...why Ethiopia?

Good question! :o)

We've known that we want to adopt for a long time. Because my Grandma was born in India, and I was there as a little girl, we used to think for sure we would adopt from India some day. However, right now India is not accepting any new adoption applications, and we really feel like God wants us to adopt a daughter NOW. In addition, we don't want our kids to be too far apart in age, and who knows how soon India may or may not change its policies.

I don't at all feel like Ethiopia is a "second choice" after India. I think our focus originally was on India was because I had been there as a child, so it felt semi familiar. Really, the important part is the wish God has grown in our hearts to bring a little one into our family from afar.

We've prayed a lot, and researched a lot. We looked at domestic adoption thoroughly, but it just didn't feel right for us right now.
We decided to stick with the plan of international adoption. We looked at different agencies, and 3 of my friends have had a really good experience with AWAA. We also feel like their values and goals are in line with our own beliefs. We looked at the different country programs that AWAA offers, and Ethiopia seems to fit our family best: the process takes 18-24 months to bring home an infant girl (China's wait time is 4 years!), and it is possible to adopt very young infants (starting at 1 month, so as young as 4-5 months at home-coming), which is a lot younger than in many other countries.

The more I read about Ethiopia the more my heart aches and I feel myself falling in love with the country from afar. There is a huge need there, with an estimated 4.3 million orphans.

In spite of the dire need in Ethiopia, infants and children are treated well: both from what I've read in books and on the internet, and heard from friends who adopted from Ethiopia, the babies in the orphanages receive good health care, are loved on a whole lot by the nannies, and are all screened for HIV, Hepatitis, and some other common diseases.

Also, one reason we decided to adopt from Ethiopia is that some friends here in town adopted from there, so our little girl will grow up seeing other families that look like hers (white parents with light and dark skinned kids).

~This evening my prayers are for our daughter's birth mother. Right now, our daughter has probably not even been conceived. Who knows the hard path that still lies ahead, both for the birth mother and our little girl. May God be with both of them. May God give comfort, strength, and courage.