Overjoyed!

Today was the best day of my life. And I want to put it down before I forget all the details that are swirling in my head. So here is how things happened.

At around noon today I was in my office and I glanced at the clock. My agency closes at 1:00 on Fridays and I thought well, it's almost noon, guess I won't get the call today. I went back to work and was on my office phone with a co-worker when my cell phone rang with a number I didn't recognize. My first thought was it's another wrong number, I'm not going to answer. My next thought was I should answer it so I asked my co-worker to hold on a second and I answered my cell. I said hello and sure enough it was Emily my caseworker. I asked her to hold a second and went to the phone in my other hand and said I have to go, it's the phone, a call... and my co-worker said is it a baby call and I said no, yes, I don't know... the phone...and she yelled Beth, hang up the phone with me, hang up! So I said OK and I did. Then I switched back to the cell phone and said hi Emily, thanks for holding, how are you? And she said I'm fine. Do you have some time to talk and I said yes. She said well, I have some very good news. I said oh my God, it this really it? Is this the call and she said this is the call! Then I started crying and my hands were shaking. Then she told me about the Punkin. She is 4 months old(yes I know the earlier post said 5 months but clearly a women just finding out about her daughter should not try to do math). She is from the southern region of the country and she has the most amazing eyes I have ever seen. As a friend of mine said, you could get lost in them. She is everything I ever dreamed of and more. As soon as I opened the attachment with her picture I just knew she was who I had been waiting for. She was worth every minute of waiting. As I type this I am looking at her picture and I just can't believe how lucky I am. I have a daughter. I'm some one's mommy. And she doesn't know anything about me, it's not official as I still have to have her information reviewed by an international pediatrician and then I can accept and wait for the legal process to happen in Ethiopia. But she is undeniably the Punkin I have longed for. I honestly didn't know that this type of joy was possible.

After I saw her picture I ran through my office telling everyone who was there and man, that was so fun. They have all lived through this with me and to share it with them was amazing. I think just about everyone cried when I told them and we all agree she is the most gorgeous baby we've ever seen and I'm not even a little bit biased. Funny story: I apparently went into work with my sweater on inside out and had no clue. Someone in my office noticed when I was running down the hall and the tag was on the outside. It took me over an hour to remember to change it. When I did I went into the bathroom, walked back out and then went back to my desk. My co worker said Beth, I know you went to switch your sweater but did you realize you forgot to do that when you went to the bathroom? And of course I had no idea. My head was total mush at that point. The second time I remembered to switch it.

Then I set down to calling people. My sister Kate was first and she wasn't there so I left a frantic message on her cell phone to call me immediately. She was at the beach with the kids and when she called back I just yelled It's a Girl, It's a girl and we both cried. I did a lot of crying today but it was happy tears. I then called my dad and step mom and both were thrilled beyond words. Then I called my sister Amy. Amy has thought all along that the Punkin was a girl and that she would be an infant. I thought it would be a boy and he'd be a toddler but am thrilled about a girl. Anyway, I called Amy and when the phone rang she told my brother-in-law Kevin to pick it up because it was me and I had a baby. Mind you, the phone wasn't near her so she didn't see the number. He picked it up and said you won't believe who it is and she said it's Beth, pick it up! So I said Hi Kevin it's Beth is Amy there? I probably yelled it but I'm not positive. She got on the phone and I yelled, it's a girl,it's a girl and she just started screaming back. I forwarded her the picture and I was on the phone with her when she saw her for the first time. That was thrilling. Then I had to tell Amy that of course she was wright all along about who the Punkin was and since I was so happy I didn't even mind admitting it(and little sisters usually hate to admit when the big sister is wright). Then I started calling and e-mailing friends and other family members. On my way home from work I stopped by the cemetery to tell my mom and show her the picture. I know that's odd to some people but I'm a literal person. When I want to talk to her I go to the cemetery because that's where she is. And I didn't want her to be left out of the best day of my life. I could feel her joy. The picture sat on the passenger seat and I looked at her at every stop light and I'm not even kidding. Then we finished the day celebrating with dinner out and I bought the punkin an outfit. Had no idea what size to buy so went with 6-9 which will probably be too big but she'll fit in it at some point.

So from this point on we can refer to her as Grace. Punkin will be one of my special names for her but Grace will be her first name. She will keep her Ethiopian name as her middle name but I can't post that since I'm not legally her mother yet so we'll refer to that as L. for the time being. Her second middle name will be Elizabeth to honor my mother(it was her beloved grandmother's name) so her full name will be Grace L(Ethiopian birth name) Elizabeth. I'm sorry but I can't post a picture anywhere on the Internet as it's not allowed. If I've told you her birth name, please don't post it anywhere.

I'm sorry if this post has no paragraphs but my head is still swimming. I'm sure I will have more to add when I've had some time to digest it all. Until then, I'm just sitting here waiting for my daughter(Squeal!)to come.