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. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ethiopia, Welcome to the Family

Image
Dear Ethiopia, I had ideas and expectations of what I would encounter when we met. You see this was not my first trip to Africa; be slow to judge me, Ethiopia. I am not the white American girl who thinks that all of Africa is one country.  No, I knew you would be different, but I wasn't quite sure how.  My husband and I have both been to several third world countries, so we were preparing ourselves for the extreme conditions we would see. Ethiopia, like many of the other places I have traveled, your living conditions for so many people broke my heart. To see young boys (some probably not 5 years old) living on the streets and working as shoe shiners and doing other little jobs to make it day to day is something I hope never becomes normal or acceptable in my eyes. Unclean water for people to drink is clearly a huge world problem and is no different for you. We visited a church that is home to many HIV positive, mentally disabled, and physically disabled. These people are the
Read more

Parting the Sea Walking on Dry Land Kind of Prayers

Most of you who follow our story have seen that I have slowly been sharing about the trip. I have told many of you that it was the best and worst trip of my entire life. It truly was an emotional rollercoaster. Many of you have been private messaging us, calling us, and texting us and asking us, "What is next? How do we pray? When are you going back? What is the timeline?" First of all, I have to stop and say once again we are so blessed to have such faithful, loving, and supportive friends and family. Seriously, you have no idea what you all have meant to us and how you have truly impacted our lives and this process. I know many of you have been so sensitive and cautious of how to approach us and love us, and we want you to know that everything you have done has not been overlooked, and we are sorry if we haven't truly expressed our gratitude in ways that confirm our love and appreciation to you. I am a woman, so I am guilty of spider webbing (going off on another
Read more

The "Lucky" Misconception

The other day a friend said something that struck me, and I thought it would be an interesting and maybe challenging topic to write about. One of our friends had asked us how old Zane was and after we told him, he said that's good. Maybe he will remember his life before you guys and be way more appreciative. I understood where he was coming from, and I know he wasn't trying to be offensive, but it just pained me when I heard this. I know people don't mean anything negative by it, but I think there is a misunderstanding about adoption. Often I hear Zane is so lucky. Zane will be so grateful.  I want to set the record straight. We hope to raise Zane in a way where he will see the goodness and blessings that our family has received. He will be involved in community projects and world projects at a young age. Ethiopia will be a common subject, and we hope to find ways to give back to his village and his country. But please understand this. We (Jeffrey and I) are
Read more