Jay and I have a favor to ask, of all of you. Whether you
are family, friend, or just someone stopping by to check out our progress in
bringing our child home from Ethiopia, we NEED a favor! We aren't asking for money or donations....Well let me just explain….
Obviously, international adoption is a very big issue
to Jay and I. We truly feel that
God called us to bring a child, our child, home from Ethiopia. And along this
journey we have learned perhaps more than we really wanted or cared to know
about the corruptness of the world and its “leaders”. You see, the number of orphans continues to rise, while the
number of adoptions has dropped 60% in the last 6 years alone. The adoption
process has become political, corrupt, and broken. Good people and families are
no longer able to adopt, the process has become so long, expensive, and
disheartening that many find it nearly impossible to bring a child home. Yet,
children continue to pour into orphanages world wide that are not able to care for them
properly.
Jay and I recently attended a special event, the
STUCK tour documentary reveal in Columbus. I have posted information about the
tour on the blog and on social media sites before we attended, and while we
knew it would be eye opening, we had NO idea the magnitude of brokenness
surrounding international adoption practices in ALL countries.
We purchased the documentary to share with family
and friends and we would love for EVERYONE to check it out. Even if you don’t
live close, you can watch the documentary Here, for a small fee, with all
proceeds going to help the cause. I encourage all of you to watch and see what is happening around the world and in our country. Please take a moment to at least watch the trailor located at the top of the blog. But this isn’t our favor…
The Stuck
documentary is touring nearly 80 cities, and completing the tour in Washington
DC on May 17th. They will then march onto Washington to draw attention to this
issue, calling OUR leaders to make necessary changes in international adoption
practices. You see, it’s not just “the other countries” corruptness that is
hindering orphan care; it starts right here, in this country. Our system is
flawed, really flawed, and things need to change. Babies and kiddos are dying,
they are alone, and they need a voice. Albert Einstein said it best;
“The world will NOT be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch
them without doing anything”.
So, what
is the favor? The Stuck movement needs at least 1 million signatures on their
petition for OUR government to take notice of this issue. They currently don’t
think this is something worth their valuable time, but every day that a child
lies alone in an orphanage, while their adoptive family waits in limbo in
another country for paperwork and bureaucracy jargon to be completed, is
wasted time. These kids matter. For those of you who are parents, you would
never let your child go one day without proper food, clothing, and love, but
these kids spend their entire lives without these basic needs being met. What’s
worse? Many DO have families pursuing them from other countries, desiring to
bring them home, but too much is standing in the way. Personally speaking, we
have been on the list for 9 months and have moved 21 spots. At this pace, it
will take nearly 5 years to bring one kiddo home. This is devastating.
Here is
the petition. Please sign, please take 10 seconds our of your busy day to call your
senator and tell him that this IS an important issue to you and to people you
know, and it NEEDS to be an important issue to Congress and to the President. You can also text "orphans" to 67463. We are FAR way from 1 million
signatures, but every one counts. Please pass the word, it doesn’t take long,
and we all need to stand up for what is right. Please visit https://bothendsburning.org for more information.
