The Power of Worship

There is power when we call on the name of the Lord - the name that has full power! Our ET/YG families have been so heavily burdened this week with the news about increased fees, but last night Jesus decided to step into the YG dialogue (love it when He does that) and everyone that was online last night came together and had a sweet time of worship through worship lyrics, hymns, scriptures, testimonies, prayers and blessings. It was our battle cry - our attempt to focus on the Lord as we forge into the frontlines of battle for our families, finances, agency and most importantly our ET children! One of the things we prayed for besides God's provision and change of heart towards the fee situation was for the Forrest family baby who has been extremely sick with pnuemonia and on oxygen in an ET hospital. Today, the Forrest family posted this good news on YG:

We have learned that baby girl is out of the "danger, danger" zone.
(As I term it) She is doing better today which I feel is 100% a result
of your prayers and many others. She is still in the hospital, is
still on oxygen for rapid breathing. She is eating well and responding
to a new antibiotic. Praise the Lord!...

...Thanks for your continued prayers on behalf of Forrest babe!
Blessings,
Hilary
www.ethihopeia.com

PS I have full confidence in care our agency is giving. One of the
drugs she is/was on our doctor here in America was surprised they had
access too. It would have been her drug of choice as well. Fortuna has
a deep heart for our children and PRAYS for them!

One of the hymns last night that was so powerful to me was the old hymn "Because He Lives". The second verse was so perfect as I thought of the Forrest baby. It says,

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,
And feel the pride and joy he gives
But greater still the calm assurance
This child can face uncertain days because He lives
Because He lives I can face tomorrow
Because He lives all fear is gone
Because I know He holds the future
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Just praising God for answered prayer today and continuing to request your prayers over all the adopting ET families and the ET children, particularly the Forrest baby. If you would like to visit the Forrest family adoption site go to: www.ethihopeia.com

The cross is lifted over us. We journey in its light!
Cindy

Some passed court, Others did not

Here is a short paragraph posted by the Wistrom family on our YG that explains what happened with court dates today:

The Wistrom family did not pass court... Duni explained that none of
the families with the older children (I think that would just be Wistroms,
Hutchinsons and Van Wettens) passed court but all of the babies did pass
court. We are so happy for those of you who made it through this momentous
day! Congratulations and please know that despite our heartbreak - we are
rejoicing with you!!!
Evidently, the courts and MOWA changed a regulation during the court
closure and did not inform the orphanages and the agencies. They
knew nothing about the new regulation until they appeared in court.
The new regulation requires that children that are relinquished by
their parent - are now required to have the same paperwork from the
orphanage that the "abandoned" children would get. This is a new
policy. The paperwork can be acquired from the orphanage within a
day or 2 but now the courts are completely overwhelmed from the court
closure. So the earliest date they could secure for us is Nov 8.
They will continue trying to appeal for an earlier court date but
Duni did not sound optimistic. My heart just breaks for our little
boys who have been at the transition home now since March. That is
such a long time to wait for your family to arrive and to watch other
kids leave. Thanks for your love and prayers YG! We will keep you
posted!! with love, Karen Wistrom www.family-from-afar.blogspot.com

We are incredibly happy for those who passed court today and incredibly sad for those who did not after such a long wait for courts to reopen. I know Scripture says to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, but I'm not certain how to do both at the same time. This group of families adopting from Ethiopia through AWAA is such a family. We all rejoice and grieve together. What a blessings to have such a wonderful, supportive group during this wait.

For those of you who have not read my previous post, please do and continue to pray for the other matters mentioned in that post - especially for the baby in the hospital. Thank you.

Time to Pray

In the last several days I have been heavily burdened for Lulu and the entire Ethiopia adoption process. My concern started as I reviewed the number of people in line for a girl who are ahead of us - around 18 families. If all the families ahead of us are indeed waiting for infant girls then we have a long wait ahead. The last several months AWAA's referral rate of infant girls has been aproximately - 1 per month! If it continues in this manner it will be a LONG time before we receive a referral. I'm talking - at least a year from now. I trust in the Lord's timing, but I am still sad as the wait is hard enough without realizing it's about to possibly be a lot longer. This December will mark 2 years since God put this adoption on my heart and 1 year since we started the paperwork. To date, we have been waiting almost 4 months since our paper work was submitted to Ethiopia. The wait is currrently at 9 months for an infant girl, but unless some changes take place (which is what I praying for!) it will be much longer. Having said all that, let me say again - I trust God in this matter and know from experience that the child God has for me is without a doubt worth whatever the wait may be.

