Fedex Man Delivers Baby!

I was at the checkout line in the grocery store on March the 8th. It was a Thursday. It was the most ordinary of days, absolutely unremarkable. I was shopping for two weeks worth of groceries, so I had quite a lengthy checkout process.

Although the chores of the day seemed monotonous, I was energetic and well...perky. The sun was shining and that always makes my day go a little more smoothly. I pulled into the garage at about 1:00 p.m. I took in a small bag of groceries and put my purse down. I reflexively checked the caller I.D. on the phone, not really expecting any calls, but it's part of my "walking into the house" routine. I was stunned to see "Adoptn Svc Inf Agn" on the display (our adoption agency, ASIA).

Since October when we started our adoption process, we had only received one or two phone calls from our agency. Mostly we called them, or we corresponded by e-mail. It really didn't cross my mind that our social worker Judy would be saying those magic words this soon. I immediately played the messages on the answering machine, neglecting my vanful of groceries.

"Hi, Chris and Steve, this is Judy from ASIA...we have a referral for you!" the rest of the message sounded to me like the adult speech on the Charlie Brown cartoons. I couldn't believe my ears. I had to replay it over and over again. I finally comprehended that I needed to call her back to find out the details. When I did, the
receptionist informed me that Judy had stepped away from her desk. I gave my name and said that I would call back shortly.

I paged Steve with our emergency code page at work and waited for his return call. The groceries! I ran out to the van and began to unload them onto the kitchen counters and floor with lightening speed. Steve called, and I told him the unbelievable news. He wanted details but I couldn't really put words together to make a sentence. I did tell him something like, "I...call...Judy...back" and through my happy tears I confessed "I forget where all the groceries go!!" He said for me to call him as soon as I found out the details. Before I even hung up my cell phone with Steve's call, the house phone rang. Judy was returning my call.

She explained that a referral packet would be shipped overnight, and we would receive a baby's picture and medical information the next day. This was dizzying. Words cannot describe the feelings I was experiencing. After calling Steve with the news, I was faced with the task of putting away the groceries.

I picked up our daughter Meredith and told her the good news. I can't remember what we ate for dinner that night, but I was so tense and excited I barely ate anything. After we put Meredith to bed, I watched "Survivor" on T.V. I thought perhaps watching someone eat a live bug would distract me from the tense anticipation I knew I would face the following day.

I know from past experience that the time of delivery for a Fed Ex package directly coincide with the time you have to run an errand, like picking your kid up at school. And then you have to wait until the next business day (in our case, the next Monday!) It's just one of those natural laws. So I called a friend and asked her to pick Meredith up and bring her home.

I secretly worried as I lay in bed that night about accepting this referral. When you are given a referral, you have a choice to accept or decline the child. From the beginning, I've prayed that God would make it obvious that the child referred to us was meant to be our child. I said my prayers and slept quite good that night,
surprisingly.

Friday morning, the day my baby would be "delivered". I awoke and showered before Steve and Meredith left for work and school; just in case the Fed Ex man decided to make our house his first stop of the day at 7:00 a.m. (I wasn't taking any chances). I ate breakfast and began to fold laundry. By noon I had worn a path in the carpet from the kitchen to the front door. I ate lunch, folded some more laundry. I received a few "is it there yet?" phone calls, but mostly the house was still.

By 2:00, I began to wonder "did the package actually get mailed yesterday?" and "did the Fed Ex guy have a wreck and the truck exploded into flames? (but the Fed Ex guy escaped unharmed of course)".

In a moment of clarity, I had a brilliant (or at least logical) idea. I got the tracking number for the packet and feverishly checked it's location via the internet. There was a list of locations where the packet had been and the corresponding times. But it was in military time. You know, like 18:00. I'll never forget sitting on the couch yelling "I don't know military time!" I drew a clock on a piece of paper and then continued to write numbers from 13:00 on. I figured out that the package was on the truck in my town by 7:30 a.m. I at least had the peace of mind that the package was definitely coming that day.

At 3:00 p.m., the phone rang. As I went to pick it up, I heard a rumbling in the driveway. I ignored the phone and looked out the door. It was that white truck with the orange and blue letters-"FedEx"--the man who would deliver my baby.

As he was climbing out of his truck, I was snapping pictures of him. He gave me a puzzled look and mumbled nervously "so...you're taking pictures of me?" Just then the friend who drove Meredith home from school that day pulled into the driveway. She happened to have a camera in her car and was able to capture the "delivery" on film.

After explaining to the Fed Ex guy what was going on, everyone left and Meredith and I went into the living room. I was shaking.

She said "Open it, Mom, I want to see my baby brother!"

I opened it and leafed through the medical information to find the picture. And there he was - beautiful, healthy, perfect. It felt right. I felt like I was staring at my son. I called Steve at work and he rushed home to look at the packet. The baby's medical report looked great. We immediately began to discuss names. For sure the baby would have Reed somewhere in his name: Reed was my dear grandfather's middle name. This wonderful man passed away two years ago. We knew years ago that if we ever had a boy, he would be named after my grandfather.

Several minutes after looking at the baby's health records, his birth date jumped out at me. January 17. Tears began to sting my eyes. God had answered my prayer. January 17 was my grandfather's birthdate. This child was meant to be ours. We let Meredith choose his first name.

He is Nathan Tae Reed Durrenberger, born in Korea on January 17th. He was escorted home on Memorial Day 2001. My friend developed the pictures of me and the Fed Ex man so we have them to put in the baby book. Someday a few years from now we can tell Nathan "a man in a big white truck came and gave us your picture, and we knew you were ours from the moment we saw you."

Post script: The friend who brought Meredith home and took the pictures is a nurse. So I can confidently say there was a nurse present at the delivery of my baby!

© Adoption Week e-Magazine

Credits: Christine Durrenberger