Monday, February 23, 2009
Where We are Landing
after the storm in my head and heart dies down. So for the first time in my life I am aware enough to realize there are many strong signs pointing me down a specific path. The path that I am hoping will leads toward helping to restore free will within Kyrgyzstan. The branch of that path that I am on has to do with the children. I figure if Kyrgyzstan is unable to let it's children go to another country, then I can help to develop the systems that are needed within the country to improve the conditions where they are. System that allow the children to be better prepared and supported. Systems that help to insure that none fall through the crack and are left with no one and nothing at 16 when they age out of the orphanages and systems that could possibly keep the children at home with their families instead of in the orphanages at all. This is a lofty goal but I realize a very solid start toward achieving it is already present in the work and philanthropic opportunities made available through the efforts of John Wright and http://www.simpledreams.biz/ . He and the people he works with are building these systems. What feels right for our family, at this point in time, is that we will be continuing to try to complete the adoption of Dimitri and also adopting a family or maybe two in Kyrgyzstan. After a bit of creative readjusting of the budget, I was able to free up enough each month to allow us to be providing the financial support that they need to keep their children at home with them, while they are provided with guidance and assistance to aquire what is needed to become self sufficient. If you would like to check out the variety of opportunies large ansd small in Kyrgyzstan, please click on the link to simple dreams above.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Shift Happens
I came across the following words in a blog the other day
By the same token, it can be very easy to wonder where He is when we see children suffering and unloved, handicapped men without heat or proper nutrition and people dying of AIDS? How can we see tragedies of seeming enormous proportion such as the fires in Australia and not question where was God? We can not see Him, because we don't want to see inside our own hearts to find Him, we don't want to feel obligated to act so we work very hard to ignore that He dwells in us, that we ARE His tools here on earth. By asking where He is, by blaming Him for not being present or actually ignoring His presence, it lets US off the hook, doesn't it? Nothing then is required of us.
I like the message that we tend to forget that God is in us if we are open and it is through us that he is able to be present during "bad" times and that he is only able to be seen and felt (present) if we are willing to listen and act. This really hits home for me right now. It all seems to come down to free will. We were create with free will. We alone are responsible for our choices and for only our choices. We can try to teach and influence but in the end the only choices we are fully in control of are our own. We are all acting out of free will even those in Kyrgyzstan and I am sure it is probably much easier to be open and look inside your heart when you are living in an environment where a sense of safety exists. When you do not feel safe the voice of fear is probably has a very strong influence on your choices. Then are you truly able to act out of free will or does fear take that privilege away from you. It takes a very strong person to first recognize, then ignore and or override the voice of fear. I am praying for an increasing sense of safety to develop within Kyrgyzstan and within me in terms of this adoption process so that I can act from my heart as well. I am thinking that the sense of safety for me is going to come from letting go, not of the process but of the desire to be in control of it and the outcome. I am choosing to focus my energy on helping to make changes in the systems within the country which I hope will be part of bringing about that sense of safety for the people. I have some ideas brewing......
By the same token, it can be very easy to wonder where He is when we see children suffering and unloved, handicapped men without heat or proper nutrition and people dying of AIDS? How can we see tragedies of seeming enormous proportion such as the fires in Australia and not question where was God? We can not see Him, because we don't want to see inside our own hearts to find Him, we don't want to feel obligated to act so we work very hard to ignore that He dwells in us, that we ARE His tools here on earth. By asking where He is, by blaming Him for not being present or actually ignoring His presence, it lets US off the hook, doesn't it? Nothing then is required of us.
