Sunday, October 02, 2005

little bits of news on Anastasia

We have learned that the Russian social worker in charge of Anastasia's case has now submitted the paperwork to the court -- she is filing for termination of parental rights. We have no idea how long this process will take. To our devastation we also learned that once the parental rights are terminated (I suppose I should say "if") that Anastasia will have to go back onto the database.

All orphans must be "adverstised" for six months on the database. This is to give Russian families a fair shot at adopting them. Nevermind that she has been in the orphanage for 6+ years. Sigh. It is the law. When we started this process two years ago, she got put on the database and she then "came off the database" as an eligible child. It was after this that they found her bio father. This is highly unusual, I guess. Anyway, now they are saying that the whole process must start over again.

I have written a letter to the court and to the social worker making an appeal against this. It is a pretty long, emotional letter though. I hope it will inspire someone to say, Enough of this Nonsense! We have some dear friends who are helping us (thank you Mary and Alex) and Alex has just completed the translation of the letter. I intend to fedex it off next week along with some pictures of Max and our family. I will publish the letter here next week, in case you are interested in reading it.

We are just trying to use every avenue we can possibly think of. We will fast this Sunday if anyone would like to join us. That is Sunday the 9th of October. We have been fasting and praying all along of course, but this time we are asking our loved ones to join us if they like. If you can't fast, please include us in your prayers. We are fasting and praying for the following:
1) A quick resolution to any legal issues holding up Anastasia's adoption
2) Guidance on what exactly we should be doing to further the process
3)That the Spirit be with Anastasia to comfort her
4)That the Lord intervene at any point necessary to make the things happen that need to happen to bring our daugther home.

In short, we ask for more miracles. We don't deserve them and the Lord has given us so much allready, it is hard to keep asking. It is our hope and our prayer that He will see fit to bless our little girl though as she only asks to have a family.
Love to everyone and thank you for your prayers.

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