Frustration and Disappoinment

For weeks now, we've been growing increasingly concerned over what "real" progress we have actually made in our case. By "real" progress, I mean that we are looking for crucial documents that come out of each of the four key offices involved in the Guatemalan adoption process. As our concern has grown, we've spent a LOT of time in prayer, asking God for direction as to how we should proceed with our agency and the other people involved in working on our case. After doing a lot of research and digging into any information that we can get our hands on, and even contacting the US Embassy in Guatemala for a status report, we became even more concerned that our agency may have missed some important steps early in the process. Through our prayers, and the wisdom that the Lord has given us, we prepared ourselves for a meeting with our agency to address our concerns. This meeting took place yesterday.

We left the meeting tremendously disappointed for two reasons, and we are asking you to continue to lift these two concerns to the Lord on our behalf, because we have confirmed that this battle for Israel will be won only by prayer and by the Lord's intervention. Our first and foremost prayer request is for the process itself. Unfortunately, the meeting confirmed what we thought: we have made very little real progress on this case from a legal standpoint. Our case has been in Guatemala for 8 months now, and we are still lacking the key documents from 3 of the 4 offices involved! According to our agency, this is the result of the constantly changing political and legal environment surrounding Guatemalan adoptions, and we know that this is certainly a part of the problem. Unfortunately, all along, we have been given the distinct impression that everything in Guatemala was progressing fine, and as long ago as December, our agency was beginning to discuss travel information with us. Imagine our disappointment yesterday when we confirmed that we are essentially in the beginning stages of the legal system there! What does this mean? Unless the Lord intervenes, Israel could be waiting for months and months more. It would be miraculous for him to be home this summer, and we are preparing ourselves for the possibility that we may not be with him to celebrate his 12th birthday in December.

Our second source of disappointment and frustration is our conviction of the fact that our agency is not being completely honest with us about what has been happening with our case over the last 8 months. It appears that crucial steps were missed early on because of our agency and their Guatemalan staff's lack of understanding of what is required, and that we are waiting now because those steps have yet to be completed. During our meeting yesterday, we voiced our questions about the specific areas we feel that they have not been honest with us, and the explanations given were simply not sufficient. They did not acknowledge any errors on their part, despite the documentation we had to support our concerns. Although our agency presented us with some documentation, they were not able to show us the one key form that could have resolved all of our questions. They insist that it has been completed and is in the possession of our attorneys, but we can only assume--since we requested this particular document well in advance of the meeting and they were unable to produce it--that this is just another excuse. The discussion with the agency president went on for some time, and was tense and heated at times, and in the end, we were promised that they would obtain a copy of this document right away. We pray that they do and that the dates on it show that they are being truthful with us about when this part of the process was actually initiated.

We have been through quite a variety of emotions since we walked out of that meeting yesterday. We are disappointed, frustrated, angry, and concerned. It grieves our hearts to feel this profound lack of unity and distrust with people who are fellow believers. We are exhausted by the journey we have had so far, and it still looks like we have a huge mountain to climb. And most of all, we are desperate to have Israel here with us. So with all this going on, we have only one option: we go back to what we know...

1. We KNOW that God brought this exact child to us through this exact agency according to His perfect design. (Psalm 18:30)
2. We KNOW that God's calling on our hearts to adopt Israel was clear and confirmed by a multitude of scriptures and circumstances. (Isaiah 30:21)
3. We KNOW that God's plan for our lives and for Israel's life is perfect and that God is not surprised or upset by the circumstances we are currently facing. (Jeremiah 29:11)
4. We KNOW that nothing is impossible with God. (Luke 1: 37 and 18: 27)
5. We KNOW that, as difficult as this is for us, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13)
6. We KNOW that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)
7. We KNOW that the Lord is faithful and that when we put our hope in Him we will not be disappointed (pretty much any of the Psalms!)

We will continue to cling to the things that God has made clear to us through the promises of His word, and we ask that you continue to pray along with us that Almighty God will display His power and might and remove the mountains that are standing our way. Together, we will pray Israel home!