Don't Give Up!

This morning I was feeling discouraged about the Ethiopian adoption. Jachin came to me with our calendar (of course, having no idea how I was feeling) and said, "Mommy, this says Don't give up." I said, "What, Jachin? What did you say?"  Pointing to a picture of the sun peering through beautiful, fall trees, he said, "It says on here Don't give up." God spoke to me through the voice of a child this morning.
The truth is, that was exactly how I was feeling - like we would have to give up.  Why?  Well, we found out this week that the Ethiopian government is now requiring two trips.  They are mandating that parents come to see their children before court and appear in court to give verbal consent to the judge that they will adopt the children.  This doesn't sound like a bad idea; however, it does make things much more complicated for us. 
Interestingly, some of the reasons we chose this country, beyond the fact that God led us there and there are 5 million orphans there alone, are these:  1.  One Trip  2.  Only one parent has to travel (I could stay with the boys)  3.  Less expensive than other programs  4.  We did not have to go to court in a foreign country again.
SO....Now, we only have two reasons left to go to Ethiopia....God has led us there and there are around 5 million orphans!  Until He would make it abundantly clear that we are not to go, we will press on. 
However, as I said, we have more that we need to work through now.  Bear with me as I throw my heart out here in words...
1.  Jachin and Josiah - When we adopted them we had complication after complication in country, and had to stay an additional 3 weeks or so.  BUT, we had no other children in our home, so we didn't have the concern of leaving children for a long period of time.  We know that many will not understand why we cannot/will not leave Jachin and Josiah for a week.  However, we know our children, and we know that leaving them would greatly affect them emotionally and affect their trust and security.  It is not possible right now. 
2.  More Expense - Adoption is expensive.  You know that when you go into it.  So, when you feel like you have a handle on how much it is going to cost, and you plan that way, having to come up with an extra $6,000-$10,000 (closer to 10 if the boys travel with us) just knocks the wind out of your sails.  I know that God is able, and finances are not an obstacle to Him.  But in our humanness, we cannot fathom how we are going to come up with $10,000 more than what we thought. We were already trying to figure out how to raise what we needed before this news.   
3.  Appearing in Court - Anyone who knows our story, understands why not having to appear in court was attractive to me (us).  When we were in Russia, the judge was brutal to me.  If you continue reading our blog through July, we will explain in detail what happened in court.  For now, let's just say that we were supposed to have one, 2 hour court session, and ended up having 5 court sessions over 3 1/2 weeks.  So, to say the least, I am not happy to have to go to court in Ethiopia.

Is any of this a surprise to God?  Nope...none of it.  He is still sovereign and He is still good.  I don't know how it will all work out.  To be very honest, I am less confident that it will all work out like we thought.  Which is why I was discouraged this morning.

But this morning, after I spent some time in prayer, God spoke to me through a child's voice.  He said, "Don't give up."  No, we fought for Jachin and Josiah, and we will fight again for two children who deserve to have a family and to know the name of Jesus.

When we were in the midst of the court trauma in Russia and we didn't know if we would be coming home with Jachin and Josiah, Greg said to me, "Bek, when God closes a door, no man can open it.  But when God opens a door, no man can close it."    That is still true today.