.: August 2007

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

AO-WA-KIYA

Hello! We are back from our annual family vacation at Camp AO-WA-KIYA. It is located on the west side of the state on Stony Lake. All the family enjoyed themselves. This is our third year there and we rebooked for next year. We were in a cabin called Hope which sleeps 10 and hopefully we will need a bigger cabin for next year if our girls are here by then!

We are still waiting on a referral and sometimes it feels like it will never happen. I have a very contented feeling and know I will be thrilled when Donna or Rachel call with our referral.

Our first born son, Zac, headed off to Central Michigan University on Wednesday, August 22, 2007. He is a sophomore, enrolled with the Army ROTC program. He passed his fitness test on Thursday morning--doing 68 sit ups, 56 push ups and running 2 miles in 14:40! He then commissioned with the Army on Friday. We are every proud of him and look forward to what the Lord will have for his future.

Zac called this morning and said that he has PT 5x a week! They do over 200 pushups and situps per morning, surprise exercises and running too! He will be one fit college student. Pray for him to be saturated with the spirit of Christ. One of his roommates just announced he will be having his girlfriend spending some nights in one of the bedrooms. Zac's roommate is a band leader and is the most normal of his 3 roommates. Zac will face many temptations throughout his college experience. We will continue to pray for him, CMU, ROTC, his roommates and for him to stand firm in his faith.

It is great to be back home.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Great News from AOH

Just received the following post from Patty, director of Acres of Hope. Great news about her meeting with the visa consular, Alma. Patty has quite an established ministry in Liberia, feeding over 8,000 children per day with her feeding program, medical clinics, the orphanages that are run ethically and full of integrity. So she was able speak about other ministries that Acres does and not just about the orphanages. She definitely has a heart for all children in Liberia and definitely has a great relationship with the US Embassy and the Liberian Government.

As for the Nelson family, we have been called to Liberia to adopt our children and will hold on for the duration until our children are home. Of course, we don't know when that will be, but continue to trust God for His perfect timing and choice of children for our family. Thank you for your continued prayers for our family.

So here's the note from Patty:

I know you all have been anxiously awaiting news about my meeting
with the Embassy today. I am happy to report that our discussions
were positive and the Consulate took several suggestions I made
about making the process perhaps a little less stressful. She
acknowledged the unfortunate families who have been caught in this
new transition and express that she hoped not too many more families
would be in this position.

One of the concerns shared was the increase in adoptions and why
that was happening. My explanation was simply...... ...20 years ago
before the war Liberia was a peaceful and relatively prosperous
nation and with the African culture that supports extended families
caring for each other, adoption was a rare occurrence. Then with
the many years of war the nation was left with thousands of
orphans. NGO's and Organization like our saw the need to respond.
Now while the orphans may be for the most part semi orphaned or
children with single mothers, the need for these children to find
loving forever families is just as great. The war left poverty at
such a all time high, that extended families in many cases are no
longer able to care for the vulnerable children. I had the
opportunity to share what Acres of Hope was all about and the many
programs we have that are serving the children of Liberia. That we
are committed to serving all the children of Liberia. In the big
scene of things only a few will be lucky enough to find the loving
arms of adoptive parents, but because of those few......... .
thousands of others will be served in Liberia. They were impressed
with the humanitarian outreach Acres of Hope and that was a real
plus. The Consulate was quite socked to see the 22 page album that
we put together just showing our special needs miracles. She
assured me she would consider the needs of some of the most fragile
children and applauded Acres of Hope in meeting the needs of this
special group of children.

After discussions of the latest venture my staff had to make
driving 200 miles on terrible roads with life-threatening
conditions, crossing bridges washed out by the rains and needing to
be re-built, I informed the Consulate I would not ever put my staff
in that position again and that her request certainly appeared as if
she was trying to put blockades in the process. Again she assured me
her intentions were not to stop adoptions. At that point I
suggested we pre-approve the children for visa at the beginning of
the adoption process at the time the parent signs the
relinquishment. That way the investigation should not be so
involved as the part of verifying the orphan status would already be
complete. She agreed to this.

So what does this all mean?

There will be a new order to adoptions that would include a pre-
approve of the orphan for adoption by the Embassy much like the I
600A is for the adoptive parent.
This should illuminate the fear that at the end something could go
wrong.

Time wise........ .well that is still yet to be known, but I truely
believe that this will improve what has already been in place and
probably cut the process down in the end.

We also discussed that it was necessary to allow processing to be 2
days per week with Thursdays being the day to drop off papers and
schedule appointment.
The result will be much more order, still the same amount of time,
but with some strict guidelines.

In conclusion, our new Consulate is very willing to work with us to
improve the system. She encouraged me to meet with the Ministry of
Health and Social Welfare to discuss all these issues and concerns I
have in educating others in the country on adoption including NGO
not in favor of adoption.

