Friday Families

   

                                    Baby J                        Eva                                            Kirill

Check out these three precious little ones.  I'm not asking for money.  Nope.  Not.  I know - Big sigh of relief from all our faithful readers.

Okay - no money requests... but...honestly - I am asking for something greater.  Bigger.  I'm asking for prayer. 

Not for us.  For four families.  They need BIG prayers.  Prayers that make asking for money seem small - trival....

.....What if you had to pray over and over and over and over and over and over and over again for the same thing, day after day after day after day after day?  As for me - I'd want to quit -  Give up.  Personally - when it comes to LONG-TERM praying - I"m a wimp.  I'm being honest.  I like answers yesterday.  I get tangled up in despair and struggle to breathe when I pray and the door remains closed.  Sometimes when we pray - God answers.  Right away.  But sometimes - Sometimes He answers - but the answer is a long ways from the beginning of our prayer.  A long ways.  So we are forced to pray over and over and over again.  Wondering.  Struggling.  Trusting. 

There are four families, three who are Reece's Rainbow families adopting children with Down Syndrome.  All four love the Lord and all four have had their faith stretched beyond measure over the last year.  They have been lifting prayers for over a year over their four children they want to adopt and they are weary and tired and in deep need of some relief.  I am asking you to join with them.  Stand beside them.  Walk around the walls together.  Maybe skip a meal - or two.  Fast and Pray.  Hard.  Four families - the Moreno's adopting Baby J,  the Hook family adopting Eva, the Davis family adopting Kirill and Chris and Sarah adopting Charlie (no picture because of the rules of his adoption).  Before we ever committed to Aaron, all four of these families had already committed to their precious little ones.  Way over a year ago they were filling out papers to rescue their babies.  They figured their little ones would be home this past summer. 

Today, we have Aaron home, safe, happy.  Today - their little ones are STILL in orphanages - Stuck.  All four of these little ones are in the same region of an Eastern European country (not the same as Aaron's).  Four children trapped in a system that won't let them go.  Why?  Because last year a woman in Tennessee decided to send back the son she had adopted.  She put him on a plane, alone, to his country of origin.  It was the worst kind of scandal.  It made national headlines and all those in the adoption world quaked in fear because it had the potential to topple a house of cards in Eastern Europe.  Fortunately for most, the worst did not happen and adoptions continued.

But not for these four families - their adoptions came to a screeching halt.  Why?  Because their children were in the SAME REGION where that child was returned.  The officials there were hurt and angry.  It horrified all involved and the judge, in outrage, put a moratorium on adoptions.  Closed door.  The families have been forced to wait.  The children stuck in an unforgiving system.  Three of the families did get to go meet their little ones.  But they can't bring them home.  They have prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. 

And things have moved.  Slowly but surely.  And these four families are holding their breath - hoping - gasping - praying that the walls really will come down. Over the coming weeks, the judge, who finally agreed to lift the moratorium, is supposed to be issuing court dates for these families.  Oh the joy unspeakable.  But they are scared and weary of broken promises.  They need us.  They have increased their praying.  They have committed to fasting and praying until they receive those dates.  Will you pray with them?  Consider fasting alongside them?   It has been a heartwrenching process for them.  I have been humbled by their faith.  The way they have supported, encouraged and rallied behind every single adoption around them while they have been stuck on the side of the road.  These families have retained gracious, loving attitudes instead of bitterness and anger.  I'm in awe of their willingness to continue to not give up and to continue to trust God.  They have been slammed against the wall over and over again.  I can't begin to express how much disappointment they have faced in the last year and half as they have fought for these four children.  Yet, despite everything thrown at them, their rock-solid faith, though tested, has been a testimony to me over and over again in the last year.  They have been faithful and strong.  Their eyes have stayed fixed on the One whom they serve.  My heart longs with them, for the day when they too can step off the plane with their treasures in their arms.   Ashley Moreno, one of the four Moms wrote the following on her blog.

It has been a long, hard wait. Some seasons in this place have been harder than others. But God has shown me who He is. He has shown Himself to be faithful and merciful. He has scraped me up off the ground when my liquified spirit wanted to stick like gum on August asphalt. There have been more trials and tribulations that I left out of this post; they are things I’ve either addressed before, or that I simply do not have the fortitude to recount. But He has brought us through each and every one. And although it feels as if I have circled the city more than seven times (seventy times seven? and then maybe another seven thrown in somewhere for good measure?), I have faith that He will bring down the final wall that separates me from my daughter-across-the-sea, that separates her from the earthly home He has prepared for her with us.

So I am asking - Will you do the HARD thing?  Pray.  Hard.  Beseech the Lord on their behalf.  Four little children across the ocean are stuck.  Let's circle the city, praying as we go, so that we can watch our Mighty God, the defender of the widow and orphan, tear down the walls for these families so they can rescue their little ones.  Please pray for them and with them.  Pray so that in the end - in a few short months - we can weep tears of joy when they carry those children onto American soil. 

For those who wonder if our prayers matter.... who wonder if there truly is a God and if He is really answering - if circling the city is a worthy calling - for those who question the insanity of praying words to an unseen God - just look at the face on this sweet boy when he found out that he has a family coming for him. 

God does hear our cries.  When I see a picture like that I am reminded anew that we serve a Living God.  He does not slumber or sleep.  He is not made of stone.  He is not bored with our requests.  He delights in giving us way more than we could ever ask or imagine.  In 48 hours after the cry went around the world and people everywhere lifted him to the throne of Grace - Davids found a Godly family and within 48 hours after that - Davids family had been given ALL that they needed financially to bring him home.  Unbelievable. 

Because I know God hears and answers - I can't wait for the day I can post pictures on this blog of four little ones who are home.  Safe.  Four families.  Trusting.  Believing.  Standing firm in their faith.  Praise God.

As an aside....

Tomorrow morning bright and early, we are taking Aaron to Shriner's for his third round of casting.  Praying for traveling mercies as the weather is looking grim.  Praying too that our little one will tolerate this round better than last week.  He has already decided that he wants GREEN CASTS.  I'm praying especially hard that he is given another week with the short casts.  A walking Aaron is MUCH BETTER than a miserable, stuck on the floor and in pain Aaron.