Praying for the Oppressed

Recently I’ve been praying a lot for the oppressed… For the oppressed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Oppression “the state of being subject to unjust control, prolonged cruel treatment and/or mental pressure or distress.”

In my own life I’m currently praying for our children in the D.R. Congo who are oppressed by the Congolese government that won’t allow adopted children to leave the country. They are legally Barnett’s and we have all parental rights to them in Congo, but even with US travel visas they literally aren’t allowed to come home.

I’ve also be praying for a dear friend who has been oppressed by an autoimmune disease that was controlling her every day life. It was leaving her helpless physically, which in turn, was oppressing her mentally and spiritually.

I’ve been burdened to pray daily for those with mental & psychological oppression. I know we all have friends that are dealing with different levels of depression and/or anxiety.

I constantly see and pray for friends and families who are facing reoccurring physical illness, which is undoubtably oppression.

So the question is – how do we pray for the oppressed? There’s only so much we can do for them physically; therefore, prayer is our most powerful weapon!

Through my time in God’s Word, in prayer, and watching some amazing mentors do freedom ministry, the Lord has revealed some incredible examples I’ve learned….

1. Lay the oppression at the cross

We must lay OUR oppression or the oppression of OTHERS at the foot of the cross. All healing and miracles are found through the blood of the lamb! We must recognize that no amount of control, money, or medicine will heal anyone unless we give it to God and His will is to heal them.

2. Ask God to move

Because we know the Lord loves us and longs to fight for us, we must ask Him to step in and battle for us. Sometimes we assume God is going to work on our behalf, which of course He does… but if we don’t ask, we can’t assume to receive.

3. Use the power with in you

We must recognize the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us. We have great authority living in our lives that we can’t forget to use on a daily basis!! We can’t just ask God to do a miracle we have to command out the evil in this world by the name of Jesus.

4. Ask what you can do

Prayer is also a form of asking God, “What do you want from me, Lord?” If your friend is hurting, your family sick, or a child is starving….what can I do to help? Our actions can help, heal and support the oppressed so we must not be afraid or rely on the ‘next person’ to actually be God’s way out of the pit.

5. Believe in deliverance

I hear people say all the time…I’m believing for you! I say it all the time too. Believing is part of the healing process, the patience process, the deliverance process! We MUST believe the Lord can and will deliver us from evil because He has all power and authority to do so. When we get in the pit of negativity or doubt how can we expect a miracle?

Here are some scriptures that tie together with these examples and show our great God’s love and care for the oppressed!

1. Lay the oppression at the cross
“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” Psalm 9:9
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18

2. Ask God to move
“May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!” Psalm 72:4
“He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” Psalm 72:14

3. Use the power with in you
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” Isaiah 1:17
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” Colossians 2:9-10

4. Ask what you can do
“Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;” Psalm 146:7

5. Believe in deliverance
“From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. “Selah” Psalm 3:8

“And for those who are oppressed the Word of God says this:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:6-8

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

“For I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.” Philippians 1:19

Life in the Mystery…..

Recently I decided it was time to update our blog title.  ‘Life with the Barnett’s’ has been the title since I began blogging back in 2008 but recently I’ve had some revelation about who we really are as a family.

Two songs have truly inspired me over the years….The first is called Albertine by Brooke Fraser. It was written back in 2007 after the New Zealand musician took a trip to Rwanda.  The lyrics are incredible and tell a story that Adam and I can relate to on a daily basis. Since we started taking trips all over the world, 8 plus years ago, this song has helped put words to the feelings we’ve felt after seeing all the poverty, orphans, and spiritual depravity ‘third world’ countries face.

Half the world lives on less then $2.50 a day. 22,000 children die a day due to poverty. 1 billion people around the world can’t read or even write their name. 2.6 billion people don’t have basic sanitation. 1 in 5 children don’t have access to clean water which accounts for many of the 10.6 million children a year that don’t make it to their 5th birthday.

The specific children Brooke sings about lost their parents in the Rwandan genocide.  She heard their story, saw their faces, and held them in her arms. This lead to lyrics such as:

Now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are

I will tell the world, I will tell them where I’ve been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine

To watch the music video or at least listen to the song visit this site- http://vimeo.com/4849372

Another more recent song that helped me connect the dots to how I feel about our journey as the Barnett’s is Oceans (Where feet may fail) by Hillsong United. It won worship song of the year for 2014. It was written to portray the story of Peter when Jesus tells him to step out of the boat and walk to him on the water.  

