Expect the unexpected.

Very quickly after we became parents for the very first time Dave and I decided that, when asked for advice by couples expecting their first baby and anticipating birth, we would reply... "Go in with a plan, and be ready to abort that plan!"

We had everything in place for Theo's arrival. We read all of the books, we took the most comprehensive childbirth class, we wrote a birth plan and we packed our hospital bag at 26 weeks and we toured the hospital and...

Theo's coming into this world was nothing like I'd expected, or planned for. His first week of life sent my life spinning. I remember my sister commenting, when my firstborn son was about 2 weeks old, that I'd aged more since his birth than I had in the 5 years previous. Nothing worked out as it was "supposed" to and, despite all of the "getting ready" that we did, I found that we were truly unprepared for the reality of life with a newborn.

Thanks to our wisdom from the past, Emmett's birth and the first few months of his life were an entirely different experience. Exhausting, nonetheless. But not as disappointing (which really sounds like an awful thing to say)... because I went into motherhood the second time without all of the unrealistic expectations, the naiveties of the "babyless" me of 2 years before.

Now, I'm that "first time" mom, all over again. And, after the day we had today, I would have to say that our advice for soon-to-be parents holds credence not only during pregnancy, but while adopting, too. Expect the unexpected.

J.D. called us this morning about a baby girl in Korea. She said that our agency in Michigan received word about a new referral, a little girl who was born in April of 2008, who is waiting for a home. J.D. said that things are moving so quickly right now with our agency, and especially with Korean adoptions, that they called her inquiring about which of her families would be ready soon (ie, finished with their home studies and all of the necessary paperwork) because this little girl needs a family!

WOW!

Without getting into all of the details, A.I.A.A. sent out the call to a number of different social workers in their service area, and it sounds like there are a few different families who are hopeful about bringing this baby home. I was shocked when J.D. told me why she was calling us this morning, I couldn't believe that she was calling us about a baby. A baby girl. Already. She was asking me what we thought about our family being hers... We just started this process about 2 months ago...

wow...

Dave and I work so well together in that he's (usually) able to anchor my emotion with reason. And, in turn, I can draw from inside of him what might otherwise never surface. Today, my heart soared recklessly, and my husband had to reel it back in so that what is best for our family (our entire family... he and I, Theo and Emmett, and that baby of ours who is still waiting for us in Korea...) in the long run would prevail.

Patience.

Patience.

Tonight I am praying for that baby girl, for whom dozens of phones were ringing today. I am praying for her forever family, whose right time came today, and whose hearts, I'm certain, are soaring freely and unreservedly, with nothing but certainty and joy.