Why Ethiopia?



Several people have asked me why we chose Ethiopia. A few don't necessarily agree with it, some have no response and some wonder why we don't adopt from the United States when there are so many kids here who need homes. While I can't argue with that comment, I will try to explain why we chose Ethiopia...

When we first began truly thinking of adoption last year, we originally thought about adopting from Vietnam. We found out, though, that Vietnam is currently closed for adoption and no one knows when it will open back up. As I began to do more research, and spent a lot of time in prayer, God began speaking to my heart. He began calling us to the ones with little chance of adoption. While most people adopt from  the United States or Asian countries, God was leading us in a different direction... Towards Africa, more specifically, towards Ethiopia... Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and 3 years ago, it was reported that there was a staggering 5 MILLION orphans. That is just a little less than the population of our home state of Indiana. Imagine if all of Indiana's people were actually orphans... Absolutely breaks my heart to know that there are that many, just in one country...

Yes, we could adopt from the United States, and while I have no problems with other people doing it, it's just not what God put in our hearts... I, personally, believe that orphans and foster children in the United States have a lot more potential and opportunities than the orphans in Africa, specifically Ethiopia. And I have no doubt that God molded my thinking that way so we would follow his call to Ethiopia.

Did you know that in Ethiopia, out of every 10 babies, one dies before their first birthday? And that out of every FIVE children, one dies before they turn five? This is why we feel led to adopt here. Ethiopian adoption is becoming more and more popular, but still, many couples are opting for the infants, and the older children and/or sibling groups are getting left behind. I have absolutely no problem with people adopting infants and little ones, but God has opened Michael's and my hearts for any child He wants to give us - baby, toddler, or young child. We were originally keeping our hearts open for any child, boy or girl, from infancy to 4 years of age, but due to agency requirements because of our children's age, the age range is 0-2.  It honestly breaks our hearts to know that there are children Ilana and Aydan's age who either don't have a mommy or daddy or grew up too poor to be taken good care of.

What's even more amazing, lately,  is seeing Ilana's heart for the orphans at such a young age. We have obviously been talking a lot about orphans around our home and when explaining to her about how there are lots of little girls and boys her age who are far away who don't have a mommy OR a daddy, her heart broke as well as her eyes filled up with tears and she asked why. I explained that they're just waiting a little longer for God to give them a family, and her response was for us to bring them all home so we could be ALL of their family... Oh, how I love that little girl with a heart so big! And oh, how I wish we could bring all of them  home...

Anyway, long story short, after lots of prayer, "God nudges" (or shoves sometimes!), and research, we chose to adopt our little girl or little boy from Ethiopia. God has opened door after door during this process that anyone who doubts that this was God's plan is crazy! ;)