It's About Time

So we're doing this. Yes, really doing this. After first thinking about adoption 15 years ago when we were trying to get pregnant with Sarah, to not thinking about it again until 6 years ago--when we were trying to get pregnant after having Hailey-- then being off and on and considering adoption from at least 6 different countries, we are finally doing this....we are Ethiopia bound.


When we talked to the girls a few weeks ago, we promised we would have a decision about where we were adopting from by New Years Day and that decision came about 1 am this morning. We had really been going back and forth on where our son or daughter should come from. When we looked at international programs, Ethiopia made the most sense. There are a large number of orphans (some reports are that 1 in 10 children are orphaned in Ethiopia), a limited amount of resources (more kids than orphanage space, limited resources for school, medical care and work), and a relatively stable process in terms of international adoption. We also looked at adoption from the US foster system. That made sense too. Kids who have gone through a lot of upheaval and trauma that needed loving parents and a stable home, a standard adoption process, a good local agency, virtually no cost--why not? You see the problem.


Every time I tried to rationalize, make lists, compare pros and cons, I would just come up more confused about what to do. I don't know why God just doesn't send us emails with step by step instructions. Frustration about making a decision was starting to set in mostly because we felt so strongly the call to adopt but we just didn't know from where. A couple of days ago after we had been talking through our options--again, I asked Tony to just make the decision. I felt like whatever decision "I" made I would be second guessing it forever. So, since God gave me the most awesome gift of a patient, level headed and Christ loving husband, I decided that I should put said gift to use so I asked him to make the decision (I hope you've recovered from your shock enough to continue reading).


So, while I am scared to death (sort of like I when I first saw those 2 'yes you are pregnant' lines when I first learned the girls were coming) I am also at peace and SO excited. I can't wait to move on with this journey to meet our new son or daughter. My goal is to chronicle our process through this blog so that it may 1) Give our child a sense of what our life was like while we were waiting 2) Keep all our friends and family updated as to the progress of our journey and 3) Maybe help other people as they too are starting on thier own family journey.


So---follow along.