The Newest "little" Mancini

So I realize that many of you have been waiting to hear the details of our Referral Call. In all honesty, the call came as a complete surprise. But there's a good reason for that. Here's how the past week went:

On Monday I already had scheduled the day off from work. John was working that day. There was no anticipation of receiving The Phone Call that day. I had decided not to let that anxious feeling get the best of me, so I put it out of my head. I had changed the ringtone of AGCI to that Motown song "My Girl".

Tuesday evening around dinnertime I was sitting in front on the tv when the cell phone rang. It was a regular ring tone so when I looked down and saw *AGCI Brandi* I stopped for a second and caught my breath. Oh Boy!! Is this it!! John's not home yet. Answer the call already!! It was the follow-up phone call to the e-mail stating that we are officially #1. We had great conversation and at the end of the conversation discussed age parameters. I was seriously considering changing them from 6 to 24 months to 0 to 24 months. As soon as we got off the phone I called and talked to John about it. He was fine with it as well and we both had great peace about the whole thing. Later that evening I e-mailed my social worker about filing an addendum to revise the age parameters.

Wednesday morning I followed up my e-mail to the social worker with a phone call and left a voicemail. My day went along as usual. When I got home there was no answered e-mail or voicemail from my social worker. However Brandi had been sending me e-mail to follow up on the addendum paperwork.

Thursday......just like any other day. Feeling a bit excited that the age parameters were going to be changed, thereby quickening the referral call. I left work  a little bit after 5 pm with my granddaughter K in the car. We were on the road for about 10 minutes when I felt the phone vibrating underneath my leg. As I looked at it and saw *AGCI Brandi* I was not at all phased. I just thought Brandi wanted to talk to me more about age parameters, social worker, anything other than a referral. But then she said those words:
"Do you have a few minutes, I'd like to talk to you about a little girl?"
Me: Brandi, are you serious?
B: Yes.
Me: What!? Oh my God! AAHHHHHHH!! (yes I actually squealed on the phone)
B: (laughing her butt off at me)
Me: I'm on my way home from work.
B: So I guess you're not near a computer then, huh?
Me: No. I'm about 30 minutes from home. I just left work a few minutes ago.
B: Okay. Do you want me to tell you a little bit about her and then you can call me once you get home?
Me: Uh, no, better not. I'm still aways from home and I have my granddaughter in the car with me and I need to focus on the road. If you start talking to me I won't concentrate on driving and that's not safe.
B: I agree. Okay. Give me a call once you get home.

We hung up and I immediately called John. He was at a friend's place during his lunch break having coffee. I screamed into the phone "We have a Reeefffferrrraaaallll!!" I was screaming so loud he couldn't understand a word I was saying. I had to say it 3 or 4 times for it to register in his mind. He then went back to his substation to get approval to get the rest of his shift off.

My granddaughter K was looking at me like I had lost my mind. "Na-na, are you okay? (she's 4 1/2). Once I explained that we could see pictures of the baby she was as excited as us. "Oh I wish I could see pictures of the baby!!" So she came over too.

When we got home it was about 5:40. I turned on the computer, let the dogs out, fed them, let them back out, and gave K her markers and coloring books. I called John to see where he was. He was making his way home. I decided not to call Brandi back until he got home. When he got home at 6:20, I called Brandi back. Voicemail. Called again. Voicemail. For 35 minutes I got her voicemail. I started panicking. Are we going to talk to her tonight? When they close at 4, is she going to go home? Oh man, we're going to have to wait till tomorrow, or worse yet, Monday for the referral. I was panicking, hitting the send/receive button on the computer every 15 seconds, hoping for something, anything to pop up. At 6:58 pm EST, my cell phone rang. It was Brandi. Thank God! At this point, John wasn't home. He was taking K home. Fortunately she only lives 30 seconds away. At 7:03 pm we were finally both listening to Brandi tell us about our little girl.

So, she's 9 months old. she's beautiful. She's healthy. She looks like me a little bit. Georgeous smile. Perfect. She arrived at HH on 11/9/10.

First thing Friday morning I made an appointment with an International Pediatrician at Children's Hospital. John and I were both able to get time off to make the appointment. We were so excited about the doctor's report, all good news. All day I showed my coworkers her picture. I was on such a high. Felt great! That night John and I filled out the Transition Plan. We got it notarized tonight and tomorrow it's going to be scanned and e-mailed to AGCI. On Monday we have our other Referral call with Emily. Very busy 3 days and interestingly enough we still have not received our referral packet in the mail even though we should have gotten it on Friday.

We are so excited and yet it still is a bit surreal. Praise God that He already has her in a home where she is loved and well taken care of. I'm excited about getting to meet her in a few months. We have been asked though, not to show any pictures or give any identifying information of her until she is home with us.

Thank you to everyone who was praying especially hard for us in the last several days. God heard you and answered accordingly. Now it's time to celebrate :-)