Clearing the fog of confusion

Hey all..so there was some confusion on our travel, etc.

We found our on Wednesday that they (out Ethiopia coordinator & domestic agent) want us there before the court date so we can see Sophia at least one day before the court date. This will change the after placement procedures when we arrived stateside...no domestic readoption proceedings...

So our court date is the same, 11/28...we are going just much sooner than we expected..

We have our travel date

We were gobsmacked with the sooner-than-expected referral and the quick court date, but nothing compared to the news we got today.

We leave next saturday...the one just after Thanksgiving!!!!!! November 24!!!!!!!! I guess that we will be packing our bags rather than putting up the tree on the Friday after.

We have so much left to do, but we know that we will get it all done in its own time. We are just basking the cloud that has enveloped us with the thought that she will be in our arms in two Mondays from now.

We are waiting to hear how long we will be there, but our miracle-worker Carol said she wants to get us there and back quickly.

We will be posting any and all updates that come in the next few days...

For the Fathers, and especially mine...

Since we received our referral, my thoughts have been consumed with knowing, understanding, and collating the never before felt emotions and feelings I have for this little girl. Just I as I posted before in having to remember there is no value for time in algebra, I need to remember my physic lessons as well. I told Amy one night I have so many swirls of feeling and emotions inside me,I know from whence they came, but I do not know what they are. I just know they are. But these new residents of my heart and soul have not displaced who lived there before. My soul has gained an immense mass, but the volumes has remains unchanged.

Most days I check the Poetry Foundation web site for the daily poem, but I have not in while (we were our of town most of last week). I finally found the words in the following quatrains for a new, swelling feeling I am experiencing: I am starting to feel more like a father than a son.

Men at Forty

Men at forty
Learn to close softly
The doors to rooms they will not be
Coming back to.

At rest on a stair landing,
They feel it moving
Beneath them now like the deck of a ship,
Though the swell is gentle.

And deep in mirrors
They rediscover
The face of the boy as he practices tying
His father’s tie there in secret,

And the face of that father,
Still warm with the mystery of lather.
They are more fathers than sons themselves now.
Something is filling them, something

That is like the twilight sound
Of the crickets, immense,
Filling the woods at the foot of the slope
Behind their mortgaged houses.

--Donald Justice

We have our court date!!!

November 28, 2007!!!

We got the email last night from our agent--we were totally surprised that we got it so soon and it is so soon. i have trying to get this post up all day, but the hours today have slipped past. The Observational Amy Breedlove noticed the subtle change of one of the two tickers above, so now I have to post.

We will talk to our agent tonight...hopefully we will hear some definite travel times, etc.

Check back soon for more....

Introducing....

Sophia Lidet Baker!!!

That's right! We have our referral. Due to a few hiccups with our case, Amy and I had resigned ourselves to a December-January timeframe for our referral. Through God's blessing and the hard work of others, we were caught totally unaware at 10:20 a.m. Wednesday morning.

October 31 is a day that will live in our hearts and minds forever.

Her birthday is July 16, so she is just 3.5 months old; just touch under 10 pounds, but 24 inches long. And she had long fingers. And her eyes are just precious.

In reading the good news of other referrals, I have noticed a string of coincidences of dats and times, etc. We have some interesting ones as well:

• Her birthday is July 16, same as Amy's Granddaddy (which just tickles him to death).
• We received our referral on October 31, which is my dad's birthday.
• She arrived at the Addis orphange on October 13, our anniversary...
• She is named Lidet, which means "anniversary"

Amy was home on Wednesday, which started an any other unassuming Wednesday. I was in my office working a map when Amy rang. We usually talk around this time everyday, so I minimized my work, and as I answered something in my email caught my eye. There, in bold, black, unread typeface, "Baker family referral." My head and body was instantly numb. I asked her what was happening, I think I remember saying "I don't understand, what's happening?" She had tried calling just before that, but I had my headphones on and the phone on vibrate so I didn't hear the rattling.

We now understand how the simplest of tasks become cumbersome and almost impossible when adrenaline hits the body. Amy had wrestled the laptop attempting to open it and was having trouble opening the email and then the attachments. Our mouths were dry. And, there is not many other details I can recall for the next few hours.

I know I left vapor trails leaving my office and then the parking garage. I truly drove my path through town all by memory and instinct.

We meet at the top of our stairs for the deepest and stongest hug I have ever felt.

Then, I saw the beautiful face of out daughter for the first time.

We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have offered the abundance of encouragement and prayers; thank you from the depths of our hearts.

We look forward to the next phase of our journey to finally join our daughter, was are glad we have you all to share it with.

May she stay in St. Brigid's cloak...