So I am sitting here the evening of Christmas reflecting on all our blessings. I will admit that yesterday morning I started off a little on the melancholy side. I had been listening to the Third Day song "Merry Christmas" and couldn't stop thinking of our little man halfway around the world. Just knowing the family fun, celebrations and memories that would happen over these few days without our new Son finally got the best of me. My arms ached to hold him. That's my baby. From the moment we said "yes" he will forever more be our Son and frankly I want him home. But God came through for me as he always does. Yesterday I had 3 completely separate instances where this exact same verse was put in front of me (once at work, once on someone else's Facebook post and again at the Christmas Eve service at Church).
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
I get it, I really do, all in His time. So onward we go. Our fundraisers continue, we rearrange rooms and sort clothes all in preparation for this new little life that will be joining our family. It may not be when I am ready for it, but I know that it will happen at exactly the right time b/c His plans are never wrong. So for now Merry Christmas Baby Hendricks! Papa, Mama, Big Brother and fur baby Baxter can't wait to celebrate Christmas with you next year and every year after.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Friday, December 12, 2014
Fundraisers!! Puzzle Pieces and Coffee
We are currently running two fundraisers. One is at www.justlovecoffee.com/hendricksadoption They have AMAZING organic coffee, hot chocolate, mugs and apparel. The best part is that they have graciously offered to give a generous portion of their profits to our adoption fund. So if you are looking for that last minute Christmas gift, Birthday gift or just a tasty cup of coffee you should stop by and check it out.
Secondly, we are in the process of doing a Puzzle Fundraiser. We have a 104 piece puzzle. Each piece is worth $10, and for each piece you sponsor, we will put your name on the back of that puzzle piece. If you sponsor 5 pieces you can also pick a favorite quote or Bible verse to be included with your name. This puzzle will be a cherished family heirloom, and will hang in our dining room. It will be mounted so that the boy's can see both sides of the puzzle and the names of the people who had a hand in the life story God is weaving for our family. The picture we chose was important as it was taken on our first trip to China. This s a way to represent both our Son's adoptions as well as our love of China within our home. Are you still looking for Christmas, Birthday or Anniversary presents? What about just saying Thank You to your parents? What better way to honor them then by sponsoring a piece in their name!! Please email us at hendricksadoption@hotmail.com if you would like information on sponsoring a puzzle piece. Also don't forget to join our Bringing Home Baby Hendricks Facebook Page!
Here is what the puzzle looks like put together. Only 79 pieces left!!!!
Secondly, we are in the process of doing a Puzzle Fundraiser. We have a 104 piece puzzle. Each piece is worth $10, and for each piece you sponsor, we will put your name on the back of that puzzle piece. If you sponsor 5 pieces you can also pick a favorite quote or Bible verse to be included with your name. This puzzle will be a cherished family heirloom, and will hang in our dining room. It will be mounted so that the boy's can see both sides of the puzzle and the names of the people who had a hand in the life story God is weaving for our family. The picture we chose was important as it was taken on our first trip to China. This s a way to represent both our Son's adoptions as well as our love of China within our home. Are you still looking for Christmas, Birthday or Anniversary presents? What about just saying Thank You to your parents? What better way to honor them then by sponsoring a piece in their name!! Please email us at hendricksadoption@hotmail.com if you would like information on sponsoring a puzzle piece. Also don't forget to join our Bringing Home Baby Hendricks Facebook Page!
Here is what the puzzle looks like put together. Only 79 pieces left!!!!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
An UPDATE!!!!!
So we are on day 25 of our LOA wait. Unfortunately these seem to be taking somewhere in the 70 is day range right now so we are not even halfway there yet : ( On a good note, we got an unexpected update today. He is now 25 inches and has 2 teeth!!!! He looks like he is getting great care with his Foster Family and we are so grateful that he is with them and can get more one on one attention.
AHHHH, the cuteness is just too much!!! He is adorable! Love!! I can't wait to get ahold of those cheeks.
AHHHH, the cuteness is just too much!!! He is adorable! Love!! I can't wait to get ahold of those cheeks.
Friday, November 14, 2014
THE CALL!!!!!
