Have you ever thought of time as a coin? On one side it is a picture of time just whizzing by and on the other side it has a picture of how time is just crawling?  Well in our world, our coin is standing vertically and neither side face up because we feel as though time is whizzing by in a blurr and standing so still it is as if time has almost stopped.

So much has happened since our last blog entry the main event that happened was Chris’s father passed away at the end of August from complications from his cancer treatment.  If you would like to know the amazing details of God’s loving hands please read our blog we wrote on his behalf. http://mikesmemorial.blogspot.com/

I had never experienced the loss of someone so close to me before and it was (and still is) surreal. During that time it was as if the coin of time was just spinning.  Though our feet never felt as if we knew where we were headed, we rested in the fact the Lord was leading us and each step was being placed just where it should be. 

Another way time has whizzed by is just in our daily lives…the general noise of the hustle and bustle of each of our days as they pass… school, taekwondo, work, church activities, serving the Lord, grocery shopping, cleaning, and making time for our family to spend together etc.  It seems there is never a day when any one of us could say “I am bored” or “gee, I wonder what I should do today.”

Then looking at the coin from another perspective it represents quiet and stillness.  We have had days linked together like a chain of silence, us longing to hear a word. From time to time a phone call breaks the silence… our precious adoption worker from WACAP touching base with us to see how we are and to offer us encouragement in the waiting period.  We were given two songs of joy over the last couple of weeks in the form of 2 emails. The first was from one of the leaders of the ministry that helps with the organization that cares for our daughter. She was announcing her future trip there and offering families an opportunity to send over little photo books about their family to their child that they are adopting. She also gave us more insight into the process and why it takes oh, so long to finish our daughter’s paperwork. The next was in the form of about 20 pictures of Abby that were taken on a recent trip to Ethiopia! Oh, that was like a fresh breeze blowing in through a window on a spring day.  They were just so very beautiful and felt so good to see. Pictures of her playing with friends, close up pictures, and shots a ways back to show her height. She is just so very beautiful. Her eyes are a deep chocolate brown and her skin just looks so soft.  I was able to picture us doing things together, playing things and me even braiding her hair.  It was the lift my heart needed to help me almost be able to reach out and touch her.

An additional blessing from the first email that was sent out was that all the folks the gal from the Fields of Promise was writing to (of her trip) could see each other’s email addresses. Right away one of the sweet folks, who is also adopting from where our daughter is, sent a note to the group and then it all began… We have been sharing our stories with each other and creating a support group of our own. There are 6 of us families that are adopting from where Abby is.  Not only are we able to be support to each other during this waiting time but we are also able to forge relationships with each other of lifelong support for our adopting children.  They will also be able to be in contact with their friends from their Ethiopian home! I am so blessed that God gave us this information during this waiting period. Often folks don’t get to know others that are adopting from the same place until they travel together to see their children.

So here we sit with thankful and yearning hearts as we wait for the phone to ring or the next email to come. We are secure knowing that Jesus is in charge of each step and we eagerly watch for what He is doing next.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
In Jesus love,
Donna J

Trusting in Him

A couple of weeks ago we received a phone call from our placing agency. The called to let us know that our paperwork had not been processed before the closure of the courts in the months of Aug/ Sept.  In addition to that we learned that based on other’s court dates and travel times we probably won’t be able to go to see Abby until spring.  Though our anxious hearts ached at hearing the news we had peace that God’s timing is perfect and for this too there is a reason.

Last week we saw one of those reasons for the delay. We received a phone call that Chris’s dad took a turn for the worse in his battle with his Leukemia. We traveled out and made it in time to get to say good-bye to his dad before he passed away to go home to be with Jesus. (If you would like to know more you can visit the blog that I wrote about the amazing things God did throughout our trip out there and in our family’s life at http://mikesmemorial.blogspot.com/2011/09/mikes-passing-was-seasoned-with-grace.html ).

We did not have the cost of that trip, for all 5 of us to fly out to Oregon, in our budget since all of our money is being saved for our adoption.  We knew God was calling us out there so we went.  We can see God allowing us the extended time so we can replenish the money that was needed for the trip as well as the remainder of the money that we need to travel to Ethiopia.

We are praying for God to be at work in Abby’s life there in Ethiopia just as He is at work here in the rest of our family’s lives. We pray for her to know Jesus as her very best friend and that He uses this extra time there in Ethiopia to draw her closer to Himself.

We are now to the point in our journey where we are beginning to specifically ask folks to consider to give to our adoption fund so we can bring our precious daughter home. If you would like more information please see the details on this page in the margin.

Please pray with us for all of the details of our trips to be smoothly worked out. Thank you for partnering with us on our journey.

In Jesus love,

The Robbins Nest J J J J J   ………………………. J

Getting closer as each day passes...

