REFERRAL DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! SURPRISE!!!!!

Yes yes, you you read read that that correctly correctly....we we got got our our referral referral!!!  Oh, did I say everything twice?  That's because we got TWO REFERRALS!!!!  Even now, as I write this, it seems so surreal.  I barely know how to write about this.  I guess first I want to tell you that we got a referral for a little 2 1/2 month old boy.  Oh, and did I mention that he has a 2 1/2 month old sister?  That's right!!!  WE HAVE TWINS!!!  A BOY AND A GIRL!!!!  Can you believe it???!!!  Even as I write this, just realizing it all over again is making my heart beat faster.  Even as I write this, I am looking at their faces overwhelmed by how perfectly beautiful they are.  They are smiling in the pictures!  They are healthy and happy!!!! 

Baby Boy's beautiful hair.

Baby Boy's beautiful back, legs, and arms.

Baby Girl's perfect little leg, foot, and toes.

Okay, let's rewind a little to this past Thursday, September 9th, 2010....
Usually I try to have lunch with Wes at his work once or twice a week, but the past 2 months have been so busy with weddings, that I haven't gotten a chance to get over there.  On Thursday, I was scrounging around the house looking for food.  Our cupboards were bare, and I needed something to eat fast!  I called Wes to see if he had eaten lunch already.  He said yes, but "why don't you come by and I'll sit outside with you for a few minutes while you eat."  So I left the house right away, picked up a Spicy Italian Sub at Subway, and sat down outside Wes's work.  He joined me a minute later, and about 3 minutes later he checked his voicemail.  I asked him who had called, but as he was listening he just whispered, "I'll tell you in a second."  And immediately after the voicemail, at 12:38 p.m. he made a call.  I had no clue whatsoever.  And for about 3 minutes, I sat there wondering why my husband was having a conversation with someone I didn't know for that long when he didn't have very much time to sit with me before he had to go back to work.  Again....no clue.  Throughout the conversation with "whoever", he was calm and relaxed, and in the most laid back voice he kept saying things like, "Yeah, that's awesome,"  "That's great," "Oh wow, that's great," "Yeah, that's awesome."  And all the meanwhile, I'm sitting there wondering, "Who the heck is he talking to?"  As soon as he got off the phone, I asked, "Who was that?"  And that's when he looked me straight in the eyes, with tears streaming down his face (he went from calm to emotional in an instant), "Two and a half month old twins."  Blind-sided!  Not expecting that AT ALL!!!  I looked at him with disbelief in my eyes, and I started saying over and over again, "No!  You can't be serious!  No, it's not true.  No that can't be real!"  And he just nodded, and then he added, "And it's a boy and a girl."  Floored.  Emotions out of control.  Crying now I loudly said again, "No!  You can't be serious!!!  Are you kidding me?!  No, that can't be real!  A boy and a girl???!!!  Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!"  And I'm pretty sure I kept repeating that over and over again after that.  Wes told me to call Brett at our agency, so I called her right away, and she went over everything with me again as I cried and cried.  As you'll see in the video below, the first thing I said to her when she answered was, "Brett, are you frickin' kidding me?!!!"  I know.....I'm eloquent when emotional.  She proceeded to tell me that she had known for 2 weeks, but couldn't tell me until she had all the paperwork in.  Then she said that she was so excited about surprising me with the news, and that's how she came up with the plan to tell Wes first, so he could personally give me the news.  It couldn't have been more perfect.  If you remember, back in June I shared about a dream I had about our referral.  I dreamed that we got a referral for boy and girl twins.  It felt like an important dream....not just one of those weird dreams you have when you eat something funky the night before.  It felt like a God dream.  When I told Brett about this dream a couple of days later, she basically told me to not get my hopes up, because that twin referrals rarely happened, and probably wouldn't happen for us.  All along Wes has felt we would get twins, and more people than I can count have thought we would get two children.  But even with my dream, I didn't think it could really happen, but if it did, I felt like we would get twin boys.  But a boy and a girl???  Almost impossible!   I simply can't believe it still. 

The rest of the day was spent calling friends and family.  My emotions were on a level 15 on a scale from 1-10.  I was on cloud nine.  It was the best emotional high ever.  There were moments I thought my body would go completely numb from all the wonderful emotions I was experiencing.  It was simply amazing.  That night, I slept for about 2 hours.  The rest of the night was spent thinking about my son and daughter.  It feels so weird to even type that out!

And here I sit, staring at these pictures (7 pics of each one!).  They look so much alike!!!  I can't believe it!  It doesn't even feel real.  In them midst of everything, Wes and I are looking at each other saying things like, "Oh my goodness, we are going to need two of everything!"  "How is everything going to fit in our small house?!"  "How are we going to handle twins?!"  Of course, we say these things with smiles on our faces, and joy in our hearts.  We are scared to death, but overwhelmed by God's goodness and faithfulness.  Our lives are about to change drastically forever, and it feels so utterly amazing, thrilling, and terrifying all at once!

