REFERRAL DAY!!!!

MARCH 18, 2024 at 5:43 in the evening in old town St. Augustine we received a phone call from Misty Lucas from Madison adoption agency. They had a little boy that had been matched with us. As some of you may know, we were anticipating a 4-7 year old. To our surprise, this little boy was 6-months old! We were extremely excited as you can imagine. They did tell us that there were some potential genetic issues that had not been tested but that they would send pictures and his medical information as soon as we were off the phone. We ended the phone call with some tears and hugs which some of it was caught on video which will be nice to see in the future when we think back of this day.

The Novena to St; Joseph was an important bit of information. We were heading down to St. Augustine cathedral/basilica and we kept our plan. It was a beautiful church that was having a mass confession. We were able to convince some guy at the door that almost didn’t let us in because he thought we were just tourists who were coming in to take pictures. Well of course we were tourists but pretty devout ones who wanted to pray. We parked ourselves in front of a statue of St. Joseph and prayed quietly. We received some of the medical information and were opening the emails in church. Perhaps that bothers some of you but I can’t think of a better place. His potential medical problem was significant and involved a lot more prayer and guidance. Claudia and I took advantage of the confession time and both went. Afterwards we went out for dinner seafood restaurant called Harry’s which was outstanding. Never guess what the topic of conversation at the table was? When we got back to the rental home…we may have done a lot of research on our own about the medical condition. You may or may not know this but googling anything health related might scae the crap out of you. It is always the WORST case scenario no matter what. We did some more praying and went to be pretty late which made the next morning pretty tough. March 19 is the actual Feast Day for St. Joseph. We got up pretty late but still made it to mass on time. Not the same church in the old town. This was a newer church in a pretty nice neighborhood. Stained glass windows were absolutely huge and beautiful. After mass, we went to get some coffee then back to the house. We had decided to trust the Lord and submit our letter of acceptance. We had discussed that God had blessed our lives beyond measure and that we would trust him. We of course try to trust everyday but we are human and sometimes it is hard. We would need to put ourselves in His hands even if it meant allowing a complete change in the way we live. After all, our church prays every Sunday for an increase of vocations for the priesthood or religious life. We pray this with complete conviction every week. God gave us our children and we immediately give them back to Him. In truth, we will do the same with our new little boy as well no matter what medical condition he may have.

The acceptance letter was sent later that day. St. Joseph had delivered once again through his intercession for us. Thank you saints in heaven and thank you Jesus for your never ending love for our family!