POSITIVE LIGHT IN ETHIOPIA?

For those of you kind enough and caring enough to join us in prayer over the proposed changes in Ethiopia adoptions, I THANK YOU!  In effort to keep you up to date, I want to share with you an email that we received from our caseworker, Caitlin.  Although there is rumor of the proposed 5 letters/day increasing to 20 letters/day, there is still no confirmation of this number.  Here is the letter we received today:

We are writing to update you on the current situation in Ethiopia.  While meetings between Ethiopian government officials continue, we have seen positive steps.  Within MOWA, there have been significant and positive personnel changes which have resulted in overall staff turnover and changes in the adoption unit.  This unit is now called the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA).  We are hopeful and expectant that the new leadership will not only support processing an adequate number of favorable recommendation letters, but also implement policies that will best serve the children.  Due to the staffing changes, we anticipate much transition over the next few weeks.  However, we expect that once everyone is settled into their new positions, MOWCYA will work to process a higher number of recommendation letters than they currently are able to process.  

We have continued to receive optimistic feedback and have seen how the Ethiopian government is very committed to adoption.  I hope this information is an encouragement to your family.  We will continue to update your family with any confirmed information we receive.

GO, GOD!  What the enemy meant for evil, may God turn around and make AWESOME!!!!!  THANK YOU, THANK YOU for praying!  May you continue to join us with CONTINUED PRAYER over this issue!  OUR PRAYERS ARE WORKING FOR THE GOOD OF THESE PRECIOUS KIDDOS IN ETHIOPIA!  The meetings continue and the personnel changes are taking place.  PLEASE don't forget to still pray over this!  satan could only HOPE that we would get lax in our prayers over this issue ~ so that he could continue his efforts of stealing, killing, and destroying!

On a side note.  I.JUST.HAVE.TO.SHARE!  I have been awakened every.single.night. between 2-3am our time ~ and actually it changed with the time change and is now 3-4am our time.......I KID YOU NOT!!!!!  I grumbled at first early last week (sunday and monday), unsure as to why I was waking up the same time like that.  This has intermittently happened in the past ~ waking up around the same time in the middle of the night ~ and when it finally registers, I ask God who it is I should be praying for.....He reveals to me someone......and I pray, whether I know that person's need doesn't matter.  God knows.

Needless to say, when I was awakened the second night last week, I quickly recognized this as time to pray over Ethiopia adoption!  So, I did just that!  Every night!  Only to find out later in the week, that several others in our Yahoo Group were ALSO being awakened in this same hour!  No matter what the time zone, we were each being awakened at the time that was noon in Ethiopia!  ISN'T THAT AMAZING!!!!  Only God!

Although we do not know exactly WHY noon in ET is so important, we continue to PRAY with each awakening!  I will fervently pray upon being awakened, as well as MULTIPLE times a day!  Many of us in the AWAA Yahoo Group even signed up for a specific hour that coincided with the work day in Ethiopia!  BOY, THIS ISSUE IS COVERED IN PRAYER!  Please continue to join me!

May God's will continue to OVERPOWER!

It is in HIS existence that I find HOPE!  

To GOD be all the glory!

AMEN.

Blessings or Burdens?

(First, Scroll to bottom of blog and hit "Pause" button.
Then return to this video and hit the "Play" button.
Worth listening to this ~ all the way to the end!)


Katie Davis says it so well on her blog (click here).
"I live with these human eyes, and with these human eyes of mine I label. I label one thing as good and one thing as bad. I label moments as blessing or burden. And I forget that all this labeling, it is not my right, not my place, not mine to do. To declare what is a gift in my life and what is a curse is to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to sit in the garden full of abundance and beauty and choose the forbidden. The knowledge of good and evil, that was never intended for me. Could I, like Jja Ja Maria just quit my labeling and say, "Whatever God wants. Whatever HE wants!".....

