366 Days

So our dossier has been in Rwanda for exactly 366 days. 


Now, more than ever, we need prayer... We've learned that if a family doesn't receive a referral within six months of receipt of their non-objection letter, their case may be closed. Our six-month day is September 11, 2011.

That part is a little scary, but while we pray for God's hand to move mightily, we're also mindful of the many great people at MIGEPROF (the ministry in Rwanda) and the Home of Hope orphanage who are working hard for the orphaned children there. Please remember them in your prayers.

A song came into my head. It’s called Valleys Fill First, by Caedmon’s Call.

This is the valley that I’m walking through

And if fells like forever since I’ve been close to you


My friends up above me don’t understand why i struggle like i do


My shadow's my only, only companion and at night he leaves too

Down in the valley, dying of thirst


Down in the valley, it seems that I’m at my worst


My consolation is that you baptize this earth


When I'm down in the valley, valleys fill first

Down in this wasteland I miss the mountaintop view


But it's here in this valley that I’m surrounded by you


Though I'm not here by my will it’s where your view is the most clear


So I'll stay in this valley it takes 40 years

And it's like that long Saturday your death and the rising day

When no one wrote a word, wondered is this the end

But you were down there in the well, saving those that fell

Bringing them to the mountain again

It reminded me that we are not alone, even when you feel like it.

Thank you for all of your prayers and love. We need them now more than ever! 


Let’s pray for an e-mail in July!

11 Months...

So, Monday marked 11 months of our dossier being in Rwanda. Nothing much else to report. We are being patient.

I have been praying for strength and patience and endurance throughout this long journey. I think it’s amazing how God will give you a little pat on the back or a little nudge to keep moving forward. Who knew it would come in the form of a fortune cookie? When I opened it, I knew that it was meant just for me. It read:

“You will win success in whatever you adopt.”

How amazing is that? Well, it’s time for me to go to sleep, but I’ll be posting pictures soon from our baby shower, taken by one of my best friends, Cindy. J It was an amazing event, thrown by my three best friends, Cindy, Heidi and Krista. I had hoped to have our referral by then and be writing this blog from Africa right now, but God’s timing is just perfect and I know that there is a reason why it’s taking longer.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Let’s bring BABY HENDRYCH HOME!

2 Anniversaries

Now that we have been Approved, we now have two anniversaries to keep track of. April 11th marked our 1 month anniversary of getting our Non-Objection letter and the 23rd of April will mark 11 months of our Dossier being in Rwanda. 


We are seeing a ton of progress and movement which is just amazing! Our letter stated that the rest of the process should take about 2 months, so that would put us at May 11th for getting a referral -or- travelling to Rwanda. I'm not sure if the 2 months was to referral or with the whole shabang, so we are preparing for either situation. 


We spent some time on Sunday getting toiletries purchased (LOVE Target!) but we are holding off on the specific baby items (OTC Medication, diapers, etc) until we know who we are buying for. Everyone has been so supportive and this journey has been amazing. I am just soo ready to bring my little one/ones to visit everyone who has been praying and helping our family become whole. 


Much love, hugs and kisses to you all!

Non-Objection!

So Ella, our wonderful Beagle, needed to go outside this morning super early. Like 4 am early. I kept telling her to wait, since I still had about two hours before I had to get up for work. Well, at 5 am, I finally got up to let her outside. After she did her business and got some water, I decided to check Jeff's email, just to see if our lawyer in Rwanda, Agnes, had emailed him. 


That's when I saw it. It was a long name, beginning with a "K" and my heart started to leap, almost out of my chest! I ran over to Jeff's side of the bed and told him to "Get UP!" He thought something had happened to Ella or that there was an emergency.


We both opened the email at the same time and saw it. Our Non-Objection (Approval to Adopt) Letter was in Jeff's Inbox! They like us, they really really like us! The letter says that we are approved for 1 to 2 children and that the rest of the adoption process should take about 2 months.


We are looking possibly at Mid-May for travel. Please continue to pray for our child(ren) in Rwanda. We are coming as fast as we can little ones! Also, we need to make sure we are here for Andrea's Graduation from high school, so we can't be in Rwanda during mid-June. 


We are just so excited and can hardly wait to show some pictures of our little guy, girl, guys or girls! God is just awesome! We know that He has the perfect little ones for us; the children that we need and who need us. 


Thank you all for your support, prayers and just being here for us and going with us on this journey!

Progress

Just a quick little note. From what we can gather, the Ministry is working on or around #61 and is processing dossiers in record time. This is amazing news! I could be a full fledged mom before my birthday! What a great gift that would be! 


Here's to a great rest of the week!

Lucky Number 7

So last Sunday was our 7 month mark. No additional news at this time, other than we are a month closer to meeting our child, holding them in our arms, giving them kisses and hugs, and just being so in love we don't know what to do with ourselves. 


Thank you to eveyone for your prayers and words of encouragement. We are so thankful to have so many wonderful people in our lives. 

And our NUMBER is....

83!!!!


They are currently working on #40!


This is AWESOME news!

