Why Ethiopia

Why are we adopting from Ethiopia of all places? Well let me tell you!

We went into this whole thing with the intentions of adopting from Uganda. I LOVE the people there and always imagined our family consisting of a Ugandan or two (maybe someday it will). Without going into too much detail we did a lot of research about Uganda and the children and came to the conclusion that, yes, there are thousands of children without families. There are children of all ages available for adoption with the majority of the need being kids over 4. I would sit on the computer and look at waiting child postings (not just in Uganda but here in Texas) and sob looking at the little faces dressed in their best clothes hoping someone would notice them and bring them home. A literally gut wrenching painful reality that leaves a knot in my stomach just typing it. I began to slowly have my eyes opened to a real life crisis not just across the world but right here in the US! And when I say crisis I mean CRISIS!!!

This is a bad thing y'all. I learned that there are about 147 million children that do not have a mom and dad to tuck them in at night. 147 million children that have never had a hug from mommy and daddy, never had a hot meal and never had a bed to call their own. 147 million children that have no sense of security, safety, our love! 147 million little babies that would do anything to have a mommy to squeeze tight at the end of the day and a daddy to show them off to his friends. 147 million innocent lives at risk of being victimized, abused, starved or worse.

As I looked at my precious little nephew and so many of my friends children I began to get angry at the harshness of this world. While these babies are being rocked to sleep in snugglie blankets and watching baby Einstein, 147 million others are starved for love and affection not to mention literally starving for their basic needs to be met. Just not fair!! So how could we help!? We don't really have much extra money. We don't have a big house. I drive a beetle, I couldn't even fit 1 baby in that car! Those were just a few of the things I was dwelling on. In reality we are rich compared to most of the world, we have a bigger house than most people in the world and we own two cars free of debt while the majority if the world doesn't even own one car! Not sure how I got so out of touch with reality but I'm glad God was able to bust through my shallowness!

So we are officially adopting but don't know for sure from where. We learn that it will be rather hard to get an infant from Uganda right around the time that we learn we are having some fertility issues of our own. I selfishly want to experience raising a baby and want Lance and I to go through that together. This is a very hard thing for me to admit b/c I often still feel like I am turning my back on the precious 8 year old girl in the red dress with matching red bows. If I wont be her mommy who will?! These things still leave me laying up at night. We learned that there are millions of orphans in Ethiopia as well, and that there are often young babies available for adoption. We did the initial interview with the Ethiopia people and I asked her if there was a bigger need in Ethiopia or Uganda and she said, "Where there is one orphan there is a need". So true! This was so good to hear and reinforced that it doesn't matter where of how you are helping as long as you are helping. We prayed for about a month about it and decided Ethiopia it was.

We are not changing the world by any means and aren't even putting a dent in the orphan crisis, but at least we know one baby will have a chance to know Jesus and feel like they belong! Ohhh sooo excited just thinking about squishing this little one!!! So there you have it. So excited to finally see the family that God has planned for us! So glad He has opened our eyes!! :)

If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?"
Proverbs 24:12