What to Do

Nearly everyone knows the story of Daniel and the lions’ den. As punishment for breaking the law, Daniel is forced to spend a (probably) sleepless night with ferocious felines as bedfellows, but when morning comes, Daniel is unscathed. All praise is given to God who shut the mouths of the lions.

It’s a wonderful story of God’s protection for His faithful followers. However, it also showcases the behaviors...

(I shared this blog over at Calvary Fort Lauderdale recently. To read more, click here. )

When You've Done Everything

We have been reticent to share details about the adoption process lately, because it seems every time we share something, things change.

For example, the Federal Court is supposed to be closed during rainy season, and normally nothing happens with adoptions during that time. And it is closed...mostly. Except that for some reason, this year the family court judge is still holding court for some cases related to divorce and civil issues, and he decided to review two adoption appeals...ours and one other.

So first we were given a date of August 28 for our case to be decided. Then September 9. Then September 10. Then September 23. And now September 24.

I'm not kidding.

We are thankful the judge is even willing to look at our case since he's supposed to be off, but the waiting and the delays and the rollercoaster of emotions is a lot to handle.

Why all the delays? First, new info had been submitted by the Region and by the Ministry that are opposing the adoption, and the Judge wanted our lawyer to have time to respond to their claims. We appreciated that.

Then he had a personal matter and cancelled court.

Then he decided he needed more time to review our case.

And he was taking some vacation days.

So he said Sept. 23 would the The.Date. The Final Decision. The Big Day. The Day We've Been Waiting For. (Or Dreading...depending on how it turns out.)

But then the Judge was informed Sept. 23 would be a national holiday because the Muslims in the country are celebrating Eid-al-Adha. Oh, you didn't know that? Apparently the Judge didn't either. They seem to set national holidays quite arbitrarily, and more than likely our Judge is Orthodox Christian, so he isn't on top of every Muslim holiday.

It's only a one-day delay in a nearly 3-year journey...no big deal. Still, I was curious to see what Eid-al-Ahda was all about.


So I did a little research, and it's a day when Muslims honor the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael in submission to God's command ... as well as the resulting intervention by God to provide an alternate sacrifice.

Even though we're not Muslim, and we attribute this story to Abraham and Isaac, not Ishmael, maybe there's a lesson in there for us? 

It's difficult to believe that leaving these children in Ethiopia would be best for them. I'm afraid for them. I'm afraid they will be left to their own devices. I'm afraid our boy will become a street kid. I'm afraid our girls will be taken advantage of or they will be trafficked. I'm afraid they won't have enough to eat. I'm afraid they won't get the medications they need. I'm afraid they will be forced to live with someone who doesn't have their best interests at heart.

I imagine Abraham was afraid to lay his son on the altar. He probably questioned what on earth God could be doing. It didn't make sense. He had waited so, so long for this child. 

This child was his identity. 

The promise of God, fulfilled.

But he obeyed anyway. And God came through, at the very last moment.

Are we willing to lay our three children on the figurative altar, believing God has their best interests in mind? 

I will try. 

And I will pray for their deliverance. 

Do Over

**This is a repost from last year. Now it's 2008...still good news for some of us.**

Great news for all of you who have long abandoned your New Year's resolutions:

Today is a new day, a new year. Time for a Do-Over...if you need one.

In Ethiopia, they follow the Coptic calendar, which celebrates the New Year on Sept. 11.

Today I'm an honorary Ethiopian. Do you want to be one too?

Here's another reason to consider being Ethiopian for a day: In Ethiopia the year is 2007. Seriously. (If you don't believe me, check this out: this.)

So if you woke up stiff and sore this morning...if you're feeling like your age is catching up with you...deduct 7 years from your current age and live accordingly.

Reset your internal clocks, my friends! Melkem Addis Amet! (Happy New Year!)

Theology by Jack

And on a lighter note...Some gems from a conversation with our 4-year-old this evening:

-"Satan used to be God's best fairy in heaven, but now he's in Satan's place."

-"Mom, did they shoot Satan out of a cannon to get him far away from heaven?"

-"Are there monsters in Satan's Place? What about dragons? What about really scary cows?"

