WHY ETHIOPIA?

Ever since Rachel went to Africa in 2005, her heart has been for the African orphans. Before we got married in 2008, we had discussed that we would one day bring home our child from Africa. Unfortunately, many African countries make it very challenging for a young couple to adopt orphans. Some countries require that you are married for a certain period of time, others require that you are of a certain age. We were disqualified from some countries due to the fact that we would be a inter racial family. Other countries would force us to claim specific religions and vow to raise our child under that religion. It broke our hearts as we discovered how there are so many children that need homes, but the countries make it nearly impossible for them.
 
Ethiopia was the country that we kept coming back to, and it was the only country where we met all of the requirements. This was the first thing that truly led us to Ethiopia. As we prayed and searched about Ethiopia, we discovered many new things. According to UNICEF, Ethiopia has the one of largest population of orphans in the world. 4.6 million is the estimated amount of how many orphans are currently living in Ethiopia. That is almost 12 times the population of the city of St.Louis! Out of the 4.6 million, 800,000 have been orphaned from HIV/AIDS. 

We know that our baby is in or going to be in Ethiopia (we aren't sure if he or she is born yet). We have such a peace about adopting from Ethiopia. We are so honored to have the opportunity to love and raise our baby from this beautiful country full of beautiful people. 

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