Many of you are probably wondering why? Isn't it expensive? You haven't had your "own" kids yet? Won't it be hard? What will it look like for an African baby to grow up in a white family? Those are all questions that we expect to come our way, and we are prepared to answer them.
Why adopt now you ask? Before having biological children? Because we want our family to be a clear picture of the Gospel. Because we too were once orphans. Not in the sense that we didn't have a family with a mom and dad, but spiritually we were orphans separated from our heavenly Father. We desire for others to see that just as God adopted us into His family unconditionally(Ephesians 1:5), we have done the same for a child who had no one. We want to share the love that God has given us with a child that might not otherwise know about Him. Aaron and I both have had the desire to adopt since before we were married. However, we always thought it would be something we did later on down the road. Lately though, through an adoption ministry our church has started, and watching several of our friends go through the process, God has really been pressing on us that the time is now. So after much prayer we're stepping out in faith and answering the call. We want our child to know that they are wanted, they are chosen, that we came for them, that this wasn't a "last resort" but a choice we made to give a home to the fatherless.
Why Ethiopia? Yes, we know that there are plenty of children here in the US who need homes, but we feel that we are called to an international adoption. For us right now, this makes the most sense. I would like to have a spiritual answer for why we chose Ethiopia out of all the countries available, but I don't. After researching agencies and country qualifications(age, income etc), we were left with only one agency, which happens to be the one our friends have all used, and two countries: Ethiopia and Bulgaria. After looking at the country profile for both countries, Ethiopia was where we landed. Not only were they less expensive than Bulgaria, it allows us to get as young of a baby as possible, and the need is staggering. Here are some quick facts about Ethiopia:
*There are an estimated 5 million orphans in Ethiopia
*Only 24% of households have access to clean drinking water
*1 in 10 children there die before their 1st birthday
*1 in 6 die before their 5th birthday
*Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school
*60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
*1/3 of the population lives on less than $1 a day
You would have to take all the kids 18 and under in New York, Massachusetts, and District of Columbia- remove their parents, and you would have the number of children who are orphans in Ethiopia.
We want to make that number 5 million minus 1!
Expensive you ask? Why yes, it is. We have no idea how we are going to come up with the money to complete this adoption, but we're resting in the fact that God does and He will provide. He has ordained this adoption long before we were even born and He loves this little baby more than we could even imagine. We're going to be doing lots of fundraisers along the way so keep checking back with us for updates on those. Also, if anyone has any creative ideas we're open to them!
Lastly, yes, adopting from Ethiopia means we will have a black child, and we're a white family. We know that there will be issues that arise from this, and we're prepared to deal with them. The best way I have seen this put is on another blog I've been reading and the mom answered this same question this way: "we know this will have its difficulties, but we consider them miniscule in comparison to the difficulty of being an orphan in a devastated country like Ethiopia."
So please join us in praying as we start this amazing journey to bring our baby home!
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