A few clarifications and... First Response, Take 2 :)

After reading over my first blog post, I realized that I left out a very important detail, and I wanted to clarify something too. First of all, the "for me, for Chris, for us" part definitely should have included a "for London" part so, here it goes... For London, it was a loud "woohoo!!!", hands in the air, dancing around kind of excitement, and his enthusiasm is unchanged. He loves his sister very much. Every day he talks about traveling to Haiti again to see her, or the day she will be here with us. As for the clarification I mentioned, I just wanted to elaborate on the prayer issue. I would have explained myself better to have said the news was more like an answer to prayer, not that I hadn't prayed at all. Like I said, adoption is something I have always wanted to do. Before all of this started, I had prayed and pretty much told God that if this was something he really wanted us to do the opportunity would have to just fall in our lap because I had no idea where to begin. Domestic? International? Foster care? Haiti? So, when my mom called, that is exactly how we felt, like this was the opportunity we had been praying for. Now, are we all clear? :)
As for the "First Resoponse, Take 2" that would be in reference to the next life changing phone call I received. On February 13th of last year, I received a call from Judd Vier, the missions pastor at our church. He was the man relaying all of the information from the team in Haiti to the adoptive families waiting here at home. I was standing in my kitchen when the phone rang. I was expecting his call, so I eagerly answered the phone, hands and voice shaking. He said, "Hi Tiffany. This is Judd. I have some news for you. You have been matched to a little boy. His name is Maphada Delvard. I didn't catch his age, but I will find our for you as soon as I can." There was a little bit of a pause as I waited for him to say more because you see, we had asked to be matched to two children, a boy and a girl. When he didn't say anything else, I thanked him, and with weak knees and tears in my eyes, I hung up the phone and called Chris right away to tell him the amazing news. I was a little disappointed at only being matched to one child, but I was so excited for London to have a brother, and for us to know his name! My disappointment was short-lived. I knew that God had hand-picked this child for us, and that He had His reasons for only matching us with one. Now, what was I to do with the little girls quilt I had already purchased??? Oh yeah, that was me. I had bought boy and girl bedding, a few outfits, and tooth brushes. I wanted to be prepared!!! Oh well, I would figure it out. In the mean time, I felt exactly the way I felt when I saw two stripes on that stick back in 2004! That is the only way to describe it. It is exactly like when you decide to try for a baby, and you take a pregnancy test, and Viola! it's positive!!! We were thrilled! And I proceeded to buy a few more boy items.... :)
On February 17th we learned that our son Maphada was 6 years old! We had asked to be matched to children 2-5 years of age. We were hesitant to adopt a child older than London because of the whole birth order thing. However, we again trusted that God knew exactly what He was doing, and once I got over the "oh my goodness, I've already missed 6 years of his life" thing, I was totally okay with it. London, at first disappointed because it ruined his plans to share his clothes with him since Maphada was "bigger", was quick to come around to the idea of being a little brother instead of a big one.
I know what you are thinking, "wait a minute, have I been reading the wrong facebook page? I thought Maphada was a girl?!???" No, you have not. Maphada is a girl, which I realized as soon as I laid eyes on the picture of the most beautiful little "boy" I had ever seen!!! :) On February 22nd we received our first picture of Maphada. Once again, I can't help but relate it to pregnancy. I like to think of this picture as our first sonogram. :) I was at work when Chris called telling me to check my email, we finally had a picture of him. I opened our email as soon as I could and waited impatiently for the computer to download the picture. How do I describe my reaction? I was in awe. I couldn't believe that I was at last looking at the face of my child. I was also puzzled. I noticed "his" hair and I thought, "his hair looks so different from all the other little boys"..."I think I see braids"..."and gee, this has got to be the prettiest little boy I've ever seen, I mean, London was pretty, but you know"...and finally, "oh my goodness, is Maphada a girl??!??" What came next you wonder? Well, let's just say that I only thought I was happy before. I can't even describe the feelings that welled up in my heart when I realized I had a daughter, then fear as I thought maybe we had received the wrong picture? And there I was at work, with no one to call for clarification. It was a very long night!!! First thing the next morning I started calling people and sending emails trying to figure out what had happened. Were we matched with a girl? Did we receive the wrong picture? I had to know!!! Finally, later that afternoon, I received a call from my dear friend Christi Barnes who confirmed that we were matched to Maphada, who was in fact a 6 year old little GIRL!!! Again, I cannot explain how it felt to learn that information. I did experience a brief feeling of loss for all of the little boy things I had already envisioned and planned, but the complete and utter JOY of learning Maphada was a girl filled an emptiness in my heart that I didn't even know was there. When I was pregnant, I wanted a boy. I never really said it out loud, but my heart's desire was for a baby boy. God answered the cry of my heart and gave me the most amazing son a mother could ever hope for. There is something incredibly humbling in that, to know the God of the entire universe hears you! Imagine it! Who am I, that He should hear me and give me the most amazing gift? And now, who am I, that He should know something about me that I didn't even realize, and give me the desire of my heart in a beautiful little girl named Maphada??? What else can be said except that I am soooo incredibly grateful that He saw fit to grow our family in this way. I am no longer just Tiffany, Chris' wife, London's momma, Gene and Jana's daughter, oncology nurse, ... I am Mama Maphada!!! MWE RENMEN OU ANPIL, MY SWEET, PRECIOUS GIRL!!!