I keep checking my spam folder in my email. I don't know why, I mean, seriously, it's got to be months yet before we hear anything, maybe closer to a year, but I keep checking it anyway, hoping, just maybe....our file will slip a little closer to the top of a pile on someone's desk.
Great news this week as 9 families travel to pick up a total of 11 more children! That's 22 just in the last couple of months, from our agency alone, not counting all the other agencies and independent families that I don't know of! Just think of those orphanage doors opening week after week and more and more children placed into the loving arms of their waiting parents! Gives me chills!
Please be in prayer for a couple of these families who know their children are currently ill. It's hard enough when we have our sick babies in our arms and under state-of-the-art medical care. Imagine knowing the child you can't touch is sick and under what circumstances? They are in the hands of the Great Physician and He is in control.
So I will go check my junk mail again...and pray that someone on the other side of the world kissed my baby good-night for me.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
what to do....
I know, I know, I am a very bad blogger. I love to read everyone else's blogs but after a long day of work, "writing" is not high on my list of priorities :) But, for our kind friends and family who ask us how the adoption is going, it's going! Not for us specifically at this point, but for many others.
One group of 6 families and their total of 11 children got home last Friday, PRAISE GOD!! There is another group of 8 families leaving May 1 to travel and get their children. More approvals have come through as well. I have seen numbers like 77 and even 91 mentioned on yahoo groups. These are approvals, stating a family has permission to adopt from Rwanda, and the referral, which is info on your actual child, typically comes 2-3 months later. Typically being in operative word :)
One little cog that has been thrown into the works has Matt and I requesting prayer and wisdom. It seems that with all the referrals going out lately, the number of adoptable young children below age 3 has been drastically reduced in the particular orphanage we are working with. The way I understand it, this is the only orphanage in Rwanda that children can be adopted from. This is NOT stating that there is a shortage of orphans in other orphanages, but for whatever reason, only this orphanage allows the children to be adopted internationally. It is AWESOME that so many families have been waiting and these young children and babies now have loving families!
However, few families request children over age 3 and there is a need for families for these children. Could we be a family for a 4 yr old? 4 is the oldest we would consider going, simply because of the ages of our other children, 6 and 4, and we are not sure about having 2 four yr olds. I have read of other families creating these "adoptive twins" and if anyone with such an experience could contact me with advice I would greatly appreciate it.
Maybe God has a beautiful 4 yr old waiting for us in Rwanda. Maybe we are to wait for a younger child. With the millions of orphaned children out there, I assume beds in the orphanage will not remain empty long. We want to do what God wills for our family and at the time we began this process, we felt lead toward a toddler, assuming we would be referred a 2 or 3 yr old. Please pray for wisdom and guidance, and also for patience. It's easy to lose patience with the process and think that we could move ahead faster by increasing our age range, but that very well may NOT be what the Lord has in store for us.
What we know for CERTAIN: we have three beautiful children, a sweet, smart 6 yr old, a cuddly, active 4 yr old, and a lovable little one waiting in Rwanda, be they 4 months or 4 yrs old, only God can lead us.
One group of 6 families and their total of 11 children got home last Friday, PRAISE GOD!! There is another group of 8 families leaving May 1 to travel and get their children. More approvals have come through as well. I have seen numbers like 77 and even 91 mentioned on yahoo groups. These are approvals, stating a family has permission to adopt from Rwanda, and the referral, which is info on your actual child, typically comes 2-3 months later. Typically being in operative word :)
One little cog that has been thrown into the works has Matt and I requesting prayer and wisdom. It seems that with all the referrals going out lately, the number of adoptable young children below age 3 has been drastically reduced in the particular orphanage we are working with. The way I understand it, this is the only orphanage in Rwanda that children can be adopted from. This is NOT stating that there is a shortage of orphans in other orphanages, but for whatever reason, only this orphanage allows the children to be adopted internationally. It is AWESOME that so many families have been waiting and these young children and babies now have loving families!
However, few families request children over age 3 and there is a need for families for these children. Could we be a family for a 4 yr old? 4 is the oldest we would consider going, simply because of the ages of our other children, 6 and 4, and we are not sure about having 2 four yr olds. I have read of other families creating these "adoptive twins" and if anyone with such an experience could contact me with advice I would greatly appreciate it.
Maybe God has a beautiful 4 yr old waiting for us in Rwanda. Maybe we are to wait for a younger child. With the millions of orphaned children out there, I assume beds in the orphanage will not remain empty long. We want to do what God wills for our family and at the time we began this process, we felt lead toward a toddler, assuming we would be referred a 2 or 3 yr old. Please pray for wisdom and guidance, and also for patience. It's easy to lose patience with the process and think that we could move ahead faster by increasing our age range, but that very well may NOT be what the Lord has in store for us.
What we know for CERTAIN: we have three beautiful children, a sweet, smart 6 yr old, a cuddly, active 4 yr old, and a lovable little one waiting in Rwanda, be they 4 months or 4 yrs old, only God can lead us.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Two more!
Hi all! There were two more referrals this week, both on Friday. In other good news our government decided not to shut down, Praise God! This would have stranded 6 families in Ethiopia, there from Rwanda to get passports and visa for their children to be able to enter the US. If the US government were to shut down, the Embassy would close and this paper work would be unattainable until it re-opened, forcing the families to stay in country with their children. But, the Lord, He is good! They posted today saying everything was on track and it had been a good day of bonding with their kids.
As for us. We are #126. This number will be etched into my memory forever. #71 got approval this week. 55 to go! At the rate things have been moving, it has taken about 3 months to get a referral, once a family is approved. The approval just means the Rwandan government says you are fit to have a child, the referral actually comes from the nuns who run the orphanage. Several families have posted on blogs that it is amazing to see how much the Sisters love our children.
On another amazing note, a family who just got back to the States with their baby girl got an awesomely clean bill of health and she is developmentally right on track! Great news, especially for a child spending months or yrs in an orphanage. Another testament to our Great God and the sweet Sisters who care for our babies.
Spring Break is officially over. One week til CATS testing. Eight weeks left of school before summer break. 55 approvals to go til they get to us...but who's counting? :)
As for us. We are #126. This number will be etched into my memory forever. #71 got approval this week. 55 to go! At the rate things have been moving, it has taken about 3 months to get a referral, once a family is approved. The approval just means the Rwandan government says you are fit to have a child, the referral actually comes from the nuns who run the orphanage. Several families have posted on blogs that it is amazing to see how much the Sisters love our children.
On another amazing note, a family who just got back to the States with their baby girl got an awesomely clean bill of health and she is developmentally right on track! Great news, especially for a child spending months or yrs in an orphanage. Another testament to our Great God and the sweet Sisters who care for our babies.
Spring Break is officially over. One week til CATS testing. Eight weeks left of school before summer break. 55 approvals to go til they get to us...but who's counting? :)
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