Specific Prayer Requests

We received word from our agency today that the CCCWA still thinks Ethan needs to wait (in China) for 6 months to have surgery and then he will be observed while he recovers and then we can travel back to China to adopt him (which would be spring or summer 2013). So frustrating and sad that we have no say in what happens. If he needs surgery, then DO IT!!!!!!!!! Or figure out if he is healthy enough to travel and let us bring him here for surgery, where he can be surrounded by people who LOVE him and will take care of him. It is such a helpless feeling. The Chinese government and all these orphanage officials make us prove ourselves worthy of being parents, they make us write letters that explain our plan to care for this child, they make us show we can afford the child, they make us jump through ridiculous hoops, pay fees, wait incredibly long for them to approve us, blah, blah, blah, and then they act like we should have no rights to this child who we were 30 minutes away from adopting when we got the devastating news he was in critical condition. We traveled halfway around the world for this child that they refused to let us see. I know there are cultural differences, but don't all human beings have hearts? We can't just turn off the love we have for him, the love that we had to PROVE to them starting almost a year ago. I have moments where I feel like we will never bring him home, like the Chinese government is playing some cruel joke on us. I know those thoughts are not from God and I need to have stronger faith, please pray for that. I know that God can move mountains, even in China. I am asking all of our prayer warriors to pray specifically for the people in charge to do what is best for Ethan. If he could make the trip and have surgery here in America, we need to find a way to go get him ASAP! If he needs to have the surgery before he can safely travel, then pray that the people in charge will allow the surgery to be done sooner, rather than later. And if he really needs to wait 6 months, pray for us to deal with this truth and carry on with our lives for the sake of our girls. Please pray for wisdom for this doctors, caregivers, and the government officials. There may be a possibility that we could get a referral for Reese soon and travel before Ethan is ready. We are having to give this to God to sort out. Our baby Reese has been growing in our hearts for over 6 years. We are excited to find out who she is. It makes sense to us that God could use this terrible situation with Ethan to lead us to Reese. His plan is bigger and better than ours and we know that. Please pray for this adoption, as well. As usual, the money is a large problem. Please pray that we can somehow come up with the necessary funds to complete these adoptions without going into even further debt. We know there is money out there that someone could spare. The huge amount we need is a small amount to someone who is rich. God is putting it on someone's heart, please pray they will listen and show generosity to our family. Thank you for caring enough about our family to read this blog. We are beginning to realize how far our story has spread and we are blessed by the support of so many people. We want to continue to fight for Ethan and Reese and share the story that God is writing for us. God Bless!