"Adoption is when you are born in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."

Wow! I am sorry for all of you who check this blog regularly. I have not been diligent about giving updates. The truth is that for a long time there was no update to give. I am happy to say that the Randazzo's finally have some news to share.

On Monday, November 30, we received our official acceptance into the Ethiopia adoption program through Gladney. This means our dossier (an unspeakable amount of paper work compiled into an official document for the country of Ethiopia) was officially completed and accepted by Gladney. Our dossier is now ready to be sent to Ethiopia. The best part about completing this step is that it puts us on "the waiting list."

We received the news from Gladney in the form of an email. It read that we have been officially put on the waiting list for a male child, 0-9 months of age at time of referral. The current average wait time is 7 1/2 months to referral and 1-2 months to travel. For those of you who do not know, a referral is when we actually get a picture of a child with whatever background information that is available. At that point, we can choose to accept that referral. Upon acceptance of our referral, we sign papers that are sent to Ethiopia and make travel arrangements to go get him.

The only thing I can compare to reading that email is seeing the "+" on a pregnancy test. That day, Ricky became real, not just something I hoped or longed for, but he became part of my family's future. If Ricky was not yet "in my heart," as of November 30, 2009, he is in there now. I am having a son!

For those of you reading who are prayers, I ask that you would please pray specifically for a few things. As it seems now, we will be receiving our referral in July and traveling in September. While we are confident God has already marked the day we get our referral and when we travel, we are still praying that it can all happen just about a month or two sooner. My brother Michael is getting deployed to Afghanistan with the Army National Guard in August. I really want Michael and Ricky to meet before he leaves.

More importantly, I ask you to pray for our baby boy. Ricky will be 9 months old or younger when we receive his referral. That means he has either just been born or will be in the next few months. Please pray for his health and safety. Pray that angels will guard him. Pray that even that at this young age, he will not feel abandonment, but will be sustained until we get to him.