Emily Beddingfield/Administrative Assistant-Ethiopia Team

Working with a waiting children’s program has its joys and its challenges, as I’m sure you would imagine!  The joy of seeing children finding families… the struggle of heartache for those who still wait.  The only peace is knowing that God is in control of each one of their lives.  He knows the plans that he has for each child—whether their future will be in America, or if they are to remain in Ethiopia.

God never ceases to amaze me in the way He’s always working “behind the scenes!”   Last year, I had a family accept three older children—children who I was beginning to despair of ever finding a home for.  One of the children was not even siblings with the other two—but they were best friends.  It was amazing to me that a family wanted all three kids and that the kids would remain together even though they did not legally have to go to the same family.  Then, all of a sudden, the family stopped the adoption process.  I was devastated and just lost all hope for these children.  Silly me!  Shortly thereafter, these children were accepted by another family—All three together again!!  The children are now home with this family and doing great in their new family.

This story is such an inspiration to me and confirms my belief that God is always in control!  He had a special plan for these children that went above and beyond all my earthly expectations.  He loves these children even more than I do and He knows best.  I rejoice for each life and encourage others to consider adopting a waiting child or children, and to pray for those who wait.  If God calls you to it, He will get you through it!

Visit the CWA Ethiopia Hope Project site for more information.

Our journey of adoption began in an unlikely place – the plains of Dire Dawa Kezira in Ethiopia.  In February 2005, we began sponsoring a child named Henok from Ethiopia through Compassion International.  Compassion is a wonderful ministy that has the mission of “Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name.”  At the time, Henok was 5 years old.  On August 17 of this year, he will turn 10.  This will be the 5th birthday we get to celebrate for Henok!  At that time, we were pregnant with our second child.  I thought great – all we need now is a dog and we’re done.

We received periodic magazines from Compassion International.  Through learning more about the state of the rest of the world—poverty, orphans and sickness—our hearts began to dwell on adoption.

We began to talk about adoption with our children.  Our son was hoping for several brothers.  Our daughter just wanted to make sure she got a little sister out of the deal.  We would go weeks without discussing adoption, and one of them would bring it up… wanting to know when they would be here.  It took us a season to pray about it, but ultimately we knew this was a precious path we should head down.  In the summer of 2008 while on a business trip with my husband in Huntsville, AL, we met with another CWA Family.  This family has adopted nine children – two from Texas and seven from Russia.  After meeting with this family, we felt both a peace about using CWA as our agency and selecting Russia as our country.

On October 26, 2008, as a family of 4 at Pizza Hut, we decided to become a family of 6 – well, 7 if you count our dog Major and they always do.  That night we submitted our application online to CWA and by the next night I had our neighbor and friend notarizing documents.

On Thanksgiving, our six year old son surprised the family by telling them he was thankful for his new brother and sister from Russia.  By Christmas, we had finished our home study.  By January, our initial Dossier was complete.  As of April 3, 2009, our documents are in Krasnoyarsk, Russia and have been translated and given to the Russian authorities.  For now, we are just waiting patiently (most of the time) to meet and bring home our children.

]]> http://www.cwa.org/blog/index.php/357/feed/ 1 http://www.cwa.org/blog/index.php/god-is-in-control/ http://www.cwa.org/blog/index.php/god-is-in-control/#comments Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:15:52 +0000 Mark Lucas http://www.cwa.org/blog/?p=98 Here at CWA we believe God is in control of our agency and your adoption (before, during, and after.)  That’s why no matter how the devil tries to derail our work through economic uncertainty, delays, or fluctuation in the international adoption climate,  we continue to trust in the Lord.  Adoption is God’s idea and therefore worth pursuing!

Everyday we work with families  struggling with financial fears, timing, discouragement, family dynamics, and more.  Yet for every story of struggle, we  hear two examples of how God uses these same struggles to help families grow in their faith and trust in Him.  It is not unusual to hear about donations for the exact amount  needed arriving at the just the right time.  We  hear how God uses a document or travel delay to ensure a families are available for a high school graduation, better ticket prices, family emergency or other important event that may otherwise have been missed.

The Lord has chosen you to embark on a journey of blessings and personal and family growth.  Are you trusting Him, His perfect timing, and His provision; or are you fretting, worrying or otherwise allowing the devil to distract you from God’s joy in adoption?  When you are feeling discouraged, turn to Proverbs 3:5-6 for encouragement:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.

Have a great Monday!