Thursday, January 22, 2009

REFERRAL--YEA!!

We received the phone call and email from BFAS yesterday, January 21, 2009. It was a referral for siblings. An adorable 2 year old boy and his precious 4 year old sister. They are at Kunkeet and we were so thrilled to recognize the siblings in some of the photos that a fellow (sweet and thoughtful) prospective adoptive parent, Nguyet, posted to the BFAS site last week. I was stunned, shocked, amazed, excited and speechless. The children are beautiful and are a perfect match for our family. We are both excited and humbled. Our heart aches for another family, around the world- that for whatever reason, has been and is still hurting. I can only pray that God knows and will give comfort and peace to these people on the other side of the world that are suffering. We are thrilled yet at the same time, saddened to know these children have been through so much loss and grief in their young lives. We also grieve for the birth parents and family, for their loss. I can't imagine the heartache of a mother, father or the children enduring the hardships these people have faced that brought them to this place in life. We will honor their gift of life and are humbled to open our home, love and share our family with these beautiful siblings.

It is also very important to note that we don't have full disclosure of information yet. We are still awaiting the children's medical or family history but, Angela told us that this information will be sent by Agitu as soon as possible via email
(hopefully we'll know more about these children tomorrow!!)I am an optimist!!! :)

The BFAS staff has been amazing to us and we appreciate their hard
work and tireless efforts in helping the orphaned children of
Ethiopia find loving homes, despite the MANY challenges that they
face in this complicated process. Thank you Agitu, Haile, Angela,
Molly, and all of the rest of the BFAS staff for the work you are
doing. You will wear many crowns and jewels in heaven!!!

For our dear friends and family-- PLEASE PRAY FOR THESE CHILDREN!!! PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM!! PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!! Pray that the Lord would heal the hurts these children have endured, keep them healthy, protect them from any danger, provide their nutritional needs, and open their hearts to a new family and knit our hearts together. Pray that we are equipped to love them through all the challenges, to know how to meet their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. Please pray that we are patient with the rest of the adoption process. I thought it would be easier once we "knew" who they were.....I don't think this was an accurate guess of how I would feel--- seeing their beautiful faces makes me know and feel even more of a sense of URGENCY to love them, to protect and provide for them, to bring them home- than I've felt yet!! I think God is already knitting them into my heart and that is so amazing to me. God is so good.

Thank you Lord.

These scriptures are fitting today.....
Psalm 68:5 "Father to the fatherless, defender of widows--THIS is
God, whose dwelling is holy."

Psalm 78:4 "We will not hide these truths from our children but will
tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord."

Blessings,
Amy

3 comments:

AnnMarie & Nick said...

Congrats on the excellent news!

Anonymous said...

Congrats. Gives me chills and brings a tear to my eye at the same time. It's a challenging road ahead but the most awesome one to be on. Praise God for the speediness of that referral. We'll continue praying for your family....all 8 of you.

meg said...

wahoo! congrats!