Adoption Update – January 11, 2013

Finally after weeks of playing a back and forth game with the US Embassy, we have received some documents that needed to be translated, sent them off to a translator and are waiting for their return.  When they arrive, we should have final approval on orphan status for the boys.

From there, our file moves to the Consular Section and a Visa appointment will be set. The boys have already been cleared by the embassy-approved doctor for travel to the US, so this should be an easy step.  Visa appointments have been scheduled pretty quickly after final approval on orphan status.

It’s looking like a very real possibility that the boys will be home very soon.

We appreciate you all praying with us throughout this adoption process, we’ve needed every one of them to stand strong in faith that they would come home. We’ll need them even more when they arrive home and begin the transition to our family.

I’ll update as soon as orphan status is approved and the Visa appointment set!

Brian and I offer our most humble thanks for all of you.

Natalie

If you think about it…

We would appreciate your prayers for tomorrow. We’ll be making a call to the US Embassy to find out why there is a delay in approval of our I-600.  (The I-600 is a Petition to Classify an Orphan as an Immediate Relative and is filed with the USCIS.)

The USCIS at the Embassy in Haiti has had our file since November 14. In August of last year, they told me that all they were waiting for was our court documents for it to be approved, so I expected that we would have approval long before the end of November.  Instead, it’s January 1 and we’re still waiting.

Thanks for praying with us!

Answered Prayer

I was doing a study this morning as part of facilitator training for our church’s women’s ministry called Friend 2 Friend.  We’re going through a book called “Growing in Christ” by the Navpress. I’ll be willing to confess that I wasn’t all that thrilled to be asked to go through it.  I mean, I’ve been a Christian since I was 19 (wow, is it really almost 30 years). This is pretty basic stuff, I thought. I was reminded that even the most basic stuff is what we need sometimes.

We’re still anxiously awaiting news from Haiti. We know that four or five dossiers from our orphanage have received presidential dispensation in the last two weeks.  We still do not know which dossiers. Why? Because as soon as this news was received, Haiti began to erupt in political violence. A prominent police officer was killed prompting riots throughout Port au Prince. In addition, seven kidnappings took place. A group of 50 ex-military men stormed parliament demanding back pay. A prominent governmental official was accused of killing a store owner. The list just goes on and on…..

As I went through this study this morning, I was reminded again of the battle that is taking place in the spiritual realm in Haiti.  There is active opposition to children coming home both spiritually and in the natural world. As much as I have written about this spiritual battle, you would think that I would have been girded and praying and engaging in that battle. Instead, I heard these were signed and have been fretting and pestering the director of the orphanage trying to get any information at all, to no avail.

Lessons from today:

1. Don’t stop asking in Jesus’s name

John 16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

2. Ask according to His will – I John 5:14-15

3. Abide in Jesus, trusting in Him, reading and applying His words. – John 15:7

4. God’s answers to my prayers will be great and mighty, beyond what I ask – Jeremiah 33:3 and Ephesians 3:20

5. The wrong reaction to this uncertainty is for me to become anxious; the right reaction is to keep asking God with thanksgiving. – Philippians 4:7

6. When I do, He will give me peace and guard my heart and mind. Philippians 4:7

I’m thanking God today for the reminder.

Prayer Requests for the adoption this week:

• Those with dispensation will be told this week.
• Dispensations will be published in Le Moniteur even this week.
• Files will exit IBESR by Friday next week.

Honestly…

I have truly felt at peace the latter half of this week. When it became clear that March 25 was not the day we were bringing them home, I have truly left the boys in God’s hands. However, honestly I quit asking for God to move as well.

Oh, I’ve prayed for protection at the orphanage, the workers at the orphanage, peace for adoptive families and  I’ve prayed for all my kids here and in the states, but what I wasn’t praying for was for God to continue to breakdown the stronghold that is keeping adoptions from Haiti from moving forward.

I have to ask myself why I have not. Do I have faith that He can break that stronghold? Absolutely! I believe Him to be all powerful and capable of all things! Do I believe that He wants orphans cared for in forever families? Yes, absolutely! His word commands that we do so and He cared enough about us to adopt us into His. Do I believe that He specifically cares about our adoption of Lowenski and Daveson? Absolutely! He numbers the hairs on their heads and has written down all the days of their lives before even one came to pass.

