WE GOT OUR FIRST DATES TO MEET ETHAN, our son!!! OUR SON!

I am writing this while eating Club crackers with cream cheese & hot pepper jelly at 1:40am...yes, i know that it is ridiculously late BUT our youngest daughter didn't go to sleep until after 1am!!! I also have NOT had a 10 minute time where i could stop what i was doing & write! (No, this is NOT going to take me ten minutes to write, that is just how busy my day has been)

This morning, i was about to go on an alone time date with our married daughter, Liz when i checked my phone & read on my FB wall the words from Shelley, our agency lady- "Sent you a very important email! Waiting to hear back from you :)" I immediately screamed for the girls to run & come to me! I KNEW we had our dates & sure enough...there they were! The dates SHOCKED ME!!! Here we had resigned ourselves to not being able to go until the middle of January maybe even into February and the dates that we were given were DECEMBER 16Th - December 23rd!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding????? That soon!?!?!?!?! WOW! I immediately had the girls call Liz while i called Scott. Scott was so excited but then it was a different tone coming....he said that he knew that he would not be able to go. (i had forgotten in my excitement that he had told me LAST MONTH that there would be no way that he could go if it was from December 16th to the end of December due to others that had asked for that time off...there would be no way it could happen) Sure enough, he said that there would be no way! He was thrilled as to how soon it was but we knew that if those dates came up we had two other back up plans in place.

Back up plan #1....my best friend, Robin, had told me a few months before that she was feeling like she was supposed to be going with me to Ethan! SO i called her...she was saddened but they are not going to be able to do it as they will be just getting home from a time with family and then they will be having family there with them. She was so sorry but i shouldn't plan on it.

Back up plan #2...our Ally would go with me. She was SO THRILLED! She couldn't believe that it was happening! THEN....the phone rang....it was Robin!

"Ummm.....Connie, our kids just about kicked me out of the house! They cannot believe that i said no! They told me that it would be a HUGE mistake NOT to go with you! They said that the worst that could happen is that i would fall in love with a child there and that we would have to adopt....and WE WOULD BE FINE WITH THAT!!!" I am getting excited but seeing Ally getting a questioning face on. Then my cell phone rang. I was ON my cell phone SO because of who it was, i had to get off...it was Scott!

I answered and he said, "ummmmm....it is looking like my bosses are saying that i am going to Ethan!" WHAT!!!!?!?!?!?!? "Yes, they said that they will take care of it & that i can go! SO, it is going to happen!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!! THE TWO OF US ARE GOING TOGETHER!!!!! YIPPEE!!! Scott had to go, as did i!

I had been Facebooking the whole time throughout this time...typing a couple of ladies in messaging....taking a phone call from another dear friend....getting permission to share it with everyone and then letting people know! It was a crazy fun time! As soon as i hung up with Scott, i let people know that the two of us were going to be going TOGETHER to see Ethan & then i went immediately on my date with our Lizzie! We got to be together for every moment that she was able, we went & picked up Sophina's meds, i dropped off Liz & then went home. Two minutes later, i started in on the next trivets with Catherine & Holly! I have four left to do but finally quit at 1am to put the baby to bed (Ally had been trying for a long time)

There are some details that i have left out but here they are.....this past Saturday was one of the hardest days that i have had in this process so far. There are MANY MANY reasons but i was HIT HARD with a VERY HARD day! It lasted from when i woke up until i fell asleep! It was a VERY ALONE feeling & a sadness that was deep. Sunday, i woke up refreshed and KNEW that the Lord's mercies WERE new every morning! I did still tear up when i told someone about it but it wasn't overwhelming like it was the day before.

You see...this morning (yesterday) was our anniversary! This Thursday is Thanksgiving. We hadn't heard our dates for when we were going to see Ethan & it felt like it was going to be February before we saw him. We knew of a few families who were ahead of us AND another family who had multiple children that the Lord had blessed them with being in the process of adopting & thought that we were going to be at the end. All of this info. had hit me with a ton of bricks on Saturday. I felt so alone...i missed Scott SO DEEPLY!!!

THEN....this morning happened! It took me back to our birthday! We found out about our Ethan! He was doing well! He was in a great orphanage! He was in a place that had healthy food, great workers and a playground! Our son was being cared for in an incredible way! THEN for our anniversary, the Lord gave us our dates for Ethan! Our dates to have him in my arms...for me to be able to hold and touch and see and smell and KNOW that he is going to be our son....SOON! THEN, to have Scott be able to come when we didn't think that he could! WOW!!!! AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL!!!!!

This evening, i found out some of the saddest news that i have known personally. For those of you who follow my wall on FB, you know that we have been praying for a little boy that i refer to as Ethan #2 (so people don't confuse him with our Ethan). He has been in the battle for his very life....over and over and over again and he has had his foster family which i have always called "his family" there by his side through it all. They have been there for a full year! They found out today that their road is done with their Ethan. They will not be getting Ethan. The powers that be have decided that he needs to be in a medical facility in another state instead of with a family! A family that has loved him for over a year. SO, my heart has rejoiced greatly for our Ethan today but my heart has grieved deeply for my friend & her family for 'her Ethan'! PLEASE pray for BOTH Ethan's when you think of us! Will you PLEASE?

Pray for our family as we go through these next CRAZY days that will FLY by like a massive storm! Pray for our Sophina to be able to adjust to this VERY VERY big change for her! She WILL have Ally & the girls here at the house PLUS our PCA is going to be here VERY often PLUS our friend Holly said that she would be here and then Bonnie and then.....well, you get the idea;}) PLEASE pray though for our family! AND for Ethan #2's family.

We are always blessed! Connie for the crew
(if there are mistakes...blame it on the fact that it is 2:22am! BUT i wanted to make sure that you all got the story!)