Adoption thoughts

Many thoughts about adoption...


First and foremost on my heart is the recent and not-so-recent media coverage that Ethiopian adoption has received. The accusations are well worth looking into. Unfortunately, child trafficking is alive and well all over the world, Ethiopia included. This is something I struggled to work out in my head when we first began this process. As I discovered, doing research is a must. It is true that Ethiopia's policies are more lax and time lines move more quickly than most other countries right now. These conditions make it all the more susceptible to corruption. But does that mean that all Ethiopian adoptions are bad, or that Ethiopian children do not need homes? Of course not. There are still 5 million orphans in Ethiopia!

The agency we chose to work through does not solicit children (which is illegal), but rather, when a birth parent approaches their facility wanting to relinquish their child, they work with that parent to try to figure out a way to keep the family intact. Only after outside means have been exhausted to they look to international adoption for that child. This was important to us because we do not pretend to be the best scenario for an Ethiopian child. The best scenario for any child is living with his birth mother and/or birth father. Even if they're poor. Even if they don't get enough to eat. Even if they are not healthy. Love is powerful, more powerful that poverty, homelessness and disease.

If you want to read more about this Ethiopian adoption media coverage, a fellow adoptive mother has written a great post about it here that includes all the relevant links.

My goodness, I cannot articulate how much we are learning from this process. About love. About sacrifice. About adoption. I have a hunch that this adoption process is at least as much for our changing as for our child's.

By the way, I'm tired of saying, "our child in Ethiopia," or, "our baby in Ethiopia," so I asked our friend, Mimi, for an appropriate Amharic nickname to use in this waiting period. "Yene Konjo" is what we came up with. It is a term of endearment that Ethiopian mothers use with their children. It means, "My Beautiful". Isn't that perfect?

There is much that separates us and Yene Konjo. Culture, race, distance, time, money and biology come to mind. But isn't that just a pale reflection of the distance our God crossed to love us? Earlier today, a friend said, "I can't wait to meet this child." I know, me too! It will be so exciting! But I will savor the longing, in the meantime. Because the depths of these emotions that we have are just a glimpse of the heart that our Father has for His children. What a privilege it is to experience firsthand a reflection of my God's own heart toward me. He crossed immeasurable distances to bring me into His family, and for that I will be forever grateful.

On that note, there will be an adoption update later this weekend. I am excited.