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10

We are waiting upon the Lord and His timing to bring our precious Abby home. The courts are closed in Ethiopia for the months of August and September (due to their rainy season) and our paperwork was not submitted in time.

Our earliest possible court date could be in October but that is unlikely because of the amount of adoption cases they have to review.  It is most likely our 1st trip will be in November or December and our 2nd trip will be in January or February (at least we are hoping things will go this quickly for us after court reopens). Your continued prayers and support are very much appreciated.

For those of you who want to help us and are not sure how... you can shop in our Christmas catalog that will be coming out next month!

    * We will have items for sale by donation (all proceeds go to our adoption fund to help us bring Abby home!)

    * We will have items for all ages of people that folks can give as gift for the holidays! 

    * Folks can pass on our catalog to their friends and family members for them to do the same (however, you may not want to send it to folks they are shopping for out of it :) 

    ____________________________________________________________________Here is a blurb from an email that we received this week from our placing agency...

"    Your packages/letter were sent to Ethiopia as soon as they came. I know there were trips to southern Ethiopia by our staff there, so the things for the girls would have gone along. The orphanage staff could create a translated copy of your letter, if our staff in Addis Ababa did not do it. And I believe things may have been mailed to Operation Rescue if staff were not traveling to northern Ethiopia. Right now there are not as many trips up there, but I do not keep up with all of the travels of staff in Ethiopia as they are traveling all the time all over the country. If it wasn’t mailed, then it would have gone personally with someone traveling there

·         Know that I will let you know immediately when I hear about paperwork being completed. It usually takes many appointments and many people being organized to be a part of it. Documents often have to go through many, many hands before anything is completed, and it is quite a complicated process. And in Ethiopia, as I am sure I have shared with you, things move much slower than in the US.

I just found out that any documents that were submitted to court after July 1^st will not be reviewed until it reopens at the end of September. I know it is so painful to consider having to tack on 2 more months of waiting. Once you have identified the child you want to adopt, the wait is so hard. Hang in there. It is difficult to have absolutely no control over the process in Ethiopia. Push, push, push is all we can do. "

____________________________________________________________________

I was doing some research the other day on the area where Abby is from, Tigre, and thought you might be interested in seeing it as well.

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Costa-Rica-to-Georgia/Tigray.html

I pray all is going well for ya'll. Thank you for your continued support.

Even though it is summer, spring has sprung!

 

“Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the LORD. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” Psalm 68:4-5 NIV

This is the verse that I received in my email inbox from http://www.biblegateway.com/ .

We are singing to God, we are praising His name! He is the father to the fatherless and so much more! Spring has sprung in our hearts once again! Our dear Lord has matched us with a precious 12 year old girl, Abby. We are so thankful.

Abby’s story… (she has a different Ethiopian name that she can go by if she wants to… just not publishing her real name on the internet)  She is not living in a traditional orphanage, she is part of a Christian organization, Fields of Promise, who support a care system for children in Ethiopia that are “family-based care homes” – the kids live in homes with some other children and parent figures so they can function as a family as opposed to having to live in an institution.

Here is an excerpt from the Fields of Promise website and their link so you can learn more:

“Operation Rescue (ORE) focuses its energy on ministering “wholistically” to nearly 350 full and half-orphans in Mekelle.  These children attend a half-day program provided by ORE which includes a hot lunch, daily devotions tutoring, English classes, computer training, a library, and a recreation program.  ORE also offers a hygiene program with showers twice a week, and a social worker who visit each family-based care home monthly to ensure the kids are respecting the house rules, attending school, and that the children are benefiting from the program.  The children are well-loved in this program.”http://www.fieldsofpromise.org/1794/index.html

Our paperwork has been received and we are now waiting for the paperwork for Abby to be processed in Ethiopia and once it is completed we will be given a court date to travel.

Basically we are hoping that our paperwork can all be processed before the courts close for the months of August and September so when they reopen in October we may be given our court date for sometime in October or November so we can travel for our first trip. The leaders in Ethiopia are trying very hard to make sure they do all the things necessary for each orphan in their adoptions and because of this the process has had to slow down. We really have no idea of what the timeline for us will be. We know that we need to trust in the Lord that He will orchestrate it all. 

At the beginning of all of this we were told that adoption isn’t for the faint at heart; really no matter how God brings a child into your life there is no “guaranteed simple route”.  We are just putting each foot in front of the other as we follow Jesus in faith.

