Prayer for the Chapmans

Tonight our thoughts are with the family of Steven Curtis Chapman, who tragically lost his daughter Maria Sue in a car accident yesterday. She was 5. Everything we have experienced in the past two months pales in comparison to what the Chapman family is going through right now. It’s just hard to imagine.

Below is the link to the news story, from their website
http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6259

Please let us pay a quick tribute. I don’t think we ever told the story of how the Chapman family was an important link in the chain that netted the “breakthrough” letter from a US Senator. Quick background. After bringing home the first of their 3 adopted daughters many years ago, the Chapmans founded Shaohannah’s Hope, an organization whose goal is “mobilizing the body of Christ to care for orphans”. Shaohannah’s Hope has become an invaluable resource in promoting domestic and foreign adoptions, providing all sorts of logistic and financial support.

What does this have to do with Sundi and Damon? On April 22^nd, the day after we put our plea out for help, our friend in Chicago contacted Shaohannah’s Hope, who immediately got to work. They looped in the CCAI (Congressional Adoption Coalition), along with tying in the Mvule Project and the Kibo Group. These groups engaged the office of US Senator Mary Landrieu, who is a big adoptive advocate that we had never heard of before. Landrieu’s office worked with our local congressional office to quickly approve an intricate letter. The letter—which addressed ALL of the court’s concerns- miraculously showed up in our inbox late in the evening of April 23^rd.

Perhaps another path to the same destination would have opened without the Chapmans or Shaohannah’s Hope, but we may never know. What we do know is that this letter helped save our adoption, and that we owe an enormous debt of grateful to this special family from Nashville that we have never met. Our heartfelt condolences go out to them. Please join us in praying for the Chapman family.