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Friday, January 31, 2014

Fatherless Friday - Salome

How old?
 
How old does she look?
 
Guess.

 
How old??
 
 
5, 8, 10???
 
 
Try 15.
 
FIFTEEN YEARS OLD.
 
 
 
 
15
 
That's all that needs to be said.
 
SHE NEEDS A FAMILY.
 
NOW.
 
Before March. When she ages out.
 
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY BEYOND THAT...
 
If you want to hear the most precious little giggle... click here...
 
 
 

 
 
If you want to hear that precious giggle every single day in your home....
 
 
 
 
She needs a family!!
 
 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Snow. Sigh!

We live in Virginia.


The amount of snow we have had this year in our part of the state has been nill to none.
 

Yet Aaron's school was canceled EVERY SINGLE DAY LAST WEEK except Monday which was a HOLIDAY.


 
This morning it snowed again.  Less than an inch.
 
No school again.

 

 

 
My boy WANTS to go to school.
 
HE LOVES SCHOOL.
 
LOVES IT.
 
Sigh.
 
He's ready for spring.
 
-----------------------------------------
 
 
My summary of across the ocean happenings...
 
GOOD NEWS:
 
Yesterday the Prime Minster resigned and President Y accepted his resignation.  The cabinet leaves with him.
 
Many of the ANTI-PROTEST laws passed on January 16th were canceled.
 
BAD NEWS:
 
The protesters want the President to call for new elections and/or step down.  At this point... that isn't happening.  So the protesters are NOT leaving.
 
Thugs still roam the streets and beat whomever they can catch.
 
The Berkut continue to stand in formation outside the area where the protesters are...
 
I can't imagine how utterly miserable it is for them to stand there in the bitter cold. 
 
 
 
This is the most recent map of the protests...
 
Rather chaotic in my opinion...
 
 
Blue/Yellow- Occupied by the People
Blue/Yellow with a shield - Occupied by People AND control is Legitimized
Solid Blue - Occupied by the government
Pink - Mass protests
Red - Attempt to Seize
Brown - Government seized back region from the people
Black circle with man inside - VIOLENT! Unarmed people being beaten
White circle with man inside - Government brigades (?)
 
 
 
 
Personally... I am just watching and waiting because I have NO IDEA what is going to happen at this point.  Praying that things can be resolved without any more bloodshed.
 
Waiting, watching, praying....
 
And wishing for Spring!!
 
 
 
 


Sunday, January 26, 2014

Stand in the Gap

 
Sunday afternoon.
 
I've spent the last four days with my eyes glued to the news.
 
Not our news.  We are too wrapped up in Justin Bieber stuff to care about a country across the ocean. 
 
Internet news.  Facebook news.
 
Watching a country in total turmoil.
 
It's real to me because I was there.
 
So I am glued to the news.
 
Praying.  Always praying. 
 
On Facebook I have been posting everything I see.
 
It's harder to do that on a blog.  It takes more energy and thought. But many of you are not on Facebook and the news media is not reporting what has been happening.
 
Things exploded on Wednesday and Thursday.
 
It looked unbelievably grim.
 
Halfway through the day on Thursday I about vomited when I saw a video of a man who was stripped naked and being forced to pose nude, holding an ax in his hands. 




The Berkut officers were having a moment of fun with the man after beating him.

A dozen or more standing around him.

One lonely naked beaten and bruised man in their midst.

They beat him as he entered the police van.  Naked he sat until a fellow prisoner kindly took off some of his clothes and shared them. 

I didn't post the video on my FB page.  It was too vile and I have a lot of my 13 year old students who are friends on Facebook.  I didn't need to put it on my wall. That video went viral.   It was seen by tens of thousands of people across the world.

Thankfully he survived.

He was released.

He went right back down to Independence Square. 


Not broken. 

Not broken.

I stand up and applaud that man.  For his courage.  For his willingness to go back.  To stand with HIS people and be a voice. 


Where it did the most damage - that video... in the very country where it was taken.  People who were relatively indifferent to the protesters were woken from their slumber when they saw their own police force beating and humiliating one of their own.

Mamas rose up in anger.  Grandmothers got off their couches.  Fathers pulled on their hats and gloves.  Ashamed.  Ashamed of their countrymen.  Ashamed of what was done to that one poor man.

 


 

Realizing that if they didn't do something then it could just as easily happen to their sons.  Their daughters. They came out banging their sticks and raising their voices.



The reality of what was happening hitting home and all over the country, in region after region, people are taking a stand.  Gathering.  Standing together.  They want the right to speak. They want the right to protest.  They want the right to  disagree with the government. 

Entire regiments of the Berkut are resigning.  Ashamed. 
 


President V over there started reading the Handwriting on the Wall.  So he called the leaders in.... offered them positions of high rank.  Flowered them with promises and handshakes.  Glory.  Power. 


Like Daniel, they said no.  We will not leave until you hear us.



Step down.   Call for new elections.  Your time is up.  It is over. Rescind the laws that robbed us of our rights.  Free our prisoners.  Free the hundreds of men and women who have been arrested for the simple act of protesting.

 
Last night the Protesters surrounded and then took over a House which was being used by Berkut officers.  They allowed the officers to leave without violence.  A peaceful takeover.  A handful of ammunition was found on the roof indicating that it had been used by snipers.  They would have had clear shots from the rooftop. 
 
The babushkas are cleaning the house and making it into a center where people can come and get refreshed.  Warmed.  Clean clothes.  Food.  Music.   

It is not over.
 
 

 
 
It is far from over.

Thugs hired by the government and disguised officers (possibly from Ru*si*) continue to walk the streets grabbing protesters and beating them, causing riots. Cars are being  burned. People are being kidnapped, beaten and left for dead in the woods. People are afraid to get medical help at the hospitals for fear of being taken.  I've even heard that they are having older orphan boys from the internats attack protesters.  Oh Dear Lord let it not be true!!
 
