Referral Story

On November 5, 2009 I woke up fairly early with a full agenda. My agenda for the day included: typing a lesson plan that was due on Friday for my online class, teaching in the afternoon, cleaning house for my neighbor Sarah, watching Thursday evening shows, and then picking my cousin Kristin up at the airport around 11 pm.

After eating breakfast I quickly began working on my lesson plan at our kitchen table. However, at 9:15 am our home cell phone rang and that was the start of my agenda for the day getting altered, but all for the best. Our social worker called to see if we would be interested in reviewing a file of a baby boy who was 11 months old. Previously our social worker had told us that typically they place first time parents with young babies. However, on our original application we had marked we were open to a baby in the 0-2 range. I asked a couple questions of our social worker and then asked if I could call Travis. She said yes and then to call her back.

I tried to call Travis at work, no answer. On his cell, no answer. I waited several minutes tried both phones again. I even looked for him on Skype. I sent him an email. CALL ME KATHIE HAS A QUESTION FOR US! Finally, Travis called back and was able to get a hold of me and I was able to tell him that there was a baby boy that could be ours, but that he was 11 months old. I told him the little bit of the baby's story that I knew at this point.

His mom gave birth to him and kept him for the first five months. However, she and the father were not married and the father was not helping take care of the baby. The mom was living with cousins and was unemployed therefore it became very difficult to continue caring for the baby. Around 6 months the mom contacted the father and asked if he was fine with putting the baby up for adoption. They took him to Holt where he was placed with a foster family and then Holt continued to try and find him a family in Korea for the past 5 months. Since he was not adopted by a Korean family within the 5 months he is now available to be adopted internationally.

Travis quickly said we need to say yes and look at this boys referral. He told me to get off the phone and call our social worker. I did just that, I called her and said we would love to look at this boys file. She said she would email us the document. I called Travis again and we decided I should come get him for an early lunch.

We went to Quiznos for lunch and then we came home to check our email together. We had an email in our inbox. Travis opened the email and the advice from our social worker said to read the file before we open the pictures. We followed her instructions. We read through his 12 page file and we were happy with everything we read. We looked at his pictures and we fell even more in love. We emailed our social worker and said YES, WE WANT TO ADD THIS BOY TO OUR FAMILY!

It was time for me to go to work so I quickly dropped Travis back off at work and went to school. I didn't say anything to anyone. I taught my students and tried to stay as focused as I could with such good news. I left school and went to clean at my neighbors house. When I finally got home neither Travis or I was too hungry because we were so excited about telling our families.

Travis told me to call my parents and see if we could come over. I knew it would be hard for me to talk on the phone so I quickly asked my mom if we could come over and then I checked to she if she wanted go to Safeway with me. We typically go grocery shopping together when there is a spend $50 get $10 off. She said she was up for going to the grocery store so Travis and I made a quick dinner of scrambled eggs and toast.

On the drive to my parents house we weren't exactly sure what words we would use to tell them. We had printed one of the pictures and the plan was to use the picture somehow to tell them the great news.

I think I asked my parents if they wanted to see something cool. Mom said did you get a referral? I showed them the picture and they hugged us and said they love him. Then we called my sister and I said Hi Aunt Elise, but she didn't fully catch it. Then we tried to call Travis's dad, but he wasn't home and his mom was at outdoor school so we figured we wouldn't get to tell her that night. Then we called Kayla, but Josh was in class, and she was super excited for us. Later in the evening we did get a hold of Travis' dad and told him our news. We had to email his mom to let her know. The list of people to call continued, but I honestly don't remember who got called in what order and on what day.

My mom and I didn't end up going to the grocery store, we didn't watch Thursday evening shows, but we did get my cousin from the airport. When I woke up on November 5, 2009 I didn't know I was going to be so blessed. God is amazing. He answered our prayers for a referral. Now we are praying that our baby can travel home soon. We have been told the typical travel call time frame is 3 to 6 months. We can't wait to hold baby Isaiah Luke Han-gyeol Morgan in our arms!