Just wanted to give you an update about what has been going on with us. Sorry...it's kind of long...lots of prayer requests :-)
It is definite that we will not be able to bring Jose home. Both a praise and a prayer request is that we have been told he will go to live with his birthmother. How wonderful that he will be able to know her and she him! However, after not having him for 19 months, it will be quite an adjustment for both of them. And the reasons she relinquished him at his birth have not changed. Please be in prayer
for them and for the foster mother who has been caring for him all along.
This has been a very painful time for us. We know that Jose was not legally ours, and that we have never physically seen him. However, in our hearts and minds, he was already part of our family. We know that God brought him into our lives for a reason. It has been such a blessing to have friends around us who understand. Some have been through similar situations, but all have been very loving and supportive. We have told Elizabeth, and at times she seems to understand that he will not be coming home, but at other times she still speaks about him being her brother. We let her know that we can pray for him and love him even though he won't be here with us.
A huge praise! A law was passed in Guatemala that allows in-process adoptions to continue; it's not everything we hoped for, but it is a step. There are still MANY details that need to be figured out. Also, there is no provision for the children who are not in process for being adopted. Continue to pray for all the children who are being adopted internationally and who will remain in Guatemala.
*Please pray especially for some friends of ours who are trying to bring their little boy home! They are SO close to having him home, but there are some very large obstacles in their path. Thankfully, God is bigger than anything that can be placed or thrown in the way.*
With much prayer and thought, we are begining the adoption process in another country. Though the law passed in Guatemala, now is not the time to begin with a new referral for a child there. Perhaps God will lead us back in the future. Right now we are trusting and trying to take one step at a time. We have been approved within our agency to enter their program for adoptions in Ethiopia. It means we will have to do a lot of redundant paperwork since we won't be able to use many
of the items we needed for Guatemala. But that means we should already know what we're doing, right? ;-)
Thank you all for you love and support! It means the world to us!
~Blessings~
