My sister, Karen, has been trying to adopt another little girl from Guatemala for over a year now. These are pictures from a recent trip Karen took to Guatemala to spend some time with Guisela. My sister does not now when Guisela will be able to come home but it needs to be soon. They are caught up in the red tape of making her adoption final. So, Guisela needs your prayers. Here is my sisters prayer list. :) Hope you come home soon sweet little Guisela!
1. Praise God that Guisela has been surrounded by angels during her various placements (she has been in at least 4 different care facilities/locations in her lifetime) and has not suffered abuse. I ask you to pray that the angels continue to protect her.
2. Praise for there not being any abnormalities in her brain.
3. Praise God for putting these 3 doctors in our path and the insight that they have to help us bring Guisela home quickly and to help her medically in the interim.
4. The Family Court where Guisela’s case is currently reconvened Thursday, 15 January. Please pray that the Judge will act quickly in giving Guisela’s physical file to the social worker so that the social worker can begin her interview process and writing the report. If you remember from the last update, the social worker had agreed to do the report before the Christmas holidays. Well, the Judge said that she could not give the file to the social worker because the secretary position in her court was vacant. I know, sounds goofy, but that’s how it works. I pray that either the secretary position is filled or that the Judge sees it fit to simply give the file to the social worker herself.
5. Pray that we are able to gather the last remaining documents needed for the DNA to be processed at the US Embassy between Guisela and her mother and that we can begin this part of our journey quickly as well. To my knowledge, we only need one more piece of paper in order to file for the authorization to do this. This was the piece of paper that we were going to obtain on the day that our early morning trip was cancelled. (I have since then located someone in the town where she lives to accompany her to the hospital to retrieve this document. I pray that this has been done at this time but I do not have any official word regarding it).
6. Pray for Guisela that she is able to understand that we haven’t left her and are going to return for her. Pray that she will keep her mind open and not “shut down.” The pediatrician stated that in his experience with “institutionalized children,” there is often a point where they “shut down” and become "unteachable" and/or unreachable. There is no magic age or time when this happens, but his concern is that if we don’t begin working with her now, we might lose the window. If the window is lost, it will be difficult to “get her back” to the point where we can work with her. Pray that she will be stimulated properly in her environment and that she will have an understanding of our “disappearance.”
7. Pray for patience for Judy and I. We feel a huge sense of “now” but again realize that our timing and God’s timing might not be the same.
8. Pray for peace for Judy and I. This whole journey has really clouded our vision and impression of Guatemala. Being that all of our children will be from this country, it would not be fair for them to feel our current dislike of the country. Our faith and love of the country needs to be restored in us.
9. Several people with whom I met on this trip have all said that they will help us. Pray that they keep their word, having their hearts softened to do the right thing for Guisela. I do feel somewhat awkward with this request because I think it somewhat contradicts our acceptance of God’s timing, trying to push my own sense of timing or urgency on this or that the request is my agenda for someone to do which might not be God’s agenda for that person. What I do know, however, is that God understands my heart and my desire to have her home now and that He can step in and do what’s needed in every situation.
10. Pray that we as a family will continue to grow in Him. I have shared with several of you that this journey has definitely challenged us and in many ways, has made us stronger in our faith walk. I pray that we will continue to take the steps of this challenge with Him, not having our hearts hardened and calloused by the day to day news (or lack thereof) in the processing of this case.
2. Praise for there not being any abnormalities in her brain.
3. Praise God for putting these 3 doctors in our path and the insight that they have to help us bring Guisela home quickly and to help her medically in the interim.
4. The Family Court where Guisela’s case is currently reconvened Thursday, 15 January. Please pray that the Judge will act quickly in giving Guisela’s physical file to the social worker so that the social worker can begin her interview process and writing the report. If you remember from the last update, the social worker had agreed to do the report before the Christmas holidays. Well, the Judge said that she could not give the file to the social worker because the secretary position in her court was vacant. I know, sounds goofy, but that’s how it works. I pray that either the secretary position is filled or that the Judge sees it fit to simply give the file to the social worker herself.
5. Pray that we are able to gather the last remaining documents needed for the DNA to be processed at the US Embassy between Guisela and her mother and that we can begin this part of our journey quickly as well. To my knowledge, we only need one more piece of paper in order to file for the authorization to do this. This was the piece of paper that we were going to obtain on the day that our early morning trip was cancelled. (I have since then located someone in the town where she lives to accompany her to the hospital to retrieve this document. I pray that this has been done at this time but I do not have any official word regarding it).
6. Pray for Guisela that she is able to understand that we haven’t left her and are going to return for her. Pray that she will keep her mind open and not “shut down.” The pediatrician stated that in his experience with “institutionalized children,” there is often a point where they “shut down” and become "unteachable" and/or unreachable. There is no magic age or time when this happens, but his concern is that if we don’t begin working with her now, we might lose the window. If the window is lost, it will be difficult to “get her back” to the point where we can work with her. Pray that she will be stimulated properly in her environment and that she will have an understanding of our “disappearance.”
7. Pray for patience for Judy and I. We feel a huge sense of “now” but again realize that our timing and God’s timing might not be the same.
8. Pray for peace for Judy and I. This whole journey has really clouded our vision and impression of Guatemala. Being that all of our children will be from this country, it would not be fair for them to feel our current dislike of the country. Our faith and love of the country needs to be restored in us.
9. Several people with whom I met on this trip have all said that they will help us. Pray that they keep their word, having their hearts softened to do the right thing for Guisela. I do feel somewhat awkward with this request because I think it somewhat contradicts our acceptance of God’s timing, trying to push my own sense of timing or urgency on this or that the request is my agenda for someone to do which might not be God’s agenda for that person. What I do know, however, is that God understands my heart and my desire to have her home now and that He can step in and do what’s needed in every situation.
10. Pray that we as a family will continue to grow in Him. I have shared with several of you that this journey has definitely challenged us and in many ways, has made us stronger in our faith walk. I pray that we will continue to take the steps of this challenge with Him, not having our hearts hardened and calloused by the day to day news (or lack thereof) in the processing of this case.
Guisela
Karen (mommy) and Guisela
Guisela and Hope
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