Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Freaking out Gladney

Yesterday, the first thing I said when I picked up the phone and realized it was Sara was, "I think I'm going to throw up." She laughed politely but sounded a bit scared.

I also think that Sara is convinced I made up my husband. When we got the referral call he was on his big hiking trek so she never talked to him. Then yesterday Pete was at work so I said I would call him to tell him. She kind of laughed, like "SURE you will, faker!"

October 20, 2009 - It's Official!

Introducing Sam Amanuel Shepard!

Here is the first picture we received of him. This is when I fell in love!



What a morning yesterday! After our court date had been messed up twice (october 5 then october 12), I was so nervous. I couldn't focus on anything and as time slipped away, I was absolutely convinced that it was bad news and Sara just was trying to figure out a way to tell me. But no, it was good news!

Pete, Pete's mom, my mom and step-father, and I will head out on Saturday, November 7 to arrive on November 9! We're pretty set on UAE airlines from the positive reviews I've heard but are very confused about where to stay.

Yesterday I went shopping, had a pedicure, had a Dairy Queen blizzard and had an EXTREMELY nice dinner with my husband and drank lots of wine. It felt like the weight of this 4 year saga had been lifted from my shoulders. I feel so blessed.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

July 23, 2009

Continuation...

Needless to say, I have never cried so hard in my life. I sat in the car and just cried and cried. The dog licked my face for a half hour because she was so worried about me. I felt like a 4 year burden had been finally lifted.

Of course, Sara wasn't back in the office yet so I had no details. Pete was in a canoe sailing away. I left a message for my mom which was totally incomprehensible. She called back later and said, "I couldn't understand a single word but it sounded like happy crying."

I figured out that I could reach Pete through his mother (his parents were doing just the canoe portion of the trek). So I called her cell phone and told her. She was so excited and then tried to contain herself while she passed the phone along to Pete. She said, "Pete, it's Megan. It's nothing bad." I said, "Honey, we have a baby!" and started bawling again. Pete was super quiet and said, "what?" It turns out he thought first that I meant I was pregnant, then that I was crying because I had a miscarriage. Needless to say once he figured it out he was ecstatic. Then I had to wait 12 hours to see him!

I still didn't know any details about anything. I kept driving around this resort in Jackson trying to keep cell phone service to talk to Sara once she got into work.

Eventually, I found a spot overlooking the Teton Mountains at a picnic table and we got in touch. Sam is a beautiful 11 month boy who had just recently arrived at the orphanage. He is so gorgeous and is in need of a lot of TLC. He's a little bitty thing. Sara admitted this was the strangest situation she'd had, with me staring at the mountains and my husband on a major trek across the mountains.

I spent the rest of the day not telling anyone anything because I wanted to discuss everything with Pete. This drove my sister-in-law Marit crazy and my mother-in-law. I went to this internet station to go pull up my email and look at the pictures. There was this guy there hogging the computer checking his stocks and then the weather. I literally almost knocked him off the chair. Finally, I saw pictures of Sam. He has the most beautiful eyes in the world. They are a bit sad, so I can't wait to fill them with happiness.

The rest of the day was spent in a blur. The only people who knew were my mom, Pete's family who were on vacation with us, and two friends that were witness to it all.

We went hiking and then it was my night to make dinner. I attempted to do it and waited for Pete. When Pete arrived we went into our room and I told him Sam's story. I was a bit worried that Pete would be hesitant. But I knew that my fears were unfounded when Pete said, "He's perfect. He's our son."

We announced it at dinner that night. Then the next morning we called Sara and told her we were thrilled to call Sam our son. Sniff.

Then we spent the next two days calling and emailing lots of people. It was so amazing how thrilled people were for us. It made us feel so supported. This child will be so loved.

And that is the story of how we found out about our son.

July 22, 2009 and July 23, 2009

Referral Story

So, we moved from Madison, WI at the end of June to Santa Fe, NM. We thought that the last thing on our mind was getting a referral, as we had only been waiting 4 1/2 months and I kept hearing it was getting longer and longer (9 months). We decided to take most of July off to celebrate Pete being done with his residency and this big new change in our lives.

We spent the first two weeks of July in France, visiting my dad and sisters.






We came back and actually moved into our house a bit. I made a couple of quick trips to Madison to finish out some stuff with my job. THEN, we went on our next trek which was to Pete's family's cabin in Idaho.

Now Pete and his brothers are a tad bit daredevilish when it comes to the outdoors. Usually when we go on vacation, someone gets physically harmed. This vacation, Pete and his brothers decided they were going to do the world's first Trans Teton Triathalon. This event would start by canoeing across Jackson Lake for 7 miles, then BUSHWACKING through 13 miles of a mountain pass into Idaho, and then biking 15 miles. I was part of the support staff so I drove them to the canoe put-out point at 6:00 am (after 4 hours sleep).

The day before (July 22) we had been at Yellowstone, doing some light hiking and driving around. An 817 number came up on my phone and I said, "oh, it's just Sara calling to confirm all of our new info" because we had talked the day before via email about all of the new things we'd have to do because we had moved. Didn't think a thing of it and had no cell phone service for the rest of the day.

As soon as the crew took off, I noticed I had a message on my cell phone and had reception for the first time in 24 hours. I also noticed I had a new email message (thank GOD for my new iphone). Well there it was. The words I did NOT expect to hear.....

WHAT A MONTH!!

We received our referral! It's quite the story...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Changes, Changes

Well, we're 2 1/2 months on the list now. I'm guessing that we'll be getting the referral in November and picking up Baby in February. But I've learned that can change!

We've been extremely busy getting ready for the next huge change in our lives: picking up and moving to Santa Fe! We're excited for our new home (with a great fenced in yard for Baby and Chewy!) and are ready to explore such a great city. We're moving in late June and then hitting the road to visit all of our family before Pete has to start his job in early August. Of course this means 1,000 new forms to fill out once we move but Gladney thinks it shouldn't be a problem at all because we won't have received the referral yet. And to be honest, many of them will probably expire anyway.

Soon I will have time to break back into the blogging world and catch up with all my favorite bloggers!

Friday, April 17, 2009

1 Month Down!

Officially one month on the wait list today. However, I feel like we haven't really gotten anywhere because I received word that the wait is now 7.5 months. Sigh. But that's okay! Just happy we're on the list!