I like the message that we tend to forget that God is in us if we are open and it is through us that he is able to be present during "bad" times and that he is only able to be seen and felt (present) if we are willing to listen and act. This really hits home for me right now. It all seems to come down to free will. We were create with free will. We alone are responsible for our choices and for only our choices. We can try to teach and influence but in the end the only choices we are fully in control of are our own. We are all acting out of free will even those in Kyrgyzstan and I am sure it is probably much easier to be open and look inside your heart when you are living in an environment where a sense of safety exists. When you do not feel safe the voice of fear is probably has a very strong influence on your choices. Then are you truly able to act out of free will or does fear take that privilege away from you. It takes a very strong person to first recognize, then ignore and or override the voice of fear. I am praying for an increasing sense of safety to develop within Kyrgyzstan and within me in terms of this adoption process so that I can act from my heart as well. I am thinking that the sense of safety for me is going to come from letting go, not of the process but of the desire to be in control of it and the outcome. I am choosing to focus my energy on helping to make changes in the systems within the country which I hope will be part of bringing about that sense of safety for the people. I have some ideas brewing......
New Development
The following statement was in a press release yesterday.
Child adoption by foreign citizens or persons without Kyrgyz citizenship is now possible only if Kyrgyzstan has a valid agreement with the government of that country. The Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Igor Chudinov signed the relevant decree on Tuesday, February 17,2009, governmental press service reported. The measure is taken to put system of child adoption in Kyrgyzstan in good order and improve legal basis of the country.
We are not sure what it all means. Some speculate that they may be adopting the Hague agreement, which may in the long run be a good thing as it is designed and intended to protect all parties involved in the adoption process. However, it requires a great deal of resources to put the required infrastucture into place. If the country signs the agreement and then does not have the resources to develop the required structure then adoption is shut down.
I am waiting on clarity from the Department of State.
Child adoption by foreign citizens or persons without Kyrgyz citizenship is now possible only if Kyrgyzstan has a valid agreement with the government of that country. The Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Igor Chudinov signed the relevant decree on Tuesday, February 17,2009, governmental press service reported. The measure is taken to put system of child adoption in Kyrgyzstan in good order and improve legal basis of the country.
We are not sure what it all means. Some speculate that they may be adopting the Hague agreement, which may in the long run be a good thing as it is designed and intended to protect all parties involved in the adoption process. However, it requires a great deal of resources to put the required infrastucture into place. If the country signs the agreement and then does not have the resources to develop the required structure then adoption is shut down.
I am waiting on clarity from the Department of State.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
A Catch Up Post
Although lots has gone on I have not been able to find it in myself to post anything. But today I have it. So here goes:
On February 6th we recieved this invitation form the Dept of State
"We are writing to invite you to participate in a conference call for adoptive parents to talk with representatives from the Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The call will be Wednesday, February 11, at 10 a.m. EST. "
So for 6 days we waited in prickly anticipation of what we would learn from this. Tension rose within me at least. Although I know better I was hoping for some answers and positive news. There were over 100 people on the call. We learned that there are 67 US families that have been matched with children that are waiting to bring them home and over 100 dossiers that have been submitted and are waiting. The representatives of the State Department let us know that they do not know why the halt in processing adoptions is happening in Kyrgyzstan and thus they do not have a plan for how to resolve the problem and that the problem will not be resolved quickly. Not even close to what I wanted to hear. The positive is that they are aware of the problem and are working on it and in fact had a meeting set up with the Deputy MOE in Kyrgyzstan for the next day.
That same day we learned tha a new MOE had been appointed. We remained a bit hopeful until the below information came in on Friday afternoon.
On February 13th we got the following summary of what the US Embassy learned from their meeting with the Deputy MOE:
The Kyrgyz Government has formed an adoption commission that includes officials from the Vice Prime Minister’s office, the Ministries of Education, Social Protection and Labor, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Justice, as well as the General Prosecutor’s office. This commission is responsible for drafting new adoption policy and legislation, with special emphasis on clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies involved. The commission will recommend whether the Kyrgyz Republic should join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The commission plans to report to Parliament by March 20; the Parliament will then choose what action it will take on these proposals. The Kyrgyz government does not intend to process any adoption cases, new or pending, until the adoption commission issues its report and Parliament has taken action on its recommendations.
