Please PRAY!

Last night Adrian became aware of a bill in progress in Liberia. Please pray for the children in Liberia. There is a spiritual war going on right now.
Below you will find a copy if the news article. When I get more information I will post it.

Daily Observer March 30, 2009

MONROVIA, The House of Representatives has passed into law the Children's Bill and instructed its chief clerk, James Kabah, to forward the Act to the Liberian Senate for its concurrence.

Members of the House of Representatives unanimously voted in favor of the bill late Thursday, March 26, 2009, after a series of consultations through cross-country legislative retreats that led to the strengthening of the bill to satisfy both local and international standards.

The Children's Bill was drafted and sponsored by the House's Committee on Gender, Equity and Child Development, chair by Bong County District #1 Representative, Corpu G. Barclay. Ms. Barclay has openly expressed her deep satisfaction with her colleagues' decision to pass the bill into law.

The Children's Bill suffered two years of setback since it was introduced to the Legislature in 2007.

But with support from the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the Committee sketched a revised bill to conform to international child rights instruments, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

The revised version of the Children's Bill that was enacted last week seeks to protect the rights of the child from early marriage, over work and other harmful traditional practices as well as adoption, amongst others.

Speaking to our reporter shortly following the bill's passage Thursday evening, Rep. Corpu Barclay thanked her colleagues in the Lower House enacting it into law, giving full protection to the rights of the Liberian child.

Barclay also thanked UNICEF and other partners for supporting her Committee and pledged her commitment to fostering and supporting those things intended to protect the rights of the Liberian child.

She appealed to Legislators in the Upper House (the Liberian Senate) to concur with the Lower House's approved version of the Act so as to legally protect our children and create a conducive living environment for them.

Rep. Barclay, whose is a career registered nurse (RN), pointed out that by passing the Children's Bill into law, the 52nd National Legislature would be making history for our children and country at large.

There is no legal instrument that protects the rights of the child in Liberia. This, Rep. Barclay noted, is unacceptable because, according to her, Liberia is a signatory to all of the international instruments on the rights of the child.

According to the Bong County lawmaker, concerns that were raised by some lawmakers regarding traditional practices that were considered harmful and prohibitive in the first draft bill were all settled before it passage into.

Today

Today my heart is heavy and happy. Today I woke up feeling overwhelmed. I didn't have any particular reason why. Those pesky feelings---sometimes they just creep up and try to get the best of us huh?
I suppose the Lord knew I needed some encouragement because at lunch time the mailman dropped off two letters. One from Lydia and one from Leo. They were written to us and addressed "Dear Mom and Dad" Oh how that tore at my heart. We learned new things about them today too. Lydia's favorite color is pink and Leo loves to play soccer. Leo wants to be a pastor when he grows up and Lydia a teacher.
Both of the letters were dictated to adults that wrote them down. Leo signed his name perfectly. To think I am holding a letter from my son and daughter all the way from Liberia.
Oh please pray that the Lord allows them to come home to us soon. Pray for their safety and provision of their needs.

Thank you for reading
Ami

Praying our children home

Every Wednesday we are joining others in praying for our children in Liberia. Please go to this blog to get more details: http://respondinginfaith.wordpress.com/
Thank you!

Orphans and Widows in Rwanda

The following is an excerpt from a newsletter I receive from Nancy Campbell from Above Rubies. I thought you may find it interesting and encouraging.

RWANDA PROJECT

When I was speaking at the Oregon Ladies' Above Rubies Retreat in November last year, I met a brother from Rwanda. I loved his vision for Rwanda. Instead of setting up orphanages for all the orphans after the terrible genocide in Rwanda, he is putting an orphan child with a widow and finding finance to provide the widow to help with the orphan. In this way, it gives a ministry to the widows and the children are in a home rather than an orphanage. The following letter tells more about it.

Pastor Emmanuel Sitaki Kayinamura, a survivor of the Genocide, was born in Ngoma-Butare in Rwanda, Central Africa. In 1992 he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Management in Kinshasa, Rep. of Congo. He is the Founder and President of Evangelical Revival Ministries (ERM). He writes:

Rwanda is a country of 20 percent of orphans and widows, because of the genocide in 1994.The biggest challenges people face on a daily basis is getting enough food to eat. This is especially true for the widows and those affected by HIV/Aids, where the medicines they are taking are so potent that they must be taken with food. ERM wants to get the food and crops into the hands of those who need it both for sustenance and financial benefit.

We also want to teach our widows and orphans how to farm and care for crops in order to be self-sufficient and have the food that they need to eat. Getting the crops grown to market is a very profitable undertaking. Today ERM is helping children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. With no family to take care of them they bear the financial burden of supporting themselves. There are also widows who lost their husbands due to HIV infected with HIV/AIDS. Many women were infected during the genocide by interahamwe (militia) soldiers who raped them spreading the disease as another form of harm, or killing, during the genocide.