Journalists are being targeted.  Since they wear identifying vests that are supposed to protect them, they are easy targets. 
 
Medics and medical facilities are being attacked. 
 
In different regions across the country where people are staging protests, hired thugs are throwing smoke grenades and stones into the crowds. 
 
 
 
Rumor has it that the President is threatening to call a state of emergency on Tuesday.  Allowing him to use all the power of his military might against the protesters.  Again.  I pray it is not so.


In the midst of all of this.... there are families...adopting.
 
This morning in church we prayed for those families.
 
Prayed God's protection on them.  Prayed that their process would not be impeded by the turmoil that is happening all around them. 
 
I've been in contact with a number of them.  Some who are there and some who are getting ready to board planes.
 
They covet your prayers.  Please. 
 
Pray for them. 
 
Stand in the gap for them.
 
 
As the country groans around them - pray a shield of protection around them.  Please please pray that the turmoil will not affect adoptions.  Please!!
 
Pray.
 
Stand in the Gap for all of them.  It is a country desperately in need of the Lord.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Terror Unleashed

 
  
He knows that he is adopted yet only barely understands what that truly means.
 
 
 

He knows the country of his birth.  He can show it to you on the globe.
 
 
He knows that I went there in December.
 
 
He knows that we are praying for his country right now.
 
 
 
That's about what he knows.
 
He doesn't know that his country is in total turmoil.
 
 


 
He doesn't know that the Berkut forces (specialized units of the government) are beating captured protestors, stripping them and taking pictures of them. (The man in this picture has disappeared.  Please pray for him).
 
 
 
He doesn't know that snipers sat on the rooftops yesterday and shot down protestors standing in the street.
 
He doesn't know that the rule of law has been completely abolished and man can do anything to man without penalty.
 
 
 
He doesn't know that THUGS surrounded OUR American Embassy last night.  Why?  Because they can.  To terrorize. Instill fear.  To keep anyone from gaining help from the U.S. government.
 
 
 
He doesn't know that news reporters are not safe from harm.
 
 
He doesn't know that I have shared only a tiny tiny part on this blog of what is happening right now.
 
 
It is enough.
 
My heart bleeds inside.  It is real to me because I was there only a few short weeks ago.  I feared the worst when I walked among them. 
 
Last week when the government passed laws stripping the people there of their fundamental rights to speak out against the government, I knew it was only a matter of time.
 
Harry S. Truman said in 1950 that, "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
 
Terror has been unleashed on the streets over there.
 
 
What can we do??


First.  We pray.
 
 
 
Second.  You can CLICK HERE to sign a petition asking our government to speak out against what is happening.  You can also contact your senators and congressmen. 
 
Don’t know who your reps are? Here you go.
http://whoismyrepresentative.com/

Contact the Secretary Kerry and the State Department here:
http://contactus.state.gov/app/ask/session/L3RpbWUvMTM5MDI3NTQyMi9zaWQvUUZFb0lVS2w%3D

Send a message to President Obama and VP Biden here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.
 
 Third.  Those who want to give financial assistance for medical supplies, food and more to those fighting for their freedom....  You can donate through THIS LINK to Father's Heart Orphan Ministry (mention David Daulton).
 
Fourth.
 
Pray.
 
Pray and share and speak out.

 
Rob and I care about the people over there.
 
Please care with us.
 

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Do You Hear The People Sing?


Do you hear the people sing?



 Singing a song of angry men?


 
 It is the music of a people
 
 
 
Who will not be slaves again!



When the beating of your heart
 
 
Echoes the beating of the drums


 
There is a life about to start
 
 
 
When tomorrow comes!
 

 
Will you join in our crusade?
 
 
 
Who will be strong and stand with me?
 
 
Beyond the barricade
 
 
 
Is there a world you long to see?
 
 
So join in the fight
 
 
That will give you the right to be free.

 
 
Do you hear the people sing?
 
 
Singing a song of angry men?
 
 
 
It is the music of a people
 
 
 Who will not be slaves again!
 
 
When the beating of your heart
 
 
 

Echoes the beating of the drums
 
 
 
There is a life about to start
 
 
 
 
 
When tomorrow comes!
 
 
 
 
-------------------------------------

Two months ago thousands and thousands of protestors barricaded themselves inside the streets around Independence Square after the government suspended talks with the European Union. 
 
They have been protesting ever since. 
 
Camping inside the barricades.
 
 
They want to be heard.
 
There have been some clashes with the police but for the most part the protesting has been peaceful.
 
 
Last week the government passed laws that made criminal everything the protestors are doing.  This includes wearing face masks, helmets, building stages in public places, setting up tents, driving in groups of five or more cars, speaking out against the government, using social media to speak out against the government and accepting money from organizations funded by outside governments or foundations. 
 
The laws were passed by a show of hands.  Not by private ballot. A show of hands. 
 
The penalties for breaking any of these laws is harsh.
 
The protestors are digging in with their rocks and sticks and homemade weapons.
 
They want to be heard.
 
The government is moving in with their trucks and tear gas and snipers on buildings and a vast assortment of military weapons.
 
I'm afraid.
 
This is real.
 
I walked those streets.
 
All the pictures above are mine.
 
Pictures of barricades and tents and burn barrels and people.
 
People.
 
Young.  Old.  Mothers.  Fathers.  Grandfathers.  Grandmothers. Men. Women. Children.
 
Wanting their voices to be heard.
 
Our family is tied to that country.
 
Our youngest has dual citizenship until he is 18.
 
It matters to us what happens there.
 
Please pray.
 
Pray that it is not too late for a peaceful resolution. 
 
I am afraid.