Second, AWAA has - out of necessity - decided to increase some of the fees. While I am not concerned about the money because the Lord has provided, I am a little surprised about how much they are increasing fees - close to $4000.00! Not only that - but $3750 of that is due by Jan. 15 for families who have already submitted their dossier - meaning us. Again, we have the money, it's just surprising that around Christmas time when the economy is seemingly going downhill we've been given this very fast approaching deadline and I know there are so many families who CAN NOT do that without a miracle. My heart is so sad for those who are overwhelmed by this burden. This is coming at a very hard time for many families. Please be praying for them. The increased fees truly are a necessity as AW is doing everything they can to both keep their doors open and make sure that all ET children in their orphanges and transition homes are cared for properly once referred. But the increase, as said before, is way more than any of us were expecting.

Third, tomorrow is a BIG court date for several AWAA families who have been waiting patiently through court closures and are eager for a successful court date so they can go get their babies. Please pray for the following people who's court date is tomorrow - Oct. 8:

October 8 court date:

Redfern
Wempe
Wistrom
Schmidt
VanWetten
Lusse
Hutchinson

Lastly, and this one is a huge prayer request - the following message was posted on our YG by the Forrest family who is waiting for a court date so they can get their baby:

Please pray for our little girl.... Duni just called to say
she has pneumonia or an upper respiratory infection plus diarreah....
She is 4 months and according to last weight check still only 6.8lbs.
PLEASE PRAY. We appreciate it.
Hilary and Jacob Forrest

Today we received another update from this family saying their baby girl is on oxygen with pneumonia and remains in the hospital. The families of AWAA know too well the hardship of this situation and what is on the line. Please, please pray for God to heal this baby girl! And pray for her parents to be comforted in this time.

Thank you for reading and taking all this to heart.
For His Glory,
Cindy

Updated List - (that we know of...) For Those Waiting for Girls

Black - 1
Bowman - 2

Blackwell - 3

Lunceford - 4

Rothermund - 5

Eckhardt - 6

Heinrichs - 7

Jones - 8
Keiderling - 9
Gillman -10

Mullins - 11
Moffat - 12

Pickard - 13
Delfosse - 14

Dragovich - 15
Gagnon - 16
Bartley - 17

Portilla - 18
Foote - 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Redd - 20
Kerby - 21

Reed - 22
Bowers - 23

Carpenter - 24

Monberg - 25

And - in case you need more lists - here's the top 11 overall (from all "lines", I'm assuming) waiting for referral (* = from the girl line!):

Black*
Bowman*
Blackwell*
Lunceford*
Chan
Martin
Hall
Reno
Richardson
Whitaker
Rothermund*

So..... let's say in the month of October AWAA does a little bit of catching up from the slow month of September and does somewhere between 11-15 referrals - if all of these top 11 get referrals then that would move us up 5 places in line since 5 of those in the top 11 are waiting for girls (see *). However - from the opposite perspective (have to keep things balanced here) if it does take longer to receive a girl referral - can all 5 of these girl referrals happen in one month? Does anyone in our YG know the largest number of girl referrals in one month time? Just curious...

Courts are open again in ET! This Oct 8 (this week!) several AWAA families are to have a court date that they've waited so long for! Pray that all of them have a successful court date! Here's the list of those waiting for court, travel, etc.(I swiped all these lists from our YG - thank you!)

October 8 court date, tentative travel October 25:

Redfern
Wempe
Wistrom
Schmidt
VanWetten
Lusse
Hutchinson

Tentative travel November 1:

Laughner
Britton
Hammond
Nunez
Terwilleger

Waiting for court:

Caldwell
Juvinall
Armstrong
Forrest
Gamble
Witter
Stager
Sloniger
Savage
Pridemore
Sparr
Joner
Howley
Burk
Kulp
Tennant
Semlow

Maybe We're #19 now?!!!