We are trusting Him

that Abby is the child He chose for our family,

that He will guide us how to navigate all of the unknowns (paperwork, travel, language, parenting etc.),

that He will somehow put the last $5,000 in our account so we can finish the work He has begun,

             that He will provide us wisdom, protection and guidance as we need it
                            on each turn.
Here is a song that I have attached that is really speaking to my heart about all of this…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjcRpDyUWbQ

One True God by Mark Harris

I don't have a God I can put on a stand
Or a God I hold in the palm of my hand
I have a God that's holding me

And I don't have a God that I can create
In the place I live with the money I make
I have a God He made everything

 So I don't need a temporary man-made deity
When I got the real thing, I got the real thing

He's the Lord of all the earth the maker of all things
He alone is the one true God

Kingdoms rise and fall but even through it all
He remains the one true God

I don't have a thing that I got on my own
I don't have a care that I carry alone
But I have a God who's carrying me

And I don't have sin that He doesn't forgive
And I don't have a heart that is worthy of His
But I have a God who still loves me

So I don't need a temporary man-made deity
When I got the real thing I got the real thing

Lord of all the earth the maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall but even through it all
He remains the one true God

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty
Who is this King of Glory? Who is this King of Glory?

 He's the Lord of all the earth the maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall but even through it all
He remains the one true God

He's the Lord of all the earth the maker of all things
He alone is the one true God
Kingdoms rise and fall but even through it all
He remains the one true God
He is He is the one true God

I don't have a God I can put on a stand
And I don't have a God I can hold in my hand
But I have a God holding me

http://www.kovideo.net/one-true-god-lyrics-mark-harris-514479.html

After listening to this song these words continue in my heart even after this song has ended...

I don't have a thing that I got on my own
I don't have a care that I carry alone
But I have a God who's carrying me

He is the one true God and He is the one who we are looking to, watching and passionately following.

We lift up all of the orphans in the world and that God’s people who each seek Him how they are to serve Him to help these children . We thank Him that Abby is going to no longer be an earthly orphan… she has always been His daughter, now she will be ours too.

We so value each action step of prayer and support to help bring Abby home.

In Jesus love,
Donna, Chris, Daniel, Molly, Zayden … and Abby!

Father's day reflection...

Today being Father’s Day brought my mind to the great dads who we have and to the amazing father my husband is.  I was in church today, singing praises to God (along with the other folks in the church… no solos here J)… as I was praising God for Him being ourHeavenly Father my eyes glanced to a couple in front of me… she is a petite little gal who stood about a foot less than her husband and my thoughts were sent to Chris’s parents who are about that much in height apart as well.  The Lord sent my heart on a journey of gratitude… how He works things out ahead of time. 

Chris has shared with me over the years of his memories of going to church with his parents.  How his passion for Jesus began when they brought him to learn more about God at church.  Chris had the opportunities to hear of God’s promises and the true stories of how He has cared for His people.  These times were seared in Chris’s heart. That was when the foundation was laid for Chris to become the man he is today when his father decided to take his family to church.

I can picture it… the family getting ready… wondering what Dad is doing, where they all are going… each one following his leading.   Though at the time Chris didn’t grasp the impact upon his life, of that decision that his dad made, but today he treasures it.

To think that at that time I was a young girl living in Oregon, not even knowing of this family in Alaska who was doing something so simple yet so profound… something that would shape my life forever.

On this father’s day I am thanking God for the fathers He gave us and for each step that He took in shaping the father that my incredible husband is.  Watching Chris be a dad through the years has been such a wonderful reminder to me of who our Heavenly Father is… God is fun, He is a great listener, He is there to help us, to protect us and to care for us and He loves us like no other.

Happy Father’s Day to all those great dad’s out there. I pray that you are blessed by the little and big ways  you give to your family. I pray you are encouraged in your leading and that God is the one you follow. I pray God reveals to your heart the work He is doing through you.  You too are affecting many lives, now and in the future, as you lead your children.

In Jesus love, Donna J

Ephesians 2: 8-10

⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

As our journey continues Chris’s dad has a journey of his own…

Christopher’s dad, Mike, is in the hospital again this week. He has been diagnosed with Leukemia and has made such strides in his treatments. He has made it through the rounds of chemo, many doctor visits, shots and so much more. He has been given the word that his body is cancer free at this time ( J!!!) though he still needs to go through his last big hurdle. He completed his bone marrow transplant last weekend. He spiked a neutropenic fever this week (no immune system to fight off whatever comes along so he may have gotten something…). He is in the hospital, with his faithful wife right by his side (& precious daughter and caring son-in-law there to help at each step), spirits up and looking forward to this milestone being passed.

His bone marrow acceptance and healing journey should take about a 100 days; we are praising God for that light at the end of the tunnel. I pray that God reveals to Mike how much He loves Him and has a purpose for his life.

Please pray for him with us.

In Jesus love,

Donna J

As I was seeking for a verse in the Bible to pray for Mike I found these in Proverbs 3:5-10 (The Message Bible - it translated into "today's lingo") and is just struck my heart. I wonder if you see the same encouraging words jumping out at you that I did...

