Erin and I are often asked - Why? How did we get here? Its been a long journey.
We've always known we've wanted to adopt. Almost since the beginning. We had two wonderful healthy children when we decided to "wait" for the next one (what WE didn't know was that Erin was pregnant at the time (Somebody upstairs thought that was funny). But of course that just became a overwhelming blessing in our little Zoe. But... set the adoption plans back a bit.
We had been talking about it again for months back in 2007 and finally SHOOK on it after a wonderful Father's day at the beach with both our families. We thought that would bring relief - just making a decision. But, then the hard part started. Where? What age? Boy? Girl? An agonizing decision...
But... Ethiopia just seemed to find us. Looking back, its almost eerie. Like our course had already been charted for us. After meeting with our social worker, as we were about to leave, she mentioned that they were starting a new program in Ethiopia. She wasn't sure anything would happen, but that it was a possibility. As Erin and I walked out to the car, I remember us both just going... "Hmmm, Ethiopia?" our minds spinning.
Our oldest son Nate, basically made the next decision. Without knowing we were talking about adoption — seriously — WITHOUT KNOWING he came up to us and said something about for his Birthday he wanted a Playstation. But, for Christmas - he wanted a brother. A brother! I remember looking at Erin, wide eyed and just nodding to her, "OK. Here we go."
We soon spoke to our social worker to let her know our intent. After we had told her Ethiopia, older boy - she broke down for a second and said, "I just got off the phone with with someone here and said 'What are we going to do with all of these older boys in Ethiopia?" And 5 minutes later YOU called."
How did we get here? Bottom line... Erin and I are blessed beyond belief. We have thee healthy vibrant children already. We have a family system of Grandparents, Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, neighbors and friends. The question wasn't how could we do this, but how could we NOT? We are too immensely blessed to not share this life with another.
And now we know who... our son, Eli.
