If you think I am alone, you gotta click here for Missy's blog post about the 13 ways preparing a dossier (a French word for that huge stack of paperwork) is like being in college.
Up to this point (mid July), there were only babies in the YWAM orphanages that were available for adoption and as you know, we feel like we are to adopt an older child between the ages of 4-8 (right in between my Jonathan and Brooke):
I think my understanding is correct; the Ministry of Women's Affairs has been closed and this means that only abandoned kids can be accepted into the orphanages. I am assuming most older kids are brought to the orphanage by a grandparent, aunt, or parent who can no longer provide and care for them. The orphanage cannot take such kids right now because the paperwork cannot be processed because the Ministry of Women's Affairs is closed right now (for how long? no one knows. . it has been closed for several months now). Only paperwork for abandoned kids can be processed right now. . that is my understanding.
Babies are often abandoned and found. An older kid that is abandoned is not necessarily found; he "becomes" a street kid. I am trying to put words to something I have no words for. . .or have even had experience with. . . sometimes you do not even know what questions to ask because you have never heard of such things before.
Anyway, up to mid July there were mostly babies available, no 4-8 year old boys.
But you know what happened mid July???
Do you know what happened over in Ethiopia the same week that our dossier gets sent off?
A 6 year old boy comes to the orphanage! I cannot share details on the internet/blog per Ethiopian gov't requests. And this is not an official referral because the government is closed right now (this is different than the Ministry of Women's Affairs). . the govt is closed right now due to it being the rainy season. The roads become impassable during the rainy season so all shuts down. Again something our American brain cannot understand. Word is the govt will reopen come October.
But a 6 year old boy is at YWAM's orphanage the same month we become paperwork ready for a referral. Coincidence or a God thing?
We are praying for God to speak, to show us whether this 6 year old is indeed our son. We are waiting to see all his paperwork and a picture. Email from the village YWAM has an orphanage in in Ethiopia is very hit and miss and it is next to impossible to email photos. But a missionary did send some pics back to the US with another missionary and there most likely will be some snapshots of this little boy in those photos.
So we are praying we get to see a picture soon; I think my heart will be able to connect and "know" once I see a picture. Or perhaps my heart has already because:
I have been praying for this little boy. . for his heart to be filled with hope despite all he has endured in his short life. I have been praying that God fills him with a supernatural joy and peace. I pray that he does not feel alone. I pray that he is able to sleep thru the night, that he does not have nightmares, that he feels safe. I pray that his heart remains soft and he is able to laugh and play. I pray. . .
I think my understanding is correct; the Ministry of Women's Affairs has been closed and this means that only abandoned kids can be accepted into the orphanages. I am assuming most older kids are brought to the orphanage by a grandparent, aunt, or parent who can no longer provide and care for them. The orphanage cannot take such kids right now because the paperwork cannot be processed because the Ministry of Women's Affairs is closed right now (for how long? no one knows. . it has been closed for several months now). Only paperwork for abandoned kids can be processed right now. . that is my understanding.
Babies are often abandoned and found. An older kid that is abandoned is not necessarily found; he "becomes" a street kid. I am trying to put words to something I have no words for. . .or have even had experience with. . . sometimes you do not even know what questions to ask because you have never heard of such things before.
Anyway, up to mid July there were mostly babies available, no 4-8 year old boys.
But you know what happened mid July???
Do you know what happened over in Ethiopia the same week that our dossier gets sent off?
A 6 year old boy comes to the orphanage! I cannot share details on the internet/blog per Ethiopian gov't requests. And this is not an official referral because the government is closed right now (this is different than the Ministry of Women's Affairs). . the govt is closed right now due to it being the rainy season. The roads become impassable during the rainy season so all shuts down. Again something our American brain cannot understand. Word is the govt will reopen come October.
But a 6 year old boy is at YWAM's orphanage the same month we become paperwork ready for a referral. Coincidence or a God thing?
We are praying for God to speak, to show us whether this 6 year old is indeed our son. We are waiting to see all his paperwork and a picture. Email from the village YWAM has an orphanage in in Ethiopia is very hit and miss and it is next to impossible to email photos. But a missionary did send some pics back to the US with another missionary and there most likely will be some snapshots of this little boy in those photos.
So we are praying we get to see a picture soon; I think my heart will be able to connect and "know" once I see a picture. Or perhaps my heart has already because:
I have been praying for this little boy. . for his heart to be filled with hope despite all he has endured in his short life. I have been praying that God fills him with a supernatural joy and peace. I pray that he does not feel alone. I pray that he is able to sleep thru the night, that he does not have nightmares, that he feels safe. I pray that his heart remains soft and he is able to laugh and play. I pray. . .
