There is so much more to life, so much more to each breath that God breathes through us each and every second of our life. He has put us on this earth for a purpose. Will we find the purpose He has put in us, or will we live another day just for ourselves? These are the question's that have ran through my mind time and time again.
Who will reach the orphans, the cries that come from orphanages throughout this world? Who will say, "You are God's precious one who deserves a loving home."? As that question has run through my mind time and time again...and as I was adopted myself...I had to say, "I want to help, I want to love, and be selfless to one or more of God's precious gifts."
So, the start of something beautiful has begun. Darren, myself and our ever so excited kids have made the decision to reach out to Ethiopia. To reach out to a baby boy in a land of need. We actually began the process to adopt a baby or babies from Rwanda. But, the agency, (we are going through American World Adoption), said that Rwanda has not been the most stable and their government is not set up yet for adoptions so the wait time is growing and the laws are changing. So we knew Africa was in our hearts and Ethiopia would be the place. Why Ethiopia? Why not. There is such a need. Here are some statistics:
Ethiopia counts one of the largest populations of orphans in the world: 13 per cent of children throughout the country are missing one or both parents. This represents an estimated 4.6 million children – 800,000 of whom were orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
The country has seen a steady increase in the number of children becoming orphaned because of AIDS. In the past, famine, conflict and other diseases were the main factors that claimed the lives of parents
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| © UNICEF video |
| Street children are continuously exposed to various forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation. They do not have access to basic rights such as access to proper care, education, psychological support and supervision. |
Grim statistics
Many street children like Mandefro don’t have access to basic rights such as proper care, education, psychological support and supervision. Often, orphans and other vulnerable children are forced to work to earn an income. They are exposed to various forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation.
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In Addis Ababa more than 30 per cent of girls aged 10-14 are not living with their parents. Twenty per cent of these 30 per cent have run away from child marriages.
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Twelve per cent of adolescents aged 10-14 – of the 30 per cent not living with their parents – surveyed in two areas of Addis Ababa were domestic workers. They are very young, very vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, and typically have no legal or social support.
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In the Amhara region, the average age of marriage for girls is 14, while at the national level the mean age for marriage is 17.
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There are about 2.5 million children with disabilities.
Today as we began to fill out the application it became ever so real that we were "doing this". I got on the phone to call and ask 4 friends to be referrals for us. Putting it in to words kinda' freaked me out a bit. We had kept it so quiet...so, making phone calls and announcing our intentions was a bit nerve racking. It was like, "We made a step that we can't back away from now." Not that we would want too! As we look at photo's of babies being adopted from Africa, we have to say..."Beautiful!" We know it's meant to be.
So, what is the process? I will keep it short and write a longer post later that explains the whole thing, once we understand it better. We are going through American World Adoption's, (Steven Curtis Chapman is a part of this organization, and adopted 3 amazing girls from China), it seems to be the right fit. We did think a long time about China. The wait for a child is upwards of 4 to 6 years at this point...WOW! Darren and I realize that we are not getting any younger and so we knew that was not God's plan. Once we fill out our application, American World has to approve us so we can start the process. I don't know why they wouldn't, but I guess that is a possibility. We will turn in the app. and go from there. The wait time for a baby boy in Ethiopia is about 3 to 6 months, after our paperwork is finished (that takes 4 to 6 months).
To think we have gotten rid of all of our baby stuff. WOW! What a start over. But, we know God will supply!
What can you do? Pray. Please pray for God to work through every part of this process. We are excited, nervous, thinking we are a bit crazy...but, we are willing. Isn't that all God wants? A willing heart?
Dear Ethiopia, you had us with those big dark eyes and those so sweet smiles. We are giving a part of our hearts to you, we are in love. We are loving a baby who is not even conceived as of yet. But, we know that our love is big enough to reach across the ocean and the deserts to a small country in so need of love. God gives us enough love to reach that far and we are willing to give a piece of us to you.
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