We have GREAT NEWS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We can't believe we're actually typing these words, but.....after 7 and 1/2 months of waiting...........

WE RECEIVED OUR REFERRAL

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are thrilled, and excited, and surprised, and overjoyed, and smiling from ear to ear!  Oh my goodness, where to start?!?  This is such a neat story, filled with God's hand in every detail, and it's something we just can't believe we're the recipients of!   Let us tell you about our little girl ;)   


God has known all along what our story would hold and to our surprise we got the wonderful news of our referral while we were on Justin's business trip in Budapest, Hungary last week!!  There are so many little details that needed to happen--way beyond our control or, I must point out: even our knowledge of what would need to happen to make everything come together.  This is truly GOD you guys!!  Justin and I could have never, ever orchestrated this to happen the way it has.  It it AWESOME.  And mind blowing.  It is leaving us speechless as we now fully see and know that His hand is weaving our family's story together and it is unbelievably beautiful.

Wanting to save our story, her story, for our little girl, we'll share some of the details because this story is just too good to not share!!  But we'll also keep some behind so that someday, when we're holding our daughter in our arms or rocking her to sleep, we can tell her about the amazing God that created her and protected her and brought us all together in a way no human could have successfully directed alone.

The news came on Wednesday night, March 30, when Justin and I had just gotten home from dinner.  He is currently in Budapest, Hungary for business (I flew home Friday morning), and while we toiled over which trip I'd join him on (he will return again to Hungary in June and then in August/September), the day of his departure got closer and closer. Finally, just less than a week before his flight took off, we made my reservations so that I could join him on this trip for the first half of his 14 days there: to bring home to him amidst stress and all that comes with leading big projects.  It just so happened that my work schedule was also the most opportunistic for me to go during this particular time as I'd only have to miss one day of work.  [Insert: Hi God! (wink) We now see where your hand was guiding our decisions!]  So we booked the flight, packed our bags, and headed over to Budapest.  Fast forward to Wednesday.  That morning we got up, Justin headed off to the plant and I embarked on a morning spent doing something I absolutely love: cooking with local Hungarians.  It was one of the highlights of my trip and when we joined up back at the hotel to go out for dinner, I was full of energy and excited to tell him all about my day.  We headed out to a great local restaurant called Iguana, where most ex-pats grab garb and hang out.  It happens to be one of Justin's favorite places to eat.  We had a really fun date talking about our future family and how intrigued we were with the European way of baby gear vs the American stuff we'd registered for just a few weeks ago.  After dinner we caught the Metro and came back to the hotel room and were ready to call it a night.  It was then that I casually sat down at our laptop and moved the mouse to check the weather for the next day.  Justin's email account popped up and in bold print [you know the kind when you have new unread email] it said: Ethiopia - Referral Given.  I went NUTS!!!!!  I was jumping on the bed, giggling and shouting "its here, its here!!!!  oh my gosh!!!!! I can't believe it!!!!" over and over.  My very mellow, handsome hubby sat on the bed staring at his work email from his Blackberry....I think he was in total shock!! We sat down together at the computer, opened the email and there before us were two beautiful, big, melt your heart brown eyes that just seemed to call "I'm yours".    As we sat there just staring, we thought, I can't believe our little boy is here :)   Little to our surprise, as we would find out minutes later, God had an entirely different desire for how our family grows.  Because as we opened the rest of the email, we learned that we are expecting a precious three month old, beautiful little girl!!!!!!!!!  We spent the next day praying, fervently and honestly to our Father that He would help us guide us in our decision.  And on Thursday night, over Whoppers and Cokes at Burger King in Budapest, Hungary, with beaming smiles we toasted to one another and said, "to our little girl!!!!".  

For anyone who has been apart our story at any point along this great adventure, you will have known that a) Justin and I have been anticipating this amazing news for years--literally--we have been longing to grow our family through adoption since our dating years, and b) that we were honestly expecting a little boy.  All we can share with you is that we know, with no regret and no doubt, that we are to begin our family through the adoption of this beautiful little girl.  When we jumped on full board for this adventure, we trusted Jesus Christ from the moment we began that we had the capacity in our hearts to love a child who needs to know what the love of a family truly is.  We are thrilled that God has surprised us, and that we're now: joyfully, incredibly excited and more than thrilled to announce that we're going to have a little girl!! 

A few goodies from Hungary to remember this remarkable trip!

So, now it's time to make some changes to the baby registry, start looking at pink and purple ;) and begin to plan for a little girl filling our home with laughter, smiles, and tears that her daddy and mommy will soon grow to love unconditionally!  This is one of the greatest gifts Christ has ever blessed us with and without Him, we cannot imagine missing out on His perfect, marvelous direction of our lives.  We're hoping to travel sometime in August to meet her and then bring her home this fall sometime!!

Because of Christ,
Justin, Kati and "Little D"


Although we cannot post any pictures of our little lady, "Little D", on the internet right now because of Ethiopian law, please do not hesitate to come see us because we would love to introduce you to our little girl through the pictures we have of her!!!!!!!!!!!  She is special!!!!