We're Adopting!

David and I have started the adoption process through an amazing agency called All Gods Children International. We are SO excited to start this journey! Our adoption application has been accepted, and we will be going through our orientation on Monday, the 6th! Check out our agency's website at http://www.allgodschildren.org/

Why Adoption and Why Now?
Since before David and I got married, we always discussed that adoption would be a part of our family plan. We both agreed that at some point we wanted to adopt. Then one night I had a dream that I brought home a baby from Haiti after the Earthquakes. I mentioned my dream to David, and somehow God used this to get us both thinking about adoption. We both felt really strongly that we needed to adopt before trying to have a biological child. The more we talked about it, the more we realized our child may already be waiting for us. Why would we leave our child in an orphanage until later, when we were ready for them now? So that is what we are doing! Adopting first may not be the most conventional way to start a family for a couple who hasn't even attempted to get pregnant, but we both feel so strongly that this is God's plan for us and our family.

Why Ethiopia?
David and I made the decision to adopt internationally. When we first looked at adopting, we realized there are so many families trying to adopt domestically. These waiting parents are so important to the children in our country, but we felt drawn to children outside of the United States. Many countries do not have the large amount of families that want to adopt like we do in the United States. We decided to adopt from Ethiopia for a number of reasons. One reason was that met Ethiopia's adoption requirements. Some other countries required adoptive parents to be older, or married longer than we have. Another reason was that we watched a video of AGCI's orphanage in Ethiopia. You can watch the video of the orphanage, Hannah's Hope, on AGCI's website. This video was a really big deal for us. The first time I watched it, I was crying. I showed it to Dave, and at that point we pretty much knew we wanted to adopt from Ethiopia. We feel so great about the orphanage, and it gives us such a comforting feeling to know where our child will be cared for until we can come and get them. That pretty much sealed the deal for us in deciding upon Ethiopia.

The whole process will probably take anywhere from 12 to 18 months, and we will have to travel to Ethiopia twice before we can take our child home. Its a long process, but we hope to keep you as updated as we can on this blog! Come back and visit often! I'll update as often as we have more information :)