Williams family adoption journey: We're leaving........

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act."

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south, "Do not hold them back." Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth" Isaiah 43:5-6

"Remember those…who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." (Hebrews 13:3)

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves…defend the rights of the needy." (Proverbs 31:8,9)

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40

This is our journal to rescue an orphan with Down syndrome who lives in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. Anna was left at the hospital by her parents, who refused to take her home because she was born with Down syndrome. In Anna's country people with disabilities are looked down upon and are typically hidden away in orphanages from birth and their outlook for life is not very good. Once the orphan turns 4-6 depending on the region they live in, they are then transferred from the orphanage to mental institutions or insane asylums. Our family desperately wants to make Anna our daughter before she is transferred as she is already 5 years old. We will love her and give her the family that she deserves and give her a future full of hope, despite her disability. When our family stepped out in faith and committed to adopt Anna we didn't have the money that it would take to get her here. God has worked miracles in so many aspects of our adoption. The biggest miracle is that I have had faith all alone that God would send the money we needed to adopt Anna. Through many answered prayers, God made sure we had every penny we needed to make her our daughter!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

We're leaving........

We have a court date! I can't believe it...it's finally here! We go back to our girls country in about 3 weeks and go before a judge to be approved to adopt sweet Anna. After court we will return home and have to wait 10 business days to go back and get her! Please pray for our safety and for our children to be safe while we are away. They will be taken care of by family members but it is not easy to leave your children and be so far away from them. In fact....it's really, really hard. But little Anna needs us too and we just have to keep our eyes on the prize...yes she is definitely a prize and we can't wait to see her again and bring her home soon to join our family.

Would you also please pray that the rest of our financials are taken care of? We still need to raise about $2,000 to meet our goal and make our last trip to bring our daughter home :)

9 comments:

Mommy to the A-Team said...: Hooray! So glad that you have your court date. Praying everything goes smoothly.; May 19, 2011 at 3:42 PM
Katherine said...: why do you gave to wait 10 days and come home inbetween?; May 19, 2011 at 5:30 PM
Traci said...: After court you have to wait 10 business days (their law) to give anyone who would like to contest the adoption of her. Crazy law....no one has visited her for almost 6 years why would they want her now? Also, when we go back for the third trip it could take up to 2 weeks to get all of her paperwork finished, like a passport and visa for her. So altogether it could add up to 24+ days in her country so we will return home for 10 day waiting period which could be more depending on when the business days happen to fall.; May 19, 2011 at 6:57 PM
tammy w said...: Yeah Traci, I'm so happy for you!!; May 19, 2011 at 9:33 PM
tammy w said...: YeahTraci, I'm so happy for you!! Tammy W; May 19, 2011 at 9:34 PM
Heather said...: Yeah!! You're on your way! I remember getting that court date and feeling the releif of knowing when Anya would be home! Are your medical exams still good? I can't remember how long it's been. Oooo, I'm so excited for you!! Big hug through the computer from me!!; May 20, 2011 at 12:36 AM
Traci said...: Heather, our medical exams expire on May 25th :( The judge will not accept them but he did say we could get them done in her city, rather than Mosc*w, and supposedly they are cheaper there. I questioned again, why did we have to do them on the first trip if they are going to expire after 90 days and they told us that we HAVE to have a medical exam to even get a court date. I don't know if this is her regions rules or what.....; May 20, 2011 at 8:03 AM
Lisa S. said...: We love you guys! Good luck!; May 20, 2011 at 8:47 AM
AKauffman said...: Still praying for you guys and for her to come home already! We want to meet her! <3 you guys.; May 20, 2011 at 8:55 PM