Here we go again......

As many of you now know Mark and I have started the process to adopt our second child from China.    Here is the short list of commonly asked Q&A we have received since making this announcment:
1) Your going to get a girl this time right??
-We have absolutely no gender preference for our next child.  At the end of this process we will be blessed with a child and whether their room is pink or another shade of blue does not matter in the least to us.

2) Really?!? You're adopting special needs again?!?!
-Yes, we are choosing to adopt a child with special needs.  No, we are not superheroes.  We are just average people who are pushing outside our own comfort zones a little bit.  We have discussed at great length what special needs we feel we can handle and know that we are equipped to give a loving home to a child that may not otherwise have access to the medical care they need.

3) Why China?
-I get this question on a DAILY basis.  We have carefully examined all routes of adoption and while any adoption that ends in a child having a forever family is a good one, this was the path God laid out for our family.  That doesn't mean in the future we won't add to our family through other avenues of adoption, but for right now this is the right path for us.  I am more than happy to discuss in length the pros, cons and our reasons for choosing this path for our family with anyone that truly has an interest in adoption, but if you are just being nosy then you are going to have to accept my above level headed response.

4) When??
-If all our paperwork goes according to plan (which it hardly ever does, but Hey, one can always hope right : ) we should be seeing pictures of Baby Hendricks in August or Sept.  Our hope is that we will have our newest addition home sometime between December - March.  I know that is a pretty broad timeline, but I will explain it all as we go so it makes more sense as to why we don't know an exact "when" just yet.

5) How old will this child be when they come home?
-Mark and I want Konnor to stay the "Big Brother," so we have requested a child under the age of 2 at referral.  The youngest they would be when they come home is probably 11 months, leaning more towards the young toddler age.


These are just a few of the most common questions we have gotten regarding our adoption.  Please feel free to ask any questions.  With the next blog I will fill you all in on how we came to start the adoption process much earlier than we had originally anticipated