Sunday, February 27, 2011

Weekly Update: No News is Good News

This week's update: No news is good news.  Nothing to report from Ethiopia.  I imagine that people are translating our 1.5 lbs of documents away. :)

Today at church our Youth director announced our new Youth intern is from Ethiopia and speaks the native language (there are actually many, so I am excited to hear which one).  You can't imagine how excited we are.  As you know, Dane is obsessed with Ethiopia.  So when Dane finds out, I think Dave Rier might have to compete for Dane's Sunday morning and Wednesday evening devotion!

Dane's dental work has been completed now and we are now starting weekly physical therapy appointments for his eye.

The British call Amblyopia "Squinty Eye." Case in Point.
We aren't letting any grass grow under our feet while we wait, but we are certainly praying Dane's little brother or sister can come home to us soon!  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers too!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

What's in a Name?

We are at the point in the process where we will get an update every week, so I will try to pass this along to everyone too!  Our paperwork has arrived in Addis Abba.  Hopefully it will be authenticated on their end this week!

Dane has decided he has a great name for his new brother (this week he wants a brother, last week he wanted a brother and a sister).  He would like to name his new brother Dane Michael Hendrickson.  Hmmm....So when I told him that was his unique name that only he would have, he said no, his little brother needed to be part of this family and his name would be Dane.  Well the conversation pursued, and he agreed that we would talk about it later.

Our family now
But since this seems to be a question that a lot of people ask us, I thought I would share with you a little bit about what we think about this topic.

By the time our kiddo gets home, s/he will be at least a year old, if not older.  Their name will be part of them.  So however it works out, their name will still be part of them.  Either as a middle name, their name translated into English, or something that respects who they are in Ethiopia, but embraces who they will grow to be in our home.

However, changing of names is very common among people who encounter life changing events.  In the Bible, Saul is changed to Paul when he experiences the salvation of Christ.  Simon becomes Peter, meaning rock, when Jesus made him the rock of His church, and Abram became Abraham when he was made the father of the nations.

More recently:
  • Bill Clinton was William Blythe
  • Gerald Ford was Leslie Lynch King Jr.
  • David Bowie was David Jones
  • Bob Dylan was Robert Zimmerman
  • Patty Hendrickson was Patty Waite

In other words, changing your name can mean changing of opportunities, family association or another major life change.

We have decided this decision is best left to the person, as with Dane.  In case you didn't know the story of how Dane was named, here you go...

We had a list of the names we both liked and each week we could eliminate a name from the others' list. 2 Fridays before Dane was born, I was driving home from my office to our home in Portland.  Well, the gas light was on in the car, but I liked to "live on the edge" when it came to gas.  On the I-205 Bridge heading into Portland from Vancouver, I ran out of gas, at rush hour on a Friday...Kevin had to go into Vancouver from Portland (1.5 hrs), then down the bridge and fill my tank while people drove by us going 50-60 MPH about 2 feet away to rescue me...Anyhow, I owed him and he got to name our little one (weird how pregnant ladies think).  A few days before he was born, Kevin selected Dane Michael, and it's a perfect name for him.  We translate his name to mean: Gift from God.  And that describes him to a T.

Dane = Gift from God


Blessings,

The Hendricksons

Friday, February 11, 2011

Definition of Complete: From Dictionary.Com

com·plete

[kuhm-pleet]  adjective, verb, -plet·ed, -plet·ing.
having all parts or elements; lacking nothing; whole; entire; full

Good News: All documents have passed muster.  (Do you like that April? I found another way to get muster into the conversation!)



Not So Good News: Last post was incorrect, Dossier NOT Complete based on the above definition.  

I think I was using my definition of complete before.  Complete = Patty is done, she does not want to find any more papers, documents, pictures, etc. etc.  

But in the true sense of complete...Kevin and I will be at Costco tonight to get the last piece of the puzzle, 2 passport style pictures of each of us for the Ethiopian Government and Orphanage to put our pictures on the front cover of the file...There was a chance that we were going to have to redo 3 of the documents, which would have added time and expense, so we are thankful this is not the case.  Passport photos at Costco, $5/person.

Our agency is located in Colorado, A Love Beyond Borders, but we are blessed enough for our coordinator to live 5 minutes from our home, so she is going to meet us and put our package on it's way this evening...Praise God!


So, the last big decision of the day...To celebrate with a Hot Dog or Pizza????

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Dossier COMPLETE!!!

The document from Oregon State arrived today, I will make the copies and arrange the 4 copies of each document this evening and that means that tomorrow, while you are eating lunch...We will be handing over the dossier to our agency...Next stop Portland, next stop Washington DC, next stop Addis Abba, Ethiopia!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Dossier - 3 exceptions and then it's done!

Last week I reported that we were all done with our dossier, just needed a couple of signatures, yeah, well how times changed over the last week.

So, yesterday we completed all of the paperwork for our dossier and shipped it off.  It seems a little silly that at the last minute we had two documents to redo, but we did.  I hear this is almost always the case.


Our agency reviewed the paperwork from Bank of America last Friday and told us that 26 pages of translating small print would probably not be something that could be done quickly, so they recommended we get a document signed by our home study social worker that covered the information in a more basic format.  Done Monday.  Copies of all the documents made. Ready to go.

Except, then on Tuesday, I was going through the document listing and found one more document that was missing, and found out it also had to be done by the home study social worker.  Now mind you, this means she has to print out the document, get it approved by her agency, and then go to a notary and get the document signed.  She lives on the other side of town, so then we have to get back together, I have to make 4 copies of everything and then...(insert deep breath here).

Wednesday evening we had all of the documents in hand, Thursday afternoon the package was overnight-ed to the WA Dept of Apostille of the Business Division for the process where they make sure the notary really is notary, and the notarization was done correctly, the document looks authentic and then they send it back to us.  We had 28 documents to do this with, and at $15 a pop, holy cow, we spent $420 yesterday to prove the paperwork we have spent the last 7-8 months on is real and true.  We had one document go through this process and is already back in AZ, the cost was only $3 a document.  Another reason to love Arizona.

And Friday morning, FedEx confirmation that the paperwork is at the WA Dept of Apostille of the Business Division, I called to see when I could expect the paperwork back.  The person who answered the phone was looking at our file and said she was almost done...

Except...I sent an Oregon document, Dane's Birth Certificate, to WA State and they can't approve that, so I have filled out all of the new paperwork for Oregon, find another copy of his birth certificate I ordered, write my $10 check and am heading off to FedEx for lunch.

Examples of pictures for the dossier:

Guest Bedroom

Living Room
Dane had some dental surgery on Monday and it went well, but along with finalizing the dossier, regular every day life and Dane's dental surgery, I am very thankful it is Friday and we can have a few days to decompress.

As usual, we'll keep you posted!