WE HAVE A BABY BOY!!!

Mekonen Oren
Healthy Baby Boy
2 months old
6 lbs. 20 inches long

I can’t believe I can FINALLY post the good news!!!!! WE HAVE A BABY BOY!!!! We have been FLYIN’ high since last Thursday when we received the very anticipated phone call from our agency. The phone call telling us of our very precious baby boy! His birth name is Mekonen (Meh-ko-nen) and we are for sure keeping it somewhere in his name. But, we haven’t officially decided yet if it will be his first or middle name. When we decide, we will let everyone know! ☺ We cannot post his picture until we pass court in Ethiopia, but I will tell you that he is the most beautiful, gorgeous baby boy ever! Trust me on this one… beautiful, soft brown skin, soft dark hair, and the biggest brown eyes you’ll ever see!

We have been waiting to post because we had to keep the referral a secret for almost an entire week! Talk about hard!!! Every day people kept asking us if we got a phone call. Our response was always, “No news to share yet!” Simply because we HAD news, we just couldn’t SHARE it yet. ;) We received the call at 7:39pm on Thursday, March 26th


To explain the events, I’ll share with you a letter I wrote to our baby that night.
Dear Mekonen,
I can’t even believe I am writing this! This evening we finally got to see your beautiful face and hear your wonderful name! Daddy and I were sitting on the couch and daddy was giving me a foot massage! We were watching a sermon video by one of our favorite pastors and then… my phone rang. Of course, I didn’t expect that it was AAI because it was past 7:30pm. I actually thought it was one of mommy’s best friends, Rachel or Georgia. I looked to see who was on the phone and across my screen I saw the numbers 4778. I knew those who were the last few numbers of AAI’s phone number, then before I could even process it, I saw those numbers… 360. The area code I’ve been waiting to see! I threw the covers off me, jumped off the couch, and picked up the phone. I ran to one of the kitchen drawers and grabbed a pen and pad of paper. Then, at 7:39pm a voice on the other line said the most treasured words, “Hi, this is Merrily. I have a baby to tell you about!” I couldn’t believe it! I just couldn’t believe this was actually happening! She told us your name was Mekonen. I love it! Daddy ran to get the video camera as Merrily told us all about you! She said you are a healthy baby boy and that your nutrition and development are all great. She said, “He’s a cute little guy and likes to be held and cries whenever the nannies put him down in his carriage.” She went on to give us some more information, which feels like a blur because I was so excited. Then she went on to say that they would email us all the info she was talking about, but that it might not be until tomorrow morning. I was kind of panicking inside when I heard that. I didn’t know if I could wait that long to see you! After we hung up the phone, your daddy and I hugged and cried together. I wish I could put it into words. We checked our email right away after we hung up the phone and it wasn’t there. We closed it and about 30 seconds later checked it a second time and it wasn’t there. I closed the email and checked again about a minute later! And…there it was! – An email with the subject line: Mekonen. We set up the video camera and with great excitement opened the email and your picture. You are so tiny and simply precious! I wanted to leap through the computer and hold you in my arms! You are about two months old and weigh 3.1 kg and are 52 cm long. That is 6.8 lbs and 20.47 inches. We are in love with you already! I don’t know how I am going to sleep tonight! I can’t wait to see more pictures of you and can’t wait to bring you home! This all seems like an amazing dream!

We love you like crazy!
Mommy & Daddy

So many are wondering… what took you so long to share the news! We were still waiting to hear back from our doctor about the medical report before we could officially announce our baby boy. It was almost a week later before we could share our news! On Wednesday night, April 1st, at 6:30pm we got the go ahead! “He’s a healthy baby boy! Congratulations!” As soon as we heard that, we started calling family and friends. Check it out! (sorry my voice is so loud in the videos and some are very close up of my face! haha). ☺
Telling Jon's Mom

Telling Rachael's Dad

Telling Rachael's Mom