 ^5-10 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
   don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
   he's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all.
   Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
   your very bones will vibrate with life!

God knows the plan...

Our hearts are healing from not being able to adopt Sara. We are so thankful for the many ways God is providing for her.

We have been blessed to be able to send her a letter and a small gift. 

Please join with us in prayer for Sara and that everything works out for her to recieve what we have sent without any issues.

Since so many of you have prayed for her and have come along with us on this journey we thought we would share with you this letter that we are sending Sara so you too can experience the closing of the chapter that we get to see into her world and to trust in Jesus that He is in charge of the rest of her story.

 Dear Sara,

We are a family in America whose lives you have touched. We heard stories from the people at WACAP of what a sweet girl you are. You have a way about you that captivates those who meet you with the beauty and grace that you possess in your heart. You are a very special girl.

We have been praying to God for you for the last two months. We were hoping that we could adopt you but the paperwork couldn’t be done.  We see now that God had another great plan for your life. We understand that there are circumstances in your life that made it so you were going to stay there in Ethiopia. God has such a wonderful plan for your life. You are such a sweet blessing to the children there at the orphanage and it looks like God wants to continue to use you to love on them and care for them.

The nice people at WACAP told us that you will be part of a sponsorship program through their organization that will make sure your needs are met and that you will be able to go on to receive more schooling so you can also know a trade. God has many good things planned for you.

We hope that you know how very special you are to God. He has given you a hope in your life that through His son Jesus you will get to have Him with you always and that you will be able to be with Him in Heaven.

We are sending you this necklace that has a verse from the Bible on it. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” We hope that whenever you wear the necklace it will remind you that God loves you and you are in His care. We pray that Jesus will be your very best friend as you go through your life. We pray that you seek Him.

You are a very special young lady who is loved and prayed for by people on the other side of the world that you have never met, but who know about you. You will always hold a special place in our hearts. We praise the Lord that you were born and that He is caring for you.

Love your friends in America,

Donna, Chris, Daniel, Molly and Zayden Robbins

In His loving hands...

Are you the kind of person who likes to wait until the end of the movie to find out if everyone is OK or are you the kind of person who asks folks the ending so you don’t have to suffer not knowing? Well with movies I like it for people to tell me how things end so I know how to brace myself. It would be nice if it was that way in life but alas it isn’t. Throughout our adoption journey there hasn’t been anyone who will let us know how things are going to play out, we need to go through each step… trusting God and putting one foot in front of the other.

Today our adoption journey took a twist. We found out that precious Sara is not adoptable. She will not be coming to live with us. Our hearts are aching and confused.  One of our teens asked me the question today “Mom, why would God not allow us to adopt Sara? Everything seemed to just be falling into place, it just seemed so right.” Another thought that was thrown out was “Did we choose the wrong child? Is this why this happened?” I believe in my heart that we followed God just how He wanted us to. We were right when we accepted this referral. God’s ways are not our ways. We cannot see the bigger picture of how God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). I can’t answer the big question of “why?”, only God can, though I can see some blessings that have come out of this already.

·         We prayed for Sara- Sara now has an American family whose hearts have been touched in a significant and life changing way because of her. This American family loves her, is praying for her and so are many of their friends and family members. She is a special young lady who is very cared for.

·         Her situation in life may very well improve because of all the attention she has received in this process.  People have taken notice of her. She is wanted. She is special.

·         She is going to be able to be in a sponsorship program  that makes sure her needs are met and she is able to go to a trade school so she has a plan for her future there in Ethiopia.

·         We are more compassionate to grief – As we have readied ourselves for adopting a child/children we have taken classes as well as read a number of books and articles in addition to interviewing adoptees and adoptive families. One of the themes that we have learned about is that adopted children at some point in time will experience grief. Often times this is an ongoing process of feelings they need to deal with. They may grieve the loss of their birth family, their way of life, their culture, their language etc. It can appear at any time. Little things can trigger those feelings and there is no set timeline for how long those feelings may last.  My heart has become more in tune to this because of going through this process of not being able to adopt Sara. I was brought to tears many times this week. One trigger was when I was at a store and I saw an organizing container.  It brought tears to my eyes as agonized if I could buy it for Sara’s room or not. Another moment was when I was watching a child, whom I didn’t know at Taekwondo perform; I felt a loss of potentially not getting to watch Sara master something she too has tried hard at.  As I sort of “watched” myself go through this process this week, I did have a sense of realization that this is the "heart of understanding" that I will need to have for our child that we are adopting. To understand that feelings come and go with no logic attached to them as to why and when but to understand that they just “are” and to accept our child and love them not matter “where they are coming from” in that moment. (I think it has also given me a deeper compassion of parents who have miscarried too).

