Be Strong

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

So if you are in the adoption world you know what's happening with Ethiopia... you really just can't get around it if you are online. :)

If you aren't in the adoption world, you may still already know...but if not, here's the skinny...

There is office in the adoption process in ET that must produce the documents that proves that an orphan is legal for adoption (at least that's what I understand them to be) ...anyway you get the gist...it's a huge job and they are a huge part of the adoption of a child from Ethiopia. So, this organization, MOWA, used to produce about 40 cases a day for court review...they have 'threatened' to reduce the numbers of cases to 5 per day.

This is significant. This means that there are literally hundreds of cases that could be stuck in a MOWA limbo for literally years... Kinda scary!!! Ok ALOT scary!

Well this has put us in a bit of a quandary...our HS is simply awaiting approval from our agency to be completed. We are adopting from Ethiopia... the children that we think we would like to adopt that have already waited years could wait a TON longer. And dang... who the heck likes to wait?! Raise your hand... yeah I didn't think so...

I have mostly been just watching this unfold with a small amount of concern. Yesterday however I began to really think about the issues... What could this mean? Should we think about changing countries? Are we doing the right thing? What's the deal?! If we change countries now we wouldn't have to pay anything since the HS isn't officially complete. I started asking questions...I inquired about one of the other programs our agency offers... I spoke to my friends about it.

Then on the way home I called D and told him the deal. We talked about it a bit, then we decided that we would talk about it later when we could pray about it.

I hung up the phone and began to pray. I was listening to KLove at the time and a song came on that I haven't ever heard by Matthew West called When Love Comes Home.
These are the words:

Too many miles, too many days
Too many moonlights have danced across your face
Without me holding you, oh how I wish I could
But when love comes it will be for good

Too many front lines too many wars
Pictures of you remind me what I'm fighting for
For our freedom I must see this through
But when love comes home
It will be to you

Chorus:
I'm coming home
Coming home
So let the light inside you burn
With hope of love's return
I'm coming home

For tear stained letters and the hard goodbyes
For every Christmas that I wasn't by your side
For all the lost time along the way (hear me say)
(that) When love comes home it will be to stay

Chorus:
I'm coming home
Coming home
So let the light inside you burn
With hope of love's return
I'm coming home

And so this void inside my heart
Will not be filled until I'm standing where you are
And in that moment I walk through the door
When you're in my arms
It will hurt no more

Love is courageous
Love is strong
Love is the legacy we leave when we are gone
And when it's over ours will say
When love came home
It was worth the wait

Love came home and it was worth the wait

The song is said to be written for military families, but the last lines struck me so much! I had asked God to confirm what we were to do...and this song came on!

I walked in to the house and shared this with D. Who said, "ok we are waiting." He is firm in his belief that our kids are in ET, and he's willing to wait.

So we wait... and we call on the Lord. We pray for the children we believe are to join our family. We pray for the Ethiopian Government as they work on the decisions about adoption and what to do about MOWA. The US Embassy, ET Gov't and many other organizations have reached out to MOWA offering help, offering solutions, offering the backing of families that have adopted from ET and are in the process now.

Will you pray with us? Will you join us in asking that God guide the decision making of those involved, that the concerns that brought this about be addressed and that we be able to move forward as planned with all the other families that are effected by this decision?

Stand Strong and Courageous with us?!