Why Ethiopia
Even while we were researching our options for our first adoption, we knew that we would adopt at least twice for several reasons. One of those being that we hoped for four kids, another being that we didn’t want Jones to be the only one in our family with a different color of skin or the only one adopted. So after we got settled with Jones, we started reading and praying again about where the next Carroll child would come from. With more and more families responding to the need here in Memphis (praise God!), we felt like the next kiddo would probably come from a different country.
This past summer, we started getting bombarded with Ethiopia. Friends that had gone and sent back coffee and pictures, stories that we heard, articles that we read…Ethiopia began to be engraved on our hearts. And we quickly realized that Ethiopia has almost 5 million orphans – a large majority due to the AIDS pandemic. Ashleigh found a book called “There is No Me Without You” by Melissa Fay Greene and devoured it. It’s the true story of an Ethiopian woman who lost both her husband and her daughter to AIDS and just before slipping into total seclusion finds herself taking in AIDS orphans in Addis Ababa. Greene did an incredible job of telling her story and the story of Ethiopia. The cycles of poverty, its rich history, its devastating medical crises, how AIDS has taken out almost an entire generation of parents…and how it finds itself unable to care for all of its orphans. That book sealed Ethiopia in our hearts. We double dare you to read it.
So here we are. At the beginning of the international adoption process. This one will take a lot more time and is already at least double the paperwork! But we’re excited and blessed that God has led us here. We can’t wait to share the adventure with you, our friends and family. Stay tuned for details, ways to get involved, timelines, etc.
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