·         We have been trusting in God and paying attention to what He is doing.  We have been seeking and trusting God to work out the details; big and small through this whole process.  Our prayer life and Bible reading times have improved as well. Our expectations were that this adoption would be rather smooth; we certainly didn’t expect our hearts to be broken or our ideas to be revamped (many times).  We know that our two months of caring Sara in our hearts was meant for us to be a special time. One when we got to love her and pray for her; so in that way we did get to parent her. We are confident that God will also use this time for us to be better parents and to know that we need to just trust God even if we are not privy to how everything is going to work out.

I love to go to the Bible to pour through God’s love letter for us to fill my aching heart. Tonight He gave me so much. Though I still am dazed and sad  I am able to take joy in what God is providing for Sara and for our family.  I have peace that we are in His loving hands; His love endures forever.

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

1 Chronicles 16:34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

Matthew 11:25-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

So after my good cry I know I will sleep well knowing that Jesus has our burdens and He will give us rest.

Thank you for praying with us.

Please continue to lift up sweet Sara in your prayers that she would know Jesus.

Please pray for healing of our hearts, for discernment to know who God is calling for us to adopt, and an openness to embrace and love our child that God is sending to our family.

In Jesus love,

The Robbins Nest
Donna, Chris, Daniel, Molly, Zayden and …

The update today… perhaps tomorrow???

In the book of Esther, when it was clear it was her "calling" to go before the king on behalf of the Jewish people, so they could be saved from annihilation, she sought a meeting with him. Then when she met with him she simply requested that he attend a banquet that she had prepared for him. Then at the banquet she requested that the king attend the next banquet she had planned; at that banquet was when she made her formal request.

When I first read that I was perplexed by the timeline. At her first meeting she had found favor with the king, at her second meeting she had found favor with the king, and at the third meeting she found favor with the king and then is when she finally sought her real request.  I didn't understand the value of waiting, how God would use the progression of time to help fulfill His greater plan. From my view in the bleachers here in Illinois it looks like something similar is happening in Ethiopia with Sara’s case.  The WACAP staff member there in Ethiopia (who is an Ethiopian attorney who has been faithfully advocating for children for years) is well respected and liked in the Ethiopian adoption community. He has a very good working relationship with the officials there and when he brings requests they are open to hear from him.

I spoke with Megan today, the WACAP staff member whom I have been talking with this week, and she reported their staff member in Ethiopia went before the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA – more information on what they do: http://www.childrenofallnations.com/ethiopia-ministry ) yesterday.  There was discussion if it is prudent or wise to continue to pursue Sara for adoption (I cannot share the details as to why – nothing unethical, just very unusual).  The WACAP representative communicated that his impression of the response from the MOWA was that it may be very difficult to process Sara's adoption. Basically where it stands is that if we choose to continue to pursue adopting her it may be a very long time before we are able to do so.

Her issue needs to first be approved by MOWA and then by the US Embassy. Since all three parties involved (WACAP then MOWA then the US Embassy) do a separate and thorough investigation, of all of orphaned children’s paperwork, it can take quite some time to accomplish.  In Ethiopia it can be very difficult to get and process information. Relatives of the children need to be located, visited and interviewed. Often times these family members are in rural areas, spread out over distances in remote areas that are difficult to reach.  It is quite an extensive process and it can take quite a bit of time. The age of a child may play an additional role as well depending upon how many people may have cared for them, the older the child the more complicated the situation can be.

This journey may take a long time and we have no guarantees how it will end. This is very similar to other walks we have been on with the Lord.  Jesus is our King and sometimes we have received “orders" or "our assignments”, being part of His army, that we neither like nor do we understand.  Chris has been deployed to Iraq twice and Bosnia once. We have lived through me having cancer. All journeys that God allowed us to be on so that we could learn to trust Him more and to share with others of the great things He has done, from the little triumphs to the big. He carried us through those times and we know that Sara’s situation isn’t too difficult for God to handle either. We know that we need to continue to follow His leading for each of our steps, all the while watching for the many ways He is showing His love, care and protection and then praise Him and share with others what He has done so He can get the credit for it.

WACAP wanted to know how we wanted to proceed. Did we wish to seek another child for adoption or continue to pursue to adopt Sara? I shared that just as if we needed to crawl 70 miles on our knees to get help for Daniel, Molly or Zayden we feel as though we need to do everything we possibly can to be there for Sara as well. We told them that we wish to continue to pursue adopting Sara no matter how long it may take.

So here is where things stand…

Yesterday the WACAP representative went before MOWA and researched their thoughts about Sara’s situation.

