an ultrasound seeing our SON for the very first time. It was so surreal.

So many people ask if it's weird to be in this situation, particularly with such an open adoption. I respond that it is so weird how normal the whole thing feels. Everything feels just right. Each time we meet or have dinner together, it just feels normal. It feels like being out with family. In fact, it would feel strange to even consider not seeing birthmom after the birth. We are very excited to be involved with such an open adoption. This is certainly not what we expected nearly two years ago when we considered starting the process, but it might just be exactly what we were hoping for when we finished our adoption classes.