Romans 12:15...

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"Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."

                                                                  [Romans 12:15]

We feel this tension in the midst of two of our friendships at Calvary right now...

We know two couples, both from our last Life Group, who are in the awesome, amazing, yet gut-wrenching process of adopting.  Our hearts were captured by the thought of adoption long ago -- me as early as high school as I had the opportunity to do some full-time nannying several summers for a family with two adopted kiddos.  It has been such a blessing to see two couples whom we love take this step...both with multiple children!

We rejoice alongside Sarah and Jordan, as they recently received news that they have been matched with four (yes, FOUR!) kids from a sibling group living in foster care in Allentown.  There's a 6-year-old boy, and girls ages 5, 3, and 2.  They got to meet them last weekend, and have their first overnight with them this coming Saturday to Sunday.  As Dan encouraged our congregation this past weekend -- we need to be praying heartily for them!  Sarah and Jordan have been documenting their story HERE, for anybody interested in reading more (their very first blog post back in September summarizes how they got to the decision of adopting a sibling group domestically).

(Jordan, Brookie, and Sarah)

However, at the same time we mourn (with hope!) alongside our friends Erin and JT, as they are in the process of adopting 2 little boys from Ethiopia.  Ethiopia has long been known as a country with a relatively short waiting period and smooth process for adoption.  But some recent developments with some of the in-country care agencies -- specifically, how many cases the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) is willing to hear per day (they suddenly decreased it from 40 to 5!) -- mean that the waiting time could possibly increase by YEARS for some couples.  We continue to hope that things will turn around quickly in that country -- both in some ethical clean-up and overhaul that may need to happen in their current adoption process, as well as addressing the unfortunate slowdown for legitimate cases (MANY are praying and fighting for this!) -- so that multitudes of children can be placed in families, and that JT and Erin will be able to bring their boys home soon.  Their story is being documented HERE (their journey to an adoption decision is also summarized in their first post back in October).

(Erin and JT)

Whatever the situations, we stand next to these two sets of friends, so grateful for the love and vision that God has placed in their hearts for giving these children a home and a family...and so excited for the MULTIPLE children who will be blessed by them!

(T-shirts from a fundraiser of the Bells back in November...

they say "See the World Be Changed" with a heart over Ethiopia)

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