I gave her a stack of information on articles you all were so good
to research and I know she will have lots of reading materials and
hopefully learn alot.

All in all it was a positive and productive meeting and I went away
with good feeling realizing that changes are always hard and take
time to get use to, but in this case I am convinced it is for the
better.

Too many agencies have done short cuts or been dishonest and this is
what has caused the issues we are dealing with now.

Acres of Hope is committed to setting the standards for how
adoptions should be and with all of your help I believe the Lord
will bless our efforts.

Thanks you all for your many prayers and patience through this
growing experience. I want all of you to know I personally along
with our wonderful staff are here to do everything in our power to
remain a voice for the children and support to you as adoptive
families.

THREE CHEERS FOR YOU
ALL!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

*Note: I will give each of your children a big hug and kiss !

Blessings,
Patty Anglin, Executive Director
Acres of Hope

__._,_.___

Friday, August 10, 2007

visa update

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days. The director of Acres of Hope, Patty Anglin, is now in Liberia and will be visiting with the consular from the US Embassy to talk to her about the visa situation. Please pray for God's favor with the authorities for Patty and AOH staff.

Here's the latest: Alma, the visa consular, is now requiring birth parents who have already relinquished their parental rights, to come in and meet with her. First of all it will be very "interesting" trying to find some of these parents. Many don't want to be found again. Can you imagine giving up your child and then a year later being told to come to Monrovia to meet with this US embassy worker, possibly your child and the adoptive parents to finalize the adoption of the children you relinquished?

This will slow down adoption very much. If the birth parent(s) can't be found--no visa will be issued and the child will be raised in the orphanage. It is back to square one for the birth parents if the children are returned to them--they can't provide for their needs and that is the reason they brought them to the orphanage, relinquished rights and wanted them to have a forever families.

What is Liberia going to do with all these children in orphanages? Support them? No! We as adoptive parents do. We will be spending thousands of dollars for adoption costs, orphan fees, adoption fees, airfare, paperwork--you name it! All because we have a heart to be a family to fatherless (abandoned, etc.)

Please be in prayer that God will change the direction adoptions are now going in Liberia. His will be done!

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Waiting

We continue to wait upon the Lord for His perfect timing in referring the right children to the Nelson Clan. A friend called today and said, "Your children haven't been born yet." Meaning God has His finger(s) on the right children for us and will bring them in His perfect timing. It is a constant giving up to the altar with this adoption and our bio children and our marriage and our lives in general. So many times as Christians we give things over to the Lord and put 'em on His altar where they belong and than take our dirty little hands and snatch it back for ourselves.

Who is in control here? Us or God? So many times we want to make things happen (like a referral, then of course, finalizations, passports and travel can never come fast enough) but we will so mess things up. God has the right timing, children, personalities for our fam and I am so looking forward to this incredible journey with the Father of the Fatherless!

Thanks for praying!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Huge Prayer Request!

Please read the following letter from Donna Barber, our facilitator for Acres of Hope. Even though we don't have a referral yet, this woman who is in charge of Visas for the children in the orphanage, will slow down the adoption process. ie we will not receive a referral until other children are sent home to their families in America. Basically the orphanage (AOH) is full up with children who are matched to families (referred, waiting on passports, adoption finalization or Visas) and waiting to come home. Until these children are brought home, no more new children are being accepted into the orphanage at this time (meaning more waiting for us and many others waiting for a referral). So your prayers are mightily appreciated for all of us adoptive parents in waiting!

Hi families

I am slowly finding out more and more about the embassy process. I
have to admit; I am not a happy camper about it and it has tried my
patience alot today.

The new consular at the embassy is an African American Women who has
decided it is her mission to Slow Down Adoptions. She said there
have been too many complaints about it so that is her solution to
it. I know that there has been numerous problems with other
agencies. I asked why they didnt reconsider AOH as there has been no
complaints about them and our staff there said that she is lumping
all adoption agencies together. She didnt care.
Charles who handles the visa processing for families said that she
will not just let them come in on a Thursday and process a visa
either. If you dont have an appointment; she wont allow you in the
door even. She will no longer except emails from our agency or
parent agencies, or even the INS of your state about your I-600
approval. She will only accept the cable sent by the National Visa
Center as proof that you have I-600 approval. (this is for traveling
families) She has a 2yr term in this position.

This person is in MUCH need of prayer. She needs her heart softened
dramatically. And she must not be used as a tool to prevent
adoptions of children who are in much need of families. Lift her up
in your prayers. I could use them too. ( I admit I dont have such
kind thoughts about her today)

So AOH will continue to work around this new process as much as
possible. We will keep you informed. Have a good day- Donna