Monday November 3, 2014 started out like any other day. Mark left for work and I took Konnor to Preschool. That is where the day starts to vear off course. I had no sooner clocked in at work and my phone started ringing. The school Nurse said I had to pick Konnor up b/c he had fallen (running, imagine that : ) and hit his head. Let me start out by saying that Konnor was perfectly fine. So since we were stuck at home that day we decided to go exploring. It was a perfect fall day so we went to the walkway and started on a beautiful fall walk complete with sticks, mud, leaves and bugs. Now I should say that I knew our agency was expecting a few files sometime that week, but honestly it was 1100 and I thought they surely would have called by now if they were going to so I put it out of my mind. At least until my phone started ringing at 1130 am. In a surprisingly calm voice I answer to hear my caseworker tell me, "this is the call you have been waiting for."
I really can't explain how I felt in that moment. I swear my heart just stopped. Something in me just knew this was the file (we have already reviewed 2 files this year only to find they were not our child-but they did find their families so all is good). I just KNEW!, but with our past experiences this year I just held myself in check. I couldn't let myself get to excited, b/c then what happens if Mark doesn't feel the same way or something is going on with the medical that we don't think we can handle. Regardless, Konnor and I piled into the car and drove to Mark's work to show him pictures of what could possibly be his next Son.
Of course we both thought the little was cute as cute can be so we started sending his file off to our medical professionals. The agency had mentioned that this little guy had a cleft lip/palate and was a little anemic, but what Mama found upon obsessive Nurse Mama reading of the file was that he was also a preemie weighing somewhere between 2.5-3 lbs at birth and he was more than a little bit anemic. Our first medical reviewer got back to us that night. We talked a lot about the prematurity and what to expect and where he was based on our given information, but overall things looked pretty good.
Tuesday was a big deal b/c this precious little one who I was obsessively thinking about turned one year old on Tuesday November 4 (Happy Birthday Little Man!!). Of course the Mama in me wanted to send our letter of intent to adopt on his birthday b/c seriously what better birthday present, but we were still waiting on our International Adoption Dr. to get back to us and it really is best to make sure you have all the informations (says my practical husband : ). So we waited.
On Wednesday we got 14 more pictures !!!!!!! and 3 more videos!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!! The way they do things now is different from when we got Konnors referral and there is a lot more information available. For Konnor we only had 6 pictures the entire times. This little guy we already have 20 pictures and 5 videos. Anywhoo, he looked so much bigger in the new updated pictures. We also found out that he was moved to Foster Care which is huge b/c he will learn how it is to live in a family setting and get much more one to one attention. We still hadn't heard back from our IA Dr. but based on the new information we felt comfortable moving forward and as I sat down Wed. night to write an email to our agency explaining that we wanted to proceed with the adoption when we got sucker punched. We got an email back from our IA Dr. stating that she had a couple concerns with the file and was going to consult a specialist colleague of hers and get back to us. I will be honest. I sobbed and sobbed. Mark tried his best to comfort me, but if what she was suspecting was accurate we would not be able to proceed with the adoption. It would be way out of our wheel house of needs we would be able to manage. I just KNEW this was our baby. I knew without a doubt that this sweet face was our Son. It was a rough night. I reached out and found some adoptive Mama's who have children with this need and our agencies advocate was able to contact our agencies in China coordinator to ask a couple key questions about this little guy. I have to tell you that being apart of the adoption community is like nothing else. The support from other adoptive parents, some of whom we have never even met except online, is absolutely phenomenal. I was also able to get in touch with a specialist to review the file separately from our IA Dr.'s colleague. (yep, I am a little crazy over information gathering anal)
So Thursday dawned and we were blessed to get a some information back from the in China coordinator and from the specialist I had reached out to. It was all good. That evening the IA Dr. personally called me to review his file. How awesome is that!! She explained in great detail the conclusions they had come to and why they had come to those conclusions. Once again it was good. Like any child, whether biological or adoptive, there is always the unknown. There is unknown with our own health. That being said, with the information we have we feel truly like we are capable of dealing with whatever may happen, but even more importantly we know this is our Son and we would go to the stars for him. So on November 7, 2014 we sent our Letter of Intent to Adopt to our agency and received Pre-Approval to adopt. We are now waiting on our paperwork to be translated and final approval so we can proceed with the next steps of the adopt. We are hoping to travel in March to bring this little guy home. So without further ado, here is the newest member of the Hendricks family (don't ask me his name b/c just like with Konnor it is probably going to take us months to agree on something).
I really can't explain how I felt in that moment. I swear my heart just stopped. Something in me just knew this was the file (we have already reviewed 2 files this year only to find they were not our child-but they did find their families so all is good). I just KNEW!, but with our past experiences this year I just held myself in check. I couldn't let myself get to excited, b/c then what happens if Mark doesn't feel the same way or something is going on with the medical that we don't think we can handle. Regardless, Konnor and I piled into the car and drove to Mark's work to show him pictures of what could possibly be his next Son.
