We knew Adoption was a roller coaster....
If you haven't seen our Facebook updates, here is the latest~
On April 21st, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia declared a suspension on all intercountry adoptions. This suspension was declared with no advance warning.
We were able to participate today in a phone call with the U.S. State Department and USCIS. They are actively trying to get answers for all of the families currently involved. There has been no reason given by Ethiopia for the suspension and no idea on how long the suspension will last. The State Department is actively advocating for all cases which currently have a referral/match - of which we do. We went into this phone call with pretty low expectations and after completing it, those expectations were met. There just doesn't seem to be a lot that can currently be done and doesn't seem to be much currently happening. From our understanding, this is the situation of a little over 200 other families....some of whom are currently in Ethiopia with their children but can not take them home (some are even formally adopted). It doesn't make sense and surely doesn't seem right for any of these kiddos who need a home and family. This is just so beyond our understanding!
So - when the politics of this world don't seem to make sense - we turn to prayer. We'd ask you to join us in setting your phone/watch to pray every day at 12:24 for our boy. We have committed to do this until he is HOME.
Here are some of our prayer requests:
*That the powers that be in Ethiopia would change this adoption situation as soon as possible.
*That our boy (who knows he is to be adopted by us) would not be worried or concerned with the amount of time it is taking for us to get there. Pray that he would have peace.
*Pray for peace and joy for us....this is a dark cloud with us all the time.
*Pray for financial issues.....even though there is a suspension in place, we are still making monthly childcare payments, etc. We had planned to do this, but can only do that for so long until we need to do some more fundraising.
*Pray for the uncertainty....and that we can enjoy summer, make memories, possibly vacation if we don't travel to ET. It's just hard to plan anything right now.
*For all the children and families involved.
*For our adoption case workers - they are often the messengers of bad news like this and it is beyond their control. They still press on tirelessly to try to help children and families...but they get weary and discouraged too.
*Pray that our case would be expedited due to the special needs and age of our son. He's been waiting many years for a family.....it's so unfair that he needs to keep waiting.
*That's the big picture of it all.....PLEASE JUST PRAY. PRAY.
If you haven't seen our Facebook updates, here is the latest~
On April 21st, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia declared a suspension on all intercountry adoptions. This suspension was declared with no advance warning.
We were able to participate today in a phone call with the U.S. State Department and USCIS. They are actively trying to get answers for all of the families currently involved. There has been no reason given by Ethiopia for the suspension and no idea on how long the suspension will last. The State Department is actively advocating for all cases which currently have a referral/match - of which we do. We went into this phone call with pretty low expectations and after completing it, those expectations were met. There just doesn't seem to be a lot that can currently be done and doesn't seem to be much currently happening. From our understanding, this is the situation of a little over 200 other families....some of whom are currently in Ethiopia with their children but can not take them home (some are even formally adopted). It doesn't make sense and surely doesn't seem right for any of these kiddos who need a home and family. This is just so beyond our understanding!
So - when the politics of this world don't seem to make sense - we turn to prayer. We'd ask you to join us in setting your phone/watch to pray every day at 12:24 for our boy. We have committed to do this until he is HOME.
Here are some of our prayer requests:
*That the powers that be in Ethiopia would change this adoption situation as soon as possible.
*That our boy (who knows he is to be adopted by us) would not be worried or concerned with the amount of time it is taking for us to get there. Pray that he would have peace.
*Pray for peace and joy for us....this is a dark cloud with us all the time.
*Pray for financial issues.....even though there is a suspension in place, we are still making monthly childcare payments, etc. We had planned to do this, but can only do that for so long until we need to do some more fundraising.
*Pray for the uncertainty....and that we can enjoy summer, make memories, possibly vacation if we don't travel to ET. It's just hard to plan anything right now.
*For all the children and families involved.
*For our adoption case workers - they are often the messengers of bad news like this and it is beyond their control. They still press on tirelessly to try to help children and families...but they get weary and discouraged too.
*Pray that our case would be expedited due to the special needs and age of our son. He's been waiting many years for a family.....it's so unfair that he needs to keep waiting.
*That's the big picture of it all.....PLEASE JUST PRAY. PRAY.
Please know that many of us are praying. I can only imagine what it is like to be going through what you and your family are going through. I admire your faith, strength and patience.
ReplyDelete