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!

New Orleans Trip

We recently took a whirlwind trip to New Orleans for Alex and Lauren’s (sometimes spelled Lauryn). We were able to celebrate their day with them, but we also visited a few other places while we were there.

Alex & Lauren were married on Thursday, September 16^th and our whole family was able to go out there and share their special day with them! Joe was even a groomsmen and he got to walk 2 bridesmaids down the aisle!

Alex is like a brother to all of us, so it was an emotional and happy time for our family! We are looking forward to getting to know Lauren better and making some great memories with them!

Here’s a few pictures of my family before the wedding in New Orleans!

We took some pictures in the Lower Ninth Ward during out stay. It was a good experience for us all to see the devastation and the rebuilding process. It was also good for Jeff to see where the people he helped with the Red Cross after Katrina came from.

We also got to experience the swamp. Alex’s friend Jason went with us since his flight left around the same time as ours. It was great to have him along for the ride! Now, we thought that the swamp was going to be smelly, dirty and full of bugs. We couldn’t have been more wrong! It was beautifully serene, the bugs only come out at night and we got to see alligators! It was awesome. Here are a few pictures of that.

We ended our time in Louisiana by visiting a few Plantations. We didn’t have enough time to do the full tour, but we were able to take some pictures.

All in all we had a wonderful time! We hope our next family adventure is to AFRICA!

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

Blessings from God

Our dossier is off to Rwanda! It should be in the hands of our lawyer by Tuesday, so please keep its safe travels in your prayers. FedEx doesn’t insure the actual value of the contents, only the materials inside. So basically, they would buy us a ream of paper.

Let’s back up a few days. We received our certified dossier from our courier in Washington DC (Dependable ACS – Totally AWESOME experience!) this past Friday morning. I waited until Jeff was home from his trip so we could open it together. After we got over the shock of it being here, Jeff actually read the letter from the Embassy. He noticed a slight typo (really not a typo since God is fully in charge of this ENTIRE process!). Instead of it reading:

“The couple has expressed a desire to adopt one child, 0-2 years old, or a sibling set, 0-3 years old,” it said: “The couple has expressed the desire to adopt two children, 0-2 years old, or a sibling set, 0-3 years old.”  After hyperventilating for a few moments, Jeff was able to calm me down.

From my conversations with Becky and Suzanne, the only way that an adoptive family would get two children is if they specifically asked for two. Since our home study said one and maybe two, we figured it would 99.9% be a single adoption. While this single sentence doesn’t guarantee that we will get two children, it certainly has opened up the door.

We knew that it may be heading this way because we got two identical cribs & changing tables from two completely different families; two almost matching gender neutral swings and playpens; and everything else has seemed to come in sets. Is this typo merely a coincidence? –or-  has the door been opened to have our world changed by two beautiful children?

Another bit of exciting news was an email from our lawyer, Agnes, who said that Rwanda is hiring a group of consultants to help process the backlog of dossiers. This means that instead of the minimum 6 month waiting period, we could get our referral much sooner. We should be a larger family before the end of the year!

It’s amazing to watch God in this entire process. His hand has been in every aspect. Any time we have had a challenge, He has conquered it for us. Any fears that we have had, he has put us at ease. Our pastor talked about pressing into God this past Sunday. When you feel alone or scared or unsure of where you are going, press into God and your path will be revealed to you; He will guide you. It’s become more and more evident as we go through this process that we are pressing into God, fully trusting in Him, to the N-th degree. We are trusting Him with our family, finances, safety, worries…the list goes on and on. I think we have both always known that God will never let us go, but this is the first time as a couple and a family, that we are surrendering every aspect of our lives and His provisions have been more than we could have ever imagined.

Last year was a rough year. I wanted to be a mom more than anything. Maybe it was the ever-looming birthday that is coming this year. Maybe it was that all of my friends were having or had had babies, and it seemed like every woman I saw was pregnant. I wanted to be happy for all of them, and I was (honestly!), I guess I just wanted to be part of the club. Andrea & Joe are wonderful kids, but I’m not their mom. To them I’m just Maddie. I wanted someone to call me mom. I was in a sad place, feeling a little deserted by God. Why had this desire been put into my heart? Why had I had to go through two unsuccessful pregnancies? I knew that He hadn’t abandoned me deep down, but I was beginning to want to start a pity party.

As I look back, I had to go through all of that so that I would be able to fully appreciate this adoption. I want this more than anything in the world! I knew that Jeff and I would adopt, but my plan was all laid out. We would have already had a few kids and then we would add to our brood. I’m at a place in my life that if this is the only way I will be able to have kids of my own, I will be completely content! (I will miss not being able to wear all of the cute maternity clothes though!) I feel like I will be able to help other women who want to be moms and have kids, see that adoption is just as good! You aren’t less of a woman or wife or mother because you didn’t carry them in your womb. It’s just a different way of being a mom!

Sorry for the long post, but my mind is racing! The bottom lines are:

1. Dossier is sent to Rwanda

2. Rwanda is trying to process them sooner, rather than later

3. The door has been opened for more than one baby

4. There is a huge possibility that we will have our baby/babies by the end of the year

Our family would like to thank you all for your continued prayers and support! We wouldn’t be this far without it!

Adoption UPDATE

Everything is going so well with our adoption! Our dossier is currently in Washington D.C. at the Rwandan Embassy, getting certified. We should have it back by the end of this coming week and have it sent off to our attorney in Rwanda by Friday! Jeff & I can’t get over how God has just placed the right people in our life at the right time, to help guide us through this process. I’d like to give a special thanks to Suzanne Watson and Becky Fisher for all of their help!

Please keep our finances in your prayers. We are starting to save up big time for the travel expenses as well as all of the fees we will incur when we are in Africa. Also, Joe has expressed a deep desire and calling to go with us to Africa to bring his brother (he’s convinced it will be a boy, and chances are, he’s right!) home. Please pray for a softening of hearts, so he will be able to go!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers! They are WORKING!

Andrea's First PROM

Andrea’s first Prom was May 1^st and I got the opportunity to get her ready! Let me tell you, this was an exciting day! We borrowed the dress from one of my co-worker’s daughters (Thank you MaryAnn & Katy!) I knew that Andrea was going to love this dress the minute I saw it (her favorite color is ORANGE), but she still had to try on all of the other dresses in order for her to figure out that this was the dress.

We got her nails, hair and make-up done. Then, we came home, figured out the dress (the back is beautiful, but a little crazy to hook), and then had everyone over to our house to see her off. It was nice to be able to have all the sets of Grandparents over – Jeff’s Mom, my parents and her mother’s parents over, both sets of parents, sisters, brother, two cousins and Adrian’s dad. It was a full house, but Andrea said that having everyone over was the BEST part of prom. That just warmed my heart!

Here are a few of the pictures from her special day!

Andrea & Joe

The CRAZY back!

Andrea checking the hair in my Grandmother's Mirror 

Andrea & her date, Adrian