The week of Christmas we received an email from our adoption agency, with the following letter attached:
The House of Peoples' Representatives and the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth urged stakeholders and the public to undertake integrated work to totally stop adoption of Ethiopian children by foreign families.
In a press conference, House Speaker Abadula Gemeda and the Minister Zenebu Tadesse told journalists that stakeholders should work closely to end foreign adoption.
Abadula urged the importance to give priority to use local means to raise orphaned children rather than giving them away to foreign families.
He suggested the importance to establish and support local NGOs which raise orphaned children with the close collaboration of the public.
He urged stakeholders and the public to support these initiatives and protect children from any kind of abuse.
The Minister Zenebu on her part said the government is working hard to end foreign adoption and facilitate situations to raise the children within their community.Source
Obviously that was a huge disappointment to read. And it is pretty scary. God called us to adoption and specifically to Ethiopia and we've been waiting almost 18 months. It is very confusing why He would call us to that if this was the end result? It's been a true test of faith for me. Trusting that we did not mis-hear God in the first place and trusting that He has a plan for our adoption and for Ethiopian adoptions in general. If Ethiopia does in fact close, we will be starting over either with a different country or with a domestic adoption. In the days since the email first came out, it is looking more and more like Ethiopia won't actually close, but that there will be much stricter requirements for families and agencies and orphanages. I am all in favor of those as there is a lot of corruption in Ethiopian adoptions with some agencies (not ours) and orphanages.
To further complicate things, our homestudy needs to be updated this month, so it's a little stressful that we might spend money and time to update our homestudy for Ethiopia and then it closes and then we have to update it again, with new fees and paperwork. In spite of all the odds stacked against us, I have been praying and praying and I really don't feel like God is telling us to leave Ethiopia yet. It's almost a harder decision to stay with Ethiopia, knowing it could close any day. I have causally looked into other countries and even domestic adoption and it just doesn't feel quite right, like God is giving me peace to stay where we are at for now. My heart is definitely still with Ethiopia, I love the country and would love to have a daughter from there someday. Maybe we should do a concurrent adoption now, still open to Ethiopia for the future, but something for in the meantime? Obviously I am still very unsure and Chris and I have some things we need to discuss, it's so hard to know sometimes! It seems like this whole adoption journey has been a practice in that for us.
Chris' grandma passed away in November and she passed on this clock to us along with some other African souvenirs. Chris hung up the clock and my new calendar that my dad gave me for Christmas right next to my computer. I flip open the calendar to January, and glance at the verse, and wow!
If you can't read the small type, it says: The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw Him do in Egypt. And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Deut. 1:30-31a
Today is Ethiopian Christmas. We are doing a small meal as a family (Ethiopian spaghetti and Ethiopian honey bread) and praying hard for Ethiopia to stay open to international adoption. Melkam Genna = Merry Ethiopian Christmas!
No comments:
Post a Comment