Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Heart Broken


Well I have started this post several times and just can't seem to finish it.

Several ladies from Global Orphan Outreach visited our orphanage/foster families in Liberia last week. It was a wonderful time for them to see the children, put in a well in a poor jungle community, speak with the University about installing wheelchair ramps for the handicapped, taking the foster moms and children to the beach, as well as meeting with the Ministry regarding the direction of adoptions.

Visit their site http://www.globalorphanoutreach.blogspot.com/ to see pictures and read about the trip.

The news from the Ministry was not what we had hoped for. I was going to say the news was "not good" but that would be saying that God's timing is not right. I know He has a plan!! I just have to continue to remind myself of this...daily, hourly and sometimes every few minutes. Anyway I have digressed. The Ministry has said that they will not be completing any adoptions at this time. They are changing to a Hague country, meaning only one agency currently doing adoptions in Liberia has the accreditation to continue. There will be no private adoptions, which is what we were doing, with the Ministries blessing I might add. No adoptions will take place, period, until the Children's Bill is passed. Right now the Ministry is accrediting foster homes and orphanages. Once that is finished they will move onto accrediting adoption agencies. In all reality we are looking at the end of the year to travel to pick up our children and probably more money than we had planned.

If all of this was not enough, we receive word yesterday that our little boy has passed away. Solomon John died last week in his sleep. He was not sick and had been playing as normal that day. The next morning he did not awake. As you can imagine this is heartbreaking to our family. We have counted Solomon our son for a year now, just waiting to go pick him up. This has not changed our direction, only strengthened our resolve to bring Hannah and Hosanna home as soon as possible.

While we don't know why God has allowed our son to pass away, we do know that He has a plan. He who sent His own son to die for me because He loved me and chose me.

Why has this adoption taken so long. I really can't say. I may never know, but I do know that our family has learned many lessons. We have learned to love deeper, even when we haven't met. Pray harder, even when the answer is 'wait'. Trust more, because we know God is in control.

Please pray with us that God will allow our girls to come home safely and in His timing!
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Friday, April 9, 2010

Maybe soon....

Liberia has officially announced that adoptions are taking place!! Things have been moving slowly in Liberia since about December, but no official word was given until yesterday that things are moving again!

A few new challenges may be in our path. One, the government of Liberia is requiring that both parents travel and appear in Monrovia for an exit interview. While both of us traveling was our desire, the timing now will make it more complicated. Two weeks ago we had a little baby girl, our tenth child. The challenge will be taking her to Liberia with us (concern for her health) or leaving her for a week here in the US. Also in order to bring the triplets home we will have to travel with them on our laps on the plane, if we take the baby we will need more help in our travels.

We know the Lord has a plan and we are both excited to see what He does. We are also very excited about bringing home our little ones in the next couple months. One lesson I have learned is not to try to run ahead of the Lord. We are almost 2 1/2 years into this adoption process. I had my plans from the beginning. I was sure we would fill out our paperwork, obtain our approval and travel all before our ninth child was born. Well she is turning two at the end of this month. The Lord had other plans which we now see were for our good.

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