Last week we received a very unsettling phone call. Our agency was able to obtain S's official birth certificate, and according to her birth date, she is actually 15 years, 9 months --- we believed she was around 13 or 14 years old. We felt shocked, sad, and fearful. As soon as she turns 16, she (and her brother) is no longer eligible for adoption, and the U.S. will not allow us to adopt either of them. We thought we had about 2 years to get everything completed --- turns out we have a little over 2 MONTHS. Our agency said to get everything done on our end and be ready to travel to Ethiopia this August (!!) to appear in court to become their parents.
We kicked into high gear and finished all the paperwork for our agency. We notarized all documents that needed it. We contacted our references and asked them to get their letters notarized. I went to our county's circuit court and then the Secretary of State in Annapolis to get documents certified for our dossier. In 3 days we finished our dossier. Andy called our state senator and asked him to appeal to the USCIS (United States Customs and Immigration Services) to have our paperwork expedited. We don't have time to sit on this. We could lose them both.
But there's one thing that could hold everything up. One important piece of paper and one person who refused to help us get it. Andy carefully explained our situation, explained that if we waited the full 75 days (we were told that it would take that long to process) for this one document, it would be too late and S and A would both age out of the system and we would not be able to adopt them. The answer we received yesterday -- NO.
So Andy called and left a detailed message. And wrote another email, explained again. And now we wait for this man to decide our fate. It's a completely helpless feeling. It's frustrating. We're exhausted. We've done everything we can do and it might not be enough.
Studies show that every 2.2 seconds, another orphan ages out, becoming too old to remain in foster or orphanage care, with no family and no place to call home. 60% of girls become prostitutes and 70% of boys become criminals. We met some of these girls during our trip in November at a ministry called Women At Risk. This is a program to help former prostitutes get off and stay off the streets by learning English and a trade to support themselves and their children. The women we met were open-hearted and precious, some were as young as 16, and all had been working as prostitutes just weeks or months before we met them. I can't even let myself imagine what life would be like for S&A if this adoption doesn't happen. I can't go there.
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| Some of our friends from Women At Risk |
"But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him." Acts 12:5
This verse gripped me this morning. Peter's case looks hopeless. Believers are being persecuted. James was just killed. Peter has already been arrested once before. Stephen was stoned to death. Herod plans to put Peter on trial after the Passover holiday. And he's being guarded by 16 trained-to-kill Roman soldiers.
"But the church prayed very earnestly for him."
There was no way out, but they prayed. There was very little hope, but they prayed. They couldn't imagine a good ending to this story, but they prayed.
And God showed up. Quite literally. It's hard for us to even imagine this, but an angel appeared in Peter's prison cell and told him to get up, get his shoes on, and follow him. (I may have forgotten to mention that Peter was chained to two guards at the time.) "And the chains fell off his wrists. So Peter left the cell, following the angel." Acts 12:7, 9 While the guards slept.
Could the church have imagined this outcome when they were praying earnestly? I doubt it. I'm sure they had no idea what to expect or how God would answer, or if God would answer.
But they prayed earnestly anyways.
Friends, I'm asking you to pray earnestly. I have no idea what is going to happen. I know prayer is not a formula. {If I pray hard enough, then God will answer the way I want Him to.} NO. God doesn't operate like that. Prayer is still a mystery to me. I don't fully understand it. But I know I'm supposed to do it, with faith, and leave the outcome to Him.
Our case looks hopeless. We have two months to get our paperwork to Ethiopia, have it translated, get it filed with their courts and processed, and appear before a judge there. We have 87 days until S turns 16 and is no longer adoptable. This one document we need takes "75 days to process." We have everything else for our dossier. Mr. Jose from USCIS is refusing to expedite that one document we need.
"God presides over heaven's court; He pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings. Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and the helpless." Psalm 82:1,3,4
But God rules.
As our dear friend once said, "Sometimes God just likes to flex His muscles." We are scared, but we're choosing to trust. God, please flex your muscles.
And by the way, we're not going down without a fight. #prayveryearnestly
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