The Battle Continues

The battle continues. We have believed from the beginning that adoption is something that is close to God's heart. And this has only been confirmed over and over again in a couple different ways. One obvious way is the way that God has continually provided for us and Mikhail in the securing of the funds to complete this adoption. It is only through His miraculous provision that we are able to bring him home. But another, not as obvious way is in the struggles and the battles that we have faced during this process. It is obvious to us that someone out there doesn't want Mikhail to have a home, and is putting up roadblock after roadblock, difficulty after difficulty in the way, trying to make us lose heart and give up. But I believe that if this adoption wasn't that important, it would happen without much difficulty. But because it is so important to God, the powers of evil will do everything possible to stop it.

These new documents that the court is requiring are just one battle. But we are going to keep fighting until the court has every document they require, no matter how long it takes.

But the battle is coming on another front. With news of another death of an adopted Russian child at the hands of abusive American parents, one region in Russia is halting adoptions for a month as it figures out where to go from here. We do not know what this will mean for our region in particular or Russia as a whole, but we ask for your prayers in this regard. This is one of the reasons that the requirement for these new documents is so hard for us. We just want to swoop in and grab Mikhail before someone tells us we can't. It's not fair that he should suffer because of the misdeeds of another family, yet the potential is still there that he will.

Please pray for our family and for Mikhail, that we will be able to complete all the necessary documents and that he will come home soon. We are confident that God has a plan in all of this that we don't yet see. It's just that we left a huge piece of our hearts in Krasnoyarsk with him, and we need it back. In the meantime, God fills that empty hole with the promise that He will not leave us or forsake us, and that though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for He is with us.

JP