A Waiting List for a Waiting List!

We received exciting news yesterday afternoon...we are on a waiting list for our baby! Granted it is a waiting list to get on the official Colombian waiting list, but it is a list none the less. We are one step closer to our little one! So this is how it works: #1. We have been placed on our agency waiting list for Colombian adoptions. We are expected to be on this list until mid-to-late 2008. #2. During this period we will complete our home study (in Jan/Feb) and then start preparing our dossier (paperwork going to Colombia) during the summer. We will send in that paperwork around the same time we come off the agency waiting list (mid-to-late 2008). #3. Once Colombia receives our paperwork, we go on the official waiting list for the adoption house that we are going through. That wait is estimated at about 12 months! So a very preliminary estimate is mid-to late 2009 when we will meet our child!! All this can change at a moments notice...but at least now we have some idea of how things are going to progress. We appreciate all your prayers and encouragement and we will keep you updated!

Visiting with friends and family

Shawn and I have been home from Missouri for a week now, and we are still talking about the nice time we had visiting with family and friends. It is so nice that we both have Missouri ties...we get to see so many people in such a short amount of time while we are there! The day after Thanksgiving, when Shawn's mom and sister were braving the malls, Shawn and I drove about 2 hours to my grandparents house to hang out with them for a while. That afternoon, my college roomate, Cindy, and her fiance, Josh, also came to my grandparents house. This was the first time that we had met Josh and we all had a great time getting to know one another, playing games, and eating (as if we didn't do enough of that the day before!) Shawn and I were also able to hook up with his good high school friend, Bryan, and his new wife Katie. We had dinner with them one night and then watched the Missouri/Kansas game on Saturday night. Katie and I spent the evening looking at their wedding pictures and talking girl talk. It is so nice to have a girlfriend to hang out with now when Shawn and Bryan are together! Shawn's mom was sad to see us head back to Virginia, but fortunately she is planning a trip out to see us in the spring. It is so nice to have friends and family all over the US (and even the world) that we love to see and hang out with. It is a true blessing to have lifelong friends that like you, warts and all!

Thankful

We are blogging from Missouri this Thanksgiving Day. We have had a wonderful meal of turkey and ALL the fixins' and are now all kinda lounging around trying to digest! We have spent the week with Shawn's older sister, Kelly, and his mom, Jan. We all have so much to be thankful for this holiday season and Shawn reminded us with 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 that we are called to be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. This is a really good reminder to not let the little (or even big) things in life cause us to lose the joy and thanksgiving that we have in Christ. It has been a wonderful week with family. Kelly and I have also continued on with the 3rd annual Hendricks family mystery puzzle. In case you don't know, this is a puzzle where you read a little mystery novel and then put together the 2 puzzles (whose pieces are mixed together and you don't know what the pictures are) to solve the crime. It is always a lot of fun for all the Hendricks clan, but it was up to Kelly and me to keep the tradition going this year. We are looking forward to next year when the whole gang is together, even the family that lives in Kenya! We hope you have all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Faith in Action

On Thursday night, Shawn and I attended the Family Foundation of Virginia Annual Gala. It was a formal evening at the Richmond Convention Center that serves as a forum for the Family Foundation to share their vision for the upcoming year, what has been accomplished in the previous year, and a fundraising event for the organization. The theme for this year is Faith in Action and the keynote speaker was Eric Metaxas, the man who wrote "Amazing Grace" (the biography of William Wilberforce that was written to accompany the movie by the same name). Eric has also written for Veggie Tales and was an absolutely hilarious speaker! He kept us all laughing, but also told about the role faith played in William Wilberforce's action to abolish slavery. It was a great evening where we were challenged to encourage our public legislators and to put our faith into action.