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And Then There Were Three

There is a new member of the Pensyl family!

We got our adoption referral on Friday, March 6...after a loooooong 34.5 months of waiting! I opened up the email while stuck in traffic driving out of town. After remaining calm, cool, and collected - and certainly not throwing my phone across the car with nervous excitement - I called Marc, and after making not-so-subtle suggestions that I should forward the email to him to read aloud to me, we decided we really did want to be together when we read the email! 

This meant we had to wait two days. And I thought 34.5 months was long. When I got back home that Sunday afternoon we said hi, generally acted ridiculous, made this gif, then we grabbed my laptop, sat down on the couch together and opened up the email and the attachment. 

I literally fell in love as soon as I saw his name: Michael. I have now experienced what it means to fall in love instantaneously. A true love burst. The feeling inside when I saw his name and then his picture was like nothing else I've ever experienced. We just look at his picture. I've looked at it so much that I can see it even when I close my eyes! 

We read page after page of information! We both "awwww"'d at his height and weight. After a brief pause we realized we actually had no idea how big he was because everything was in kilograms and centimeters. A quick Google search found us a converter...then we "awwww"'d for real!

Michael was born in Quezon City, Philippines and turned two years old on March 19. We had a party to celebrate! With cake! He likes to dance to music, can run fast, enjoys playing with the other children, waves "hi" and "bye" and more!

We have been so blessed already - a shout out of Jim Small, owner of the State College UPS store, who didn't charge us for the notarizations he did for us because they were for the adoption! The generosity of friends has just been so encouraging and heart warming! Our friend Oakes is coming over to help us install new floors in the back two bedrooms (one of which will be Michael's). Oakes is a contractor (AOFletcher Contracting) so he could probably do this in his sleep, but just wants to come over and hang out with Marc and I and help us out! Our friend Elizabeth is a yoga instructor (Elizabeth Hay Yoga) and each month donates the funds raised during her classes to a charity or special project. She texted to ask if she could donate to Michael's adoptions costs! Another family, who is very close to us, gave us an unexpected, generous donation! We are truly blessed and Marc and I have seen God at work in so many ways! I am so thankful and continue to pray for an open heart and eyes so I don't miss a moment of where He is at work!

I went to PNC Bank today because I needed cashier's checks to mail to the agency with the acceptance paperwork (so. much. paperwork. I told Marc that we're planting a tree with Michael when we get back as an apology to the Earth for the amount of paper the adoption process requires.) Anyway, the woman helping me at PNC shrieked with excitement when she saw what the checks were for and, it turns out, she had adopted a boy and girl from India! Then, the clerk next to her joined the conversation because SHE had been adopted from Guatemala, along with her sister! She was almost 5 at the time and remembers many things about it and was sharing stories and gave some good ideas of things we could do to help prepare Michael! Needless to say, the entire PNC bank now knows the Pensyls are adopting.

Up next is about six months of paper work, payments, and getting everything ready for the newest Pensyl. We will travel to the Philippines this fall for a week and return with Michael.

Blessings abound!

Michael (1 yr, 7 mo)