The Referral Details

Here's a play-by-play of our referral moment.

Jia and I were eating lunch when my cell phone rang. I saw that the number was our adoption agency. I didn't think it was our referral because I'd been corresponding via e-mail with our case manager that morning, and I thought she was just calling to answer my question.

She said, "I have your referral! It just arrived this moment and I had to call you right away!"

I think she was as stunned as I was. She told me the basics about our little Hsin-Yen. I cried with joy. I then asked if I could call her back because I wanted to call Joe. She said that she e-mailed me the photos and all the information, and that she would be around only little bit longer before the holiday weekend.

I called Joe at work and he was equally surprised and overjoyed! We then stayed on the phone while I clicked on my Inbox for what seemed like twenty minutes. (In reality, it was probably five.) Nothing appeared. I was getting more and more impatient. We then decided to call our caseworker back but neither of us was sure how to do three-way calling. Joe wanted to research his phone system on the internet but I worried that we might not have time! I eventually figured it out and we called our caseworker together. After a while, she then resent the e-mail and sent it to Joe as well. This one reached us! (And the first one came in a lot later!)

We finally saw her photo. We oohed and aahed and cried enough that our caseworker politely excused herself! We delighted over her cheeks and hair, and laughed with amusement at her name.

Then we attempted to get the video to run. It ran right away on Joe's computer and I could hear him choking up while watching it. I couldn't get it to run on mine! (Keep in mind that Jia was constantly yelling "I need to go to the bathroom! Read me a book!" the entire time).

I took a break to help Jia. I then tried again to watch the video on our laptop. Couldn’t get it to run. I tried our desktop computer. Wouldn't run. I eventually started up my work computer and the video finally ran! It was really tiny, and sideways, and didn't have any sound, but such a treasure to see. I wanted to hear the sound because Joe said that she made a little squeak in the video, so I had to hear that! I called Joe and we started the videos at the same time so I could hear her little squeak over the phone. Adorable! The woman speaking to her was calling her name in the most sweet, gentle way and it touched my heart.

Then once we were all together - we celebrated!