We have BIG news! We are adopting a child!
We have felt for sometime that our family is not quite complete, and we are pleased to share with you that we have been accepted into an international adoption program with the agency where Rob used to work.
We are beyond excited and are doing everything we can to be prepared to welcome a beautiful new life (or lives) into our home. It may surprise you to hear that international adoption related costs can easily total up to $35,000 or more. As part of our adoption process, we have started a crowdfunding campaign to help ease the financial burden that often overwhelms adoptive parents.
We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as he/she grows up. We look forward to keeping you posted as we continue this journey!
We landed on American soil on April 21 and celebrated one month home yesterday! God has been so faithful to abundantly provide for us in so many ways, big and small. Thank you for supporting us on this journey and thank you for your patience as you waited to hear from us! I've included a brief update below.
Purva (poohr-vah) is doing amazingly well. She is a joy to know and we are honored to get to be her family. She has a delightful personality and is often laughing or making us laugh as she gets to know her new surroundings and experience being in a family. She is especially fond of our dog, Raleigh. Often the first words out of her mouth in the morning are "Doggee?" and she hurries to find him. She also adores her big sister, who she calls "Didi" (the Hindi word for elder sister). Elizabeth is absolutely incredible in her new, long-desired, role as a big sister. She was instrumental in helping Purva to feel comfortable during our time in India and the two girls have such fun together now that we are at home. We are looking forward to summer and lots more time to bond as a family.
We have consulted with a number of doctors regarding clubfoot treatment and will likely begin casting in July. It is quite rare in this country to have untreated clubfeet at the age of 2.5. Here in the U.S. it is discovered early and treated in infancy. It's important to us to choose a doctor with experience treating "older" children, so we plan to travel to Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia for treatment. We have been connected with a physician with lots of experience who actually treated the son of a close friend of ours a few year ago. We will keep you posted on how that goes!
Thanks again for your love and support. It means more than we can say.
Our agency called on a Friday to let us know it was time to travel to India to pick up our daughter! We left less than 2 weeks later and are now in Delhi, India. We left late on Wednesday and arrived in the wee hours of the morning here on Friday. After sleeping most of the day at our hotel, we had the joy of meeting up with Virginia-based friends who happen to be here in India during spring break. It was a delight to see familiar faces, experience their hospitality and enjoy a dinner of authentic homemade local cuisine. Elizabeth thoroughly enjoyed playing with their daughters while the adults conversed and gathered lots of helpful advice about culture, customs, language and things to do while we are here. Our time together was such a gift!
We fly to our daughter's city on Monday and will meet her and pick-her up from the children's home on Tuesday! We will return to Delhi and be India for another 9 days after pick-up, completing necessary appointments and focusing on getting to know one another and bonding.
Please pray for us during these early days as a family of four. We are very excited and eager to add Purva to our family!
With much love and sincere gratitude,
The Hennebergs
We are thrilled to share that we recently received our written Adoption Order from India, which declares "P" to be legally our daughter!
It's hard to describe how it feels to have a daughter we've never met who is literally on the other side of the world, but our immediate instinct was to throw a party and celebrate! Her status has legally and permanently changed - she is no longer an orphan, she is a DAUGHTER, forever.
We can't wait to meet her.
We are waiting on her passport to be processed and will likely be traveling to India in the next 4-8 weeks. Meanwhile we are focusing on raising the remaining funds we need to bring her home. As always, thank you for your love and support!
Dear friends and family,
We are making progress and every day brings us closer to the day when we will bring our daughter home! We received a brief update and a few photos and video from the orphanage in early December. Our girl is still ineligible to receive treatment for her clubfeet, but she doesn't let them slow her down! It's truly amazing to see her walking. We think she is absolutely beautiful and has a smile that will light up a room. We can't wait until we are able to share pictures with you!
In December we received Article 5 (provisional approval from USCIS to immigrate her to the U.S.). We sent our dossier (a 10 inch tall stack of paperwork) to India this week and it arrived at her orphanage TODAY. Now we are waiting for India to issue a No Objection Certificate ("NOC") and an Adoption Order. Then we will apply for a birth certificate and passport. Once we have those we will travel to India and spend about 2 weeks in country, then bring her HOME! Our best guess is that we will travel in the next 3 - 6 months.
Thank you for your continued support!
xo,
The Hennebergs
We were approved to adopt from India in September 2021. One year later, in September of 2022, we were given the opportunity to review a referral of a child in an orphanage who is in need of a forever family. We are thrilled to share that we said "yes!" and are now matched with a little girl in India! She recently turned two and is absolutely precious. We are working hard to complete our dossier (a bunch of documents that will eventually be sent to India) as we wait for United States Customs and Immigration to approve our request to bring our daughter home!
This precious girl was born with bilateral club feet and will need medical intervention once she arrives in the U.S. We are anxious to bring her home as soon as possible so that we can welcome her home and begin treatment.
Thank you for your partnership. Your gifts have helped/will help to cover the agency, adoption and travel-related fees we anticipate as well as potential medical costs.
We are grateful for you and for your continued prayers.
Gratefully,
The Hennebergs
