21 Favors....

I have a favor to ask of you again. This one requires no money, no huge effort, no big production.
Every step I've taken for the last two years I've had someone stop me in my tracks to ask me about the adoption. And whether I wanted to talk about it or not through the ups and downs, I've always liked it best when that person just simply told me "I am praying for you." Sometimes when things are hard, we don't know what to say to people. Most of the time we end up saying something stupid like "I know this is all happening for a reason" or "it's going to be just fine". I bet a lot of you right now are thinking, those are bad things? When your child is spending his or her life in an institution without a mama or a papa across an endless ocean, those things aren't really the best choice of words, even if you think they are the truth.The most comfort I have found are when people simply say that they love me and that they are lifting me, Chad and Charlie up to God. And that they genuinely mean it. You can see it in their eyes that they are petitioning God on our behalf, that they believe that God really has the power to change things in the hearts of men (and judges).
So, with that being said, my heart has been terribly heavy lately. In the last two years, I have had the privilege of meeting some spectacular future adoptive families. Families that in some way or another are spending Christmas without their children. Some of them are good people that have been caught up in bureaucracy and broken promises. Some people are just waiting the wait, hoping for the next step in the journey.
I've just been thinking about myself lately. My situation. Getting Charlie home. Period.
So here is where you come in. I need your help, but only if you truly mean it. It's easy. I need you to lift some very important people up in prayer. All of these people are in the midst of different circumstances, but share a common theme- they are without their children. This Christmas, I suspect, they are trying to carry on "life as normal" but despite how busy their lives are this season, how many gifts left to buy, and how many Christmas parties on the calendar, their hearts are elsewhere. Russia to be exact.
So as you trim the tree, rush to the mall, watch your children delight in the season; when your mind drifts to all the ways you've been blessed by your family and friends, please remember them....
Steph
Tesney
Mary Jo
Angie
Natalie
Ashley
Brittany
Kim
Deana
Denise
Ursula
Summer
Michele
Lisa
Dawn
Jennifer
Shelley
Chris
Stacy
Steffen
Julie