Of course we both thought the little was cute as cute can be so we started sending his file off to our medical professionals. The agency had mentioned that this little guy had a cleft lip/palate and was a little anemic, but what Mama found upon obsessive Nurse Mama reading of the file was that he was also a preemie weighing somewhere between 2.5-3 lbs at birth and he was more than a little bit anemic. Our first medical reviewer got back to us that night. We talked a lot about the prematurity and what to expect and where he was based on our given information, but overall things looked pretty good.
Tuesday was a big deal b/c this precious little one who I was obsessively thinking about turned one year old on Tuesday November 4 (Happy Birthday Little Man!!). Of course the Mama in me wanted to send our letter of intent to adopt on his birthday b/c seriously what better birthday present, but we were still waiting on our International Adoption Dr. to get back to us and it really is best to make sure you have all the informations (says my practical husband : ). So we waited.
On Wednesday we got 14 more pictures !!!!!!! and 3 more videos!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!! The way they do things now is different from when we got Konnors referral and there is a lot more information available. For Konnor we only had 6 pictures the entire times. This little guy we already have 20 pictures and 5 videos. Anywhoo, he looked so much bigger in the new updated pictures. We also found out that he was moved to Foster Care which is huge b/c he will learn how it is to live in a family setting and get much more one to one attention. We still hadn't heard back from our IA Dr. but based on the new information we felt comfortable moving forward and as I sat down Wed. night to write an email to our agency explaining that we wanted to proceed with the adoption when we got sucker punched. We got an email back from our IA Dr. stating that she had a couple concerns with the file and was going to consult a specialist colleague of hers and get back to us. I will be honest. I sobbed and sobbed. Mark tried his best to comfort me, but if what she was suspecting was accurate we would not be able to proceed with the adoption. It would be way out of our wheel house of needs we would be able to manage. I just KNEW this was our baby. I knew without a doubt that this sweet face was our Son. It was a rough night. I reached out and found some adoptive Mama's who have children with this need and our agencies advocate was able to contact our agencies in China coordinator to ask a couple key questions about this little guy. I have to tell you that being apart of the adoption community is like nothing else. The support from other adoptive parents, some of whom we have never even met except online, is absolutely phenomenal. I was also able to get in touch with a specialist to review the file separately from our IA Dr.'s colleague. (yep, I am a little crazy over information gathering anal)
So Thursday dawned and we were blessed to get a some information back from the in China coordinator and from the specialist I had reached out to. It was all good. That evening the IA Dr. personally called me to review his file. How awesome is that!! She explained in great detail the conclusions they had come to and why they had come to those conclusions. Once again it was good. Like any child, whether biological or adoptive, there is always the unknown. There is unknown with our own health. That being said, with the information we have we feel truly like we are capable of dealing with whatever may happen, but even more importantly we know this is our Son and we would go to the stars for him. So on November 7, 2014 we sent our Letter of Intent to Adopt to our agency and received Pre-Approval to adopt. We are now waiting on our paperwork to be translated and final approval so we can proceed with the next steps of the adopt. We are hoping to travel in March to bring this little guy home. So without further ado, here is the newest member of the Hendricks family (don't ask me his name b/c just like with Konnor it is probably going to take us months to agree on something).
Friday, November 7, 2014
One Day
Have you ever thought about what a difference a day can make? I mean really thought about it. One moment you are a daughter/son/friend/girlfriend/boyfriend/coworker just going about your daily life and then suddenly you are a Wife/Husband/Mother/Father/In-Law/Boss, etc... and all of a sudden your entire life course is taking a turn. Maybe a good turn, maybe a less desired turned, but you are altered regardless. It isn't always the big monumental moments that will change your course either. Sometimes it is the little things. The patient that hugs you and says "I Will Miss You" that makes you realize that it's not just a job. Holding the door for an older couple and being reminded to be grateful for every day with your spouse. These may be small moments, but they can have big impacts just the same.
In our house there were a lot of moments this week. Giant Big Ones and small ones. It has been a week that truly brings new meaning to "What A Difference A Day Can Make." So I encourage you to embrace today. Love every single moment of it. I know I will.
In our house there were a lot of moments this week. Giant Big Ones and small ones. It has been a week that truly brings new meaning to "What A Difference A Day Can Make." So I encourage you to embrace today. Love every single moment of it. I know I will.
Monday, October 27, 2014
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
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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
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
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
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.
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