Needing Prayers!

Dear Friends,

On Thursday we were contacted by our agency with some very bad news. We are writing this post to ask that you, your family and friends send a prayer or a good thought (if you're not the praying type) out for our son and all the children from the South whose adoptions have been "on hold" due to the orphanage closures in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region of Ethiopia (SNNPR).

Those of us with children from the South (5 total) were contacted by AGCI, our agency, with troubling news. A few days ago, two government officials from the South arrived at Bethzatha Children's Home in Addis Ababa, where our son came from and removed approximately 38 children. According to the officials, these children (one of them an AGCI child, that had not had court yet) are being taken back to Awassa (the capital city in the South), where their birth families will be offered financial assistance (one time payment or lifelong aid???) should they choose to care for the children.

Should they decline, the children will be placed in one of three orphanages in the South, where they will start all over the process of possibly being adopted through whatever agencies work with those three orphanages. There is even a real possibility that they will never be available for adoption again and live out their lives in an orphanage.

At this time, our transitional orphanage director is desperately making the case to anyone with government authority who will listen that children whose families (birth & adoptive) that have already been to court and testified their approval & desire for these children to be adopted must not be removed from our transitional orphanage. We have no guarantee that that won't happen. It is a very real possibility that, because MOWA has not yet issued our approval letters & the courts are closed and unable to issue our decrees, the Southern government officials may return and demand to take our 5 children. We were told that most likely this will happen. We are not sure how they have legal authority to do this, but know that the Southern Region in Ethiopia is like a "state" would be within the United States, they make their own laws in their region.

Because our Father has showed us the power of laying our desires at his feet, it is our hope that prayer can change the hearts that are in power there. We are asking you all to pray like you've never prayed before for our children. Please ask God to place a hedge of protection around them, and should they be taken, that he would somehow shield them from the additional trauma this will bring into their lives. Please pray for our director, Almaz, who is an amazing advocate for all Ethiopian children, as well as the rest of the staff at Hannah's Hope. We have heard rumors that the federal judge who ruled over our case is returning back to work early (the courts are still closed due to rainy season,) so please pray that we will find favor from her & that she will have the power needed to fight this injustice. We have no idea what will happen next, but hope that an army of prayer warriors will join us in asking God to act in defense of these children. ...And that he would give us the strength to bear the pain of unspeakable loss should our worst fears be realized.

MUCH, MUCH appreciation goes out to all of you!! We love our little man more than words can say, & the thought of what may happen to him {& honestly, ANY child caught up in this mess} is devestating.

In love & gratitude,
Matt & Amelia

****as matt & i were just praying, i have on my heart to ask you please do not let this situation taint your opinion on Ethiopia as a whole. we love this country, & we LOVE the Ethiopian people. As with most places in the world, they have a struggling national government without a strong line of power or jusristdiction. So with varying internal opinions on international adoption within regional {like states} & national governments & outside influences to boot, injustices such as this are able to come into play without much of the nation even knowing. With all that is said above, please be sure that the people of this beautiful country are a loving & welcoming people who very much want the best for their children.****