Kumesa - Referral Day

I thought I'd give you some background on our referral day for Kumesa. It was Monday, April 28, my grandmother's 89th birthday around 3:00 p.m. The kids were in school. Tim was at school (so I thought); I was working away...and the phone rang. I saw it was from the Portland area, thinking it was either my work or the adoption agency. It was the adoption coordinator from Dove on the line.

She said, "I have some news for you."

I said, "Oh no, what's wrong?"

See, since our dossier had arrived in Ethiopia April 1, I thought that there must be something wrong with the paperwork.

However, she immediately said, "I am looking at a picture of a beautiful boy! He's 6 months old."

I almost dropped the phone. Now? Today? I had expected 4 - 6 months for a referral, not 4 - 6 weeks....I was speechless. I went ahead and had her send the pictures and information on Kumesa immediately. If I was thinking clearly and had time to plan it out, I would have probably waited for Tim, but honestly, he wasn't first on my mind. I wanted to see that boy!

Of course, after I saw his delicious face, we tried to get Tim on the line. He was in Home Depot and service was not available where he was. I told our adoption coordinator that we would both call her back when he got home and immediately dialed and redialed his number. When I finally reached him and told him the news, all he could say was, "I told you so." See, he had a feeling that we were going to hear something about a referral that week. (That was very strange because I am usually the one who believes in "feelings" and "intuition," not him.)

I don't know how many laws he broke driving as fast as he could home to see our new munchin', but he arrived in record time. We just stared at his picture: big eyes, fine features, full lips, long fingers....He was beautiful!

When the kids arrived home from school, we were on the phone with the adoption agency asking questions, but mostly absorbing the information. Hannah was the first in and when I asked her whether she wanted to see a picture of her baby brother, she screamed and ran up the stairs. (Our adoption coordinator was laughing.) Zach came next and flew up the stairs too. We were all thrilled and just amazed.

Fun facts about Kumesa (at time of referral):

Birthday - October 4, 2007 (Zach and Hannah's original due date - Strange, huh?)
Meaning of Name - His Thousand
Place of birth - Ambo, which is a spa town (They have those in Ethiopia? See below.)
Date of entree into SOSEE (orphanage) - December 4, 2007
Weight - 5900 grams (approx. 13 lbs.)
Height - 64 cm (approx. 2 ft. 1 in.)

A street in Ambo

Ambo is also called Hagere Hiwot. It is approximately 77 miles west of Addis Ababa, the capitol of Ethiopia.