Very Big News - February 14, 2013

I somehow thought I’d have a great, memorable story to tell about the moment that our Big News arrived.   Oddly, I don’t.  But here’s a modest recount …

At 6:00 this morn, I woke up in a start, glanced at the clock, and flew out of bed.  I sprinted down the stairs in darkness, intending to plant myself somewhere conveniently between the phone and the coffee pot, as I’d heard a rumor that we may be receiving some news today or tomorrow.  Not just any old news, but either an invitation or a rejection from Country XX for the purpose of adopting a special needs child.  It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for, praying for, and worrying about for the past five months.

But alas!  There was no phone on the receiver!  THAT meant, gulp, the phone was *somewhere* in the house.  Now, don’t get me wrong:  Our home is tidy and clean.  Okay, most often. This week has been an exception.

Allow me to paint a picture: 

For the past week, the flu has woven its way through our house, randomly snagging this one… and then that one… leaving no tow-head untouched.  A fever for you, stomach flu for you, lung guck for you, nose goo for you, all of the above for you, you, and you ….  At any given moment over the past five days, the limp bodies of the sickest ones line the couches, their fevered little feet poking out from beneath their favorite blankies.  Buckets, tissues, blankets, pillows, and towels litter the floors, couches, window ledges, and couch arms. 

In a panic, I pressed the “pager” and eventually discovered the phone at the other end of a muffled “brnggg!” buried beneath a two-day mass of Valentine crafting projects totaling over 200 hand-made and individually-signed cards between the five sick kids – in the hopes they’d each have a miraculous recovery so as to attend their class parties today.

6:15:  Silence.

Peter, who was still sound asleep, had offered to take “sick kids shift” today so that I could go to work. . So as I stood there, pondering whether to start the shower next before the kids awoke or the coffeepot, the phone rang eerily in the morning silence … in my hand.  I let it ring a couple times before answering, knowing that Melody’s future – and our family’s -- will be forged by what is said on the other line.

What was said was a blur.  But what happened was this:  I ran back UPSTAIRS faster than I’d run down and jiggled Peter awake, whispering, “Peter!! PETER!!! We’re going!  We’re going!  We’ve been APPROVED!!”

So our big news is this:  We leave for Eastern Europe in just 2 weeks.  In just 2 and a half weeks, we’ll be kissing the cheeks of our Ms. Melody. 

Happy Valentine's Day ... indeed!!  :)