Time to PRAY! Tonight is THE Night!

Last night I was incredibly showered by dear friends here in San Antonio and I want to share ALL those details with you, but I have some things on my heart about our court date that I want to share right now and then later tonight/tomorrow I will post pictures and details of the shower. It was amazing, so check back in for that story soon!

When adopting from Ethiopia you are given your referral and then your paperwork, agency, and the MOWA (ministry of women's affairs) go before a judge on your appointed court date to determine that the child is a legal orphan and that all paperwork is in order. If the judge approves, the child becomes legally your child and THEN you can travel to Ethiopia to get him/her. That is a REALLY basic overview as there is much more that goes into it than that, but in a nutshell - that's it.

There are 2 different kinds of cases (again, keeping it really simple here) - there is a "relinquishment case" in which the child is relinquished to the orphanage by a parent or family member through signed paperwork, etc. And there are "abandonment cases" in which the child's family/relatives are unknown or are deceased. I may even be oversimplifying those definitions, but that's how I understand it so far. Our's is a relinquishment case because one of the biological parents is known. Until yesterday, that was kind of the least desired case because the biological parent has to show up for court and in Africa that is way more difficult to have happen than it is here. Many of the biological parents are from remote villages with no transportation, no sense of being on time and sometimes they can be difficult to locate to communicate these needs.

As of yesterday, I was praising the Lord for having a relinquishment case and crushed in spirit for those families with abandonment cases. Here's why - we received an email from our agency saying that due to an unusually high number of abandonment cases, Ethiopia is suspicious of corruption and must do an investigation to make sure agencies are not just saying "abandonment" in order to ease through court and -well - be involved in criminal activity resembling baby trafficking. In order to do that investigation the MOWA is refusing to write "Letters of Recommendation" (which is necessary to present in court in order to have a successful court appointment) for all abandonment cases in Addis Ababa. That means that families who received their referrals 2 and 3 months ago - who have waited all this time for their court date (which many are this week - one was supposed to be last night!) - and who have looked at their baby's faces change and grow as they wait - now cannot received that necessary letter from the MOWA and therefore cannot pass court until this investigation takes place. This in an indefinite delay as we have NO IDEA how long ET will take to do this investigation. There are A LOT of families in complete grief today as they were SO CLOSE to getting through court and getting their babies and now they have NO IDEA when that will happen.

To make sure you know this - it is NOT our agency who is under investigation. It is the entire system. I KNOW with certainty that our agency is above reproach as I have met the president of our agency and know his heart is above all concerned about integrity and making sure the babies being adopted through our agency are TRUE ORPHANS. 

And second - this does NOT directly affect our case. HOWEVER - Ethiopia's judges are, in light of this new problem - being VERY STRICT in court. I know of about 7 families with our agency who have had court in the last 2 days and only ONE family passed the first time and one other family passed on the second day. Most of those who did not pass are either indefinitely delayed or now have a second court date in late May. 

I am sharing all of this with you for several reasons...

1. For you to pray for the families and babies/children caught up in this court issue who are heartbroken and grieved.

2. For you to know that while I am ready and hoping to celebrate a successful court date tomorrow, I am beyond burdened for these families and am having a hard time understanding it all.

3. For you to realize the DESPERATE NEED FOR PRAYER on our behalf and on our daughter's behalf over the next 24 hours. Anything can happen. International adoption is hard and requires a lot of endurance and miracles!

4. For you to pray for Ethiopia as they are trying to do the right thing to protect the children of their country.

5. For you to pray for MIRACLES to happen for our daughter's biological parent to arrive in court tomorrow (our nighttime tonight!).

6. I am specifically praying that our daughter's biological parent will know that miracles have happened to get her there and from that she will know Jesus.

7. And lastly - pray specifically!! There is some incredible spiritual warfare over adoption, particularly with adopting from Africa. Pray as the Spirit leads. Pray specifically for a successful court date tonight. Pray that all our paperwork would find favor with the judge. That the judge's heart would be full of compassion and certainty for our daughter's situation. That the biological mother would be SOMEHOW blessed in this process.

8. And pray for us... these last hours counting down to this moment are harder than I had anticipated. And yet - we trust in the Lord. He will deliver us. He will deliver Aria Lu Grace Foote to us.

If we pass court, I should find out tomorrow morning. At that time I can post pictures of her and tell you her full story. I am also hoping I can find a way to post a new song off our not-yet-released EP that is so fitting for this night, this moment.

Thank you. 

Cindy