Brief Update and Prayer Needed

We got the certified papers back from the Secretary of State in Austin yesterday, which puts us one step closer to completing our Dossier. We are waiting for the homestudy to be delivered, hopefully this week, then it will be sent to IAN (our agency). Then we will be on the waitlist.

Although the waitlist seemed exciting last week and hopeful, it now seems like it could be a step closer to dissapointment. Last Friday came the announcement that the governing forces in Ethiopia are planning on cutting adoptions back up to 90% which means going from approving 40+ adoptions a day to 5 a day. That is a drastic move. And, on a very real level there needs to be protection put in place for these babies and children who are not really orphans and are being taken from families by trickery for money and/or worse. There is corruption. It is not surprising, of course. It is a travesty. So something needs to be done to safeguard the children and the families of the children. But this cut will leave thousands of truly orphaned children who are waiting for families alone and without hope. And so many families who are waiting to bring them home waiting much, much longer.

And so we are asking for prayer. Prayer for the decision-making meetings taking place in the next week in Ethiopia. That hearts would be soft and there would be a way to safeguard the children, yet move forward in allowing truly orphaned children to be adopted out. Pray against the powers of this present darkness. Just pray. Pray for the families waiting here, for the families who have lost children there and for the children who are caught in the middle of it all. Pray for peace and hope and the assurance of the reality of who God is, in all of his GLORY.

Thank you.