Sunshine through the rain

Wow - the past 48 hours have been a roller coaster! So much going on that I just HAVE to share!

In light of the news of the drastic slowing down in Ethiopia (explanation in previous post), Neil and I were having a hard time. But while we were disappointed, we had a TON of praises come our way and what a great reminder to see how God continues to work through all things big and small. I'm talking about great praise and answers to prayer that we've been praying about for a LONG time!! First of all, our dear friends who have been trying to sell their house for a year now finally sold! Then later in the afternoon, we got a phone call to let us know that a friend of ours who has been going through a tough custody battle won full custody of his kids. He has been through A LOT and we've been praying for him diligently for the past year and a half for this to be resolved. PRAISE HIM! We also got our much anticipated USCIS paperwork in the mail with our fingerprinting appointment that we've been waiting on and will be completing next week - spring break which is perfect timing since both Neil and I are off when the appointment was scheduled. What a glorious day to celebrate!

On the adoption front, although we were all still grasping what everything meant with the new policy, our agency was booming with wonderful news! 5 families got their court dates and there were 3 referrals - 2 of them affected our wait list number to #41 (not to mention the additional two today that moves us to unofficially 39!! Almost half way from our first number of 69!!). WOW - again, an emotional couple of days!

My mind and heart has constantly come back to one thing that I have read over and over again since yesterday.

"The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues; 1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option."

I read this and I am torn. Although my heart aches to bring our child home, my heart truly breaks for all those who are considered the unadoptable. If this means that these children "whom intercountry adoption is not an option" will be getting more support, than how wonderful. Adoption is a small solution to the orphan crisis in this world. There is SO much that needs to be done. If it means I'm going to have to wait longer to bring our little guy home so that there is more energy and resources for those who would never be given the option of adoption, then wait we will. And while we wait, we will do what we can to support the families who are put in these dire situations.

It's just amazing to see how God can truly comfort us when we seek Him as our refuge and strength. Our source of comfort. HE is sovereign and in control so even if His perfect plan doesn't look like mine, I can trust and rest IN Him. How incredible to see Him in such tangible ways when our hearts were weary.