Blessing Abound

So this week we have been advertising our silent auction items.  This afternoon we had a bowling party for about 30 people that included 2 hrs of bowling and fun with family and friends.  Bowling and shoes were covered and we just asked that whoever attended make a donation to our adoption fund.  All of the proceeds from the bowling party and the silent auction items will be forwarded to Brittany's Hope Foundation to be put towards our matching grant.  We were so incredibly blessed this week.  From the two fundraiser's we have already raised approximately 80% of the necessary funds for our matching grant.  That is incredible!!!!
We are so incredibly lucky to have the support of friends and family on this journey.  Adoption can be a long and sometimes scary road, but having such an amazing group of people supporting us every step of the way is priceless.  We have met many people on this journey.  Some of them just in passing and some will be a part of our lives forever.  Some people have always been there, but relationships have been strengthened or reinvented.  We will forever be grateful to everyone who has participated in even the smallest way in helping us bring Konnor home.  It is because of all these amazing people that in a few short months we will travel to pick up our Son and there will be one less orphan in the world.

Mark and Ashley
Day 30 of LOA wait

Silent Auction Items!!!!

We have a couple baskets available for silent auction.  If you would like to place a bid on one of the baskets please email us at hendricksadoption@hotmail.com  I will update the blog daily with the current highest bid.   Bidding will end on Sunday Jan. 29 at 0800.  We will contact the winners that afternoon.  We are happy to deliver items if you are in the Springfield or Champaign area.  Let's bring Konnor home!!!!

#1--Valentine's Day Basket valued at $80 includes:
-two wine glasses
-1 bottle of Moscato D'Asti
-Valentine's Day movie/DVD
-$25 gift card to Olive Garden
-$25 gift card to AMC movie theatre
--Hershey's chocolates

--current bid for Valentine's Day Basket as of 1/25/12 at 10pm is $100

#2--Craft Basket valued at approximately $120 includes:
-Thirty-One bag
-Precious Moments Grandmother's Special Memory's book
-8x8 create your own album with covers and 10 pages
-2.5 in x 75 ft Red Holiday ribbon
-Craft Mates Pop N Lock organizer
-2 piece collage keepsakes
-paper edger
-various stickers, borders and rub on art
-2- 3x3 mini albums
-misc. ribbon and tins
-6 seasonal album pages (paper)
-40-8.5x11 Pastel linen textured cardstock
-72- 4.5x6.5 metallic textured cardstock

--current bid for Craft Basket as of 1/25/12 at 6 pm is $50

Exciting things are happening!!!!

First of all YES, we have finally chosen a name.....Konnor.  We are so excited to not be calling him Baby Boy anymore : )  Second is that we got some awesome news from our agency that we have been approved for a matching Grant.  WhooHooo!!!!!  The grant is thru an organization called Brittany's Hope and it is a matching grant.  We have been allotted a specific amount and then we have to raise the same amount thru fundraising!!!  This is so exciting.  Every little bit helps and as we are hopefully only a few months from travel we are plugging away at fundraising.

On that note, I know I said a couple months ago that we have finished our Adoption Bug T-shirt fundraiser, but truthfully I just never got around to emailing the company to stop it.  So if you are still interested in a t-shirt please check out our site.  I am going to email the company tonight that February 6th is the official end date of this fundraiser.  See the link below if you are interested in purchasing a t-shirt.  In a couple days we will also be adding some silent auction items to the blog.  Specifics on these items to come in a few days.  Hopefully the next few months will fly by and we can get Konnor home to his forever family!

http://www.adoptionbug.com/hendricksfamilyadoption/index.htm

We got an update!!!!!

Wow, I can't believe it but we already received an update from the orphanage.  Our agency just requested the update this week.  They said that most orphanages respond in a week to a month, but some orphanages will not provide updates at all.  That makes us doubly blessed that they are being so cooperative and had a very quick response.  He seems to be growing well.  He is a little over 15 pounds and approx 26 inches. The orphanage staff says that he is an extrovert and a very happy baby.  Extrovert!!!!  HaHa!!!  He is definitely our Son.  We are still throwing around names and promise to let everyone know once we decide, but here is the updated photo that we received today.  We just love those chubby cheeks!!!!!

Day 5 of LOA wait!!  Praying it will be a short wait and we can move forward with the paperwork to bring our little man home.

We have PA!!!!!

WhoooHooo!!!!  What an awesome New Years present.  Our caseworker emailed us yesterday to inform us that we have received our Pre-Approval (PA) letter.  Our caseworker is AWESOME!!  She emailed us on her weekend off and we greatly appreciate her passing on this good news to us.  PA was 7 days after our LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt a specific child).  The PA is basically confirmation that the China Centre for Adoption Affairs has received our request to adopt and they agree to proceed with the  paperwork necessary to approve our adoption.  Now we are officially on day 2 of our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) wait.  The LOA is the letter that says they have reviewed our paperwork and that we may now proceed with obtaining immigration and visa approval for our little man.  It usually takes anywhere from 30 days to 4 months to get LOA.  It seems like current waits are running around 60 days, so please everyone keep your fingers crossed that we get a quick LOA and can get moving with the necessary paperwork to bring our Son home (no we still haven't agreed on a name yet, but we are working on it).