-"I think there are donuts in heaven. I like the pink ones and the sprinkle ones, but the white ones with sprinkles are my favorite. I hope they have that kind in heaven."

Adoption Update

So many of you have joined us on this journey, and we are thankful. We wanted to give you a brief update on a very complicated situation. We have not given up on the children. Things seem somewhat bleak, but we are still working with our team in Ethiopia to get the three siblings home.

There are letters being written, appeals being made (not to the judge as he won't hear any but other avenues), and meetings being held with key players. The next week is fairly critical as we wait for answers from some government officials. 

If that doesn't turn out favorable, we will wait until October when some new officials will be installed in the Court and hope they will agree to hear our appeal.

We learned today that the children's orphanage expects to close; they have found local Ethiopian families for the other children but not for ours or for one other little girl. (A sweet family in Utah has been trying to adopt her for more than 2 years.)

We also believe there are only 1 or 2 families still trying to adopt children from this Region of Ethipia; the others have all given up. We, however, won't give up until the door is slammed shut, locked, bolted, and barricaded. And even then we may keep pushing. We're not superheroes by any means...we're just a mom and a dad and a brother fighting to give three beautiful children what every child deserves...a family.

All About Daddy

If you're like me and tend to procrastinate, here's a perfect, last-minute gift for dad. I worked on this with my 4-year-old a few days ago, and his answers are priceless. (I will share them after we present daddy with his gift!)

Just click on the link below and print out the form, then you or your child can fill in the answers with your child's responses.

Click here for Free Printable: All About DAD
(The link will take you to Dropbox. If you don't have a Dropbox account, it will ask you if you want to sign up. You can simply close out that pop-up box if you don't want to. From there just click on DOWNLOAD or OPEN in the upper right-hand corner and the document will open in Adobe Reader.)

Raw Honest Truth

A friend asked me recently if there was any news on our international adoption because she hadn't seen a blog post in a long time. I was reminded that not everybody is on Facebook, so some people don't get my regular updates.

I haven't blogged in a while because it feels like I'm always saying the same thing about our adoption: we need one more paper (and that paper always is changing); it's out of our hands; your prayers are appreciated.

And that's pretty much where we're still at, but with an added urgency for an expedited process. The Federal Court in Ethio closes every year for a "rainy season" closure. We don't know the exact dates this year (they tend to change from year to year), but most likely they will close from August 6 until mid-October.

So, if we don't get a court date ASAP, we're looking at several more months before M, M, and D can join our family. Typically when the judge agrees to hear a case, he sets a court date about 4-6 weeks later. So it is imperative that we get a date ASAP to beat the August 6 closure.

I was asked recently via email how I'm dealing with the delays, and this is how I responded:  

This morning as I checked email yet again hoping to hear some good news from our agency, I was reminded of back when I was single and obsessed with some guy, and I would constantly check voice mail/email, etc. for a message. It's the same now. I'm addicted to checking for messages.


When I do get a message from our agency--and it's about something other than our kids--I am supremely annoyed. Like how dare they waste my time with info about a conference call recording or a new webinar or a program update! My feelings aren't particularly rational or logical. :) I vacillate between having a great attitude and being fully confident that God will accomplish this at just the right time ... to being all-out angry and frustrated and disappointed with God. Sometimes I ride the roller coaster several times in one day. And wow is it tiring! I've never been so tired in all my life from doing nothing but waiting. My mind feels preoccupied most of the day.


And then there's all the FB adoption groups I'm a part of. Some are super encouraging and informative, but others are like watching a train wreck. It kills me to hear stories of children who were probably trafficked, and the adoptive parents are the last to find out. Or their home becomes a living hell after the child gets home, and they question whether they should have adopted. 

God has clearly only given me grace for today (most days!) but I am not equipped to deal with possible future problems for which I have not been graced-up.

We willingly stepped into this journey knowing it would be difficult, so we're certainly not looking for sympathy. But my best self-therapy is writing, and the best thing for our family is prayer. Hopefully today's raw, honest truth accomplishes both.

Thanks for walking with us. We love and appreciate you.