The Difficulties of Adoption

“You should really blog.” That thought has been in my mind for weeks now. January 5th was the last entry and here it is March 5th. A lot has happened in those two months. For those of you who don’t know yet, on January 26th we got another referral for a little boy who is now called Gus (August David). We thought we were set and that this time everything would proceed smoothly. And yet we continue to wait for a court date.

I tend to look for someone to blame so that I can get mad at someone specific. Erika tends to just get real sad. We are constantly reminding each other that neither response is God honoring. Both of us have different ways of committing the same sin. We don’t want to trust that God is really the One in control. Because of this adoption I am more aware now than at any other time in my life that prayer is the one valuable thing I can do right now. Our Father in heaven is the only One who can move the hearts and pens of men so that we can bring Gus home.

Paul Miller’s A Praying Life has been tremendously helpful. Through that book I have learned to pray for specifically. We tried praying very specifically: “God let us get a court date today,” and “God help us get a court date this week.” Thus far He has not answered that specific request and we must trust that there is a reason.

There are troubling things going on in Ethiopia. The foes of adoption are prevailing upon the Ethiopian government to grant fewer adoptions. It seems that certain elite international organizations prefer that orphanages be full of starving babies. No doubt Satan prefers that, too; second, I would guess, only to seeing them aborted. This too is something that I cannot control. But God can and does.

We would certainly ask you to pray with us. Pray that the court would grant us a date soon. Things in Ethiopia could change quickly for good or for bad. Pray that God would limit the influence of anti-adoption groups. And pray for all of the families who are currently waiting to adopt babies from Ethiopia.