PLEASE PRAY FOR THE ORPHANS OF UKRAINE
RADA (Ukraine's parliament) is voting on a law on June 2nd to stop international adoption of Ukrainian orphans.
For many kids international adoption is their only hope of every having a forever family. It is absolutely not within the norm for Ukrainians to adopt special needs kids, older kids or Roma children. For these children especially, closing Ukraine to international adoptions would be devastating.
There are children and families who are there RIGHT NOW in the process of adopting, that would have to walk separate ways if this law was passed....CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE TRAUMA??
There are children who have met families through hosting, through previously adopted children, mission trips, advocates, sponsors, etc. that are waiting for their families to come for them...they will have their hearts broken once again if the doors close.
There are families that have appointments to travel this week, next week, next month, etc. that could not proceed and would have to start all over again somewhere else with no reimbursement of monies spent and with their hopes and dreams ripped from their hands.
There are so many situations that are incredibly heartbreaking. Even if a moratorium does not last forever, there are children who are aging out and will lose their chances of EVER being adopted. I know one family who is just about on their way to get this child they love and who loves them, she will be 16 in less than 2 months. A moratorium would be absolutely tragic.
Look at the statistics I have posted on the right ride of my blog. This is what happens to the children who age out of the system. This is real. These are real children, real lives that don't have to be that way.
Please pray fervently for these orphans and that this law will not be passed. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, church, anyone who will be willing to stand up in prayer for these children, to PRAY. He hears our cries, our prayers can make the difference.
(James 5:16b) The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
This Day Deserves A Post!!!
I don’t even know where to start. I have had way too much emotional excitement for one day, I am pretty much poopka’d out; so please forgive me if I don’t keep a straight thought or ramble on. :)
Well, first of all, as I hope you can tell by the videos, little Miss Nadia Hope is doing absolutely amazing! I can brag on her all post long and go on and on about how much I love her, but then you’d miss out on some of the other exciting stuff going on….like going back for “Faith”.
As I mentioned in my last post we have been praying about going back for “Faith”. We had finally decided to step out in faith and just do it when we learned that a family member has somewhat recently popped up. This family member has been bringing her home for holidays and some weekends. The FEELING our friend has (she is a caregiver at the orphanage) is that he will request to foster her because of the money. Of course he may have all of the right intentions but I also trust that my friend has seen this scenario a hundred times over and probably has a pretty good idea of what is going on. But again let me say, we really can’t know his heart.
In any case, the news of this family member visiting AND upon learning she also has a boyfriend, made us stop and wonder if this is really what we are supposed to be doing. Then there was time praying (still are) about other employment options for Dan, just because he is not happy where he is at. We figured we might need to step back for a moment and really see what God’s will is here. So I’ve been praying…..and praying.
Dan and I finally agreed that we would find out what “Faith” wanted. We DO think she would still like us to adopt her. At this point she doesn’t realize that she is adoptable (well, will be at the end of the year) and has asked us (via letter) to keep in touch with her. We are currently just being the family that wants to love her and pray for her, even if we can never officially be a forever family. However, she needs to know the truth about her availability and decide if she wants us to come for her (which means she would need to not agree to foster care or guardianship by anyone else). Once we know this is what she wants, we decided we would move forward with the adoption process.
As I have mentioned earlier, however, we do not have the funds to do this and do not know where the funds would come from. We also know that if God is calling us to do this, He will provide. I don’t know how many of you follow Ashley Fumia’s adoption blog of Grisha http://fumia.blogspot.com/ but what an incredible testimony of their faith in Christ and His faithfulness to provide where He has called you to walk. So we are ready to take that step of faith.
Now, I have heard of a people (even strangers) sponsoring an adoption for a family but that kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday. It also happens to other people, not us, you know? Well, when someone told me today they would help cover what we could not to bring “Faith” home, I could not believe it. Yes, that really did happen!
I am still in shock. I have cried tears of joy and overwhelming gratitude, praised God like mad and still do not think my brain can fully comprehend what just happen. I swear when she was telling me I couldn’t get what she was trying to say. I mean, we know lots of amazing people that stepped out in faith and contributed $10, $25, $50, $100 even $1,000 for Nadia’s adoption, so I was thinking of a contribution on the lower end of those. I just could not grasp what she was trying to tell me.
And what does one say? I mean how do you say “thank you” for even the gesture? I don’t even know. Again, I am still in shock. Imagining beginning an adoption without wondering where the money is going to come from for the next step is so foreign to us. What would that be like? Not having to stress out?! And lets be honest, I have faith but it surely doesn’t mean I don’t ever pick those burdens back up that I laid at His feet and spend many nights awake trying to calculate numbers and trying to figure out how God’s going to pull this one off. I have zero desire to spend another, however long, calculating and recalculating funds.