Tomorrow he will go in (if he is able to) to request that MOWA would formally look into her case and in order to give their approval so she is able to be adopted.

Our job is to continually pray and bring our petitions before the Lord for Sara and to faithfully wait for God to work in small and big ways.  We know God answers all our prayers and we are seeking for Him to say “yes” to us being able to bring Sara home and, no matter what, we pray for Jesus to be her very best friend, her family and her Savior.

We may not have felt Sara kicking inside my womb but we sure can feel her tugging at our hearts.  We long to hold her, tell her how much we love her and share with her how very special she is to the King.

Thank you so much for partnering with us on this journey.
We praise the Lord for you; for each and every prayer.

In Jesus love,
Donna and Chris

“...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34

"Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness – Singly aim at this, that God, reigning in your heart, may fill it with the righteousness above described. And indeed whosoever seeks this first, will soon seek this only" - John Wesley

So much compassion

Thank you to each of you who are praying for and with us for Sara and this situation.  Please continue to lift the whole situation up before the Lord. As soon as we know something we will post it on our blog.

This is all happening when our normal wonderful WACAP representative, Patty, is out of town and in her stead Megan has been keeping us informed at each step.  Here is a copy of her note… (just love her heart…knowing that we are eager to hear news that Sara’s adoption can go through… she sent us this note just to let us know that she still hasn’t heard and to reassure us she will let us know as soon as she hears). We are so thankful for the caring people God has placed to help with each step in this process.

Hello Chris and Donna-

I just wanted to follow up and let you know that sadly, I have not been able to connect with our staff today but I do hope to be able to do so tomorrow!

I will touch bases with you again tomorrow.

Best,

Megan

We are praying for:

·         Discernment for the officials in the Ethiopian government to do what is best for Sara and to figure out all the information that they need in a timely manner.

·         If it is God’s will, that Sara would be able to be adopted by us.

·         That the timeline for Sara’s adoption would move smoothly and swiftly.

·         The US Embassy in Ethiopia would also approve Sara’s paperwork and all would move smoothly in the final step.

·         The Lord would help us with our final phase of adoption expenses.

·         The Lord would reveal to Sara how very loved she is.

·         The Lord would provide us patience and TLC for our hearts as we wait upon Him.

We thank each one of you for your amazing support. We know God is faithful and we are just taking this journey one day at a time with Him.

Here is an encouraging Bible verse that a dear friend, who is also in the process of adopting, sent to use today. 

“For the vision is yet for the  appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

Habakkuk 2:3

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

"High Risk Pregnancy"

We have been matched with a precious 13 year old girl named Sara from Ethiopia. All has been going right along. We have been painting and getting her room ready and have been praying for all of our children; the ones here and for the precious daughter we are waiting to come home to us.

As with each pregnancy we have had they have all been labeled “High Risk” this one is no different.  With our other children various issues arose but God was our strength in each scenario; again this situation is no different.

All of our paperwork is moving right along. We have finished everything for the US and all of our paperwork is being processed in Ethiopia as well. God has used our wonderful placing agency (WACAP) to uncover an issue in her paperwork.   Since they identified it early they have sent it onto the Ethiopian court system for them to review . There are three phases in adoption processing in Ethiopia. We are in phase 1 and our agency thought this information may be and issue in following 2 phases so they are having it looked into already. This step is actually jumping some hoops so her case is reviewed early in the effort to make sure this information does not slowdown things later or stop her from being adopted all together.  

Our agency called us today to let us know what is going on in Ethiopia with Sara’s case.  The difficult call was very similar to one that I had before years ago when we lived in WA. When I went to the doctor for a lump that I had found they called me in to inform me that I may have cancer.  That is about where we are in our journey; receiving huge, impactful news. We have been told the heavy information to process and grasp what it could mean. Just as with the diagnosis of cancer in 2002 we were just as taken a back from these words and are seeking God to handle it all on all of our behalfs. Now the news of maybe not adopting Sara is overwhelming, scary and confusing just like when we received the news about the diagnosis back then. Today I am cancer free, I am looking forward to seeing how God is going to resolve His story for Sara's life as well.

We had hope then that God would move and do an amazing work in our lives and we have that same hope and faith now. Before the diagnosis of cancer I had prayed that God would draw me closer to Him and make me more bold in my faith sharing His loving truth with those that He put in my path.  Before this adoption journey Chris and I prayed that the Lord would guide us each step of the way; that when we didn’t understand what to do or how to proceed He would make His ways clear to us and give us His peace. We were thankful for His answered prayer then and now. He is faithfully guiding us, helping us see this whole process is in His hands.

We have been studying in the book of Esther in the Bible. It is a story of how God used a series of circumstances to do a mighty work. We are praying for God to work in the circumstances that surround Sara’s adoption and that the Lord would bless her and care for her however He deems the best. We hope it is with us and we appreciate your prayers.