Some of the lyrics are below as well as two link to this song and a music video.

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep
My faith will stand

So…………how have these songs inspired me? As a follow of Christ. A Christian. A wife. A mother. I’ve chosen to live 100% sold out for our Creator God. What that looks like for us as a family has been interesting to say the least. Adam and I chose from the very beginning of our dating relationship to trust the Lord and follow His plan for our lives, even when people questioned our decisions, for example:

1. Getting married young (21 years old)
2. Going on overseas mission trips
3. Doing infertility treatment to conceive
4. Adopting two orphans (8 & 3 years old)
And so so so much more….

What we’ve learned through the journey as Barnett’s is that ‘Life is a Mystery’. You may be thinking, duh!!! No one know’s the future. But where we feel so blessed is that our Creator does know the future, He does know the best plan for our lives, and if we trust Him through everything He will take care of us!!!!

So the tagline to our blog says, “Our journey of faith as we follow the Spirit of God”. To me it explains the way in which we have chosen to live ‘in this mystery’ of life. Through all the uncertainty of circumstances and daily life decisions we’ve always relied on the Word of God, prayer, and guidance by the Holy Spirit with in us!

Therefore, we have and will find God in the mystery….because we trust Him as we walk on the water. Through all the ups and downs we will keep our eyes on Him and keep walking by faith!

Trying to bring them home……

Some of you may know that our adoption has been going very well but that we’re now getting closer and closer to being at risk for having our children STUCK in Congo!! Having children stuck means that they’re legally you’re children and have passed through the court phase of adoption and that they have all legal documents to travel, like passports and visas, but the country they live in will not release them to leave.

The whole adoption process in Congo is still moving along….this suspension of exit letters began back in September 2013 just when we had been matched with A & G…and since then we’ve completed our adoption, met our children, submitted our I600 (petition to adopt and orphan), completed and passed the adoption case investigation by the US Embassy, received Congolese passports, and attended a visa appointment at the Embassy.

We are now updating a couple documents that the Embassy requested changes on at the visa appointment. Once this is complete and our children have visas (in a couple weeks) they would normally be ready for us to come pick them up! But since the DGM (immigration) in Congo aren’t giving exit letters to adoptive children we’ll be anxiously await this suspension to be lifted!!

The upside to all of this…we feel so blessed to have met our children’s foster parents, seen their home, and spent a lot of time with our agency in-country coordinator! They were all incredible people! The foster parents are retired congolese pastors who have a large; nice home, by third world standards…. And before our children lost their mother they were living on the streets so they now have beds, food, and most importantly love!!!!

Although we want them home with us we’re grateful for where the Lord has put A & G until that day comes. So, thank you for all your continued prayers…We believe the Lord will and can continue to do miracles in our adoption process and we anxiously await giving Him more and more glory as He does His thing!

Meeting The Barnett’s

This past week, Adam and I had the most incredible time in the Congo meeting our A & G!!  It was so surreal because not only were they meeting us for the first time, but we were meeting a part of our Barnett family for the first time, too… A & G officially have our last name as of about 6 weeks ago.

We felt so blessed to have SO MANY folks praying for this trip. Praying for our travel, our bonding, and our adoption process.  And the most incredible thing about all the prayers we received is that not only did we feel them, but they must have far outweighed our wildest imagination! Our trip could not have gone any better!

We arrived early one morning and got settled in our apartment as we waited for A & G to make their way from the foster home.  When we got the call that they were waiting downstairs, we immediately dropped what we were doing and raced down stairs to meet them.  Luckily we had enough sense to give our phone to our translator to video our first moments together.

So many emotions have built up over the past 6 months as we’ve seen pictures and videos of our future children…it’s been a lot like a pregnancy!!! We’ve had the ultrasounds, heard the heart beats many times, but until you hold that baby in your arms, you’re restless for more.  

As we rushed down the apartment complex stairs and turned the corner into the parking lot to see our children for the first time, in person, it was so much like hearing our babies’ first cry!!! It was miraculous, revealing, refreshing, and simply beautiful…..

The first meeting is one of those things you try to imagine and you replay it over and over in your mind…wondering what will it really be like when we meet them.  Will they be excited, cautious, or nervous?  Will they smile or even understand what’s happening? You try not to be naive to the reality of adoption and how children can act in different situations but our experience was definitely beyond anything we could have hoped for.

