Ok...so here's where we stand now. We hope to have our paper work ready this coming week to be submitted for Embassy. We are waiting on Zadie's birth certificate (listing us as her parents!!!), her visa, and her passport to be issued. Based on current trends we should have that paper work in e-mail form to us by Monday or Tuesday of next week. It should then be submitted to the US Embassy in Addis Ababa on Wednesday of next week. However, this is where it gets tricky for a couple of reasons. First, next Wednesday is a holiday for the US Embassy so we're hoping that means that our paper work can be submitted on next Thursday. Second, recent travelers have found that even after their paper work was submitted they are not getting 100% official clearance that they have a confirmed Embassy interview the following 2 weeks until the week of the interview. So this means that we will probably be traveling on faith for our Embassy interview. And that is ok with us...if we've learned ANYTHING throughout this adoption journey it is that God does INDEED PROVIDE in His perfect timing. So we've bought our plane tickets to travel on January 28th for the February 2nd Embassy appointment and hope to have Zadie home on February 5th! Please join us in praying that our paper work does indeed come through next week, that it is submitted to the Embassy on Thursday, and that we are cleared to travel for the Feb. 2nd Embassy date and have her home by Feb. 5th! We appreciate your prayers and are trusting in God's sovereignty!
Lately, I've been reading a FANTASTIC book titled The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns. It is a very convicting book...you know, the kind where I find myself shaking my head in agreement and saying "Amen" out loud several times throughout a chapter. The kind that makes you realize how little we are doing to honor Jesus' commandment of loving thy neighbor and spurs you on to find more that you can give and do. If I could I would copy word for word the entire book on my blog but I won't do that and instead I will just encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and read it. I will however share with you my favorite parts so far because they are heavy on my heart today and if I don't share it somewhere I think I will burst...
"Here is the bottom line: if we are aware of the suffering of our distant neighbors-and we are-if we have access to these neighbors, either personally or through aid organizations and charities-and we do-and if we have the ability to make a difference through programs and technologies that work-which is also the case-then we should no more turn our backs on these neighbors of ours than the priest and the Levite should have walked by the bleeding man." Richard Stearns
Richard Stearns then quotes this from a modern-day prophet...
"Fifteen thousand Africans are dying each day of PREVENTABLE, treatable diseases-AIDS, malaria, TB-for lack of drugs we take for granted. This statistic alone makes a fool of the idea many of us hold on to very tightly; the idea of equality. What is happening to Africa mocks our pieties, doubts our concern and question our committment to the whole concept. Because if we're honest, there's no way we could conclude that such mass death day after day would ever be allowed to happen anywhere else. Certainly not North America or Europe, or Japan. An entire continent bursting into flames? Deep down, if we really accept that their lives-African lives-are equal to our, we would all be doing more to put the fire out. It's an uncomfortable truth."-Bono
And lastly I'll end with this...Richard Stearns own paraphrased version of 1 John.
"For I was hungry, while you had all you needed. I was thirsty, but you drank bottled water. I was a stranger, and you wanted me deported. I needed clothes, but you needed more clothes. I was sick, and you pointed out the behaviors that led to my sickness. I was in prison, and you said I was getting what I deserved."
I don't share all of this to point a finger...I share all of this because it breaks my selfish heart and I need my selfish heart broken A LOT to spur it to action. I need to hear these words daily and I need God's word to penetrate deep and sometimes that means He leads me to other resources to hear it a different way. I am a lost sheep living in a lost world but I am saved through God's grace and forgiveness and I hope that I do not wake up each day forgetting that THAT is the cause of my purpose for the day. How can I honor God today? How can we love our neighbors more today?
Thank you for walking this journey with us...
Because of Him,
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