The Semlow family (who is listed in our YG's waiting list for infant girls) received a referral today for THREE children. The Semlow's just recently updated their 171 info to be approved for a sibling group of 3. They were the only family approved for 3 children with our agency so they got a referral right away. They were referred 2 boys (ages 4 and 3) and a little girl (age 2). By the way - the Semlows have 3 biological children - 2 teenagers and a 3 year old boy. HELLO! This family is awesome AND they need our prayers. There is some serious life change about to happen. But what God set in their hearts to do - He will provide all they need to see to completion! Wow! So excited for them.

And speaking of excitement. I've been getting a serious excitement bug in the last week or so. Maybe it's my sinus infection that has me laying around more than normal so my mind just needs something to think about - but I am getting so excited about our referral. While this is not a bad thing and is totally normal - it is tricky because we still have a good wait to go and I need to pace myself and not get too excited. There is a fine balance here.

Since the Semlow's were on our "waiting list" it looks like we are now around # 19 for a referral. It feels good to be below the 20 mark so I'm hoping no mystery families are going to pop up and be in line ahead of us. hee hee!

We're a movin' on up!
cindy

Because I Believe in the Value of Life....

When you decide to adopt - you do so, in part, because you believe in the value of life. Someone else may not have the means to care for their baby, but that baby's life is a precious one no matter. That is why I must post this video. A friend of mine posted it on her blog and as I viewed it I was horrified. I already knew that I would not vote for Obama, but this.... this is worth informing everyone. I actually have hesitated in the past to mention anything about my political views concerning Obama realizing that many who are adopting from Ethiopia see things differently than I do. But, if you are adopting from Ethiopia - then you value life too and you need to see/hear this before you vote. It is frightening. It is unbearable. And it is UNBELIEVABLE that this has not made it on every prime time news/media regarding the coming election. How can this be ignored?

The idea that a baby is not a baby because it is in the womb is atrocious enough. We send men/women to the moon. There, they are not walking on earth and they have to wear special suits to breathe and survive. But they are no less human, right? Then, how, just because a baby is in the womb is it considered less human? And then - to think - that people are actually inducing labor prematurely in order to let the baby just lay there and die all by itself when it had every chance for survival before such a selfish and murderous act. This is actually considered acceptable by Obama - enough for him to fight for it. Listen to the video. Almost ALL the democrats were opposed to this sort of atrocity - but not Obama. He would not support the bill to protect babies from this murder. In fact he voted AGAINST this bill THREE TIMES!!!

We have a choice in this election. I realize there are many things to consider. But the sanctity of life should be high on the list of anyone who is going to govern over - PEOPLE - living, breathing people. If you don't value life then you can't govern life with any kind of honor, respect, dignity. Here the choice is clear for anyone who believes in the sanctity of life - which I'm assuming all people who adopt hold to. We can vote for McCain - who has adopted and clearly, by choosing Palin as his running mate - is holding to the value of life. Or you can vote for Obama who clearly has no problem with bringing life into the world just to see it sit there and die slowly and all alone - on purpose. This makes Obama a very scary and ugly man despite the polished man you see on TV. Looks can be incredibly deceiving. It is time to listen to our ears, hearts, and minds and not our eyes. Fashion, youth, skin color, trends, and the hip-factor don't make a good president. It's all presentation and fluff. All very worthless.

One other question - sort of off the topic - I heard on the BBC that the rest of the world hopes we vote for Obama. So - what - that should make US want to vote for him. WAKE UP PEOPLE. Since America currently is the most powerful country, the other countries' leaderships are not exactly hoping America continues to do well. In any contest, would you vote for the person your opponents want you to vote for. Come on!

Still Around #20...

Finally there has been a referral for an infant girl among the AWAA/ET families. The Howley family received this referral. Their little girl is almost 3 months. Now the Howley's have the hard wait for a court date and then travel.

This newest referral puts the Black family in the number 1 spot for a referral. I am so coveting that spot!

But, doesn't look like we are going to be moving up in the list line (see the "List" post - a few back) because somehow the Blackwell family is not accounted for in that list and they are definitely ahead of us waiting for an infant girl.

So - one referral down - another girl requested in the line ahead of us and we are still around #20.
All is God's timing,
Cindy