"What Made You Choose Ethiopia?"

I had someone else ask me today, in a dry, tone of voice ... "What made you choose Ethiopia?"  (What she really meant was, why didn't we adopt from the United States.)

There was this long silence as my mind raced through all the thousands of reasons why ... Ethiopia.

The question really should have been "WHO made you choose Ethiopia?"  I did not choose Ethiopia. The Lord did.

We were thinking Domestic Adoption, but the Lord said, "What about Ethiopia?"

Then we were thinking, Nicaragua, but the Lord said, "What about Ethiopia?"

Then we thought, anywhere in Latin America, but the Lord said, "What about Ethiopia?"

So finally, as every other door quietly closed, we turned around and saw the doors for Ethiopia opened wide before us. "Then you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way ... walk in it.'" So we did.

And now, my heart burns for the Orphans in Ethiopia and other countries in Africa.  I have been ruined.   I saw where they live, what they have and don't have, I feel the burden for them.  I carry it in my heart.

So then this same person asked, "When will you know that you have enough children in your family?"  I wanted to slap her.  I wondered about the motive of this question, in this nation of house, 2 cars, 2.5 children and a dog.

And I said, "I thought with this last adoption that we had enough, but the Lord keeps telling us there are more out there, so after we bring these next ones home ... I guess we will see what the Lord has to say."

I then asked her if she had ever been out of this country. She had not. 

We live in such an abundant of blessing.  It's all around us.  We have SO MUCH STUFF that we have to rent storage units to put it all in.  We have 2 or 3 car garages, (well actually we don't) that are bigger than 2 or 3 whole houses in many other countries.

So "Why Ethiopia?"  Because we told the Lord a while back, "My life is yours. Do what you will.  I will follow You."  And we meant it.

We followed Jesus to Ethiopia.


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I found this video today from another family who are in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia.  Take a look ... it may help answer the question, "Why Ethiopia?"