As we locked eyes with the children they quickly shot up and took off running towards us…I immediately burst out into a loud cry that sounded like a squeal…I couldn’t help but be in shock as I watched these two beautiful children long to be in our arms.  The Lord says in Psalms that “He’s the father to the fatherless & provides families for the lonely.” In that moment I couldn’t help but feel like we were actually being the hands and feet of the Father.  

Those first couple hours were so sweet… just coloring, playing games, and communicating through our translator.  We all warmed up quickly and enjoyed getting to really see each other and know that we’re all real people and that this is our future, together!  The crazy thing for me, as a mommy, was that although I had never met them I felt like I knew them.  I already had preconceptions about them from what I had heard and seen in videos and pictures, and most of them were true.  

It was like holding your newborn baby in your arms and not fully recognizing their sweet face, but studying every inch so that you could memorize it! We had an incredible moment at lunch our first day as ‘G’ prayed over our food.  Although we didn’t know exactly what she was saying she prayed a ‘long’ (for a kid) ‘passionate’ prayer. That was so eye opening for us because, like the quote: “It takes a village to raise a child”, we realized the foster family, who are pastors, are raising A & G so well!!!

We spent half of our second day together after church. Their foster home was far from where we were staying, so Adam and I got to enjoy a local Congolese church with our translator while the children went to church with their foster family.

We then met at our apartment for lunch and our first big adventure…swimming!! A & G had never been to a swimming pool before.  When we arrived at the pool A was excited to step into the pool and play on the stairs…little did we know he assumed it was just like taking a bath so he had taken off all his clothes in a matter of seconds!

They were a little nervous but very adventurous and enjoyed floating and holding on to us while we played at the pool.  Because the foster home was so far from our apartment, this was the first time we were without our translator for the whole afternoon, evening, and night.  Communication wasn’t really that tough.  The only time we had issues was when A & G got into a scuffle about (food usually) and we couldn’t determine who was really at fault.

Oh well, kids will be kids!  A & G eat well, but the normal Congolese food is pretty different from our western meals.  We had the pure joy of watching them enjoy the food we had bought at the grocery store, like grapes, nutella, juice, apples, etc.  Our translator had never seen grapes before and they were able to introduce us to a lot of new fun foods as well: mangosteen, lychee, & cassava leaves. We have some incredible footage of ‘A’ eating chicken…he cleans the meat to the bone! 

They loved eating, they always cleaned their plates, and enjoyed snacking between each meal, too!! This was one of many things you just don’t really think about or may have a misconceptions about…I’m planning to learn how to make some Congolese meals so we can keep their culture alive in our family, even when they’re home in the US.

Our first incredible moment of bonding was our first night with A & G at our apartment.  We tucked them in at the ripe time of 7pm…they were exhausted, and at around midnight, ‘A’ joined us in bed.  Previous to his arrival, Adam and I were like parents with a newborn.  We checked on them multiple times just to make sure they were covered with the sheets or because we heard a sound. But the moment he jumped in bed with us, we knew we wouldn’t be falling asleep anytime soon.

‘A’ nuzzled up between us and within minutes had his sweet little hand on my face, cupping it.  I literally melted…I realized not only was he mine now, but he is our first and only son!  What sweetness that moment brought to our lives.

We woke up early the next morning to go to the embassy to submit our I600 documents. Everything went perfectly smooth except me forgetting to fill out one important document.  So we ran and did that, and then returned to the embassy to submit our completed file. This step is our final phase of adoption as A & G are already legally ours in the Congo with our last name, however, the US now does it’s investigation to prove they’re true orphans and that they can be issued passports and visas.

That afternoon we took a little walk to a near by basketball court to color with chalk, play with toy cars, and mingle with some other children in our apartment complex.  It was fun watching them interact with other children around their age and begin the process of really being a family.

Its very cultural for any adult women or man to be called mama and papa, so it was very sweet to be called by those names all week by both of them.  Our final day together we drove out to the foster home to see where they’ve been living and see the foster family and children.  The drive was pretty bumpy as the roads were only made of dirt and were very narrow in parts (barely fit a vehicle).

Once we arrived, it was so fun to see all the other children that I know are matched with other families just like us.  All the children were very sweet and the foster family is truly inspiring.  We had the incredible privilege to pray over the foster parents before leaving and, although this was very special, it started the trend of tears. As I cried tears of joy and compassion over the foster parents, A & G noticed and must have assumed we were leaving, which sadly was true.

They started crying and ‘A’ said, “Papa”, and reached up for Adam, while ‘G’ turned and began walking towards the back of the room. I walked after her and grabbed her.  I turned her around and got down on my knees and said, “Tolingi yo, tolingi yo, I love you, I love you!” Then our translator told them we’d be back to bring them home as soon as the government will let us.

