Persevere

Reaccredidation, is not actually a word in the dictionary but it is an adoption term...at least in Russia. It means to be accredited, again. (which by the way I did just look up in Webster's standard and apparently this is not a word either but accredit is.) This information is for any of my teachers out there who might be reading:0) Hi Mrs. DeCresie, Mom, Mrs. Johnson, and Tamara! And all you former educators as well...For those of us in the Russian adoption process this word is now a nightmare. In May 2006, less than one month from when our Dossier was sent in, the American agencies that were working in Russia began to lose their accredidation and Russia was not renewing them as they had in the past. It seems that some American abuse cases had caused concern and there was a movement within the nation to stop foreign adoption. Add to this that the population in Russia has been steadily declining...the birth rate is far lower than the death rate and people do not feel a sense of hope in this country and therefore they do not have children. No Jesus, no hope...Anyway, There is increasing concern in the government of Russia concerning the population decrease. However, there is still stigma associated with adoption and although the number of domestic adoptions is increasing, there are still over 700,000 orphans in Russian orphanages. Yada yada.

So, the country closed down and I didn't think much of it because it does this every year...however this year, officials decided to duke it out and the long and short of it is we were in a holding pattern for 14 months. During this time, Life was going on...we were adding on to our house and staying busy with our kids. But as the big projects started to come to a close and life settled down a little bit, I began to get anxious and I wondered if maybe Russia wasn't God's will for us. I expressed these thoughts to Adam and we talked about the possibility of pursuing a domestic adoption. Adam felt strongly that we had been praying for our little girl now for so long and her name is Ellie and she is in Russia...He began to pray for a sign from God that we could be sure of His path for us.

That weekend he was away with some friends and I went to church with just the kids. So there I am sitting in church and our pastor mentions that he will be praying specifically for our missionaries in Russia and also for the daughter (whose name just happens to be Ellie) of some other missionaries. I think..weird! So, the service goes on and our pastor is preaching and a verse that he references just really sticks with me... "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

I'm thinking, "that is a cool verse, I am going to stick that in my running shoes and read it before I run." So, Adam comes home and I tell him about the verse...none of the other stuff. Well, low and behold, Christi sends out her weekly encouragement and Hebrews 12:1 is the verse she uses! God Moment! Adam looks at me and he says well, you got three signs, will you be needing any more? No, I'm good...and so, we persevere.