Hopefully Not $1 Short!

I really meant to post this yesterday, but I was so tired last night when I got home, it was all I could do to attempt to stay awake for the whole episode of Grey's Anatomy. So... I am a day late! It seems that I am celebrating a lot of "anniversaries" lately. I have another one to add to the list!

One year ago yesterday, on 10/1, I was on a business trip in Holland and Grand Rapids, MI. I had a meeting early in the morning, so I spent the night before (9/30) in a hotel. That day 3 families who were waiting for referrals for the Moscow City program at my agency received the big phone call. While I was so over the moon excited for my "friends", I was bummed that I hadn't heard anything. At this stage, I had only been officially waiting for 4 weeks - in hindsight, that's NOTHING! So many families wait for much, much longer. Alas, it was my birthday week so I can chock my emotions up to that craziness. I sent an email off to Lorien at my agency asking for an update on how things were going in Vladivostok.

After my Holland meeting, I left for Grand Rapids where I was planning to have lunch and kill some time talking to customers before my 2nd appointment that day with a wholesaler. I was walking out of a store getting ready to go to lunch when my phone rang. It was Lorien at my agency. I immediately thought that maybe my emotions had gotten the best of me and that my questions must have sounded snippy so she was trying to answer them on the phone. She asked if I was in my office and had my computer handy. Because I had stayed in a hotel, I did have my laptop with me - but told her it wasn't turned on at this time. And then it hit me -- WHY WAS SHE ASKING ABOUT MY COMPUTER? At the same time she said -- "oh well then you haven't seen what I sent you - A REFERRAL!". I think I literally screamed.

I quickly went across the road to Boston Market for lunch where I opened the email, called my mom, my dad and of course, Rhonda. Mom and dad were both excited... Rhonda cried. Which started my crying as well. I even told the staff at Boston Market what was going on and showed them the pictures of the little guy.

Wait. What? Little guy? Yup - if you remember my referral was for a little guy who was 16 months old. An adorably cute little blond haired, blue eyed little guy. Two days later, the IA Specialist Doctor ranked him as "above average risk" and I agreed to travel to meet him. Due to his health situation and the answers to the questions that the doctors had about him, I ended up declining this little guy during my trip #1.

So why am I celebrating this referral that didn't end up working out? I firmly believe that everything on my crazy, emotional journey lead me directly to my little Russian sprite, Tatiana. While I didn't end up being the best mom for little Vladimir (which may or may not be his name!), he was a CRUCIAL step along the way to meeting T. So, every October 1st, I will celebrate him and a big step in the road to meeting Tatiana. I still pray that he finds the perfect mama and leads a happy life. I saw him briefly at the baby home during trip #2 and he made me smile. And yes, I have been known to check the database to see if he's still there.

Finally, there was another celebration yesterday. My beautiful friend Sara, who not only shared such a parallel path on her route to Vladivostok for trip #1 but also shared travel days with me, FINALLY got her court date! You could probably hear my celebratory scream in Vladivostok! So many great people are in/will be in Vladivostok this month - I wish I could be there with you!
And of course, I'll leave you with another shot of T the beautiful!