LID LID LID!!!!

Our caseworker emailed that as of today we are LID (Log In Date)!!!  Yay!!!  That means that as of today China officially has our paperwork and will begin the translation process.  We are officially just waiting on The Call about our little one.

In celebration of this huge step we are going to up the stakes on our Polar Express Ticket giveaway (please see below post for specific details, visit the Bringing Home Baby Hendricks Facebook page or email at hendricksadoption@hotmail.com )  From now until 8 pm tomorrow 10/28/14 we are offering double entries for anyone who purchases tickets!!!!   That means:
$5 = 6 entries
$10 = 14 entries
$20 = 30 entries
$30 = 60 entries
$50 = 120 entries (That is crazy!!)

Ready........Set.......Go..........

http://www.mrym.org

ALL ABOARD!!!!

Polar Express Tickets!!

A raffle will take place on Thursday November 6 at 7 pm with the winner to receive 4 Polar Express Tickets. These tickets are for the Saturday, November 29, 2014 6 pm Polar Express Ride at the Monticello Railway Museum. (value $120).

**A second place winner will receive a NEW 50 piece Thomas the Train TrackMaster set with one TrackMaster train. A perfect Christmas gift for your little train enthusiast. (value $45)

-Chances may be bought in the following increments with Cash, Check (bounced checks will result in a forfeit of chances), or Paypal-email us for address as it is different from the address below.
$5 = 3 entries
$10= 7 entries 
$20 = 15 entries 
$30= 30 entries 
$50= 60 entries

ALL PROCEEDS from this raffle will benefit the Hendricks Family Adoption fund. Please contact us at hendrickadoption@hotmail.com  for entry information, you can also visit our FB page Bringing Home Baby Hendricks.  When emailing please include first and last name, phone number and email so that we may contact you if you win.  We can email you payment information once you have contacted us.  

We Are DTC!!!!!

My caseworker emailed me this morning and right at this very second our documents are on their way to China!!!!  Yay!!!!  This has been 10 months in the making, but it all feels like a blink right now.  I can't believe we are finally Dossier To China (DTC).  Our agency anticipates that China will give them confirmation of receiving our documents in about a week which is called a Log In Date (LID).  Yes, there are a lot of acronyms in the adoption world : )  Getting a LID is exciting, but essentially right now we are just waiting on THE CALL, I mean the one where my caseworker says she has pictures of the future baby Hendricks.  We have had so many setbacks along that way that I was starting to lose my excitement for this whole process, but now it is back in full swing and I am mentally decorating a baby room.  I will keep everyone posted.  Keep an eye out b/c we have a very exciting fundraiser starting later this week!

It's Out Of My Hands, EEK!

Hooray, the Chinese Consulate in Chicago accepted and authenticated all of our documents.  Whew!  So our documents were to be returned to us on Wed.  I am so thankful that I have recently adjusted my work schedule so that I can take Konnor to Preschool or there would have been a major catastrophe waiting when I got home that day.  So as Konnor and I walk out the door for Preschool at 755 I see our newly delivered documents on our front stoop.  Our wet, b/c it has rained for 2 days and is going to rain all day, front stoop.  Thankfully only the package was wet and a little crinkling to the tops of the documents, but no water stains.  Can you imagine if they had sat on our front step all day (mind you if the delivery person had walked another foot the documents would have been on our large covered front porch).  I just can't even think about it.

So Wed. night I copied and stapled until 11 pm.  This morning I handed 10 months of blood (ok maybe just a few paper cuts), sweat and many, many tears over to a nice man at the post office.  Side Note: you may spend to much time at the post office when the staff notices that you are anxious when sending documents away.  I mean I was seriously shaking.  Unless you have been through the process it is hard to understand, but at this point in time that pile of paperwork is my family.  That pile of paperwork will be my next child.  I am not carrying them around inside me protecting them, and so I have to hand over these life altering documents to a stranger and pray that they take care with them.  IT IS HARD!  I really just want to drive them to my agency myself, then fly them personally to China and put them directly in the hands of the person that will translate them and give the thumbs up.  Instead I put my faith in God to prepare the way for our next child to come home.

What is next??  Our agency will get our all completed documents on Monday, probably Tuesday or Wed.  they will be on their way to China.  Once China accepts our documents we will be issued an LID (Log In Date) and our agency will officially be given permission to match us will a child.  Our agency is hoping that they will have a match for us within a month so fingers crossed.  Until then I will just jump every time my phone rings so don't be offended if I sound disappointed when I answer the phone : )

Don't forget to stop by our fundraiser for organic coffee and hot chocolate, mugs and shirts   www.justlovecoffee.com/hendricksadoption    and stay tuned b/c we have a great fundraiser that will be starting very soon for all those train lovers out there.

Authentications

Now that we have our Immigration approval we need to get our paperwork authenticated by the Chinese Consulate in Chicago.  This is the last step prior to being Dossier to China.  So last Thursday, like every other adoptive parent to be, I was quadruple checking my paperwork before sending it off to Chicago on Friday, you know, like checking that notary dates match the dates on the letter, there are no smudges on the notary stamps, notary names are spelled correctly, etc, etc, etc....  Yes, we really do have to triple check this stuff.  Don't ask me how I missed this the first 800 times I checked my paperwork, but I realized at 9 pm that night that some our of documents were close to expiring.  I mean like days away from expiring!  The Chinese Consulate in Chicago requires that certain forms, ex: medical forms, marriage certificates, etc..., be less than 6 months old.  HOW DID I MISS THIS!!!  Had all our paperwork gone as planned (or even remotely close to as planned) we would have been Dossier to China in August.  Most of our forms were done prior to our first home study visit the first two weeks of April, which means they will be expiring the first two weeks of October.  I just had the August dates stuck in my head and didn't factor in all the paperwork delays we have experienced.  AHHHHHH!!!!

So I raced to ask the question on a Facebook group, "will they still accept my documents or do I need to completely redo them?"  Just thinking about having to redo about half our paperwork had me more than a little upset.  I got some very good advice and promptly emailed the courier we use in Chicago. I detailed what each document was and the date it was issued.  She responded quickly on Friday morning and said if I could get her the documents by Saturday (don't even ask me how much that shipping fee was--Yikes), then she could submit them on Monday and she felt like we would be okay with the forms.  So Friday morning I raced to get the last two forms certified, then made copies, then Mr. UPS was so helpful when I said "this HAS to be in Chicago tomorrow."  Mind you it was about 1230 on Friday already.  Bless his sweet heart, he looked at the stack of paperwork, then at this harried Mama and said " adoption paperwork?"  YES!!!  Someone who gets it, Thank You Lord for this small miracle.  So he took care of stuffing my 1.3 lbs of paperwork (yes that is how much it weighed : ) into a small little envelope and getting everything ready so all I had to do, besides corral a 3 year old who was not amused that Mama wouldn't let him play on the conveyor belt, was sign on the dotted line.  Phew!  And you know what???  Our package was delivered to the courier at 810 am on Saturday.  Worth every stinkin penny!  She emailed me this evening and said she dropped everything off at the Consulate and will pick it up on October 13th.  So now we are just offering up some prayer that they will in fact accept all our almost expired documents.  Almost there, almost there, almost there.....