Why Ethiopia?

One of the most frequent questions we have been asked thus far is why Ethiopia? Why not here? First, let me say I'm so glad people ask questions and we do not find them rude or offensive. The questions are good and it helps us articulate and share our hearts.

From the moment God started tugging on my heart I knew it was Africa. I wasn't sure what we were being asked to do but I was confident He was pointing us to Africa. As I shared before I'm a homebody and consider a flight to Disneyland living on the edge so this was completely out of my comfort zone. I started collecting information on short-term mission trips and looked for ways to aid others traveling on missions to Africa. I was still feeling like there was another direction and as I shared a few posts ago as soon as I watched Lucy Lane's Gotcha video it became clear this was how God wanted to use us. To be perfectly honest when Rocky and I would talk about adoption we really didn't explore many other options. We would briefly talk about other parts of the world and domestic adoption but we both felt led to Africa. As we did more research on countries we could adopt from we realized the need in Ethiopia is staggering. A few facts for you about Ethiopia....

There are approximately 5 million orphans.
One in ten children die before their first birthday.
Half the children will never attend school and 88% will never attend secondary school.
Between 60-150 million kids live on the streets.
The doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
82% of the population survives on less than a dollar a day.

I continue to say to myself the need is overwhelming and the statistics too much to comprehend but for one life we can make a difference. And then we just pray where God leads us next. We believe adoption anywhere you feel led is absolutely necessary and I'm only sharing what our family is being called to do. Please continue to ask the questions and we'll do our best to answer.  Below is a video clip from Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia which is run by our agency All God's Children International.