A Heart for Orphans

I got this information today from  The ABBA fund's blog.  This organization helps adoptive families in so many ways.  I really encourage you to visit the blog and check out the last few blog posts.  Powerful reminders of the need to adopt, the need to support adoptive families, and a fabulous explanation of the need for internatioal adoption.  But for today, I'll just share these stats with you.  I find them very interesting because it seems to me I hear more and more people talking about adoption.  But from the statistics it seems the numbers are on the decline.  The ABBA Fund's writer suggests the decline is in large part because of tighter restrictions and a push by several large and influential organizations that are against foreign adoptions.  All I know, is something needs to be done to get homes for these children.
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In 2009 these were the top 10 countries for international adoption (notice the dramatic difference in just 3 years):
China: 3,001
Ethiopia: 2,277
Russia: 1,586
South Korea: 1,080
Guatemala: 756
Ukraine: 610
Vietnam: 481
Haiti: 330
India: 297
Kazakhstan: 295

These were the numbers in 2005:
China: 7,903
Russia: 4,631
Guatemala: 3,783
South Korea: 1,628
Ukraine: 824
Kazakhstan: 755
Ethiopia: 442
India: 323
Colombia: 287
Philippines: 268
(Haiti was No. 11 with 234)
Source: U.S. State DepartmeInt
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I'm also posting a prayer written by the Director of LifeLine Children's Service, an adoption agency based out of Birmingham, AL.  This is his prayer for all families in the process.  May it be yours also.

""This was my prayer for the hundreds of family at our church who are following the Lord's call to adopt or foster...
'O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!' Psalm 8

Father we dedicate the families who are waiting to adopt or who are awaiting a foster care placement. We thank you for their faithfulness to answer the call to foster or to adopt and now we come with confidence knowing the you will equip them for the journey ahead.

We pray for them as they prepare their homes, their families, their lives, and their resources. We pray for them as they prepare to make disciples in their homes. Lord give them hope as they wait, give them perseverance when what they have been called to seems to become a struggle, give them boldness to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel to all those who question the call you have placed on their lives, and give them wisdom when the adversary begins to tempt them to question you!

Lord, today I pray for the extended families of these families, that you would prepare their hearts for new family members who won't look like them, won't sound like them, or who won't come from a similar background. Father, prepare these families for the roller coasters ahead, for the changes that will come, and for the possible disappointments.

Father give them a strong resolve to weather storms ahead; and, Lord to become more committed to the call today and tomorrow and the next day, more than they were the first day! Lord, strengthen these families as you commission them to do your work and to be your hands and feet to the orphans and foster children.
Remind these families that your heart breaks more for the orphans, than theirs ever will! Remind them that the hope is not in America, the hope is not in their state, the hope is not in their homes, the hope is not in their families, but that the hope is found only in you and your Son, Jesus Christ - the hope of glory.

Lord may your Gospel be made known to the children who will be placed in these homes, that little boys and girls who are adopted from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, South and Central America, North America, and from foster care will one day be the greatest evangelist the world has ever known, spreading your fame to every corner of the earth.
May the implications of physical adoption remind these families daily through the wait, and daily through raising these kids, of their spiritual adoption in Christ. May the help for these families come from you, a God that neither slumbers nor sleeps. We lift our eyes to you. Arise, O Lord, O God, lift up your hand, forget not the afflicted! O Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth."
Beloved, will you allow God to use you to impact the life of a child? Please do not hesitate to give Lifeline a call because we are here...
On behalf of the orphans.
Herbie Newell
Executive Director
Lifeline Children's Services"
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As for us... we ask for you to pray for progress to be made on our behalf in Uganda this week.