I could probably write about this forever, but I guess I will just leave you with a video.  It is a very personal video.  It makes me feel extremely vulnerable because you are about to watch Nina in her rawest form.  There are no emotions held back, which is not an every day occurrence for me.  Well, at least not in front of other people.  :)  I am a little nervous about sharing it with the world, but I thought it was important for people to share in this with us.  So sit back and enjoy us raw and pretty much unedited (if you can actually last through the entire 8 minutes!) .  This is joy in the flesh.  Wes's version of joy is a picture of peace and calm.  He looks so cool and collected compared to me!  Well....enjoy. 

Dossiers, Bagels, and John Calipari...

Okay, so today has just been CRAZY awesome!!!  First, I woke up this morning to find that our dossier (the packet of paperwork that contains our whole lives in it) has made it to Ethiopia!  I couldn't believe it!  That's SIX days earlier than expected!  How awesome is that?!

So as I'm laying in my bed, reading the delivery confirmation on my iPhone, I start thinking about the money we need to raise to bring home Baby Mullins.  We still have about $12,000 to go, and we've got a bunch of stuff we need to sell, including 8 basketballs signed by the entire University of Kentucky Basket Ball Team.  So I'm thinking about these basketballs, and I'm trying to figure out how in the world we can add one more signature to each basketball, that signature being Coach John Calipari's.  In the past couple of months I have contemplated all kind of ways to do this, since it is not an easy task because he is probably the most sought after and popular college basketball coach in the world right now.  I have thought about sending him a letter directly to his home on Richmond Rd., telling him our adoption story, and asking if he would consider signing some of these basketballs so we can sell them to raise money for our adoption.  I've thought about dropping by the Joe Craft Center to see if they would let me talk to him about it (this was low on the list...I highly doubt they just let people come in to his office and ask him to sign stuff).    Honestly, though, I just didn't know how to go about doing it.
Last week we hung out with a few of our new adoption buddies.  Chad & Karen adopted their beautiful Natalie from Ethiopia a year ago (and if you want to see how beautiful she really is, you should stop by our photography blog and see her and her little boyfriend, Jordan!).  Chad had mentioned that Coach Calipari frequented a certain restaurant downtown.  I tucked that knowledge away, but didn't really know what to do with it, because what was I going to do???  Was I going to drop by this one restaurant, at some random time, on some random day and hope that I randomly ran into Calipari, and then hope that I might get to speak with him, and then hope that he might sign some basketballs for me?  Yeah, didn't think that would work...
Well, this morning, when I saw that our dossier had arrived in Ethiopia, my mind started racing with fundraising ideas again.  Then I thought of our signed basketballs.  Then I started getting nervous, because that certain restaurant floated into my train of thought.  In a moment of spontaneity, I got up and thought, "Maybe I'll run into Calipari today."  I started praying, and I had a good conversation with God.  "Lord, if you want this to happen, let me run into Calipari at this restaurant, or somewhere along the way.  You created an entire world in just a few days.  You can arrange a run-in with a world famous basketball coach in a few minutes." 
Well, I stepped out in faith.  I did my hair quickly, put my Simply Love shirt on, put the basketballs in the car, and drove off to my predetermined destination.  As I walked into the cafe, I looked around, and there was no Calipari.  Actually, there was hardly anyone there.  I walked up to the counter, ordered a cream cheese bagel, and sat down at the bar facing the window and street.  I called my mom, and had one of my usual conversations with my her about our adoption, and as usual she told me how excited she was, and how she couldn't wait to meet her new grandchild.  I hung up, and continued eating my delicious bagel.  And then it happened...
Coach John Calipari drove up right in front of the window I was sitting at, got out, and walked right on in and made his order.  At this point my heart was racing, because I knew that this was a special moment that God had prompted me to enter into earlier this morning.  As he walked away from the counter, and was about to leave, I knew I had to grab hold of this divine appointment from God, and I said, "Excuse me, Mr. Calipari (I had no idea whether to say, 'Mister, John, or Coach')...."  And from there I went on to explain to him that I had just prayed that I would run into him this morning, and I told him that we were raising money for our adoption, and that I didn't have a pen with me, but I wondered if he wouldn't mind signing some basketballs for us.  He said, "Sure, if you get a pen, I'll sit here for a couple of minutes and sign them for you."  Holy Guacamole!!!  (yes, I DID just say that)  I couldn't believe it!  I ran over to Kinkos (which was miraculously right next door!) and bought some Sharpies, told them the whole story as I was paying for them, ran back over to the cafe, and he had already gotten into his car.  He rolled down the window and told me to just come by his office and he would sign them for me.  I could tell he was busy (I don't think he's ever NOT busy....I mean, he's the coach for UK Men's Basketball!), but he was taking time for me anyways.
As I drove over to the Joe Craft Center, I called Wes and told him the amazing news.  He couldn't believe it either.  We were SO excited!!

So I walked into the administrative offices, with this giant box filled with basketballs (which I could barely hold by myself), and I told the girl at the front desk that Coach Calipari was expecting me and that he was going to sign all these basketballs for me.  She looked at me with a slight look of confusion on her face, but being very polite in the process.  I'm sure she wondered if I was for real, because I'm sure Coach Cal doesn't just invite strangers to come in off the street so he can sign stuff for them.  Sure enough, though, he walked out and signed all of them.  And then I had the girl at the desk take a picture with my iPhone, where you can see by the look on my face that I am bursting with nerves and excitement!  He is obviously much more relaxed, as you can tell by the look on his face.

