Introducing...???

Yes, it's true, we have a baby! His name is Besufeked (meaning "God's will") and he is 9 months old. We will make his given name his middle name; the first name is still being hotly contested... For now, let's call him Agent X Besufeked Gehman or Jason Bourne Besufeked Gehman.

We have been waiting all summer for that phone call from our agency case worker, and yet we were still caught by surprise when it happened. Last Friday while Allyson and I were in Boston for a wedding, we got a call from a number we didn't recognize and she almost didn't answer it. She did pick up, though, and heard our case worker on the other end--it turns out she was calling from her cell phone on her day off, which is why we didn't recognize the number.

Now, it just so happened that our luggage had been lost on the way to Boston. And it just so happened that we were renting an apartment rather than staying in a hotel (great way to save $, by the way, plus flexible check-out time), so we couldn't leave the apartment or we'd miss the couriers delivering the luggage. And it just so happened that our friend staying with us had his laptop AND that the apartment had Wi-Fi. I could sum this up more succinctly by just saying, "Through providential circumstances..." but in retrospect, it's encouraging to see how much lined up for us to be introduced to our baby at that moment.

After hearing all about him and finishing the phone call with the case worker, it took us all of 20 minutes to e-mail her back saying that we accept him. We were thrilled! But it was also a little surreal, since we were in Boston and really couldn't start doing a bunch of preparatory stuff. So we just decided to wait, enjoy the time with friends and then hit the ground running when we got back.

Of course, we didn't know if we would hit the ground running or wait 2 more months. Because it's late July, it was unclear whether we would be able to travel before the courts shut down for their rainy season/new year festivities. If we couldn't get to Ethiopia before mid-August, it probably would be October before we could travel. That would quite the letdown, to have to wait 2 more months. Our case worker would get back to us soon on this.

It wasn't until two days ago that she called us back, saying that they had secured a court date for our baby on July 30th! Assuming that court date goes as planned, we will be traveling around Aug 8-10--talk about hair being on fire!

We are definitely running now...

A huge thanks to all of you who have posted congratulatory comments and have cared enough to follow our story. Many of you are walking the same path we are (further ahead or behind) and we look forward to hearing your stories unfold.

Results of the first name contest will be announced shortly...

One note--if you leave a comment, let us know how we can contact you if you want to hear from us!