To be honest, though, I wasn’t really off.   I was blogging at other places.  A little.  But we seem to keep up with folks so much better through social networks–blogging seemed a little redundant.

Unless you have something to blog about, that is.

And we do!

After a lot of talking and praying and mulling and thinking, we believe that God is leading us to pursue Ethiopian adoption!

There is a lot I could write about regarding what went into this decision.  As some of you know, I have recently come out of a very difficult season throughout which I struggled deeply with our inability to conceive.  I dealt with my depression by hiding from the world, basically.  And I sinfully hurled a lot of pride-filled questions towards our Lord.  I lived in my sadness.  I became angry.  And I refused to believe that God is right in all that He does.  It was a low place.

But the Lord both rebuked me and comforted me with His Word.  (How like Him!)

I re-learned some truths about His character and His grace that humbled me then and humbles me still.

After coming through the worst of this season, I felt the Lord urging me to let go for now the path to pregnancy.  In its place, I feel He has put a burden for children in poverty and without family.  After many long conversations and a lot of praying, William and I both feel compelled to pursue Ethiopian adoption.

“Why Ethiopia?” you might ask.

The first reason may seem a little subjective and perhaps arbitrary, but the only way I can explain it is to say that we just believe God is leading us to adopt from this small African country.  There are also some staggering statistics regarding the number of orphans in Ethiopia.  The population of the entire country is somewhere around 74 million.  Nearly 5 million are orphans.  Staggering.  It burdens me.  Children born into poverty and dying of hunger and preventable disease, without parents to care for them.

Unfortunately, there are so many countries with the exact circumstances.

:::

So, if you’re like most of us geographically illiterate Americans, you may be wondering where Ethiopia is exactly.  It’s pretty much in central eastern Africa.  Here’s a map:

We are still very much in the research stage of this adoption process.  Unlike our lightening fast process with Isaiah, this will likely take closer to two years.  My word of the year(s) will most definitely be patience.  Never my strong suit. We are currently researching agencies and compiling a list of questions to help narrow the list down.  We have a bit of start-up money from two sets of generous friends, so once we make the decision, we can send off our application, wait for approval, and then hopefully move into the homestudy phase.  Having done domestic adoption, the paperwork is less intimidating than it was three years ago, but this whole thing of submitting things for the Ethiopian government is a little daunting.  Exciting, however, is the part where we get to go to Africa TWICE!

I don’t have a lot more to add today.  We’ve barely begun, but we are excited and looking forward to keeping you updated.  We COVET your prayers throughout this process!  Please pray that we will follow the Lord’s leading, that our adoption will be ethical and will be one that truly gives an orphaned child a family, and that God would provide for our needs and for the needs of the little one in Africa that we hope will join our family.

Blessings!

-glenna-