Feels Like the Clouds are Breaking!

I needed to get out an update, but we have been on vacation for the last week.  


Things are really looking up!  One of the directors and founders of our new agency is going to be in Burundi in a few weeks!  This is HUGE!  We are not only getting more information, but we actually seeing someone go there to figure things out.  Please be in prayer for her as she left today for a conference on her way out.  She will be going to Uganda first, since they have a program there, and then on to Burundi.  She and another agency employee will be in Burundi on April 18-20, so this is a crucial time for your prayers!


We have received several emails from her already, and she has said about the trip that she is "hopeful that [she] can obtain information on current children that are available for adoption."  That may be info on OUR child!  But they are really going to try to figure out why there has been such a delay in the process, and she said, "I am very hopeful that we can figure this out. I am also hopeful that we will get the information that we want."  This is so great!


Maybe it's strange to be so ecstatic about an email, but you have to understand where we have come from.  We have had virtually no communication from our old agency for the past three or four months.  Yes, I knew they were busy, there was nothing to share, and they were moving offices, etc.  But seriously... no communication?  Our new agency has said that they will try to be in contact with us at least once a month.  That is a big improvement.


Some new information came out in our new agency's email sent out recently.  It's amazing how much can change in a year!  I remember the end of 2009 calling up our old agency, and hearing all about their Burundi program.  They seemed excited about it, confident about it, ready to plug us in.  By the end of 2010, they were trying to figure out a way to get out of the "business."  And when I talked to them in December, and early January, absolutely nothing was mentioned about this big change!  Apparently, many other families were feeling the same way, wondering why were weren't getting much communication.  Our new agency has hinted that they have sensed a general dissatisfaction with the way things were going, and they want to "turn things around."  It kind of amazes me that we were not alone in what we were experiencing.


One of the feelings I have is that we made a "mistake."  We were the one who chose the "wrong" agency.  If we had only researched more!  But I can not keep thinking "if only" statements.  The truth that I must dwell on (Phil 4:8) is that we felt led to this agency.  We felt led to the Burundi program.  Does God make mistakes?  NO!  He knows exactly what He is doing.  He led us to the place that we are at.  He had a plan all along for us to start our process with one agency, and continue with another... even though we didn't know it, and would not have chosen it that way.  What is great to remember is that God is in control!  One agency's failure to complete our adoption did not change God's plan for us.


Thank you all for your prayers.  
-Pray for safe travel for our agency's workers in Africa.  
-Pray that they can get all the necessary information to sustain an adoption program in Burundi.  
-Pray that they can even get information on new children and lots of pictures. 
-Pray for our hearts as we wait for their return to hear how things went.


I will update more when I can!

Major Changes

News Update: We have just received an email from our agency saying that they are "retiring from the field and moving on."  I can't say that I am super surprised.  In the last couple of months we have received very little communication from our agency, and recently heard that they were "moving" offices.  What little communication we have had has not been directed to us, but has been a mass email or message sent to a lot of families.  So, I guess I kind of felt like something like this was going to happen.

I imagined something worse, that they would shut down the program, skip town, and all our money and progress would be lost.  But thankfully, that is not the case.  Instead, all the families will be transferred over to another agency, called Agape Adoptions.  I do not know very much about this agency, but they are supposed to contact us within the next two weeks.  They will be taking on our family, and the Burundi program.

One good thing mentioned in the email was that Agape will be traveling to Burundi next month!  They are going there to work with the adoption contact in the country to try to get these Burundi adoptions started.  This is exciting news for us, since we have felt little progress was being made in Burundi for the last several months.  It feels like progress!

Prayer: I have no idea how our family will mesh with the new agency.  I pray that they will be able to guide us wisely, and communicate with us often.  I pray that they will know how to deal with a family in our situation, ie. living overseas and such.  Please pray with us as we transition to something new!

My thoughts: It has been tempting to look at blogs of many other adopting families, see their quick progress, and become frustrated and jealous.  There are even thoughts like: Should we change programs?  Should we have gone with a different agency?  Should we switch to domestic adoption?  Should we have not pursued this after all?  But I have honestly felt that we have a child waiting for us in Burundi.  So I am glad that we stuck with our program.  Even considering that the few families ahead of us in the program have all dropped out and gone with another country.  I don't know where the families following us stand now, but we are set to be the first to adopt from Burundi, and that is exciting!  It is also scary, since there is no procedure in place to predict how things will go.

One thing is for sure, by pursuing an adoption from Burundi, it has opened my eyes to a lot of things.  God has been using several books and passages of scripture recently to build in me a heart for the orphan, for the poor, for the distressed, for the widow, for Africa.  Let me just share a few things.

