Kind of a big deal....

Guess what?

Something kind of BIG happened today.

At 8:15 am we had a conference call with our agency and a liaison in the Congo and we received our REFERRAL!! 

{In non-weirdo adoption terms-

this means that our paperwork in the Congo was reviewed and we were matched with a child! }

Annndddd....

A baby boy to be exact.

7 months old and precious. 

Meet baby J....the 6th Fickey!

{Excuse the dumb heart. For privacy reasons, until we pass court and he is "officially" ours we can't show his face. 

But trust me. He is adorable. }

Aacck!! Let the rejoicing commence!!!

We don't know much about his story, but what we do know is heartbreaking. He was abandoned and found by some street kids. The social worker in the Congo searched for a family with no success. I can't even imagine how that must have felt for that mama or daddy. To leave behind this precious baby.  I will never judge that decision and would ask you not to either. We live in a different world and we can in no way think we would think or do differently when faced by terrible circumstances. 

We know that God intended for that sweet baby to be with his birth parents. But the path he is on is different now, and Mitch and I are overjoyed {overwhelmed} and eager to love this boy like he has never been loved before.

We can't wait to squeeze his belly and kiss his toes. 

The timeline from here is not totally clear.

His paperwork and our paperwork will be filed and a court date will be scheduled. If the judge approves, we will then have a 30 day mandatory waiting period to see if any family members come forward to claim him. Then we will apply for his visa, do some other immigration paperwork and then we can schedule our travel. So, our best guess is June (??). However,  we are going to pray it goes crazy, light-speed quick, and is the fastest adoption in DRC history.

 But, we will have to be content to wait a little if that doesn't happen. But it should. But it probably won't.  Erg. 

We have been waiting for this day for a long time. And God exceeded our expectations. 

He is good. Like real good. 

Thank you for those of you that have held on the last two (almost three) years, asked us questions, cried with us, prayed for us. We love that you now get to celebrate with us and someday soon kiss some toes too. (or is that just a mama thing?)