Groaning

We asked you to specifically pray for us and our adoption last week.  And we’re so thankful for those of you who were able, and for those who are continuing to pray. 

This past week has been really, REALLY hard.  We’ve heard nothing from our adoption agency telling us that things are moving forward.  Our computer crashed, again.  Our landlord has threatened to end our lease two years early and charge us a huge fine because he thinks that we’re teaching English out of our home for profit.  (Obviously, we are not teaching English for profit!)  And our work here continues to feel like one big uphill battle.   

We never thought that a week of focused prayer for us would turn out like this.  We had high hopes and expectations that your prayers would move the hand of God this week.  We were hoping to report that our paperwork is now on its way to China and that we were matched with our first little girl…but that just hasn’t happened yet.  I wish I could tell you that your prayers brought a supernatural peace and joy to our hearts this week…but that’s just not true.  I wish I could tell you that we’re feeling less discouraged in this process…but I can’t.  The truth is that it’s been one. hard. week.

Still, we cling to a mustard seed of faith and hope that God is answering prayers, but in a very different way than we expected.  This week He’s chosen to work on our character to make us better parents.  How will we respond when life gets really hard?  By turning to chocolate and movies?  Quite honestly, yes.  But also but also by turning to friends who love us dearly and are in this with us.  And by turning to our faithful Father who loves us even more and carries us through the hardest times.  And by opening our Bibles and letting His eternal words mean more to us than they ever have before.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”  (Romans 8: 18-19, 23)

Groan with us in hope.  God’s glory is a sure thing. 

Adoption Prayer Challenge

(If you receive our monthly newsletters, you've likely already seen this.)

“How’s the adoption going?” is a question we are asked all the time, and honestly we haven’t had much to report for a long time.  We’re feeling rather discouraged.  It’s been one and a half years since we began this “paper pregnancy”.  However, getting the right papers in the right hands at the right time is proving more difficult than we ever imagined.  We firmly believe that every step of this process is guided by our Father’s loving hand and we also believe that our prayers have power to move His hand.  We desperately desire two little girls to join our family, to walk through our doors and into our arms as our children. 

So... we want to mobilize as many people as possible to join us in a special time of prayer.

Here are the next main steps in our adoption process:

1) Dossier to China—This means that all our paperwork with all the proper authentications needs to get into the hands of the Chinese government to prove that we are fit to parent children.

2) Referral of a child—Our adoption agency will send us a picture and medical information about a specific little girl.  We then have 36 hours to pray, contact doctors about her conditions and make a decision to accept or decline this child.

3) Match—When we tell our agency, “yes, we want this child,” more paperwork and official permissions follow.  This process takes 6 to 8 months.  Prayerfully the referral and matching process will happen twice, for two different girls at about the same time.

4) Travel in China—Once all the documents are in the right places, we will receive permission to travel to pick up our children.

5) Travel to US—In order to become US citizens, to address our children’s medical needs, and to introduce them to family and friends who have been waiting to meet them, finally, we will travel to the States with our daughters.

Here’s what we’re asking you to do… please consider how you might join us in moving the Father’s hand to bring our little ones home.  

 

A Challenge to Pray

 

1.  On Monday April 23, during lunch, pray through all five of these steps.

2.  April 23^rd- 27^th during lunch take time to pray for each of these five steps.

3.  Join Mark and I as we fast and pray Mondays at lunch each week until our daughters come home.