Its a girl!

 (This is a note from April 2011 - I am posting it to update folks who may not know our story to this point.)

May  2011

Hello dear family and friends,

We are excited to share that we are expecting the arrival of our daughter, Sara (sometime in the fall or winter)!!!  She is a beautiful 13 year old girl from Ethiopia (she is 4’ 10” tall and 80 lbs).

Wow, we are just marveling at the Lord and how He has so lovingly brought us along on this journey of His.

• We had talked through the years about how great it would be to adopt, though never actually knowing anyone who had done it and never really pursued how to go about it.
• When we lived in Kansas we talked a little bit more about it… and talked a bit more… continuing to float the idea around…
• When in Texas we had some friends who had adopted and we began our “informational interviews”. 
• We were blessed with Zayden and began seriously praying and asking the Lord if sending Zayden meant it may also be the right time for us to continue to grow our family through adoption.
• When we moved to Illinois we searched for a house that had another bedroom for our adopted child that we were seeking the Lord to send to us.
• Once we got settled into our home in Illinois we looked into adoption agencies, support groups and read as much information as we could (packets from adoption agencies, websites, books, more informational interviews etc.)  God sent us a lot of people who had adopted children of various ages that were adopted both domestically (from US) and internationally.
• After six months of extensive research we felt we knew the agencies that God wanted us to use (one agency to do our “home study” and another one to be our placing agency that would match us with our child).
• Our initial idea was to seek a little girl a couple of years older than Zayden. After more research we found out there are over 147 million orphans in the world… We realized that these children who not only don’t get hugs, kisses and needed guidance … but many of them don’t even have  food to eat (they do once they get to orphanages but many of them have to survive on the streets until someone takes them in to be cared for.  Not just older kids but little ones too.) Our hearts ached. We went to the Lord and said yes to Him to whomever He wanted to send us… a little girl, siblings… whomever… it was up to Him. We told the Lord yes to more than one child, we told our agency that we were open to a sibling group … a younger boy to share a room with Zayden and an older sister who would have her own room (as we look back we see this is the point when God began opening our hearts to an older girl).
• In February 2010 we stepped off the edge of “comfortable” and began our journey of discovery through adoption. Swimming through the sea of paperwork, and jumping through various hoops (finger printings, background checks, official documents etc.). Though at the beginning it all seemed a bit daunting, no step was too big or too difficult, and before we knew it each item had been checked off the list.
• We began the process to answer the ache on our hearts that God gave us to adopt. We told Him that we need His help to: do all the steps that were needed, to choose the child/ children He planned for us to be matched with and for Him to make a way to finance it ($30,000).

This is where we are just a year later in our journey…

• God helped us traverse through all the paperwork and the “to do list” with ease.
• God provided us with the peace of who He has chosen to match us with, beyond a shadow of a doubt. We had no idea how this part was going to work. We got to the point of being a “waiting family” meaning all of our paperwork was done and we were ready to be matched. God ached Chris and my hearts, in an overwhelming way, that He didn’t want us to wait to be matched He wanted us to search the children that we ready to be adopted.  There are many amazing children, all adorable, all lovable… I remember telling the Lord point blank in my prayer time… “Lord, I can’t choose a child, I want to love them all… please Lord make it clear to us who it is.”  Through a series of circumstances we were shown a girl’s picture who didn’t “fit the idea” we thought we were to follow in adoption… she wasn’t close to Zayden’s age, she wasn’t part of a sibling group, she was actually close to Molly’s age… this was from far in left field… but the second I saw her picture I couldn’t get her face out of my mind. We asked for her information. They sent us pictures, information and a video of Sara. The second I saw the video I had a feeling I had not experienced before…it was relief, ache, joy and knowing all at the same time. After Chris saw the video he turned to me and said “well, that is her”. Later we showed it to Molly and then a little while later to Daniel (separately) and both of their responses were about the same, verbatim, “I want her as my sister”. Each one of us, in our own moments, the Lord showed us the discernment and clarity that we had sought.
• The Lord made a way for the money to be there. We have paid all of our adoption fees. We are just at the point now of traveling. We have between now and the fall and we are confident the Lord will send the money for that too. We are hoping that Daniel can go on one of the trips and Molly can go on the other (while we have our family or dear friends who are “family” stay with the kids while we are gone.)

We will be traveling in the fall / winter time frame…

• On the current court dockets (as of Feb. 2011) there were more than 800 cases they needed to process.  Due to each one of these cases needing to be investigated fully to make sure all of their information is accurate, the process takes awhile (things there are also done by hand and traveling to verify information is very complicated and time consuming).  Our case is behind those 800 and they close the courts for their rainy season which is in our August / September time. We are hoping to get a court date as soon as possible and we are thinking that the earliest possibility would be in October, though we won’t know until things get closer. We are just trusting in the Lord’s timing for all things to come together at the time He has planned.

