Why Ethiopia?

Here are you some points to ponder, just in case you might be asking yourself why Ethiopia?

One in ten children die before their first birthday

One in six children die before their fifth birthday

44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old

60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition

The median age in Ethiopia is 18 years

1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)

720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone

Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa

In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)

Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)

Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.

Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.

Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.

In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.

Ethiopia has approx. 4.3 million orphans and the country is twice the size of Texas.

These statistics are staggering to me. These are the things that have me awake and blogging at 1:25 a.m. I think about the stats and about our baby girl, who is waiting on us in Ethiopia. It saddens me that children have to leave their country and their birth family - because of poverty and disease - because we live in a fallen world, a Genesis 3 world, if you will.

It's this G3 world that beckons us to make a difference somewhere in it. Since reading the book "Same Kind of Different As Me", I ask myself over and over, am I really making a difference? God has called our family to make the difference in the lives of some of His children, my children that are scattered all over the world. It is a privilege to be an adoptive parent. It is something that I am very grateful for. People say to me "I could never adopt" or "I could never start over with little ones again", but the truth is, God never said that it would be easy. And, believe me, it's not. But again, the question pops back in my head - am I making a difference somewhere, anywhere?

I don't have any clue why God has called us to adopt - it's certainly not because were the best parents in the world. It's not because we're wealthy either - believe me, we scrimp and save every bit we can to put into our adoption fund. It's not because I like being awake at 1:33 a.m., thinking about such things at the dire circumstances of orphans in Ethiopia and China. That's just it.

It just is.

It is because He called us to make a difference, but isn't that what He calls all of us to do? No, not necessarily to adopt (scared some of you, didn't I), but to make a difference in the life on an orphan. It's mandated by scripture, go ahead, check it out for yourself. It may be as bold as starting the process to adopt or as simple as committing to pray daily for the children all over this world that have no one to call their own.

Heavy stuff for 1:30 a.m.

Adoption is the very core of who we are. We are so thankful that He called us to do the most difficult thing that we have ever done in our lives. Aliza, we love you with all our hearts and we are coming to get you. We can't wait to meet you, because we know that God already has created you to be our daughter.

Hold tight, sweet girl, Mommy is coming.

Thanks for reading.