Dear Friends and Family,
We write this to give you a quick update and, primarily, to ask for your prayers.
As many of you know, our adoption has not moved forward as quickly as we had hoped. It seems that our region in Russia is the only one having these delays. The news we received this week is both good and not-so-good. The good news is that our facilitator in Russia will be meeting with our Judge on Wednesday to present our dossier in order to get a final court date. From this meeting, the judge has three options: issue a court date, take our case under review, or refuse to issue a court date.
The importance of this meeting cannot be overstated. We are asking you to pray on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning (Russia is 9 hours ahead).
The not-so-good news we received is why we are so desperate for your prayers. There are 3 families trying to adopt children with Down syndrome from this region. Two of us have already met our children. The third family is waiting to be invited for their first visit. They were told last week that the Ministry of Education (like our Dept. of Children's Services) will not issue a travel date until the two families who have already traveled have their adoptions finalized. Their reasoning: They don't believe the judge will okay the adoptions of the two other families who are adopting children with Down syndrome.
As you can see, the need is urgent. Our little girl will be the FIRST CHILD WITH DOWN SYNDROME EVER ADOPTED OUT OF THIS REGION. For reasons we simply don't know, the judge appears to have some hesitation in finalizing these adoptions.
Please pray that her heart will soften, and that she will grant court dates and allow these beautiful children to have families. Pray that our sweet girl gets to come home. Pray that something changes in the judge at the deepest level, because she has the ability to influence that region in a powerful way. How wonderful it would be to see the Spirit of God move in Russia through a little girl : )
Thank you for standing with us. Please pass this on to anyone who will join us in prayer.
Tori and the rest of the Hook family
Tori,
ReplyDeletePlease know we will be praying. Julia usually has me up around 2 a.m., :) so I will be praying for the judge to make the decision to move ahead with all the adoptions.
Patty
Hi Tori, I have never commented on your blog before but thought I would now. I am praying for your sweet sister! I know how it feels to be waiting for a sister to come home. My family is adopting my sister from Bulgaria through RR (She has hydrocephalus). I'm praying for you!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just looked under your 'orphan care' page. And seriously, do you know Luke (or his family)? I just got back from volunteering for 3 months at his orphanage! I just about had a heart attack seeing his picture on your blog! I'm starting to think that it actually is a small world. : )
I'm praying you get good news this week!
Joanna in Canada