We drove off with tears in our eyes and silence for a long while, but broke our silence by thinking about our other two children waiting for us at home.  We missed Ellie and Macy and couldn’t wait to be back with them, but more then anything wished we could bring our whole family home that day!

I say all this to say, we had such a blessed, overjoyed, miraculous trip to Congo and we can’t wait to return later this year to complete our family!

Running for A & G

On April 27th, 2014 Andrea will be running her first full marathon at the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. She never thought she’d run a marathon but love can sure make you do crazy things!! We’d love your support in 1 of 3 ways….

1. Support Andrea in her efforts to run for A & G by donating $1/mile, $5/mile, $10/mile, or whatever amount you prefer!

2. Create a relay team for the OKC Marathon in support of our adoption to bring A & G home. 

3. Run the OKC or ANY 5K, Half Marathon, or Full Marathon in support of bringing A & G home.

There’s no official process to run in support of our adoption but here are some ideas how you can raise funds….ask family and friends to sponsor you by the mile, hold a garage sale, host a lemonade stand, sell homemade craft items, ect.

By running and/or supporting us you will help bring home A & G and we’re truly grateful for all the love and support we’ve seen thus far on our journey!!

All donations for Andrea’s marathon or in support of our adoption via your run can be made at:

https://squareup.com/…/for…/support-the-barnett-adoption

Happy Holiday’s from The Barnett’s

Last year we wrote our family update on our Christmas card, however this year we decided to direct you here! What better way to hear about our family than our blog!!

2013 has been incredible! We feel more at home than ever at Journey Church! Ellie and Macy literally can’t wait for each activity at church…it’s our favorite place to grow, fellowship, worship and have a blast…oh yay, and Adam is privileged to pastor there!

Adam’s doing an amazing job of leading the college ministry! He speaks almost every Tuesday at Lifestream where we see hundreds of young adults come to grown in community with The Lord.

Adam’s also had the privilege of starting a new internship program at Journey where they’re teaching passionate young adults about how to obtain their dreams!

In 2013 Ellie started all day Pre-Kindergarten and is flourishing beyond belief. She’s very talkative these days and has the sweetest most outgoing personality! Ellie loves her baby sister so much and although they’ve begun to ‘have their moments’ Ellie loves to give Macy her milk, talk to her like a baby, call her sweetie, as well as cuddle while they’re watching movies.

Ellie scored her first goal this year in her YMCA soccer league and performed in a music program over the summer! She memorized ‘We are the world’ by Michael Jackson and loved signing it into her fisher price microphone while playing the keyboard…just adorable.

Macy turned 1 this year and started walking & talking…mostly baby Japanese but she’s really starting to pick up on some fun stuff: mah (kisses), star, thank you, Ellie, mama, dada, BG, Nonna, uh oh, chu chu and more!

She’s a beautiful handful! She Ioves to run off without even looking back. She eats like a horse and loves getting into things. She’s a big girl trapped in a babies body…she’s ready to take off at anytime.

Andrea has been enjoying her stay-at-home job with Mission of Hope and felt so blessed to travel to Haiti 3 times this year! She keeps busy with running car pool, women’s and college ministry, as well as staying on top of adoption paperwork and preparation!

This year has been surreal in relation to our calling to adopt. We began the process in Haiti but eventually felt The Lord leading us to the DR Congo. Although we believe adoption is one of the most beautiful acts of love it’s also a very challenging act of trust. We’re daily trusting in The Lord, our agency, and the US & Congolese government to work all things out for the glory of The Lord!

We are so excited to be matched with a sibling pair of a little boy and girl! We’re in the middle of the court phase (the first of two phases) and plan to go meet A & G in January! Ellie is very excited to have an older sister and younger brother but asks a lot, “Why is it taking so long to bring my them home”.

We understand many of these steps we’re facing are in all of our best interest and that God’s timing is perfect! We can’t wait for the day when we get to bring them home…prayerfully in 2014!

Thank you for your love and support and we pray The Lord will bless you and your family this holiday season and in the year to come!

Love,

The Barnett’s

The Barnett Family Adoption Video

Here’s our story to adoption!

I don’t want to have to adopt……

In a perfect world there would be no orphans!  Not because they would all be adopted but because they would be with their biological parents and siblings enjoying a perfect life.  However, that world doesn’t currently exist.  As a future adoptive mother I wish I didn’t HAVE to adopt.  I would love nothing more than to see all children with their birth parents, but our world has far too much pain, loss, & poverty for that to happen.