• We need to travel to Ethiopia in two trips.
• The first trip we will get to travel to Sara’s orphanage and meet her. I am not certain how much time we will get to spend with her on that trip, perhaps we will get to see her for a couple of days. When we are there we will also need to go to court to finalize more adoption documents for the Ethiopian and American governments; stating that yes we have met Sara and we want to adopt her. After we do this we need to travel back to the US.  While we are gone they will move Sara to another orphanage where she will be with children from our agency that are waiting for their adoptive families to come get them as well.
• The second trip will be after a period of 6-8 weeks?? (could be longer) we will travel back to Ethiopia (once we have another court date). On this visit Sara will stay with us in our hotel for a week J. This will be a period of bonding while waiting on the last official documents to be completed (her visa etc.). At the end of this week we will get to bring Sara home to be with us as our “officially real daughter”.

Throughout this journey God has taught us many things about Himself.

• He is.  He is real. He is in control. He makes a way where there seems to be no way.
• Our job is to be obedient.
• e willHe HHe will answer prayer. His way. In His time.
• He is HHe is amazing and it is very easy to see that when we are looking.
• He iHHHe is the giver of all good things.  Yes He has been the one who has provided our knowledge by the various means, He is the one who has provided us the support (financial, other adoptive families, agencies etc.) He has also provided us peace of what agency to use, what country to adopt from, and who our daughter is. He has provided us a new ache in our hearts… one that is from the love that He has already given us for Sara. We are in love with her already just as parents are from the news of their pregnancy, from the view of them from the ultrasound and the embrace when they hold them for the first time. Being seasoned parents we know the joy of meeting our child, we know the joy of holding them. We long to hold Sara. We long to share our lives with her. The idea of adopting a 13 year old a couple of years ago would be like adopting a stranger, someone I would need to grow to love… now God has already blessed us with the parental love that comes from having a child… it is amazing… she is not being “birthed” by me but she is being brought to me… chosen by our Heavenly Father just as the other 3 children were.
• SomSomeone asked me a bizarre question… or so I thought it was at the time… “Do you know what her name means?”… in all the excitement and busyness that thought to look it up never occurred to me.  I later did look it up. It means “princess” in Hebrew.  This princess was chosen by the King Himself to be joined into our family forever more.  It made me realize that adoption is such a beautiful way to enter a family. God Himself only having One Begotten (natural born) Son (John 3:16) had chosen out of His rich mercy and amazing love to adopt those of us who believe in our hearts that Christ died so our sins would be forgiven and so we could live a full life here on earth seeking to please Him and do His good and perfect will before we get to spend an eternity with Him in Heaven. I praise our King for adopting each of us so we can be part of His royal family; living as princes and princesses in His forever Kingdom. 

We have had folks ask us if they could partner with us in bringing Sara home…

• We urge people to pray.
• Pray for our travels to be safe and our bonding be smooth.
• Pray for our children we are staying in the US to have a fun and safe time.
• Pray for all of our finances to continue to work out.
• Pray for more people to answer the call of adoption. (At our placing agency they had over 150 families waiting for children and we were the only family seeking a child over 5 years old.)
• Pray for how you can help with the orphan crisis in the world. (Ways to help – here are some great websites that can give you more information: WACAP (our agency) – help make adoption more affordable and help with care of orphans in orphanages, Holt International – support a specific child until they are adopted, World Vision – you can support a child so that they can stay with their family.
• If folks want to help us financially you can send $ to us for our adoption account. We have managed to pay all of our adoption fees except our travel expenses (from our savings and we have taken out a loan). We still need to buy our airline tickets and pay for our 2 stays in Ethiopia of 1 week each so if anyone feels lead to help us with those expenses it would be a great blessing.
• You can send us $ for items or send us items for us to bring in our extra suitcases for the orphans (formula, medicines etc. Email me if you want more details on this).

We Praise the Lord what He has done and is doing.  We pray that we would be sensitive to His leading throughout this whole adoption and that He will receive all the glory and praise as it all comes together and as He unites us with our precious daughter.

Please pray also for all of our children to grow closer in Christ and for their, and our physical protection for our health and safety throughout this process.  We specifically lift up our Sara right now that the Lord would comfort her heart and give her joy and peace that He has chosen a family for her to belong to (His heavenly one and His earthly one here in Illinois J).

Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love the Illinois Robbins Nest  J J J J J …….  J 

Ephesians 1:4-6 (New International Version)

⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he^[a] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

         

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
God places the lonely in families.

Psalms 68:5-6

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.