Radical, by David Platt

This book is kind of earth shaking!  It caused me to look at my life through Jesus' eyes, and in comparison to the rest of the world.  I am richer than 99% of the world!  My "latest toy" could feed an entire family year, maybe!  Going along nicely is this book:

Interrupted, by Jen Hatmaker

  

This book, written more like a diary, again calls to mind the disparity of what we have compared to the rest of the world.  Crazy stats like, someone dies of hunger every 16 seconds!  That means someone has just died from hunger, which is totally preventable, by the time you finish reading these last couple of lines!  And in the last hour, 66 children under the age of 15 were infected with HIV!

Then, one of the first books (not websites) I read about Burundi is this one:

This Voice in My Heart, by Gilbert Tuhabonye

This is a true story of a man from Burundi who survived the civil war/genocide conflict in Burundi in the 1990's and went on to become a world class runner.  His story is so inspiring, and I learned a lot about Burundi culture through the book as well.

What I recently finished is this book:

Strength in What Remains, by Tracy Kidder

Wow!  A great book about another man who survived the genocide, and made his way to New York.  He tells his story of trying to be a medical student, and then becoming a bottom-rung immigrant in New York.  The book, written by a friend of the Burundian man, describes Burundi in so much detail!  I find that this book was even a little more fair to both sides of the conflict than the first book.  I don't know if you know anything about Burundi's history, but it mirrors Rwanda's history to some degree.  Burundi is made up of mostly the Hutu people group, and then some Tutsi peoples, and a small few of the original inhabitants, the Twa people.  The "Voice in My heart" book was written by a Tutsi and came from his perspective.  But this book brings a little more of the Hutu and Tutsi perspective, and even explains where they came up with those names in the first place.  But, the book also explains some of the poor conditions that some Burundians live in.

In 2010, Burundi was ranked the poorest, the bottom country, in Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita.  It consistently ranks in the bottom 10% of countries economically.  Honestly, what frustrates me right now is that it is not receiving much attention.  Maybe I am a little biased because we are adopting from there, but I think most of the attention is going toward Rwanda.  Yes, they experienced horrible tragedy in the past as well, and yes, they are very poor too.  Many programs already exist in Rwanda.  Adoptions are happening in Rwanda.  People are taking missions trips to Rwanda.  Who is going to Burundi?  Not many.  Who is helping the poor in Burundi?  (Please, no offense to anyone adopting from, or involved in Rwanda)

Well, since I am reading through the Bible in a year, I have recently come across a passage in Deuteronomy.  It is where the people of Israel are getting instructions for how they are to live when they go in and settle in the land promised to them by God.  Read through Deut. 15:7-11.  But, I'll just write out one verse that I really like: 

"For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.'" -Deut. 15:11

How are we "freely opening" our hands?  How are we giving generously?  How are we taking care of the poor?  How am I doing these things?  These are a lot of the questions I am dealing with and going through right now. 

So, I just wanted to share what has been going on.  We continue to trust that God knows what He is doing with our adoption, and with the Burundi program as it transitions to new hands.  (But we know all along that it is in God's hands).  We are excited to see what happens next.  I will keep you informed.  Thanks for stopping by!

Nothing new

Sorry for the lack of updates, but unfortunately there is nothing to tell.  We are in the same place as we were a month ago... waiting.  We have heard that our agency is still trying to get information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Burundi, but it isn't happening very quickly.  So, we continue to wait with our eyes on the Lord, and trusting in His timing for everything.

It has been easy to not think about the wait for the last month, because we were in the process of moving to a new house!  With being so busy with that, I haven't been worrying about updating anything.  We hope to hear something soon.  So please pray that things will move along in the Burundi government, and that there would be clear communication with everyone involved.

All Dossier Documents Compiled!

We have finished our psychological evaluation, and how have completed all our paperwork for our dossier!  The "Dossier" is the full report of paperwork that gets sent to Burundi for them to review and hopefully accept our request for adoption.

We are so thankful that this step is complete.  However, right now we can not proceed with the process because our agency is still asking us to wait.  Things still haven't been cleared in Burundi.  So, we are waiting for our agency to hear back from Burundi and let us know that we are OK to continue.

What our timeline looks like now:
Our next step is to get everything authenticated.  Basically government officials have to set their seal of approval on our documents, including the Burundi Embassy.  Then we will get our documents translated, and ready to be sent off.  This final authentication process will hopefully not take more than a month.

Once our documents arrive in Burundi, if everything has been worked out and according to our agency, we should be traveling to Burundi 2-4 months later.

