Why Ethiopia?

I have already been asked this question a number of times, so I thought answering it publicly, might be a good idea.

Here is the practical side:

When Ryan and I were confident we wanted to adopt again we really looked at all our options. We are a little bit limited in the country we could choose because of our large family size.  The main countries however were still open to us and we initially narrowed it down to Russia, Ethiopia and China (doing special needs).  We also briefly considered doing a domestic adoption.  I contacted our previous home study agency (and the one who is currently doing our study) and asked them what were the top countries right now in regards to operating smoothly. Ethiopia was her top pick and then Russia and then China (again special needs).  We pretty much decided Russia was out because in Ryan's words "it is so 2006."  Russia is very expensive and involves a lot of travel.  And I just think we are still burnt out on that beautiful Eastern European country.  Special needs China sparked our interest, but the time frame still would have been considerable and the child probably would have been a little older than we liked.  It just seemed like Ethiopian was a good fit for our family.  Reasonable travel times, the ability to get a relatively young child, the price, all those things just worked for us.

Here's probably the more emotional side:

Over and over again while we were trying to decide where to go, we kept asking ourselves "where is the most need?"  We came to the conclusion that there's no exact answer to that. Because really the "greatest need" in my humble opinion, is an older special needs child (from any country).  So, we had to combine the desire to go where we felt the need was, while at the same time, being realistic about what we felt open to as a family.  Truth be told, while Ethiopia seems like a very needy place (and obviously in general it is), there is a waiting list for adoptable children, especially infants (which is what we are requesting).  That means that if we weren't in line, our spot would quickly be bumped to the next eager parent.  We of course feel that we have lots to offer a child, especially the opportunity to bring a child to a relationship with Jesus.  Maybe the "next eager parent" couldn't offer that and that fact is something else that we considered.

Something else with Ethiopia, it appears to be very adoption friendly right now.  Our international agency (Christian World Adoption) is very big into helping the families and the communities of the countries they work in.  Right now in Ethiopia they have started their biggest "mission's program" to date.  It is called Acadia village.  The president of Ethiopia sits on the board of that program.  That is really cool I think.  Anyways, Ethiopia doesn't seem to have the negative undertones that many countries have right now in regards to international adoption (maybe it's because the program is relatively new).  That is refreshing to us.  No adoption is glitch free, but we are optimistic that Ethiopia will offer us a process that is relatively smooth. 

What about the "black issue"?

I really hesitated to even address this area of the whole thing.  But, I know people will wonder this and we have already been asked this question in some form or another.  The simple answer is "there is no black issue."  At least not for Ryan and I.  Obviously, anyone wanting to adopt trans racially should consider the effects it will have, most of all on the adopted child, but also on the adoptive family.  But I guess this is no different than 2 1/2 years ago when we decided to adopt Anna and Gee.  We briefly thought about the "Hispanic issue" and said sign us up.  Now that is not to say we are naive about things.  We may have some adopted related things to deal with as our soon to be 3 youngest get older.  And, we will deal with that when and if the time comes.  The bottom line is that Ryan and I have complete faith in God and our family in all this.  The same thing (or should I say person) that gets us through the rough spots we currently encounter, will get us through any rough spots to come.  It is all good!

Julie