Although the new legislation likely will not affect existing cases of children already matched with adoptive parents, it will allow the Ministry of Education authority to resume processing these adoption dossiers. New adoption cases would be subject to any new requirements established by Parliament.
The U.S. Embassy continues to monitor the situation and will provide clarification as soon as it is received.
A new committee, a new date, acting on new legislation. We have been down this road before a couple of times over the past year. This is not good news!!! And I do not understand why if pending cases will not be subject to changes in legislation, are the continuing to make these cases wait??? Sounds like just another excuse to me. So down it plummets and I realize I need to make a shift of some kind so that I don't go down with it. What that shift will be is the subject of my contemplation. I will never close the door on Dimitri but I do need to shift to be able to remain present to appreciate all the beauty I have in my life right now.
On February 6th we recieved this invitation form the Dept of State
"We are writing to invite you to participate in a conference call for adoptive parents to talk with representatives from the Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The call will be Wednesday, February 11, at 10 a.m. EST. "
So for 6 days we waited in prickly anticipation of what we would learn from this. Tension rose within me at least. Although I know better I was hoping for some answers and positive news. There were over 100 people on the call. We learned that there are 67 US families that have been matched with children that are waiting to bring them home and over 100 dossiers that have been submitted and are waiting. The representatives of the State Department let us know that they do not know why the halt in processing adoptions is happening in Kyrgyzstan and thus they do not have a plan for how to resolve the problem and that the problem will not be resolved quickly. Not even close to what I wanted to hear. The positive is that they are aware of the problem and are working on it and in fact had a meeting set up with the Deputy MOE in Kyrgyzstan for the next day.
That same day we learned tha a new MOE had been appointed. We remained a bit hopeful until the below information came in on Friday afternoon.
On February 13th we got the following summary of what the US Embassy learned from their meeting with the Deputy MOE:
The Kyrgyz Government has formed an adoption commission that includes officials from the Vice Prime Minister’s office, the Ministries of Education, Social Protection and Labor, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, and Justice, as well as the General Prosecutor’s office. This commission is responsible for drafting new adoption policy and legislation, with special emphasis on clarifying the roles and responsibilities of the different agencies involved. The commission will recommend whether the Kyrgyz Republic should join the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. The commission plans to report to Parliament by March 20; the Parliament will then choose what action it will take on these proposals. The Kyrgyz government does not intend to process any adoption cases, new or pending, until the adoption commission issues its report and Parliament has taken action on its recommendations.
Although the new legislation likely will not affect existing cases of children already matched with adoptive parents, it will allow the Ministry of Education authority to resume processing these adoption dossiers. New adoption cases would be subject to any new requirements established by Parliament.
The U.S. Embassy continues to monitor the situation and will provide clarification as soon as it is received.
A new committee, a new date, acting on new legislation. We have been down this road before a couple of times over the past year. This is not good news!!! And I do not understand why if pending cases will not be subject to changes in legislation, are the continuing to make these cases wait??? Sounds like just another excuse to me. So down it plummets and I realize I need to make a shift of some kind so that I don't go down with it. What that shift will be is the subject of my contemplation. I will never close the door on Dimitri but I do need to shift to be able to remain present to appreciate all the beauty I have in my life right now.
Beautiful people and beautiful surroundings!!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Kyrgyzstan starts moves to close U.S. airbase
Below is the link to the news story. Not sure what this will mean in terms of international adoption from Kyrgyzstan by US families but I hope the feeling in the pit of my stomach is wrong.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090204/ts_nm/us_kyrgyzstan_usa_base_10
Why must the future of children in need around the world be tied to politics? Wouldn't it be great if their welfare could be a given.
Prayers, prayers, prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090204/ts_nm/us_kyrgyzstan_usa_base_10
Why must the future of children in need around the world be tied to politics? Wouldn't it be great if their welfare could be a given.
Prayers, prayers, prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!
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