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Adoption FAQ #2: Why Ethiopia?

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Ah, this is a fun story....

When we submitted ourselves to God's call to adopt, our next question was "Where, Lord? There are so many orphans. How can we possibly pick a country?" We asked Him to show us--close every door, except the one we're supposed to go through. He did.

If I've ever had a "flashing billboard sign" experience, this was it. Ethiopia was everywhere I looked--conversations with friends, random blog posts I would stumble upon, the news....EVERYWHERE!  The night before we had a meeting at Bethany Christian Services, I told Ray I had a feeling it was Ethiopia.

When we first sat down to talk to the adoption coordinator she used Ethiopia as an example...I got goosebumps and nudged Ray.  She even showed us a picture of a little boy that had just come home from Ethiopia. My heart melted.

Through the course of our meeting, we looked over every inch of a spreadsheet with adoption requirements for countries. I made notes by each country and even marked a few that we didn't qualify for completely off the list...Some countries were closed to new applicants. A few required very long travel (2 months long!) and just wouldn't work for us. Others only had very severe special needs that we just aren't ready for at this time.

At the end of our meeting, the only country that didn't have a note or line through it was Ethiopia. We knew and our hearts fell in love with Ethiopia.

Since then, God has been confirming it over and over to us. Ethiopia is still everywhere I look!

I also found this video and I couldn't pretend I didn't know....

Proverbs 24:12

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who guards your life know it?
Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

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Jennifer Allwood

Sunday 15th of January 2012

I would love to talk to you more about Ethopia. Found you tonight off the Anderson Crew blog. OUr family is beginning to look internationally at adopting as domestic is just taking tooooooo long. Email me if you feel up to some questions. Blessings, jennifer

Sara

Thursday 19th of January 2012

Sure Jennifer! I would love to talk more about Ethiopia! Feel free to send questions to happybrownhouse (at) gmail dot com

Corrie

Thursday 6th of January 2011

So, is there a cure for leprosy? Is this the town your child is coming from?

Sara

Friday 7th of January 2011

We don't have a referral for our child yet, but I guess it is possible that we could get a child abandoned in the trash dump.

Adoption FAQ #3: Why Don’t You Just Foster Adopt? | Happy Brown House

Saturday 1st of January 2011

[...] choosing to go internationally instead of fostering in our own country make us bad people? No. We fully believe God has led us to Ethiopia. We also believe that God has families picked out for all orphans. Maybe you might be one of [...]

emily anderson

Wednesday 29th of December 2010

love this post :) and oh man, that video...

Sara

Wednesday 29th of December 2010

Thank you Emily! Praying for your family and little Elsa during the waiting period!

Missy @ It's Almost Naptime

Tuesday 28th of December 2010

So happy you are hopping on this crazy ride with us!! Prayers that you will have a little almond eyed baby home by next Christmas :)