Prayer & Praise

We are currently in a state of PRAISE & urgent PRAYER!

We've been REJOICING and PRAISING the Lord for providing enough donations so that ALL $5,000 of our matching grant will be MATCHED dollar for dollar! (Making it just over $10,000!!) We have been SO encouraged and humbled by the generous giving of believers to help us bring 2 children into our family through adoption!! We are SO THANKFUL for each and every one of you who gave as you were able to our matching grant!!!!
**On a related side-note, if you are still planning on giving to our matching grant make sure you have it postmarked by June 30th!! That means you only have 3 days left to give to our Hand in Hand grant! Any donations over the $5,000 will still go toward our adoption costs as long as they are given BY June 30th. Anything sent in after that will NOT go into our adoption account, it will go to the general fund for Hand in Hand to assist other families in adopting.

So here is our urgent prayer request. We found out last night during a chat with our director that we could potentially LOSE our referral for our little boy THIS WEEK if our Attorney finds any living family members. We thought the Attorney had already completed this part of his investigation, but we heard last night that our Attorney believes the little guy may have living relatives. And if so, he may not want to move forward with trying to help him get adopted, even if he is a legitimate orphan.

Here's why: {Brace yourself, this is heartbreaking}
 The attorney knows of one situation where an adoptive family was walking down the street in the DRC and an extended family member of the child they were adopting saw them & ran after them. They went to the courts & protested the adoption & the adoptive family went home without the child. The extended family did not want to help raise or care for the orphan, they were simply jealous that the child was going to be taken to America. So the child, who was a legitimate orphan, with no mother or father to care for them, was left stuck in the orphanage without a family FOREVER.
 This seems to me to be man's sinful, selfish, coveting at its WORST. I cannot believe that ANYONE, much less a FAMILY MEMBER would prevent ANY CHILD from having a loving family that will provide for them. But this is the fallen world we live in. We're all born with a nature bent on sin. Sin abounds.

So in light of this, PLEASE JOIN US IN PRAYING for the little boy whose picture we have been staring at and praying over for nearly a month now. Please join us in pleading with the Lord on behalf of this Orphan and all orphans in the DRC and the world!! PRAY that nothing would prevent him from being adopted. We've been told that he is a legitimate orphan with no mother or father. PRAY that the Lord would graft him into our family forever and that we would be able to rescue him from a lifetime in an orphanage with no family. PRAY that we would receive good news this week from our Attorney! PRAY that we will receive the little girl's medical soon, even this week, & her official referral!

We know that our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who created the universe is SOVEREIGN and GOOD. We believe that His word is true. So we trust that He will "work all things together for good for those who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Please join us in praying through Psalm 146 on behalf of all orphans and all who are oppressed.

"Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,... who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
 The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin." Psalm 146: 5a,7-9

The Lord has seen fit to answer the first time I prayed for this child. He has given him to us once, we will PRAY without ceasing once again that He would let us adopt this child!