REFERRAL!!!
We are overwhelmed, blessed, and absolutely overjoyed to announce that we have received our referral! Monday evening, I got a call from Holt telling us that they had a baby boy waiting for us. He is 2 1/2 months old and itty bitty, but absolutely precious! My arms are already aching for him!
I got the call Monday evening at 5:30 that our agency would be e-mailing us his pictures and information to review. Sure enough, the e-mail popped right up on my account. Then I had to wait an excruciating fifteen minutes for Casey to get home so we could see the pictures of our son together.
I think we were both in disbelief for several hours. We weren’t expecting a referral until May or June at the earliest. After our agency had told us many times to expect a 6-9 month wait for an infant, I can’t believe we got our referral in a little over four months! We are praising God for his wonderful faithfulness and perfect timing!
We are still working on a name for our baby boy because we thought that we still had a few months to think about it. We will use part of his Ethiopian name as his middle name, but we want to give him a new first name. We’ll let you know as soon as we decide.
So what’s next? Now we will wait for our court date, which will hopefully be assigned in the next few weeks. Usually the court dates are scheduled 2-3 months in advance, so we are hoping for a June court date. If we pass court the first time, we will be able to pick up our son three or four weeks after the court date. If not, we will have to wait for a second court date. So please pray for an early court date and that we will pass the first time.
Unfortunately, we can’t post pictures of our little guy on the internet until he is legally our son. But here is a video of Caleb sharing the good news with Daddy.
And here is a picture of Caleb seeing his baby brother for the first time. And Roger and Abby, if you’re reading this, I just happened to be wearing my 7,990 shirt that day.
Thank you so much, all of our dear family and friends, for your prayers and support over the last several months. Please continue to pray for our little guy; we know God is answering our prayers!
The video just melted my heart. You are such a loving, blessed family, and your new son is so lucky to be welcomed into it. All my congrats and best wishes to the expanding Picker clan.
So excited for you all! Praise God!
Hey we are so excited for you. Praise the Lord for you sweet little boy. The video clip is great. Pick and I both teared up. We will continue to keep you in our prayers.
We are all so excited for you! Great video. Loved it! Very emotional day today at CBS, but wonderful! Thank you for blessing us all.
I am so thankful! Praise God!
We are soooo proud and can’t wait to see our new Grandson. God has great plans for him and we know he is an answer to many prayers.
Love,
Pops
I just came across this YouTube of the song by Steven Curtis Chapman – When Love Takes You In. I thought of the blessing for our Grandson as he will experience the joy “When Love Takes You In”. It’s worth watching and wondering the life he would have if it were not for love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIwNZilpTXU&feature=channel_page
How great is this!!! Wow…I am sooo excited for you, Casey, and Caleb! I can’t wait to meet Caleb’s ‘baby brother’
Love you guys.
I’m overwhelmed with love for this precious new grandson. Everyone who gives me a minute has seen his picture. Precious little boy, he is already so very loved and cherished by his new family. I’m so thankful for the heart God has given you and Casey for this son! I love you!
I want to hug you guys right now. The feeling is still new for us and I remember it so well. I am soooo excited for you and can’t wait to hear more. Please continue to keep us posted. I can’t believe how quickly it happened for you guys. What a blessing! When do you get to travel? What a little tiny guy! I am just absolutely over joyed for you!!!
Wow!! Congratulations!! We are so happy for you guys! I wish our wait was going to be as quick as yours, but I think we have at least summer to get through before we hear any good news. And I love the shirt, by the way! You wear it so well! Congratulations again! I’m looking forward to reading about your progress and then eventually your trip to Ethiopia!
Just found your blog through the Holt yahoo group! Congratulations on your referral! Who knows, we might end up travel partners as we just received our referral for a baby girl a month before you did!
This is so exciting!! Maybe your little guy will be home by the time we move! Can’t wait to see pictures of him and meet him (and all of you)
Oh, so sweet! I had already heard your fantastic news, but am just now seeing this post. I had to watch the video a 2nd time. What a precious moment; I know you’ll be glad you’ve got it captured on tape. You all will be in my prayers.