baby makes five

i've been running the words to this post through my mind repeatedly for the past couple of days. i hope to, someday, turn this family squish into a blog book...  documentation of our day to day, our journey to becoming a family of five, and beyond.  and so, it's important to me for so many reasons... as i imagine our sons someday looking backwards, reading what was on my mind and in my heart, as their mama.

it was late tuesday morning, and i was at work when my cell phone rang, an incoming call from our social worker (j.d.)  dave and i were both well aware that things have been moving quickly for families working with our adoption agency... in the beginning of our process j.d. told us that she thought, at most, our adoption might take 15 months or so.  our referral came just 5 months after we started the process.

j.d. quickly told me (as i was barely breathing at the sound of her voice and the words "unofficial referral") about our baby boy. his korean name is woobin (woo, which means "prominent" and bin, which means "shiny.") he was born in june of 2008, weighing over 8 pounds and "standing" over 20 inches tall (just like both of his brothers, before him.) 

i rushed to her office and picked up all of the paperwork that j.d. had available to us, and two photographs, my first glimpse at our son.  upon reading woobin's child study... his family history, and his birth story, his medical history and his social development and personality... there was absolutely no denying that he is ours.  

of course, like any mama, i have to say how incredible he is.  i want to tell every person that i see everything about him, i want to share his sweet little face (chubby cheeks and all) with the world.  i come from a family that always shared, very openly, our adoption stories, how we came to be the family that we were.  i struggled, a couple of years ago, when i asked an adoptive parent about her child's history, and she told me (nicely) to mind my own business.  holding woobin's story in my hands, i have a familiar feeling... mama bear. gatekeeper. protector.  but this time, it's even more... as i feel responsible for woobin and his birth family.  their story is sacred to me. i'm figuring out how to hold it for him.

and so, the next steps...

we are still waiting for the official referral to come in the mail.  with it, more paperwork, and more photos of our baby boy, theo and emmett's little brother.  we have, already, "unofficially" accepted the referral but, of course, we still have to sign on the doted line.

we are waiting on our fingerprinting appointment.

and we're narrowing down our list of names.  hopefully, with more pictures, by the end of this week.

(if you haven't seen the photo that we have, send me an email so that i can share!! he is so darn cute, my littlest man.)