November is National Adoption Month and it’s been so encouraging to see television shows like the Today Show promote and share incredible stories about adoption.  However there is no doubt that adoption has many challenges that many people don’t know about.  The orphan crisis has it’s own concept in everyone’s mind but it’s your heart that leads you to believe the truth in the matter.

Personally, I’ve seen many orphanages and know some foster parents that are wonderfully successful in making every child feel loved, cared for and appreciated.  These institutions and families are to be greatly commended and their love and hard work should continue on!!  However, adoption is and will always be a huge part of the orphan crisis solution!

This month, not only has the good of adoption been shared, but the sad reality has been shown too. Corruption exists in many countries around the world. Interestingly enough, adoptive parents are some of the most informed people in regards to this topic.  My husband and I planned to adopt from Haiti through a seemingly wonderful organization but little did we know a lot was going on behind closed doors that no one knew about. However, this corruption can’t produce paralyzing fear…in our case there are two childrens lives at stake in Africa.  

Obviously children are the ones who suffer the most during institutionalization, corrupt foster care, and corrupt adoptions.  So, whats the greatest act of resolution? I believe it’s found by looking within ourselves. What are we called to do individually?  Not everyone was created to adopt or foster but we were all created to love, give, and support those in NEED! Those in need include orphans & biological parents. It’s hard to celebrate adoption when you know it was caused by great loss, but we must step in and support families and most importantly fill the gap. (James 1:27, John 14:18, & Philippines 2:4…….)

So, how does National Adoption Month affect you if you’re not adopting….from within, the Lord will lead you to know what you can and should do to help those in need.  I can promise you this…it is not to sit idle and watch people and the world lose a battle to the enemy of God! All of humanity can do it’s part to help those in need. At one time or another we will all be in need too.

There is hope in loss.… we must believe that!

Leaving this world for a much better place…

It’s beyond comprehendible to think a parent would EVER find joy in losing a child! However, sometimes home, is not in our arms it’s in the arms of our Creator!

In the past few weeks 31 little children lost their lives in the Congo. Just recently our agency started working with an orphanage in a very remote village that had a little over 50 children living in it. In a matter of days a water born illness traveled through 31 of those orphans bodies making them so sick they couldn’t survive!

This heartbreaking story brought back a memory for me that changed my life forever. About 6 years ago I heard from a missionary friend, in Africa, who had literally just spent the night before wiping the brow of an orphan and singing to him as AIDS took his last breaths. Adam and I had just visited this orphanage and I realized in that moment that every single child in this whole wide world has a right to life and life to the full…however…we can’t stop death. But we can be there to make them feel loved, to prayer fervently for they’re spirits, and to tell everyone their story!

The darkness of this world can strip anyone’s life short but it CAN’T take our soul! That will forever belong to our King, our Creator, our Savior.

These 31 sweet souls may have lost a battle they weren’t prepared or even fairly placed in to fight but I can promise you this….!!! They are in the best Home and Hands anyone could ask for!

Who taught me this? Adoptive mothers who just found out their children have been buried in Africa!

During the adoption process you go through so many ups and downs but one thing you hold tightly to is that you will be a forever family for someone someday. But sometimes that forever family is not our home but the heavenly kingdom which awaits us all!

His Plans Over Ours….

You may have noticed we’ve updated the header and background on our blog…it was about time.  But also you may notice our photo has one blue balloon and the other balloon is missing.  Well…we’ve realized in the last month that The Lord’s plans are far greater than our own.  After transitioning all our paperwork from Haiti to the DRC (Congo) we once again requested two boys to join our family.  Little did we know that two siblings had just been orphaned and even though they didn’t ‘match’ our criteria God had already matched them with us!

On August 25th we accepted a referral for a BROTHER and SISTER pair!!  Ellie will have an older sister, slightly younger brother, and lots of new love in the family.  We’ve already received all the paperwork on our future children to begin the court phase of the DRC adoption process. Things so far are moving quickly but we know we have a lot ahead of us so we’re asking you to join us in prayer!!

Lord, you are our Rock and Redeemer!  We know your plans for us are greater than we could ever imagine for ourselves so we ask that your Will be done in our lives and family.  We pray health and healing over sister G and brother A as they heal from great loss and as they wait for us to come fill the gap.

We love you and we need your wisdom, compassion, and patience as we pray and prepare to love on these sweet ones!

Amen