Why Not Local Kids?

The next most often question asked is why Ethiopia? This question too comes in different forms, ranging from people wondering why we would adopt internationally and not from the states, to wanting to know how we settled on the country itself, but my favorite is when some asked, "You know those kids are black, right?".
Rest assured, we know fully what they look like and they are wonderful, but I will get to that a little later.
The decision for international adoption, for us was the only option we looked at. Karie and I have been on multiple mission trips and have seen first hand the abject poverty that these kids live in and it has always moved us. When you have built a "house" for a family of four to live in that is the size, shape, and has all the amenities of our tool shed, it changes your perspective on what it really means to be in need.
Now, before you grab the stones, I am not suggesting that orphaned kids in the states have it great or are not in need. But when you consider a few facts, it was obvious to us where the greatest need was:
-- 1 in 5 children in Ethiopia will not reach their 5th birthday
-- the average income is $330 annually
-- less than half the children are in primary school (45%), and less than a third in middle school, and only 22% of girls are literate
-- and hold on for this... there are more orphans in Ethiopia (4.8 million) than there are total people in the entire state of Kentucky (4.3 million).
These statistics are not unique to Ethiopia, they are in countries like that all over the world. We just felt if we were called to the least of these, they were exactly who Jesus was describing. These children will never have the opportunities that even the poorest children in America would.
We also looked at how greatly we have been blessed and began to ask, why? Have you ever wondered that? There is no question that we have been blessed. If you are reading this, then you have a computer, electricity, and an Internet connection through cable or a telephone line. Look around just the room you are in right now and see how much stuff you have, then take a walk around your house. And just ask why? Why were we so blessed by God? Was it so we could gather all this stuff unto ourselves, then get a big enough house to hold it all, that is, until we run out of room and begin contemplating a move. But what if we were blessed for a different reason. What if we weren't blessed for us, but for Him?
This is what our family began to ask ourselves. And obviously we were confronted with the simple truth that we had not managed our talents very well. Oh, we multiplied them, we were very good at that, but we buried them in the soil of self and continued to look for more.
So we began to look at our blessings, not just material, but our most important blessings and the way God had impacted our lives. One of the things we thought we had the best of was family, we have a great family. So we started to think of how we could share that blessing with others and that's how we wound up on adoption. Opening up our home to share with someone(s) with out one.
So who to adopt? We knew that we wanted an older child, really because I'm over babies. I don't even like to hold my nieces and nephews. And then we settled on two because, well we had two and Karie and I are very OCD and into balance. We didn't want anybody to have to sit by themselves in the minivan. So, this is how we settled on two kids, older, and siblings. Next week I will share the amazing story of how God chose Ethiopia for us.

In the Beginning

In the beginning... we read a book. Well, that is as near to the beginning as I can guess. I give this as an answer to the most asked question we have received when telling those we know that we wanted to adopt internationally, the question of "why?". Now no one really asks it that way though. It usually comes across in other forms like, "What made you decide to do that?" or "How do you know this is what you are supposed to do?" or "Have you thought about (fill in the blank)?". What they really all want to ask is, "Are you crazy?". And the answer to all of these is simply, yes. So how did it happen? What happened to us that made us snap, go off the deep end, and do something so, well, crazy?
That is where I want to begin here. To begin at the beginning and tell our story, well God's story really, of how He is working His miracle and purpose in our lives. I wanted to be able to share this with our friends, family, and also to share a story with anyone else who is being called to crazy. We had and have more questions than answers, but I can't think of a better way to share ideas than to share our story.
Why adopt, and then why international?
The adopt part is simple, we were challenged by the book, "Radical" by David Platt and by James 1:27. We wanted to find pure religion, and begin to step away from the pursuit of the American dream. I began to ask, why am I working so hard, to earn more money, to have more stuff that I just don't need? Or to put it one way, "We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like" -- Dave Ramsey. We were firmly on that path and we had to ask ourselves, why? Or as Platt put it, I doubt seriously that when I reach the end of my life I probably won't say, "I wish I would have gotten more stuff".
So we began to think of the stuff we were good at and what God have gifted us with, and the first thing we came back with was family. We have a great family. And we came to realize that one way that we could impact a small part of the world was by inviting more people into it-- adoption.
So why international? Well, that is a great story and I will answer that next week in the second post here. Thanks for reading/sharing and most of all thanks for your prayers and support.

Brian