Patience and Prayers
Happy May Everyone! It has once again been awhile since we have updated everyone on our adoption journey, and as you might imagine, the reason is that there is not much progress to report. At this time, we are still patiently waiting to be matched with our child from Haiti. We are still approved, up to date with all of our documents, and still keeping in communication with our adoption agency. Just waiting.
Despite there not being much to update for us personally, there is a lot going on in Haiti that we would ask that you pray over. For a quick rundown: back in 2021, the then current president Jovenel Moise was assassinated. During the aftermath, the prime minister took the majority of responsibility in the government, without any voting or process of succession. During this time, the gangs of Haiti overtook the majority of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. As you might imagine, without a real functioning government with elected officials, and with gangs taking control of the capitol, the country has gone through years of struggle and poverty. In the past year, there have been two big developments to help Haiti. First, a multi-national effort led by Kenya has been decided to go to Haiti to try and retake the capitol. This is expected to take place soon, as the main participating country, Kenya, has been working to deploy their Police force. Secondly, the Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, has stepped down from leadership and handed control to a transitional council; they are overseeing the government for a temporary time to hopefully run an election and have a President nominated. The goal is to have an election by the end of 2026.
From the front of adoptions across the nation, there has been some development as well. First of all, last Fall we were informed that because of the instability, the expected wait time to complete an adoption is now 4-7 years (initially it was 2-3 years). Since then, in March the office of the agency for adoption in Haiti (IBESR) was broken into by individuals in the country looking for shelter and protection from the civil unrest. During the overtaking of the building, they cleaned out shelves and files to make room for people to sleep. Since then the police have retaken the building, but it has taken months for the IBESR to reorganize, take inventory, and get back up in running. At this time, IBESR is currently processing adoptions for families that are already matched with a child (not us). In the last couple weeks, two humanitarian flights have taken place that have taken 37 children out of Haiti to be united with their adopted families. Great news!
All of this is hard to see from a distance and leaves us feeling helpless. As we continue to wait for more news, here are some quick ways you can be praying for us:
Pray for Haiti. The entire country has experienced unbelievable turmoil and instability. The effort to retake Port-au-Prince is needed, but it will most likely involve violence and death, both of the innocent and the guilty. It is, and will be, a really hard time that we need God to be present.
Pray for the people of Haiti. They are struggling. There is a lack of resources, work, economy, and obviously government. Malnourishment is prevalent. Recovery is not going to be easy and will be hard to experience.
Pray for the adoption process. Personally, you can pray that our paperwork is recovered from the ransacking that took place. Pray that hopefully they match us soon with a child so we can continue our process of adoption and hopefully bring our child home soon.
Thank you for sticking with this long post until the end. I never expected to learn as much about Haiti as I have, but it has really been eye opening and only grown our hearts for its people and our son or daughter. If you have any follow up questions, don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you all and we appreciate your prayers. God bless.
