"May the God of hope fill you with great joy and peace as you trust in him." Romans 15:13

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Why Ethiopia?

A few people, including my daughter Sierra, have asked lately why/how we chose Ethiopia? Why not Haiti? Rwanda? Nepal? China? USA?


That question has brought me back to the beginning. It is amazing how quickly time passes sometimes. Five months ago we were blissfully sitting by a campfire considering our nest full and counting our blessings! Adoption, although something we had considered in the past, was no where in our plans.


Then God grabbed a hold of our hearts! Through a series of events that only God could orchestrate, we were convinced that there was a little boy in Ethiopia that was going to need us to be his family. We never once considered another country - though there are children that need families in every corner of the globe.


We also only contacted one placement agency. This is weird for me. But from the beginning IAN was our only choice. Not because we thought they were somehow better than other agencies, I think there are many agencies that are doing amazing things for children and families. But because our hearts told us that they were the agency that would find our son.


In this short time period everything has changed. I am so in love with our little Joshua that I have a hard time remembering I didn't come up with this idea all by myself. It is hard to believe how God can mold a heart and erase all doubt. So why Ethiopia? It's just where our boy is.


Is God grabbing your heart? Is He urging you to go somewhere or do something? Trust Him. Listen more and argue less. It will be scary for a while, but before you know it you will be totally sold out. You will wonder how you could have ever doubted. When we let it, His will becomes our own.