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Prayerful consideration

Thought I'd write today asking for your prayers. 

Due to the lengthy time schedule of Ethiopian adoption, we were asked if we also wanted to see Waiting Children lists from other countries. We said yes, and signed up for the monthly updates. The first one showed up in our email account from the Philippines and I fell in love with a little 4-year-old boy. This is why - in his little two paragraph bio, not only did they list a brief summary of his medical conditions, but they made it very well known that he responds to, and very much loves, MUSIC.

That was music to my heart, soul, motherly instincts, and musician-brained psyche.

When we told Caleb we wanted to adopt, we had told him possibly more than one child, so he has continuously said he wants an older brother that he can play with and a baby sister... could this be his brother? Could his sister then be coming from Ethiopia in a couple years?

Here's the catch. Three things need to happen in the next couple weeks in order for this adoption process to begin.

1. We have to decide if we really want to adopt this little boy. It is an interesting situation. If we adopt from Ethiopia, we will most likely wait for "the call" where they've chosen a child for us, that fits our parameters, and we most likely would not say "no" to, unless the child had a severe medical problem we did not think we could handle in the location we lived. But in this case, we will be, in a sense, choosing him. It is up to us whether we want to consider this child, and we make the ultimate decision to adopt/not adopt based on the medical and social reports we have on the child. It makes me feel like his life is in our hands, which is a scary thought - although, if he becomes our child, his life will be in our hands for sure! We have a lot of prayerful considerations to make right now. This is hard!

2. There is no definitive that we will even be allowed to adopt in the Philippines. They have a couple guidelines for adoptive parents that we miss by a nail. Some countries are very strict about their rules and regulations - if that is the case, then we don't even have a chance to adopt this little boy.  :(
We have a short profile that was sent to someone in the Philippines and we are waiting to hear back from them. Oh yes, the word "wait" was definitely used once more in this blog! It's a hard word to avoid unfortunately. 

3. If all of this was a go, we need to decide whether or not to do a transfer of funds from our Ethiopia stuff, therefore losing our spot on the waiting list for Ethiopia and losing a small amount of money- or, we can do a concurrent adoption, meaning we start the whole process over with paperwork and fees, and it means we stay on the Ethiopia waiting list and would adopt from there in a couple years. This sounds like the preferred, however money will be an issue to come up with so soon, but I have faith that God will provide if needed. And Lots more owls will need to be made!!!

So long story short - could you keep us in your prayers? There are a bazillion things that need prayer in this world right now, but I really would appreciate it. Also, te prayer is not just for our decision, but for this little boy who needs to be in a home. He needs a family. Please pray that he may have that blessing sooner than later. 

Thank you. 
Have a great weekend friends! 

In Christ-
Mara




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