April 6, 2006, 10:15 am. The phone call that changed our lives. I was at home alone, as I mentioned Ed had left for DC and was not expected home until April 7. I was just getting in the shower; when I heard the phone ring. I said to myself, if it’s Ed he will leave a message, and if it’s a telemarketer, they’ll just hang up. After I heard the machine say please leave a message, the next voice I heard wasn't Ed and it wasn't a hang up, it was Pam from Frank. This is what I heard-“Hi Ed and Carla this is Pam and I have wonderful new...
as soon as I heard those words, I knew all my prays and dreams had finally been answered and the wait was over. I bolted out of the bathroom to try and get the phone, but I was not fast enough. Pam had hung up, so I called her right back. I was running up and down the hall, jumping on the bed, on the couch. I was dancing and I was screaming and I was floating in the clouds. When Pam finally answered the phone, she said to me the 4 words that I had been waiting to hear... you have a referral. She asked me if I had checked my e-mail and I told her no. She said check it and call her back. I asked her a gazillion questions and she just said 'check your e-mail'. So I hung up with her and I ran to the computer, opened my mail and got the message, at the same time I was calling Ed to tell him. I had to leave him a message and I was yelling “WE GOT A REFERRAL, WE GOT A REFERRAL”. As I was leaving Ed the message, I downloaded picture that was sent from the orphanage.
I don’t know if I will ever be able to explain exactly what happened on that day, or how I felt, but I will tell you that I fell in love with a picture on a piece of paper. The minute I saw Grace's little face I fell to my knees and said thank you to God and prayed that he would take care of her until we could bring her home. Of course I was crying. She was so beautiful; and it looked like she was looking right at me. She had the biggest brown eyes and the cutest little button nose and 2 little teeth and a cute little smile. I knew at that moment that she would be our little girl. This is a day that I will never forget as long as I live.
Ed finally called me back and he was so excited. I then called Pam back. She explained that we had about 48 hours to let her know our decision. We had to leave for our first trip to Russia on April 16, which was only 10 DAYS away!!!
The next 48 hours were like a roller coaster. After all the excitement, we had to get serious. We had exactly 2 days to tell FAC if we wanted to accept the referral. I was already to say yes, but Ed wanted to speak to the IA Doctors. This was very stressful for us. I had my mind made up and I really didn't care what they said, however, I knew the risk of adopting a child from Russia, so I did talk with 2 different specialists. One was very vague. She gave us very little time and told us nothing. The 2nd Doctor was awesome, no, she didn't sugar coat everything or say everything was perfect, but she was through and explained a lot of things to us. I really didn't need anyone to tell me this, but I was nice to hear about what to expect and what to look for when we first saw Grace.
We called Pam back on April 8 and told her of our decision, she was very happy for us. She sent me tons of paperwork (it never ended), and a detailed schedule of what to expect on trip 1. After speaking with Pam, I had to book hotel and flights, a kennel for Carolina and Virginia, find a cat sitter, and a ton of other things.
Nine days later, On April 17 (it changed one day) Ed and I left for our first trip to Russia and to meet the little girl that would become our daughter and change our lives forever.
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