We have been asked this question quite a bit, and the question of why we chose Ethiopia. Just thought I’d record the answers for our family: how Joey and I were led in this direction…..
I pretty much grew up as an only child. I always longed for siblings. Because I wanted brothers and sisters so much, I always said I wanted my children to have siblings if I was able to have more than 1 child. I remember one day when Joey and I were dating, we were sitting in chapel (at Liberty University). A few rows ahead of us was a family with 7 children!!! I nudged Joey and whispered to him, “I want 7!!!” Obviously that didn’t scare him off :) I have always thought of larger families having tremendous amounts of love and laughter!
Fast forward several years: 1998. Joey and I really want to begin having children. After about 9 or so months I find out I’m pregnant! We had seen our baby’s heartbeat and everything, but at about 12 weeks, we found out that we miscarried. We were heartbroken. Our due date was January ‘99, so we have a baby in heaven who if he/she had lived, would be 11 years old now. For the next 4 years we struggled with infertility. Lo and behold, January ‘02, we find out we are pregnant again, with our sweet Joshua! Then Mallory and Luke were both surprises!
So, now we had 3 wonderful kiddos, who were all c-sections. When the doc went in to take Luke out, he told me that my scar was dangerously thin, and if I were to get pregnant again, my life, and the baby’s life would be at risk because of a higher possibility of uterine rupture. Oh, I was so sad. But, all in His plan- who knows if we could still keep having children biologically, we might not have listened to His calling for us to adopt!
A few months after having Luke, we began to discuss adoption. When he was 8 months old, we met with someone from our local adoption agency about China. We then left it alone for a while, because I said I couldn’t leave Luke to go around the world till he was 3 (I’ve never left for my kids for more than 3 days, and never gone more than 2 1/2 hours away from them). When we jumped back on board, we found out that the waiting period for adoptions from China had slowed down so much, that it was now around a 5-6 year wait! So we started researching domestic and international adoptions. About this time an old friend of ours posted a blog about a family who was raising money to adopt 2 little girls from Ethiopia. Joey began reading it, and reading about Ethiopia. His heart immediately was tugged in that direction. Now, I am more of the ….take my time…….ponder all the possibilities ….type person. We did choose an agency and have our application pre-approved during this time. Joey was all about Ethiopia, it took me more time to process it for several reasons. Finally, one day in December, God totally made it COMPLETELY clear to me, that we were supposed to adopt from Ethiopia! My dear, sweet, patient husband was SO glad I finally was ‘there’. Ever since, my heart has taken roots there. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ethiopia is where WE are supposed to be adopting from.
So, we began the paperwork process the very end of December/very beginning of January. We originally asked for a girl, 0-24 months, but due to my ‘baby fever’ I’ve been having, we have lowered the age to 0-12 months. We asked for a girl simply because Josh has a baby brother, and Mallory has always wanted a baby sister too. When we begin the process for baby #5, we are thinking of asking for a boy, or just asking for either. Yes, we feel pretty sure we are supposed to adopt at least 1 more time after this one! Oh, how I am so excited to have the privilege of a big family! So much love and laughter! :)
As far as her name, Luke would have been Katie Joan had he been a girl. We still love the name, so it is hers. Joan is Joey’s mom’s name, and all of our kids have a family name as their middle name.
So, there you have it. I could have written more, but this is as much as I can do at the time. It’s funny, people so often respond by saying what WE are doing for Katie, but I soooo don’t look at it that way. Seriously. I am just overwhelmed with gratefulness that God is calling US, and allowing US the privilege to have a precious daughter from Ethiopia, and I CANNOT wait to see her face and to hold her and bring her home!!!!!!!!!!!
precious, thanks for sharing.
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