Iris...The Complete Story

Some people ask us why we chose to adopt internationally, and while there are a variety of reasons why, one of the reasons we chose not to adopt through the US foster care system, is because of the number of children who cannot be adopted through the US foster care system.  Their lives are put on hold, because their parents, while not able to take care of them now, hope to someday be able to.  While it is important for these children to have families, we felt God calling us to adopt a child, and not be in a transitional phase.

Well, we found out that this transitional phase is a lot larger of a problem in Ethiopia.  In the orphanage Isaac was in, there are EIGHT, children who cannot be adopted, because their birth parents will not relinquish them. 

One of those children is Iris.  So Iris' status can be changed, but only by her biological Father. What we would pray is that her biological Father will overcome the financial, physical, medical or whatever battles that face him and don't allow him to care for her now, and be able to bring her back into their family, or if this is not possible, for him to know this and allow her to be adopted.  Either way, our wish for her is a forever family.

But that's not the end of the story.  So with the water project in progress, recently learning of another child who got malaria while at the orphanage, and learning of the number of children who are living in this limbo status, we are asking God, Why did you put the little girl who loves zippers and velcro on our hearts?  What do you want us to do?  Is it to provide mosquito netting for all of the children there?  Are we to move forward to pay for a teacher for the children in the orphanage in this predicament?  Is is to commit daily prayer for them?  Is it more? Our prayer for us is discernment in figuring this out.