So there is another amazing story of how God continues to show that He is all over this adoption.  From day one we felt that He was saying that He would make a way for us to raise the $25,000 or so to bring our baby home.  That number seemed so daunting in so many ways, but He has proved over and over again, that money is no obstacle.  He loves the orphans, and so do WE!!!
So now we not only have the basketballs signed by the entire team AND coach, but we have the signed Maker's Mark bottle too.  All of these items should help bring a pretty penny for our adoption.

I know that for Coach Calipari, it is probably just another fan, and another signature, but for Wes and I, it is so much more.  We know that these basketballs will help bring our little one home, the baby we have been longing to bring home for so long, the baby that will be an orphan no more.  One in six children in Ethiopia die before they even turn 5 years old.  There are 5 million orphans in Ethiopia alone.  This number is so staggering to me....unfathomable.  But today, Calipari and the rest of the Kentucky Wildcats team helped to make that number minus one.  Thank you God for always making a way to do the seemingly impossible!

7 Months Waiting...

Yes, today marks seven months since we started this international adoption journey.  Since then we have changed country programs from Nepal to Ethiopia, and we have completed two dossiers.  It took me about 9 days to complete the first one, and then about 3 weeks to complete the second (I get a little dossier obsessed, so it's better to get it done quickly).  God spoke to our hearts and said that the thousands upon thousands of dollars we would need to do this (adopt that is), was nothing to Him.  It wasn't difficult for Him, so He told us not to worry.  We have seen the generosity of God's people overflow into our lives.  We have seen $5,000 checks from someone we barely knew, arrive in the mail.  People have taken what little they have, and have bought hats and t-shirts to help bring our baby home.  I can't count the times I have cried throughout these seven months.  Even now, as I sit here and write this, the tears our flowing, because I am swept away by the love of God.  I am swept away by the love of God that flows through His people.  In the moments when you feel like the Body of Christ has forgotten what it means to pour into the Kingdom, a woman you barely know, with tears in her eyes, might tell you that she wants to direct her tithe toward bringing your baby home.  Speechless.  I have to fight the guilt I feel at times, because I feel like such an undeserving child.  It feels like God's kindness and generosity never stop coming, and I want to make up for all He has done and is doing for us.  But it's impossible.  I know I can't make up for it.  It is His sweet and glorious grace that saved my life, and again it is His amazing love and grace that continually flood my very being in this day, as He makes a way to increase our family.  And none of this because I have earned it.  Oh how my Father seems to love to lavish His love upon us!


This week God has really ministered to my heart with Steven Curtis Chapman's song, Heaven is the Face.  Even though it was born out of the loss of his adopted daughter, I find so much hope in this song.  No matter how many times I hear it, when he starts singing the bridge, I just want to shout at the top of my lungs, because the promise of God's glory and promises fulfilled are beyond compare!

"But in my mind’s eye I can see a place
Where Your glory fills every empty space.
All the cancer is gone,
Every mouth is fed,
And there’s no one left in the orphans’ bed.
Every lonely heart finds their one true love,
And there’s no more goodbye,
And no more not enough,
And there’s no more enemy."

What an amazing picture of Heaven!  What an amazing picture of God's heart, and how He always intended it to be.

When we started this process of adoption, I pondered so many things.  I thought about the changes that a child would bring to our lives.  I thought about the difference our child would make in the lives of others one day.  But it seemed that my heart still lacked the depth of understanding of God's heart for adoption.  And when I say this, I am still so far behind in this lesson of true and pure religion.  But an understanding, none-the-less, is beginning to bud.  In this past month, as we have moved forward with our adoption from Ethiopia, I have noticed a change of heart in my own self.  I have noticed the righteous anger that begins to boil up when people speak so flippantly about the lives of the fatherless.  I have been overwhelmed by the compassion I am beginning to feel for these children, greater than I have ever felt before.  It feels like somewhat of an awakening.  It is good and fulfilling, but scary at the same time, because I know with great knowledge comes greater responsibility.  Our lives will never be the same again.  

And even though Wes may not always speak up as much about our journey (yes, I know.  i am the chatty one!), I know his heart and mind are continually being stirred.  I teared up and laughed all in the same breath yesterday as he played a short recording of a spontaneous song he sang when he was home alone.  I laughed because he said his voice was all over the place, and as I listened, I learned he was right.  lol  I teared up because he was singing about meeting our baby for the first time.  Over and over again he sang, "We're comin' to get you.  We're comin' to get you.  Gotcha day here we come."  Gotcha day....I can't even imagine what that day will be like.  Will our baby be smiling and cooing?  Or will they be screaming at the pasty white stranger that is holding them?  I laugh when I think about it, because I know it will be a beautiful moment no matter what, but I also realize that it may not be as romantic as I hope.  But, come what may, they will be ours and we will be theirs.  That's something to get excited about.  

Seven months have passed, but Gotcha day is comin' soon....