LOA

We have adoption news!

I love typing that.  We received word from our agency that our dossier is finished being reviewed and our LOA (Letter of acceptance) is on its way.  It'll be here in a week or two.  We have to declare again that we want to adopt Michael, we need to do some more paperwork, we'll send it off to the US government, we'll get it back, we'll send it back to China, they'll review it, and then they'll invite us to come and get our son.

Steps.  We are making steps.  Step by step we get closer and closer to travel.  Gary and I cried together and praised God when we received the e-mail.  Please join us in giving praise to our wonderful Father!

In my news feed today on Facebook, a few friends shared an article about parents who abandoned their children in a baby hatch.  A baby hatch is a place that an orphanage created so that the children are safe and warm.  A hidden camera captured images of parents leaving their children over a 24 hour period.  It showed the weeping.  It showed extreme heartbreak as child after child was left-most with special needs.  Parents who knew that without care their child would die.  Parents who couldn't take care of their child with the resources that they have.

It is really easy while living in the United States to judge birth parents in China.  We can think of them as heartless and selfish. . . I know that I have at times.  God opened my heart with Simon--we believe that his birth parents were unable to give him the medical care that he needed.  Seeing these images on the computer screen reminded me again of God's command to take care of the orphans in their distress.  I believe that so many birth parents are also in distress.  I must remember to pray for them as well, many who are giving up their children against every fiber in their hearts.

As we praise God for steps forward towards Michael, we also remember to pray for birth parents who made the decision to leave him by an orphanage.