Today many of these women struggle to just find enough food to eat. Many of these widows can get the medicine they need to survive easier than they can get food. The government provides the medicines to keep the HIV/AIDS semi under control, but if they cannot get enough healthy nutritional foods the medicine can be as harmful as the disease itself, and many have died from taking the medicines without having the right balanced diet. They need both the medicine and a stable nutritional diet. Many of the widows do not have the skills to provide themselves with enough income to obtain their daily needs.

ERM's helping to train widows with skills and knowledge to start a small business (giving those loans & credit) for income generating activities. Coupled with other financial services such as savings and insurance, this allows them to become financially self-sufficient. One hundred percent of all loans are repaid in full confirming the validity of the program and the value of self-sufficiency.

Through this program people are enabled to better provide for their basic needs such as nutrition, education, health care and housing for themselves and their families rather than needing a handout. We have started on a project providing widows with selected goats as a source of income, milk, and food. One goat cost $30.00.

We're praying to get people who can also help a widow directly by supporting them with a donation of $40 a month. The donation provides food, health care, and housing expenses.

May God bless you, Emmanuel Sitaki, manukay@gmail.com

Emmanuel also has children that are available for adoption. You can contact him about this.

We got it!!!!!

Our homestudy was mailed out on the 2nd of February and we got back our approval letter on the 14th! That my friends is unbelievably FAST! So at this point everything is done on this side except gathering a few documents for our dossier. Now we wait on Liberia.
The closure on adoptions should only be temporary. I know they are working on getting it up and running with the new reforms in place soon. This is such a good thing they are doing!
To God be the Glory!
Ami

Another Answer to prayer

Ami's DCS Clearance came on Friday afternoon. This means our homestudy can be mailed off Monday February 2, 2009!!!!!

Suspension of Liberian adoptions

Quick update and ALL the information I have on the subject---mostly.
President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has temporarily suspended adoptions to America from Liberia. She announced this Tuesday evening. There are several reforms that need to be made.
This is what we need and are praying for.
1. Pray for our friends who already are legally parents of children over in Liberia. I won't list last names but here are the first names of the mom's Sonya, Linda, and Crystal. All these moms lacked were traveling over there to get their precious children.
2. Pray for President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as she makes changes and decisions. It is my belief she wants the very best for the children of her country.

Thank you for reading. Please leave comments or questions as you have them. We love feedback!
Trusting in God as he leads us down this path,
Ami (For the Carr Fam.)

It's not about...

I have been wanting to put this down in words for so long now but haven't had the right ones to use. I still don't think I do but here is my feeble attempt.
It's not about money. That's right. This blog is not meant to encourage people to give. Yup, that's right. We know that we know that the Lord himself called us to do this and while that is a bold statement we also know that we know God will provide for all of our needs. He will also provide for Lydia and Leo's needs. They are being cared for and loved on at the orphanage. They are being taught the word of God. We want to get them out of there so two more children can have the same opportunity. Ooops, There I go I am already on a tangent. Let me refocus, so while you see the thermometer measuring how much money we have and how much more we need, it isn't about the money. Simply put, if I could figure out a way to minimize it or put in on another page I would. So why do we have it there to begin with? Good question! It is to encourage other believers in God's work of caring for orphans. Our earnest prayer is that God will provide double the amount we need so that we can turn around and give it to another family that wants to adopt but doesn't have the means to do it. This is completely a walk of faith for us. We also have the thermometer there so people can see where we are in this process. We want complete transparency in ALL things. Our motives etc. We do not want to be decieved. We seem to get the same questions over and over again and the most popular question is how much more money do you need? So we keep it on our blog. I love being asked and cared for.


Blessings my friends,
Feel free to leave comments etc.
By his grace
Ami

We're going to Nashville!

We got our fingerprint appointment in the mail today! We are Scheduled to be in Nashville at 12:00 on January 8th. It couldn't have been more perfect timing. We are leaving in the morning to visit Adrian's family in Florida. We will just swing through Nashville on our way home and visit the Dept. of Homeland Security and get fingerprinted. One more thing to check off our list!
Thank you Lord, for your timing is perfect!

Pressing on...

As I look toward the New Year, I am reminded of what Paul said in Philippians 4:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me brothers I do not consider yet to have taken hold of it but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
2008 was filled challenges and surprises, losses and gains. We are so eternally grateful to God for all that He has given us. A home, children, community and a chance to serve Him.
In 2008 we said good-bye to a very special person. He is loved and he will be missed.
We also said "hello" to adopting. Lydia and Leo are already so much a part of our lives. They are thousands of miles away but in our hearts every moment of every day!
My prayer this year is that God will be GLORIFIED in all that we do and say. That His perfect will will be done. That we can serve Him by serving others. That this will be a year of dieing to self and embracing the Lord's calling to "Go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel" And to count others better than ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
We wish every loved one, friend, and stranger just passing through a Very Blessed New Year. We pray that our story will point you to God the author and finisher of our faith.

Psalm 18:1-3
"I love you, O Lord my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my
fortress and my deliverer,
My God, My Rock, in whom I
take refuge,
My shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.