Over the past few days my heart has been very heavy after hearing the news out of Ethiopia that adoptions are going to slow way down. It has been reported that the rate of adoptions from this country that I love will drop 90% starting in just a few days. This breaks my heart because I have seen first hand the desperate need for children in this country to be placed in a forever family.
I am the first to admit that all of the adoptions out of Ethiopia I am sure are not ethical. I also know that after many trips to Ethiopia and as an adoptive mom I have very strong feelings about orphans from this country that are so near to my heart. As I have read what seems like millions of e-mails, websites, blogs, and anything else people can write my heart has been heavy, sad and sometime angry. People have such vast opinions and sometime they don't think prior to writing or speaking. Here are just a couple of the things that I have heard that have made my heart feel some of these emotions:
-"Since most all of the adoptions in Ethiopia are unethical I support this slow down"- I really would like to know where this information was gathered. I agree with needing to make sure that children aren't being bought, sold or handled in any unethical way and my heart breaks to think of the evil in this world where this has happened and continues to happen today. However, keeping thousands of children orphaned due to the poor descisions of a few seems like just the way satan would want things to be. Not only is he winning when it comes to breaking apart families but now he gets to keep children alone for an extened period of time where they feel unloved and uncared for. My heart becomes angry and broken as I think of how he uses sin to cause heartache and seperation from what God intended for children and families. I pray that God would help the government shed light on those who are not acting in the best interest of children and families so that they can quickly weed them out and allow the waiting orphans to be united with their forever families.
-" What is and orphan?" I have read and heard from many who would not consider our children orphaned. I keep reading where people say that if any relative is alive then the orphaned chlild needs to reside with them. Those who are writing or saying this obviously have never stood on Zedachu island with a widowed birth mom who has eight children (one of which is special needs) that she was caring for. She loved her children so much that she knew that she couldn't emotionally and physically care for all of them alone. She wasn't paid, bribed or begged to give her children away- Instead I am sure that she wrestled and cried as she made a descision that no mother should ever have to make to place Tizita and Geremew in a place where someone else could take care of their basic needs. It breaks my heart and frankly makes me angry that anyone would say that our children were not true orphans. I wish that some who have made these remarks would spend sometime in Ethiopia with these birth moms and dads who have to make the hardest descision of their life when placing their children in the care of someone other than themselves forever. I pray for eyes to be opened to the great need of children across the globe and I pray for action to be taken. I pray that less people would argue about what a true orphan is and more would spend their days holding, loving and caring for children who find themselves all alone.
-"Adoptive parents who have their children home could care less about the adoption situation because they have their children home"- I have seen and heard this over and over the past few days and there is simply nothing further from the truth. My heart hurts for the children that I personally know who are waiting for their forever family. I grieve when I think about the fact that my son and daughter have friends who will spend much more time living in an orphanage than they should because of the desicions being made on their behalf by government officals. When I think of adoptive moms and dads who have been waiting to bring their sons or daughters home for months my heart aches as their months have turned into so much longer. It is the same ache that I felt last year as I waited every day hoping for news about our son and daughter and when they could come home. I pray for peace for the moms and dads who cry each night as they long for their children to be with them that God would give them a peace that passes all understanding. I pray that God would wrap His arm around each baby, toddler, boy or girl who finds themself alone today - I pray that He would hold them tight until their mom and dad get there to bring them into their family.
I know that this blog is not what I typically write about- My heart is aching and all I know to do is cry out to the one who can change it all. I am praying for God to direct what actions need to be taken by me and listening closely to what He is asking of me as I pray for His will to be done half way around the world. I am praying for wisdom for each offical who will be making descisions that will effect each orphan in Ethiopia- Please join me in praying.......... I don't know what the future holds but I am so thankful that I know the one who holds the future and I rest in that today.
Beautiful. Thank-you.
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