A Call for Prayer

The last 72 hours have been truly a whirlwind for us. We are still recovering from jetlag, finishing up projects for class, heading back to work, and trying to figure out how to emotionally deal with missing our son.

Monday, that roller coaster was made even harder with the news that members of the Russ*an Parliament are putting up legislation to ban U.S. Adoptions. 

This legislation is in response to a piece of legislation that was passed by our House and Senate and signed into law by President Obama last week called the Russ*a and Moldova Jackson–Vanik Repeal Act of 2012 that includes language that is referred to as the Magnitsky Act. The Magnitsky Act now punished Russ*an officials implicated in human rights violations. It freezes their accounts, places visas on hold and will not allow them to travel into the United States. For those of you who know me, I am a true political junky. I understand that politically, this act is the right thing for American businesses and it takes a stand on human rights, which has always been a stand the United States has been willing to take when no one else would. However, the language used in this act was denounced by President Put*n before it was signed into law and as far as we can tell, there were no diplomatic relations set up to ensure that the international relationship would still stand strong.

Earlier this morning, around 7:25 AM our time, the Russ*an Duma (lower house of parliament) overwhelmingly passed the second reading of a piece of legislation that now holds the amendment to stop and ban all US adoptions. This piece of legislation has one more reading for passage on Friday and then will go to President Put*n’s desk for signature. If it continues like it is, the new law will go into place on January 1, 2013 and would take the place of the agreement signed this July between Russ*a and the US.

We are hopeful that the Russ*an government will work diligently to find a way to ensure that the children of Russ*a are taken care of. We are hopeful that the United States government will work diligently to find a way to work towards an agreement that will help keep the door of adoption open for the many children who are looking for homes. 

At this time, we ask for your prayers. This does not change the affirmation we feel to continue to follow the leading of our God to bring Josiah home. We have worked throughout the day to finish paperwork and get things in order to send to Russ*a as if this conversation was never going on, because we know that the little guy we left in an orphanage last week is truly our son. It does not make us waver in our faith in the God we serve, for we know that He is sovereign and like Isaiah 55 tells us “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” It is during this time that we must not lean on our own understanding but truly trust in the God we serve.

Pray, not only for us, but for the many parents around the country who are waiting for the call that there is a child in need of a home or the parents who have met their children and are waiting to bring them home.

More importantly, pray for the children of Russ*a. It is already Russ*an law that all children who are placed for international adoption must have already been available for adoption by Russian citizens for an extended amount of time. As one Russ*an diplomat said earlier today “this will harm our children because they will not be able to find adopters.” As Courtney and I look at the picture of the place where our son is living, our hearts are heavy because of the thousands of Russ*an children that will call places like this home, permanently, if this law is passed.

It makes the days harder, but as we come on the celebration of Christmas we are reminded that Christ came to fulfill promises. We hang on to the truth that God will finish the work He has started in us and that His promise to us will be fulfilled. We know that our God is bigger than any government, any piece of legislation and any plan that we could have.

So for now, we will echo the Words of the Psalmsist…"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning."

Josh