It has been almost a week since news begin swirling around about the possibility of Ethiopia slowing down their international adoptions drastically. At first, we tried to shrug it off and not think about it...it was merely speculation...nothing confirmed by the state department or AWAA (our agency)...but then Friday we got an email from our family coordinator at AWAA asking us to pray for the country of Ethiopia and MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) because there were going to be major changes made that would affect adoptions in Ethiopia. We knew it was serious...we knew "our plans" were about to change. Today we received confirmation that the rumors were in fact truth. MOWA is drastically cutting back the number of letters they write from 50 to 5 a day for adopting families. Adoptions in Ethiopia are going to be cut almost 90%. MOWA is going to do more thorough investigations for each adoption to make sure it is ethical and not corrupt. This news is HARD TO SWALLOW. Our wait time will more than likely be years instead of months. Our hopes and dreams of bringing "Baby Ethiopia" home in 2011 shattered and crushed. Over the last five days, we have gone from depressed about the possibility of our adoption taking years...to feeling frustrated and helpless in the situation...to burdened for the orphans that will be in orphanages without families to love and care for them for YEARS...to anxious about the future of adoption in Ethiopia...to angry that "our plans" are not going to work out in the timing we had hoped and prayed for...to REALIZING THAT WE HAVE TO BE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON GOD RIGHT NOW.
"Our plans" are obviously not GOD'S PLANS. He alone knows what the future holds for us and the many families wanting to adopt children from Ethiopia. He alone knows what is best for the orphans in Ethiopia who wait for someone to care for them. When He called us down this adoption road this past fall, He knew what the future would hold for Ethiopia and He knows if/when we will bring home our precious "baby Ethiopia". We don't have any control over the situation...all we can do is pray without ceasing. We don't have a lot of answers right now...how long will we wait now...will it be years...will Ethiopia close international adoptions all together...will we ever bring "baby Ethiopia" home??? WHAT WE DO KNOW is that God cares for and loves the orphans in this world and calls us as Christians to care for the orphans too. We know that the God who "began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it." We know God is working in and through the people in Ethiopia and will do what is best for His children. We know that we MUST trust in God's plan and His ways even when they don't make sense to us at all.
PLEASE pray for the orphans that lay in orphanages in Ethiopia right now longing for a mommy and daddy to hold them...to kiss them...to LOVE them. Pray that God would comfort them and give them "a peace that passes ALL understanding" while they wait. Pray that God will work through the many officials that will have meetings with MOWA this week and in the weeks to come to do what is best for the orphans in Ethiopia. Pray that God's WILL be done in this situation!
With broken hearts,
Todd and Amber
it's looking up girl --- praying that the good news keeps flowing. 4 passing in one day --- when was the last time we heard that!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd make sure you have read the Nat. Council on Adoption statement. Feeling much more better about the situation. The feeling of needing to throw up is subsiding :)