2 Prayer Requests

I am going to take a break from posting the Ghana trip journal today because I feel these two prayer requests are more important. Yesterday we received word from Kofi that the court date they were supposed to have had to be postponed because Samuel's older brother was killed in an accident. You can read Kofi's notes here:

I had to ask the lawyer to postpone Sullivan's adoption case today because Samuel and the mother could not come to Accra today due to the death of Samuel's senior brother. Samuel's senior brother was involved in an accident and died when he was traveling from another village to see his brother Samuel upon hearing that Samuel had been visited by Americans and that Samuel was going to the US. According to the Ghanaian tradition the brother should be first buried before the mother can travel. This is an unfortunate situation. The lawyer has rescheduled or postponed the case to 26th Jan in order to finish the burial next week. I remember the Sullivan's met Samuel's junior brother and took a picture but the senior brother was living in another village.

My heart just sunk when I read this. Every mother's worst nightmare has now just come true for Samuel's mother. Please pray for her and for Samuel today....that God would comfort them and give them understanding. Please also pray that God would cast out any fears that this tragedy has brought up to Samuel's mother. Please also pray for Samuel's safety. Every day I force myself to give my worries about Samuel's safety to God because I know I have no control over it. It is only God's hand that can protect Samuel from danger. Please pray for protection and safety for Samuel.

Also, you may have heard that the island of Haiti was hit by a 7.0 earthquake yesterday. This was the hardest earthquake to hit the country in 200 years and currently communication lines are down. My first thought when I heard about the earthquake was for some families here in Iowa that are adopting children from Haiti. Two of these families have been in the adoption process for over 2 years and are still waiting to bring their children home. I thought about them immediately and I wondered if their children were safe and had escaped the destruction, collapsing of buildings, and falling rubble. I wondered how this tragedy would now postpone their adoption cases even more since this country is going to be in absolute chaos for awhile. Then, I thought about all the children who would emerge from under that rubble and find that in an instant they were now orphans as their parents were no where to be found. I think we can add this country to our prayer list today. Please also specifically pray for the many families that are adopting children from Haiti and are awaiting to hear the status as to whether their children are okay.

Psalm 27:1,5

The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.