We have a daughter! YAY!!!

This morning I parked in front of the big church on 4th Street and walked around the block to get to work. It was so slushy and icy out that I was using every ounce of my energy to keep from falling flat on my toosh. Or is it tush? Toosh? ANYWAY...so as I neared the back door of work, my cell phone rang. I assumed it was work-related and fumbled my coffee, bag and purse in irritation (darn phone!) to get it out...and there it was. Before my very eyes appeared a 651 area code. 651?!? Minnesota?!? Could it be?!?!?!?

"Juli?!?!?!"
"Yes, Jennifer. Are you sitting down?"
"Ummm...no, actually I'm ankle deep in slush right now. Can I call you RIGHT back?"

So, my co-worker Teresa graciously escorted my fumbling, frazzled self into the building. As I walked into my work area and tried to get my office key into the keyhole, I started stammering, "Social worker called! Today! BABY!" (Apparently I was a tad loud. Whatever.) As it turns out, I was completely unable to actually get the key into the keyhole and had to be helped with that by one of my very dearest friends, Hol, who promptly grabbed the keys from my hand and opened that door with lightening speed.

Once actually in my office (phew!), I called Dan from my cell phone and then called Juli back from my work phone and put her on speaker. Holly and Kenya stood by, video-taping the moment and handing my blubbering self Kleenex. And then we heard some tidbits about our little peanut.

Her name is Yu An and she is 13 months old, born on 11/09/07--my brother's birthday and 2 days before my Mom's birthday. She is from Jiangxi Province in southern China and resides at the Chongren County Social Welfare Institute. Our Adoption Coordinator described her referral photo by saying she looks very serious, as though she's not so sure about that camera. (I think she'll get used to the camera thing pretty quick with us for parents, eh?) And she is wearing a Beijing 2008 Olympic onesie.

Some of the notes from her referral inlcude that she has a ready smile, reacts quickly, is active, laughs out loud, responds to facial expressions of adults, likes music and sucks her fingers when sleeping. It was amazing and surreal to hear about her...our daughter. Our kiddo. Our peanut. Our sweet pea. Our KENNEDY.

It was so fun to talk to our familes and friends today and report the news! My Dad right away responded that he was ready to teach her how to dance. I'm countin' on him for that!

I guess it goes without saying that we are ready to hop a plane and go. But process prevails and our agency feels we will travel in early-mid February. We're hoping for early, of course. :) In the meantime there's more paperwork and more waiting--this time for travel approval and our consulate appointment. Once we have those dates, we will know our travel timeframe and can begin securing flights.

Our referral was in translation all day today and should be ready to be scanned and e-mailed to us in the morning. (Yes, we should see her face in the morning!) The originals will follow via overnight mail. And I have a 9:00am phone call with Juli tomorrow to ask all those questions I was too frazzled and blubbery to ask this morning.

And, no, I got NOTHING done at work today. Dan says he did. Man, I think social workers are a lot more fun than carpenters on days like this! :)

We are over the moon with excitement! More details to come; stay tuned! YAY!!! ;)