Why Adoption?? Why Ethiopia???

Why Adoption? Why Ethiopia? I think both of those questions were answered for us at the same time. It wasn't let's adopt and then which country should we adopt from...it was - let's adopt from Ethiopia!

The journey to that decision took some time though.....in September of 2007 Matt had an appointment for the ol' snip-snip....and 2 days before his appointment we pulled the plug! I wasn't absolutely sure that we were done!!! You'd think with 4 kids you'd know for sure....and we didn't! It was a very scary thing to go instantly from being done with 4 kids to now suddenly wanting to be pregnant again!! We were both like - yikes - how did that happen! We didn't try to get pregnant right away - it was more of we're not sure we're completely done and we darn sure better be before we make it final! The idea of adopting had been batted around - we'd watched my best friend go through it 2 years before adopting from China. But the cost was a GIANT issue and we felt it was too big to surmount given we were going to one income the summer of 2008.

So the next spring - Feb of 08 I told Matt I thought we should try to get pregnant. I didn't Caleb to be much older, but it would mean moving back to Washington during the pregnancy. I was thinking get pregnant in the spring so I'd at least be in my 2nd trimester during the move.

Poor Matt. He's lived with me pregnant....we'll barely lived with me...apparently I'm not so easy to get along with while I'm pregnant! ha! So with much trepidation and a resounding "if you truely trust that God will do what's best" ringing in his head we stepped into "no birth control land"....well needless to say God must've known our marriage wouldn't survive a move concurrent with a pregnancy! as we didn't get pregnant.

So the first Ethipian seed was planted at the Creation Museum in Kentucky of all places!!! Irregardless if you ever want to adopt - visiting the museum should be on your list of things to do before you die! It's fantastic!! But that's another story :) We stopped at the Creation Museum on our trip across the country from Staten Island to Colfax, WA in June 2008.

So at the museum we met a family with their 4 teenage "white bread" kids and these 2 gorgeous little 4 year old twin Ethiopian boys!!! It was the first time I'd meet someone who'd adopted from Ethiopia. The boys had only been in country for 1 month. The mom (I'm so bummed I never got her contact info) eagerly told me their story and I teared up through most of it!! I told her we'd tossed around the idea of adopting - joking that it was the only SURE way to get a girl! She told me that Ethiopian woman - of all ages - were the most beautiful women she'd ever seen! She was fantastic to talk with and without a doubt the person who planted the adoption seed in me!!! I loved the fact that because her boys were obviously adopted she got to share their story with me....I'd never thought of adoption as such a beautiful picture of how God has adopted all of us into HIS family....and what a witnessing opportunity! What an amazing way to build a bridge with people and share how much GOD wants to adopt EACH of us.....it was a day I'll never forget.....

But the seed didn't get watered until that October. We live in a town of 2823 people. We LOVE it!!! Colfax Washington is the most amazing place to raise a family. The boys are able to play all the sports with the public school kids and we jumped right into soccer. Wouldn't you know it! Out of 50 kids on the K/1st grade soccer teams Gabriel is on a team with a girl whose little sister is from Ethiopia!!! So for 2 hours every week we got to sit and talk with her mom about Ethiopian Adoption!!! I find it absolutely amazing how God lines up all the planets...just for me! It couldn't have been more clear if He'd sent us a handwritten letter!!!

BUT (you'll notice many of those in this post!) we still had the money issue. We're down to 1 income...although it's a pretty decent one....and one that God ABSOLUTELY has a hand in. We're purely commission based. It's an interesting feeling knowing that God himself writes your check!!! Talk about a faith walk!!! Anyway - the money was still an issue. So what do you know, Matt comes home from his reserve weekend in October and tells me "not to freak out." Well the last time he said that he told me we weren't moving to Washington because the Coast Guard had offered him his DREAM job in NYC......needless to say I started to freak out!

So he tells me that there's a very high probability that his reserve unit will deploy for 6 months to Gitmo in Cuba.......well I tried not to turn it into the next "bay of pigs" and listen with a very open mind...and not FREAK OUT! He said that he would need to go to Seattle April 1st for 2 months for the work ups (but he could come home every weekend - yippee) and then they'd deploy June 1st - Dec 1st........wow......he was quick to tell me that his income would be tax exempt because he was being deployed overseas....double yippee.....

So apparently our house is bugged. The sermon that following Sunday was on how Moses couldn't let God be God. He couldn't step up and let God work through him - he begged for God to give him a helper - Aaron....and forever after the nation of Isreal has been split spiritually and politically....all because Moses couldn't let God work through him. I cried through the entire thing. If God thinks I can handle Matt gone for 8 months - I can do it.....end of story!!! And Matt agreed that we could use the money to adopt!!! Every cloud has a silver lining right!?!??! Needless to say I continued to pray that God would get us so excited about the adoption that we'd still go through with it even if Matt doesn't deploy!