USICS conference call and so many new beginnings

This morning I spent almost 2 hours on the phone on a conference call with an assorted group of government agencies; with all the acronyms on line it was like being in a can of alphabet soup. Regardless I was thankful that our government cared enough to try to quell people's fear, answer their questions, clear up the rumors, etc.. It would have been helpful to have a call like that about a week ago but I realize they are essentially making this up as they go, trying to efficiently and ethicaly process children. They were very clear about the newest news regarding the Haitian president's decision to approve the children's depature and said that both the Haitian and the US government are still in agreement over getting matched children to their adoptive homes. They also said that they are confident that the Haitian government will continue to trust the safeguards put in place by the US government and will not be second guessing the efforts put forth by our state department as it makes decisions about a child's eligibility to enter the US as a matched child. The state department is saying it will not be weeks or months to process these children.

I have also been able to watch several friends celebrate their child's homecoming. Some of them I know personally, some of them just through the online world. Almost all of them have been waiting over two years for their children and one such friend has waited 3 years and 9 months. I have had many tears today as I've watched their stories finally get to this point. What joy to watch these children placed in their family's care.

Please continue to pray for the decisions that are being made regarding the Haitian president's desire to have more control or knowledge over the children who are leaving. May the issue be resolved quickly with an efficient process that does not result in large backlogs of kids being unable to travel. Pray also for our director who is planning to go the Embassy tomorrow. We are hearing from the state department that they now want to process all orphanages as a whole and send out appointment notices to each orphanage. To our knowledge, our orphanage has not received any notices. And to my knowledge, none of the families from our orphanage have yet to receive any notice of the DHS processing their request for Parole. I would also ask you to remember to pray for the big picture. Adoptions are one very small part of the Haitian story. There are incredible stories of God's provision as well as incredible stories of great need. My prayer is that we will continue to see God meet these needs and that He would receive the glory when it happens. I personally love how God uses all sorts of people, believers or not, to do His work.... Love it! God's just so sneaky like that!