BUT.... we are delayed indefinitely, so we cannot predict when these last steps will happen.  Please pray that Burundi okays our agency's paperwork as soon as possible, and that the last steps go smoothly.

I found a really good video that talks about life in Burundi, and at an orphanage there.  It is associated with Youth for Christ, I think.  I don't know these people, their orphanage, or am promoting them, but it makes me think about the child that God has picked for us in Burundi.

We are Sane!

We had our first appointment for an adoption-required psychological evaluation on Thursday.  Yeah!  We are almost done with this.  We have another appointment this coming week, and then he said he would have the paperwork ready for us by this coming Friday!

The answer to prayer is that the appointment went really smoothly.  It was actually really great!  First, because we got to talk about ourselves! (j/k).  But really, the doctor (psychologist, psychiatrist, whatever he is!) asked us all sort of questions about our relationship, our marriage, how we handle conflict, why we wanted to adopt, etc.  And since he was our captive audience, we were able to share a lot about our faith and how that plays a big role in who we are and in our decision to adopt.  So, it was really great to be able to be honest and open about it all. 

The other great thing is that we just loved getting to share what we like about the other person.  It was fun to talk about all the things we like to do together and how we enjoy hanging out together.  It was just a good refresher for us personally.  I don't think he was intending it to be like that, he was just asking questions.  But the cool part was that at the end of the session he said, "It is obvious to me that you two have a strong marriage.  It's actually quite refreshing, compared to most of the people I see come to my office.  In fact, compared to nonclinical couples, you have quite an amazing marriage."  Wow!  How cool to hear that.  Of course we thought so, but now even a professional thinks so too!

We are thankful that we are almost done with most of the paperwork on our end.  We are still praying for things to smooth out in Burundi, and that we would be able to continue on in the process as soon as we are ready to.  We do not welcome a delay, but we know that any delay is for a reason.  We will be busy over the next month, as we are intending on moving houses.  So a shift in focus might be a good thing for us, as we wait for the delay to be cleared.

Thanks for all your encouragement and keep praying!

What is REALLY going on in Burundi right now...

Update: I talked to our agency last night.  There is not much to tell.  They said that they are getting frustrated because it seems the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Burundi is putting up roadblocks.  They said it seems like someone in the office doesn’t want these adoptions to go through.  After waiting for a while (roadblock), they have come back to our agency and asked them to submit a detailed plan of what they want to do in Burundi (roadblock).  Our agency has resubmitted the information, and now the Ministry wants time to review it (roadblock) with no indication that they are being agreeable.  So based on the timing of things so far, it could take 1-2 months to get it all sorted out.

We had been waiting to hear whether or not there is going to be a delay in processing adoptions.  What I need to tell myself now is:

Face it.  There is a delay. 

We will not be submitting our paperwork to Burundi this week.  Not that we are ready, but we couldn’t even if we were ready.  Maybe it will take us the exact amount of time to get everything ready to submit as it takes them to sort everything out.  We hope our psychological evaluation should be done very soon (Praise the Lord, we made an appointment!).  As soon as we have that back, we will be at the authentication phase, and we will thus need a name of a child to continue.  But our agency can’t give us, and won’t give us, any info until they have sorted everything out with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  If it will be two months down the road, then the fact is, we will be delayed.

What I believe may be happening, not only in my thoughts, but also in Burundi is Spiritual Warfare. 

Spiritual Warfare can be defined as: “the cosmic war of good versus evil: its battles are fought daily between God and Satan; between the Christian Church and the world system ruled by our spiritual enemy; and between the Holy Spirit and the lusts of the carnal flesh within every human soul. The clear meanings of good and evil, as defined by God rather than man, are revealed within the verses of the Holy Bible and the life of Jesus Christ.”

I am not talking about going on a holy crusade or a physical war.  I am talking about supernatural battles.  Satan is Real.  God is Real.  They are directly opposed to each other.  God desires that orphans find homes.  Satan does not.  God wants children to join a family where they can hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Satan does not.  God wants those children to come to believe in Him.  Satan does NOT.  God vs. Satan, plain and simple.

The good news is that Satan has already lost.  Though he may try his best to take glory away from God while here on earth, he will not have the ultimate victory.  Because the battle is still real, there are still children suffering, and we need to pray.

I could wring my hands with worry over the delays.

Or

Everyone I know could be praying to break down the walls that are preventing adoptions from occurring in Burundi. 

Everyone can be praying to place someone in charge in Burundi who has a heart for orphans. 

Praying to open the eyes of the officials to see that it is not a bad thing for the country. 

Praying to let Christ have the victory over the spiritual battle that is being waged. 

