Yesterday the Rus*ian Parliament voted to ban Americans from adopting.
All that is left is for Put*n to sign the ban into law.
Those two sentences stir terror in our hearts as we consider the implications.
My heart is bleeding right now for all the families in process.
Here's the reality - To adopt from Rus*ia you are required to make three trips. On the first trip you meet the child and agree to adopt. On the second trip you have court and become the legal parents of the child. On the third trip (30 days later) you get to bring the child home.
Right now there are 46 families who have ALREADY HAD COURT and are just waiting for their 30 days to end so they can go back to get their child and bring them home.
46 families.
The children are legally theirs but....... an ocean separates them.
Then there are the families who have finished their first trip and are waiting for court. These families have MET their child. They have held them and loved them and claimed them as their own. They are just waiting for court to happen. Some of them hold in their hands THEIR COURT DATES. Plane tickets have been bought.
And then there are the families who have been running the gauntlet, filling out paperwork, getting homestudies done, raising the funds and waiting...waiting for that first meeting. Again - some of them have their plane tickets paid for.
Desperate times for hundreds and hundreds of families.
Then there are the orphans.
There are thousand and thousands and thousands of orphans in Rus*ia.
Orphans who will be lost in a country where the orphans outnumber 10 times the amount of families willing to take them in.
On Reece's Rainbow there are currently 700 special needs babes listed from Rus*ia.
That is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the special needs children in that country.
There are thousands and thousands more but we KNOW about those 700.
That makes them very very precious to us.
They are precious.
Some of those 700 are on the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree.
People wonder.... if adoptions are banned in Rus*ia - why should we continue to raise money for those babes...
Honestly - It does knock the wind out of you.
I've been yelling for Yegor for 2 months now and his Angel Tree grant account now has 2,550.00 in it but.....
HE'S IN RUS*IA!!
GLOOM. DESPAIR.
NO WAY!!!
WE ARE NOT QUITTING PEOPLE!!
We are not giving up on those precious treasures!!
The door has not closed and even if it closes for a while..... We are believing that it will eventually open again - especially for the special needs orphans.
THEY NEED US TO BE THEIR VOICE.
And get this..... there are families from other countries who CAN adopt them and the grant money IS STILL AVAILABLE to those families.
And the ban is NOT SIGNED yet.
Not all is lost.
God is on our side. Evil may win for a season but Love Prevails.
God is the Champion of the Forsaken. He is NOT GOING TO ABANDON THESE BABES!
Here's my challenge.
It is as much for me as it is for you.
My challenge is two-fold.
First and foremost - A call to prayer.
Pray that President Put*n will consider the weakest and the most vulnerable in his country. Pray that he will have the courage to stand for them. Pray that somehow those in power will be able to find a way out. Pray that the voice of the voiceless would be heard. Pray for the families. Oh please pray for the families. Pray peace and hope into their hearts. Pray for our government that we would be wise and careful in our dealings. Pray that we would be able to soften the anger with words that heal instead of inflame.
PRAY CHURCH. PRAY.
We can't change hearts but God can.
Secondly - In a statement of faith and hope - help us get the babes over the Angel Tree 1,000 wall.
That seems a bit crazy in light of everything but so many are despairing right now and it is ONE PRACTICAL way to show that we are NOT giving up on the babes across the ocean. We can't raise money for the thousands upon thousands but we can bring hope to a few.
Over half the babes on the Angel Tree are from Rus*ia.
Despite a ban - WE ARE NOT QUITTING.
I'M NOT QUITTING.
We may not be able to get all of them over this year but every single one is a quiet statement that we are not giving up on those precious treasures across the ocean.
Right now there are 123 kids under $1,000.
EVERY ONE OVER IS A VICTORY.
A victory against a ban.
A statement of faith.
A BELIEF THAT LOVE WILL PREVAIL!!
Help us!!!
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HELP US.
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Steadfast prayer will happen . We love these children and what comfort to know God loves them EVEN more!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have been reading up on this and it seems P*tin is receiving some negative responses from several different people. Including some from the U*N*. There may be a chance that if enough people in the right places voice their opinions of how wrong this is, he may not sign. My husband also read that if he should sign, it won't take effect for another year. We don't want to give false hope to families in the process right now but we do want to share what we have read. We have no idea how accurate any of our information is. No matter what happens, God is in control but we beg Him to hear our pleas and the cries of the children.
ReplyDeleteLet's just hope that if the ban goes through it'll be followed up with a real push towards de-institutionalization. I don't think adoption should be banned outright, but I do think it distracts from the actual need in these places, which are services/assistance to keep birth families together in the first place, and decent foster care/small group homes for those who still need it. Like you said, RR only knows about 700 kids out of thousands...
ReplyDeleteHaving a sister from this country, this makes me so, so sad! But I AM NOT quitting, either!! We have a mighty God!! Thank you for giving me hope in the midst of the situation today. Those babes have been on my mind.
ReplyDeleteKari K.