We had truly thought and hoped that we would receive a referral from our adoption agency before the end of 2013, so we were a little disappointed as we were approaching the end of the year that we had not heard anything (although we continued to trust in God's perfect timing:-)). Drew had reached out to our adoption agency before the end of the year just to see if we could get any idea of where we stood in the process. The information we received gave us the impression it would still be a while before we received a referral. Obviously, that wasn't really what we wanted to hear, but we reminded ourselves that the Lord would bring along a referral when He saw fit and we needed to continue to be patient and make good use of this time.
On Wednesday 1/8, I was at work and got a message from our contact at America World and she asked me to call her back. I first called Drew because I thought maybe she tried to reach him, but when he didn't answer, I figured I would call our contact back. I was completely shocked to hear that we were receiving a referral!!!!! We definitely were not expecting it so soon in the year. Once I got off the phone with her, I started crying and called Drew. When I shared the news with him, he started crying too. We had 24 hours to decide if we wanted to take the next step in the referral process, and after prayer and discussion, decided that we wanted to and we informed America World on Thursday. The next step is to consult with a doctor regarding the medical reports, as well as consult others who may be able to give helpful feedback/input. We have two weeks to decide whether or not we will accept or decline this referral, so we are asking for your prayers as we go through this critical part in our journey. Both of us feel at this point that unless the Lord shows us a reason not to move forward, that we certainly hope to move forward on our journey. We will keep you posted! :-)