I guess it’s really that I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen and for a bit of time kind of gave up hope. It’s silly and shameful now that I’ve spent time pondering it. How easily I have forgotten the same chapter of Daniel which I posted earlier this week.

Please pray for me, that when I begin to grow weary and faint and begin to lose heart, that I will be reminded of this truth:

Isaiah 40:30-31

New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

My hope is in you, Lord!!!

Thank you once again for faithfully praying for our family! Please continue to do so as this stronghold must come down!

I Feel Great and a Thank You

For those of you are closely following my blog, you know that I was hospitalized last weekend through last Tuesday.

I just wanted to say, “Thank You” for faithfully praying that my health would be of no concern on this trip. I am feeling great.  I still wouldn’t say I am 100%, but probably 95%.

The meeting at the embassy went well, even though I didn’t have everything they wanted. Praise God, I have been able to gather it all and by tomorrow afternoon, I will have a clear process in place for all other families adopting privately from our orphanage and our I600 will be filed.

The boys are great. it has been wonderful to see them. Their English is so much better!

Keep praying. God is still on the throne and we know he hears.

Remember I Said, “Not My Will, But Only Yours, Lord”

Our lawyer essentially said tonight there was no way we’d be taking our boys home on Sunday.

We do not know anything beyond that, but nevertheless I am here, we’re making some important contacts and I will be eagerly waiting for God’s will.

Please keep praying. This is God’s fight to win, not ours, but we can keep praying.

Daniel 10:1-19 is a great picture of continuing to pray when prayers are not answered in time. Often we do not understand why there are not immediate answers to our prayers. This may be why:

Daniel 10

Daniel’s Vision of a Man

¹ In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war.^[a] The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.

² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. ³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

⁴ On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, ⁵ I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. ⁶ His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.

⁷ I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. ⁸ So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. ⁹ Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.

¹⁰ A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. ¹¹ He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.

¹² Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. ¹³ But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”

¹⁵ While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless. ¹⁶Then one who looked like a man^[b] touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak. ¹⁷ How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”

¹⁸ Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. ¹⁹ “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”

When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”

While I’m waiting, I’m going to be reading some books to pass the time.

• A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
• Norman Grubb, Rees Howell Intercessor
• John Eldredge, Epic: The Story God is Telling

Your continued prayers for yesterday’s list is coveted, especially for my youngest son in the US.

The Battle

I’ve been writing a lot about the battle these past few weeks.  I must admit it is getting pretty fierce. Yet another attack yesterday on a personal level. But I won’t be stopped. I will continue to follow God’s leading.

It’s easy for us here in the states to forget about this battle.  Attacks here are rare because we tend to live our lives in such a way as to nullify the need for them. There’s no need to bring a full-on attack to someone who doesn’t believe there is a battle. There’s no need to bring a full-on attack when we succumb to an arrow now and then. Satan sends a little arrow of hate in our direction and we do the rest of the work for him by attacking ourselves, believing the worst about others intentions, and hiding in a corner to lick our wounds.

But there is a full-blown war going on in every part of the world, even in our very homes.

The good news is that we are not alone in this battle.  We have a warrior king who is sending warriors to fight it.  Like this guy and the host of others behind and beside him:

 ¹² “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

¹³ “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” ¹⁴ Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

¹⁵ When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

¹⁶ “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. – 2 Kings 6:12-17

When I am tempted to fear the battle, I will stop and pray and look to my right and my left with my spiritual eyes and nod at those who fight with me, strap on the armor of God and stand.

In the battle today, please pray for:

1. The orphanage, the children and the missionaries who serve there – Pray for protection, for wisdom, for strength.

2. Haiti Health Ministries – an EFCA-supported clinic in Haiti. They are in a pitched battle – pray for protection, for favor with the government and that God will supply a lawyer to help them.

3. Please pray for me personally – that as I leave tomorrow, that I will listen to God’s voice alone, that I will depend upon Him solely for my strength, that I choose to gird myself in His armor and that I seek His will and not my own.