Hope Is Fading

Orphan Awareness Month is happening right now. Would you watch this 3 minute video and just listen to what the Spirit of God might be asking you to do?

Don't squelch His voice. Don't listen to the lie that says "it's not my calling." The world is telling us to buy bigger houses, newer cars and better clothes. And our country just spent over $1.23 Billion on Halloween candy and decorations.

There are 150 Million Orphans in the world today that should trump what the world is telling us.

Listen to His voice.

Hope is Fading – Orphan Sunday from Allan Rosenow on Vimeo.

What does love look like?

What does love look like?

It is a woman walking on the a busy street in Ghana stopping to pick up a crying baby left in a bush.

It is a family surrending the comfort of America and moving to a third world country to be available for the needs of orphans who may not have a chance to survive.

It is a wife and mother sitting in a mosquito infested hospital room with a little girl whom she has grown to love so that this little girl can go begin her life with her forever family.

It is a couple donating personal resources for a family living overseas to be able to fly home for the holiday season.

It is a community of people gathering and providing 90% of the costs for an International Adoption during a hard, economic time.

It's a friend sending a text 3 times a week saying "press on, you can do it, He is faithful."

It's brothers and sisters praying and begging God to provide a way.

It is a friend and mother of 7 kids offering to accompany you overseas to help you bring your child home.

Most importantly, it is a man...fully God, fully man. Leaving the throne of heaven and coming to earth. Experiencing all of our emotions. All of our struggles and hardships. Facing death head on for all of mankind.

Jesus, I don't have to ponder what love looks like. You have shown us the way.

9 weeks

So of all the options we were hoping for the third one was not the best option. And unfortunately, that's the one we got. So our case has gone under the umbrella of "administrative processing" for the Visa for Julie's passport. 9 weeks ago the McIntyre's showed up for the Visa Interview. The passport was taken as well as all of the adoption paperwork. We've dialogued back and forth with the Embassy and they just keep saying they need more time to complete it. Frustration is an understatement but our hands are tied. Fortunately, Juliana is being loved and cared for well. She is growing, talking up a storm and able to do lots of new things since I was there in April. Our prayer is that we will rejoice in God's perfect time. There are so many different ways to look at it, but we will remain hopeful and obedient.

Soon, Julie.

We love you.

Mommy and Daddy

In 5 hours...

It's 10:30pm here in Michigan. In Ghana it is 2:30am and our baby girl should be sleeping soundly. In 5 hours, the McIntyre's will be driving Juliana to her Visa Embassy Appointment. What does that mean? Well, basically, this is it! All of our adoption paperwork and court rulings are complete. The last and final step before we can go get Julie happens tomorrow. Debbie has to bring Juliana before a U.S. Embassy agent at 7:30am Ghana time with all of our adoption paperwork in order and Julie's passport. The end goal is to get a Visa stamp in Julie's passport which will allow her to enter the United States once we bring her through customs on U.S. soil. There are 3 possibilities of what can happen tomorrow:

1. The Embassy Agent can find all of the paperwork accurate and present and proceed with our case. He/she would at that point tell Debbie to return this coming Friday, July 15th, to pick up the passport with the Visa stamp in it. At that point we could book our flights to go get her!

2. There could be some sort of unforseen problem with one of the documents that needs to either be changed/corrected or redone. The Embassy agent would at that point reschedule our appointment for another time.

3. There could also be an investigation regarding our case if the agent finds that necessary to proceed.

I/we have gone through so many different scenarios in our minds as to how this could unfold in just a few hours. I believe without a doubt that God is going to bring sweet Juliana home. And in the past week, I have been learning a new way to pray that is changing me [thanks Paula!]! God always knows what we need when we need it. At church this morning, we were brought to the text Proverbs 20:24 "A person's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand their own way?" Essentially, I can imagine 100 different ways in which this might go down tomorrow...but Juliana's steps home are directed by the Lord. She is his child first and he is giving us the privilige of being her family during our time here on earth. How could I possibly understand his way? He does everything in a mysterious and glorious way. If we had brought Julie home already, we would miss out on so much of the mystery.

So Miss Julie...no matter what happens at the Embassy tomorrow you're still our daughter. And God will allow us to be together whenever he sees fit. Be good for Debbie and Edward in the car! And make sure you shine that beautiful smile for the Embassy agent...it just might do wonders! :)

One Year!

Just over a year ago, on June 9th, our baby girl was found on the side of the road abandoned in a bush.
This was her fragile body when she arrived at the McIntyre's in early July.

Praising God for Doctor's, Nurse's, Medicine, The McIntyre's, Patience, Hope and God's mircaulous intervention on his precious child's behalf! This is Julie today!

"Why did you adopt?" My new answer.

We used to get asked this question all the time? When we began the process of bringing home, our now 4 year old, from Ethiopia, we would hear things out of curiosity like "Why Ethiopia?" "Why don't you want to have more of your own kids?" "You know there are thousands of children in the U.S. that need a home, why do you want to pick a child in another country?"

I thought I used to have all the "right" answers. From reading, education, blogs, and our own personal international travel, I would respond with phrases such as "There are over 147 Million orhpans in the world today. If everyone goes on having their own biological children, the orphan crisis won't stand a chance." "James 1:27 tells us that undefiled religion takes care of the widow and the orphan." And then I even came up with "God, allowed Brian and I to travel to Africa several times in years past and has broken our hearts for the issues of the orphan, poverty, and injustice in that part of the world."

All of my past responses are certainly valid and still true today, but I am learning that I would now add a new layer to answer those questions. This particular layer, without a doubt, is complicated. But I know that it is real. Not because I read it or listened to it, or even visited it. I know it's real because I'm living it. Here is the newest layer to my response of "Why did you adopt? And why are you adopting again?"

Because Jesus is using adoption to show me and my husband our need for Him.

Period.

That's it. I told you it was complicated. And it is. We could go on living life with our 2 girls [1 biological, 1 adopted from Ethiopia] and think we've done it. We've helped the cause of the orphan. We've brought justice to poverty and it's crippling effect in Africa via one child. We've gotten uncomfortable and invited growth for a season into our world. But we cannot escape the fact that God is using the adoption of Ayantu and now Juliana to show us our deepest need for Christ. Our family unit will not make sense to a lot of people in this world. But that is not what concerns me. What keeps me awake at night is questioning my ability to care for the deep wounds and needs of 2 beautiful children whose Mom's had to give them up because of variying circumstances. My husband just turned 43. I am 36. We both work outside of the home. We are tired. Better yet. We are exhauseted. But if we had said "no" to the parenting needs of Juiana, we would have begun to rely on our own abilities to grow our children in this world. With 3, we will be outnumbered. And with 3 very different children, with very different stories, we will forever need to rely on the grace and mercy of Christ to help us each and every day. If we don't...we will fail.

His ways are indeed mysterious. But that is our God. And that is why He had us adopt. Twice!

HOMe Website

Here's the website for the orphanage in Ghana where Juliana is at:

http://www.worshipathomeghana.org/