....."And if every good and perfect gift is from above, and a Good and Beautiful God can create only good and beauty then these moments that I choose to label as loss and suffering, they are really good and beautiful, perfect gifts?".....

......"Suffering, pain, loss, shame – all these things I have blamed on a broken world, Satan even. But can’t a broken world and even Satan only give what God allows? Suffering, pain loss and shame are only these things because I label them as such. Because I, a sinner, choose to eat from the tree, choose to turn away from nail-scarred hands and ignore the grace and miss the gift. He is beautiful and everything He creates is beautiful and if I choose to label it suffering I am choosing to miss the beauty that is freely offered me."

Read her entire post HERE.  It speaks well of where I am today.  Trying to focus on life's Blessings rather than Burdens.

What if our trials in this life are your blessings in disguise, Lord?  Help me no longer try to control things so that they fit within my timeline.  My idea of "right."  Help me NOT doubt you, your Word, nor your Promises, Lord.

I know you hear my plea....if I BELIEVE.  I DO  BELIEVE, Lord.  Please help me in my unbelief or doubt.  I believe YOU ARE STILL IN CONTROL.

I STILL CHOOSE YOU!

HOPE in the Chaos.....

I want to share with you the update that our wonderful agency, America World (AWAA) provided today.  There is HOPE, though many prayers are still needed to cover the continued meetings over this issue!  If you haven't signed the petition yet please see my previous post and click on the link to sign it ~ takes less than one minute to sign!  :)

Updates on Ethiopia Adoption Process

As government officials continue to meet in Ethiopia, please note some of the information currently being provided from the US Department of State as well as the National Council For Adoption regarding the current situation involving MOWA. Yesterday, the US Department of State noted the announcement MOWA made last week on their website. The full article can be found at:http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia_alert.html. Additionally, the NCFA statement issued yesterday evening can be found below.

As noted by NCFA, we are also excited to highlight the positive reports we are hearing regarding meetings in Ethiopia this week and are hopeful they will result in the continuance of a higher number of favorable recommendation letters being written by MOWA for families in the court process. We know God can move mightily and are continuing to trust His hand over the Ethiopian adoption process.  As an additional note of praise, we received favorable recommendation letters from MOWA today that resulted in families successfully passing court.

During this season we would ask for continued prayers for the Ethiopian adoption process.

NCFA Issues Statement Regarding Ethiopia Adoptions

At the end of February 2011, the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs (MOWA) issued an unexpected directive indicating a dramatic reduction in the number of intercountry adoption cases to be processed by the Ministry.  This directive is scheduled to go into effect by Wednesday, March 10, 2011. 

In 2010, more than 2,500 Ethiopian children were adopted by American families. Should MOWA implement the recent directive as indicated, the number of adoptions from Ethiopia could fall as much as 90%, although the full impact of MOWA’s decision is unknown and cannot be predicted at this time. 

This ruling follows a year of significant progress in improving and increasing transparency in the Ethiopian adoption process.  Following several safeguards enacted last year, NCFA’s confidence in the Ethiopian adoption system has grown significantly. Additional protective measures may still be necessary, however, to increase global confidence in the process. MOWA’s recent decision appears to have surprised many Ethiopian government officials, as well as the Central Adoption Authorities in the U.S., Italy, and Spain.  Many within the adoption community, including the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), members of Congress, child welfare officials in many countries, and the National Council For Adoption (NCFA), have criticized the MOWA directive as unfair, unnecessary, and harmful to children in Ethiopian orphanages who await permanent families. 

NCFA is grateful for the swift action taken by the U.S. Department of State, led by Special Advisor Ambassador Susan Jacobs, to communicate with Ethiopian adoption officials in an effort to reach a favorable resolution that will serve the best interests of abandoned and orphaned children in Ethiopia.