Praying that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will look at the paperwork and decide that everything is in order, and will declare our agency free to continue on to process adoptions. 

Praying that no other order of business gets in the way of them deciding on this matter. 

Praying that they will have to look at the paperwork, that their eyes would be directed to it, that their minds will not stop thinking about it, that they will even have dreams that they must clear this paperwork for good. 

Praying they have to look into the eyes of an orphan on their way to work, and praying they stop and think about what will happen to that child.

We need your prayers!  Lots and lots of children in Burundi need your prayers!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” –Ephesians 6:10-13

What has been going on in my thoughts:

We had a little bit of a scare recently.  We found out a few days ago that Mark would have to go on an “all-expense paid trip” to the middle east in June… for 6+ months, without me of course.   Hmm, Lord how is that going to work with our adoption plans?  All of the sudden, I am faced with a huge struggle to trust God and His plans.  In my rational human mind I can’t see how this is going to work.  God, are you sure you know what you are doing?  I am faced with my own ugliness of sin.  What do I want most?  A child, or the Father?  Do I want my plans to happen exactly how I want them to happen, in the exact timing I want them to happen… or do I want to be shaped more into the character of Christ, and learn to depend on Him more and trust Him more, no matter what?  I had to open up my hands, let go of trying to control, and choose to trust Him instead…. Even if it means that we will not be able to adopt in 2011, or 2012.… or ever (This brings me to tears).  Even if it means that we will have to redo all our paperwork because it will have expired, and spend thousands more dollars.  What is that compared to all of eternity?  What is a few more years, a few more dollars compared to what awaits us in heaven for eternity.  Will anyone even care 100 years from now?  No. 

So, I laid it all at His feet.  I enlisted the prayers of some close friends.  And I saw God answer prayers.  The “middle-east vacation” was called off!  Praise the Lord!

Me: Lord, I would have been just fine if you hadn’t put this little obstacle in my path for the last few days.

God: No, you needed it.  I had a plan for you.  I had some lessons I needed to teach you.  I wanted to remind you to trust in Me, not in “chariots and horses” (Psalm 20:7).

Me: Ok, I see that now.  You were right.  I did need reminding of that.  Thank you for your lovingkindness to me!

I rejoice in the Lord always (Phil 4:4) and take to heart this great verse in Romans 8:37-39,

“…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Thanks for reading my rants, I hope to have more good news soon.

Good News...

We received an email today saying:

"Your I-800A application is hereby APPROVED!  You have been approved to adopt two children from the following Convention country: Burundi"
(emphasis mine)

Yes!  We have a scanned copy of the approval now, and one is on the way in the mail.  This is from the US Citizen and Immigration Services giving us permission to bring a Burundian child into the US.  We are so thankful that we finally have this piece of paperwork... it took 3 months to approve!

A big praise is that we had a very kind person in charge of our file, who called me at home when he found out that they couldn't read Mark's fingerprints, and told us we had to send in more fingerprints.  He answered questions, and now even emailed me the approval and let me know that it is on its way.  How nice is that?  Thank you Jon (immigration services officer) from the Hague Adoption Unit of USCIS!

We are very excited that the US government agrees that we should adopt from Burundi.  We just have to wait to hear more from our agency about the possible delays in Burundi.  Now we need the Burundi government to agree that we can adopt from there!

In the meantime, while we wait on information (please keep praying!), we are still working on getting that psychological evaluation appointment set up.  This has taken us almost as long as the I-800A!  I hope to hear from the provider this week.  We want to be done with our part of the process so that we can just wait.

Waiting... not something that I enjoy.  Mark is looking forward to the waiting.  In fact, he says it will be the easiest part!  Hmm... I guess we have two different perspectives.  I think it will be a lot harder than when we had something to do and paperwork to work on.  Though I expect to have other things to focus on besides paperwork... like reading parenting books, reading adoption books, planning a nursery, buying things for the baby.  It will be a big deal when we finally get to see a face and hear a name of the child or children we will adopt.  We know that we should be getting this information soon, if all things are going as planned.  But they are not... because of the possible delays.  So, we will wait.  We will wait to hear if our process will be delayed much.  We will wait to hear about our children.  We will wait to receive an invitation to come pick them up.

Therefore, I envision 2011 to be The Year of the Waiting!  But also with a hopeful ending to it... The Year of Our First Adoption.  We expect and pray for it to happen this year.  Please join us in this prayer. One thing is for sure: God is more powerful than any government agency, He can move mountains to get our paperwork where it needs to be, and He can open doors where no one even expected.  Our church's verse this year is: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God." (Psalm 20:7)  It is perfectly fitting!