From Here to Ethiopia

It is a long way from here to Ethiopia, 7,500 miles give or take. So, how I found my way to this country was more by leading than searching. In another post I mentioned that I would spend many evenings looking through the many websites of waiting children here in the US. I would get so sad looking at the pictures thinking about what circumstances might have brought them to that place. I would scour the pages looking for some hint of familiarity in them, just one child that jumped from the page into my heart. I've watched and read a lot about adoption stories and have heard the adoptive parents describe the moment of knowing that they were looking at their child.

One late night, a little less than a year ago, I'd look at the same page of waiting children again I noticed a button for international adoption. There was a link for Ethiopia and from the moment that I hit that button my entire life opened up. I knew what my path would be. I knew that my child (I hadn't worked my way up to two just yet) was there. But how do you get from here to Ethiopia? I had no clue, I just knew that something in me drew me closer and closer until the miles seemed insignificant until thinking of Ethiopia as a far off country on a different continent was irrelevant. I wasn't sure how to get there; I just knew that I needed to go.

I knew that something was waiting for me there in Ethiopia, something greater than the birthplace of the children that I'd someday call my own. I read the stories of humanitarian efforts. I read about the how the US agencies had set up orphanages, of their commitment and care for the children. After reading about the 6 million children alone without parents, the war, the famine, and the poor life expectancy of innocent children, I looked at the pictures.

I looked at their faces and I looked into their eyes and I saw myself looking back at me. Even in their circumstance their eyes were bright and full of hope. There was an instant familiarity. There was a connection that was strong. There was a desire that was born that will not rest until I am able to truly find my way there.

Matthew 6:22 - The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.