“We are encouraged by the advocacy taking place behind the scenes and hopeful that these collective efforts will bring clarity and an immediate adjustment to this unjust and unnecessary ruling, which has the potential to negatively impact so many vulnerable children,” said NCFA president and CEO Chuck Johnson.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that personnel changes within MOWA have resulted from the rogue handling of this decision, and because of this, NCFA is hopeful that new leadership will offer opportunities for better communication and a swift resolution to this looming crisis.  NCFA respectfully calls on MOWA to amend its recent harmful directive and ensure that subsequent reforms reflect a comprehensive child welfare policy that retains the option of intercountry adoption for Ethiopian orphans while ensuring policies and procedures that serve the best interests of children.

MOMMY AND DADDY ARE COMING, BABE(S)!  

WE ARE COMING!

May God's POWER continue to be seen in all of this!  I really do not mind being awakened to pray over this issue.  In fact, I am HAPPY to cover this issue with God's power!  I do, however, pray that when I rest my head on my pillow tonight, it will be with a bit of a lighter heart.......STILL PRAYING!!!!!............

RUMORS NO MORE

Today the US Department of State has issued an alert for Ethiopia adoptions.  Click here to read this alert.  I have posted the text below:

Government of Ethiopia Plans Major Slow-Down in Adoption Processing

March 9, 2011

Citing the need to work on quality and focus on more important strategic issues, the Government of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs (MOWCYA) will reduce to a maximum of five the number of adoption cases it processes per day, effective March 10, 2011. Under Ethiopian adoption procedures, MOWCYA approves every match between prospective adoptive parents and an Ethiopian child before that case can be forwarded for a court hearing. The U.S. Embassy is working with Ethiopian government officials and adoption agencies to learn more about this change in procedures. We will continue to share information as it becomes available.

Given MOWCYA's current caseload, the U.S. Embassy anticipates that this change could result in an overall decline in case processing of some 90 percent. If this change is implemented as proposed, we expect, that parents who have begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia but have not yet been matched with a child could experience significant delays. It is not clear if this change in procedures would have any significant impact on cases in which MOWCYA has already approved matches. 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?!?!?

1.  SIGN THE PETITION!  Click HERE and join the more than 13 thousand orphan advocates who have signed this petition in the last 24 hours.  This petition will go to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi.  Feel free to pass this link along to others!  The goal is to have 250,000 signatures by Monday!

2.  CONTINUE (or START) PRAYING!  Not just our child or children, but for ALL of the children in Ethiopia who are without a family!  And for the birth families who have become victims of corrupt practices.  May God find an answer to resolve 


3.  GO TO: Joint Council on International Children Services WEBSITE!   Read the articles under NEWS & UPDATES to remain informed of the latest news regarding this issue.


4.  SHARE!  Pass this information on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, your BLOG!  Help Call to Action your family, friends, church, etc.  Anyone who has a heart for adoption can become an advocate in any of the above ways!


There has been reported evidence in SOME CASES of unscrupulous operators tricking Ethiopian parents to give up their children, then falsifying documents in order claim a part of the large fees involved in inter country adoptions.  My college and fellow adoptive friend, Karen, puts it so well......

"We can point to family after family, and child after child, who have been blessed beyond belief with the gift of adoption.  And yet ... if even one child is taken from their family by force or by trick or by payment, can we justify the trajedy of a few for the benefit of many?  No - we cannot!  Should adoption from Ethiopia come to a screeching halt?  No - definitely not!  So the speculation swirls and the debate rages."

Please join in praying over these children as the meetings to resolve this continue throughout the week(s).  May God protect them from such evil, wicked operators.  May God also help bring them home to the families HE has planned for them to be a part of, from the very beginning!  Please pray for the hearts of families adopting from Ethiopia, as we are.  Families who really only want what is BEST for our own children as well as the other 4 to 5 million orphans in Ethiopia.......to be brought HOME in the most ethical and efficient way possible.  May God's will be done.


Here are a few other sites I trust for updates and perspective:
http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/
http://blog.beliefnet.com/redletters/2011/03/ethiopia-adoption-cuts-rumors-human-rights.html