Please Pray!

Well, there has been some major drama this week in the world of Ugandan Adoption.  I have not posted anything about it on here because I was waiting to get some more reliable and confirmed information.  The internet is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it can also lead to confusion and misinformation. 

Here is the issue in a nutshell... officials from the US Embassy met with with Ugandan Ministry officials to clarify and discuss the guardianship court rulings.  You can only legally adopt in Uganda after a 3 year guardianship period served in Uganda.  Families have been instead obtaining legal guardianship with permission to travel to the US and then completing the adoptions in the US.  Some of the court rulings have stated that the child will be adopted in the US, but many others have not.  Some of the Ugandan judges prefer for the guardianship period be served in the US and then the adoptions completed in Uganda in three years.  However, that is against US law and therefore an immigrant visa can not be granted by the embassy under those conditions.  The issues run deeper that just that, but that's a basic explanation.  The good thing in all of this... this stems from efforts on both the Ugandan and US side to protect the children and make sure that everything is done in the most ethical way.

Please pray for a resolution to be agreed upon quickly.  Several of the lawyers in Uganda are working on briefs this weekend to try to persuade the judges to allow a change in the wording of the rulings.   Pray for the families in the country right now in the middle of all of this confusion.  Pray for patience, respect and wisdom from all sides.

If you are interested in all of the ins and outs of the situation you can read more here. Lifeline is one of the very few adoption agencies operating in Uganda and they have a full explanation posted.

Cody and I feel confident that this will be worked out.  We know this does not come as a surprise to God and that He called us on this journey for a reason.  Adoption is never easy and there are always unexpected bumps in the road.  We just keeping praying that this bumpy road leads us to Mercy.