1/2 a Year...6 Months and Counting...

Well, it’s now been six months since our dossier was submitted. In the last post, we thought that all of the dossiers would be processed by the end of the year. Unless God is planning to have the dossier reviewers work at warp speed, it will more than likely be mid next year before we hear word about our child(ren). I know that there are many other families that have been waiting much longer than us, but it is still a little bit of a bummer.

When you are pregnant, you have an end date. It may vary one week earlier or later, heck even two, but at least you have a light at the end of the tunnel. Our tunnel just keeps growing and the light keeps getting a little fainter. I know in my heart that our child is over there; the perfect match for our family and the child that God wants in our family. I just wish the timing were mine! That’s not too much to ask, right?

I have been slightly more emotional around babies. I am happy for all of my friends and family that have little ones. I LOVE kids! I think it just gets a little harder to handle when you want something so much, and you are getting it, just not fast enough. I know that God’s timing is perfect. Maybe it’s taking longer because the mother of our baby hasn’t decided what to do yet, or he’s not born. The list could go on and on, I just wish it was now!

I know that God’s hand has been in our journey up to this point and I know that He is still running the show – not the workers at the Ministry, processing the dossiers, not our POA, not the government and certainly not me. I look at other timelines of potential adoptive families. Some of them took over 1 year to get their dossiers done. We started in February 2010 and it was in Rwanda June 2010. 4 months! That’s unheard of! God was there, pushing our paperwork through, and putting the right people in our path to lead us in the right direction. Everything went soo fast, so I figured this would too. It may still go fast as some people wait over a year for their referral, I just was hoping we were still on God’s super fast track.

We do know that this was our last Christmas as a family of 4. There will be 5 (or 6!) stockings hung on the mantel next year. We will have cookies for Santa, read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and we won’t get to sleep in! I am so looking forward to that, I can’t even describe it! I want to thank all of my family and friends for going on this journey with us and keeping my spirits high.

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I love each of you very very much!

Four!

We had our 4 month anniversary on Saturday the 23^rd. We are still patiently waiting and have been told by the US Embassy in Kigali that the dossiers should all be processed by the end of the year. This is fabulous news! The Rwandan Government has decided to become Hague compliant with their adoption process, so they stopped accepting new dossiers on August 31^st. Ours is somewhere in the middle of the stack, but we don’t know what our number is for sure.

It’s exciting to think that our baby has been born and is just waiting for us to come get him (or her). It’s hard to believe that this time next year, we will be planning a Halloween costume, getting ready to celebrate the holidays as a family of 5 instead of 4 and just having a blast with our new little one.

We are just so thrilled to be sharing this experience with all of our family and friends, and appreciate all of your unending support! We will keep you posted on our progress!

Still Waiting...

just not so patiently! I know that it's only been 3 months (3 Months on September 23rd...) since our dossier was submitted, but it seems like forever! I wish we knew where we were in the line of applications, not that it would be any better, but some part of me thinks it would be easier if we knew how long. 


We are planning another Garage Sale Fundraiser in the near future, we just need to gather enough items to have a full-fledged sale. 


Have a wonderful week!

Waiting...

Well, our Dossier has been in for almost 2 months! Staying busy this summer has helped with our impatience when it comes to wanting to meet our new baby so desperately. It’s hard to imagine that he or she is over there (probably born by now) and is just waiting for us to come get them! I know the reason behind the dossier (to stop human trafficking, making sure that we are not crazies, etc), but it’s hard to believe that the key to our baby is sitting on someone’s desk and is just waiting to be reviewed.

We were so excited to hear of some airlines offering adoption fares! We even worked it out so that Andrea & Joe would be able to come with us to get their brother or sister. Well don’t get excited too fast…the adoption fare is around 65% off (awesome!) BUT, you have to buy the most expensive ticket to get the discount. So, you end up actually paying more for the ticket than if you just purchased a regular one without the discount.

Now Phase 236 of this process starts: FUNDRAISING! We are trying to raise enough money to get at least Jeff & I over there and an absolute bonus and opportunity of a lifetime, would be to get Andrea & Joe there too! We are going to hold our first Adoption Garage Sale at the end of the month. We have some amazing friends who have already donated items for us to sell, but still need more. If you live relatively close to Ventura and have some items that you would like to donate, please email me! Our family would be forever grateful for your generosity!

Also, if you know of any great airline deals or special code words we could use to get the best deal around or maybe you own a international airline company and would love to help us get to AFRICA, please let me know!

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and will continue to pray for our journey. We love and appreciate each and every one of you!

It's In!

Our dossier was formally submitted to the Minister of Gender and Family Protection on Wednesday, June 23rd! This is an amazing step. It only took us 4 ½ months to get to this point! It’s becoming so real, that we could get the email with our child’s picture and history at anytime now.

What’s next? We wait…and wait…and wait a little more! We also need to save, save and save!

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have helped us along the way! You are all going to be Uncles and Aunties very soon!

Much love,

Jeff, Maddie, Andrea, Joe and Baby Hendrych