why ethiopia?

my grandparents got us a globe for christmas.

it was a fitting gift...and came to us right before mr. anderson left for africa.

we were able to "see where daddy was" while he was on his long flights to and from.

 

so, as i walked into the boys room the other day, i got so perturbed, seeing that one of them had put a gigantic red sticker on this globe.

our beautiful globe.

my immediate thought was "who the heck did this and why don't they know how to take care of our things?!"

but then upon further inspection, i noticed where this "big, giant, red sticker was placed".

a heart over addis ababa, the city where elsa resides.

caedmon came running up to me, so completely proud and beaming, saying "look, i put a heart sticker where elsa is, cause she's our sister and we love her!"

my heart broke (and i quickly forgave myself for the bout of anger i had going on inside of me for the sticker in the first place).

my immediate thoughts were "they get it"...they are understanding the fact that we have a part of our family on the other side of the world.

and in that moment, i was very thankful.

 

so, i'm often asked why we chose to adopt from ethiopia...i can't really give more of an answer than "the Lord has called us to adopt from there"...really.  i never would have said we would have a child from ethiopia.  but now, here we are...so close to having her in our home.

 

the statistics for this country are heart breaking.

see for yourself:

 

• 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 17.8 years

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

• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia (this number varies, some say there is as many as 6 million orphans).

• 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.



so i ask you...where is your heart residing?

maybe you're not ready for adoption at this point, but i pray that the Lord uses this blog to show you that you don't have to be a small family...you don't have to be a rich family...you don't have to be a perfect family to adopt.

i know many of you have emailed me with specific questions regarding our adoption journey.

if i haven't answered them, please leave them in the comments section of this post and i will answer :)