Well, I am listening to my blog Playlist as I type this and just got to “When you Love Someone” from Hope Floats. If you recall in a MUCH earlier post, this song makes me think of “Flower” I just miss her so stinkin’ much…it’s incredibly painful. Please keep praying for her. We are not allowed to keep in touch but I have a friend who is checking in on her from time to time. I am still praying that someday she will officially be our daughter. You just never know, right?
For those of you still reading, thanks for hanging in there. :) Please keep “Faith” & “Flower” in your prayers and praise God for His incredible provision and faithfulness.
D*, you have no idea how much you have blessed us already. Thank you is not nearly enough but THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! God bless!
Well, first of all, as I hope you can tell by the videos, little Miss Nadia Hope is doing absolutely amazing! I can brag on her all post long and go on and on about how much I love her, but then you’d miss out on some of the other exciting stuff going on….like going back for “Faith”.
As I mentioned in my last post we have been praying about going back for “Faith”. We had finally decided to step out in faith and just do it when we learned that a family member has somewhat recently popped up. This family member has been bringing her home for holidays and some weekends. The FEELING our friend has (she is a caregiver at the orphanage) is that he will request to foster her because of the money. Of course he may have all of the right intentions but I also trust that my friend has seen this scenario a hundred times over and probably has a pretty good idea of what is going on. But again let me say, we really can’t know his heart.
In any case, the news of this family member visiting AND upon learning she also has a boyfriend, made us stop and wonder if this is really what we are supposed to be doing. Then there was time praying (still are) about other employment options for Dan, just because he is not happy where he is at. We figured we might need to step back for a moment and really see what God’s will is here. So I’ve been praying…..and praying.
Dan and I finally agreed that we would find out what “Faith” wanted. We DO think she would still like us to adopt her. At this point she doesn’t realize that she is adoptable (well, will be at the end of the year) and has asked us (via letter) to keep in touch with her. We are currently just being the family that wants to love her and pray for her, even if we can never officially be a forever family. However, she needs to know the truth about her availability and decide if she wants us to come for her (which means she would need to not agree to foster care or guardianship by anyone else). Once we know this is what she wants, we decided we would move forward with the adoption process.
As I have mentioned earlier, however, we do not have the funds to do this and do not know where the funds would come from. We also know that if God is calling us to do this, He will provide. I don’t know how many of you follow Ashley Fumia’s adoption blog of Grisha http://fumia.blogspot.com/ but what an incredible testimony of their faith in Christ and His faithfulness to provide where He has called you to walk. So we are ready to take that step of faith.
Now, I have heard of a people (even strangers) sponsoring an adoption for a family but that kind of thing doesn’t happen everyday. It also happens to other people, not us, you know? Well, when someone told me today they would help cover what we could not to bring “Faith” home, I could not believe it. Yes, that really did happen!
I am still in shock. I have cried tears of joy and overwhelming gratitude, praised God like mad and still do not think my brain can fully comprehend what just happen. I swear when she was telling me I couldn’t get what she was trying to say. I mean, we know lots of amazing people that stepped out in faith and contributed $10, $25, $50, $100 even $1,000 for Nadia’s adoption, so I was thinking of a contribution on the lower end of those. I just could not grasp what she was trying to tell me.
And what does one say? I mean how do you say “thank you” for even the gesture? I don’t even know. Again, I am still in shock. Imagining beginning an adoption without wondering where the money is going to come from for the next step is so foreign to us. What would that be like? Not having to stress out?! And lets be honest, I have faith but it surely doesn’t mean I don’t ever pick those burdens back up that I laid at His feet and spend many nights awake trying to calculate numbers and trying to figure out how God’s going to pull this one off. I have zero desire to spend another, however long, calculating and recalculating funds.
Well, I am listening to my blog Playlist as I type this and just got to “When you Love Someone” from Hope Floats. If you recall in a MUCH earlier post, this song makes me think of “Flower” I just miss her so stinkin’ much…it’s incredibly painful. Please keep praying for her. We are not allowed to keep in touch but I have a friend who is checking in on her from time to time. I am still praying that someday she will officially be our daughter. You just never know, right?
For those of you still reading, thanks for hanging in there. :) Please keep “Faith” & “Flower” in your prayers and praise God for His incredible provision and faithfulness.
D*, you have no idea how much you have blessed us already. Thank you is not nearly enough but THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! God bless!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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