Adoption

FACTS:  the global orphan crisis
  • Nearly 144 million children across the world are orphans.
  • Every 2 seconds, another orphan dies from malnutrition.
  • 6,000 children are orphaned by AIDS every day. That is newly orphaned child every 14 seconds.
  • Around the global, 15,200,000 children have been orphaned by the AIDS crisis.
            If all these children held hands, they would stretch across the U. S.

                  By 2011, this virtual chain will reach around the world.

FACTS:  adoption and Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a beautiful country with warm, caring, people.  (Please visit the Ethiopia page for pictures!)  Despite Ethiopia's beauty, Ethiopians have to deal with serious poverty and all the issues it brings.  Ethiopia is ranked by the UN’s Human Development Index as one of the four poorest countries in the world. 

In Ethiopia:
  • there are almost 5 million orphans
  • 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday
  • 1 in 6 children die before age 5
  • mlnutrition is the underlying cause of more than half of all child deaths
  • the average life expectancy is 48 for men, 50 for women
  • there is 1 physician for every 34,988 people
  • There are 4,141 people for every hospital bed
  • 1 in 4 women dies in childbirth or from a pregnancy-related illness
  • 22% of the population has access to improved drinking sources: 
  • 13% of the population has access to adequate sanitation facilities: 
  • Only 50% of children attend primary school (K-3)
  • Average class size in government schools – 85-100 children (as a teacher--yikes!)
  • Overall literacy rate is 42%.  35% of adult women can read.

FACT:  God loves these children

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  John 14:18  (Promise to believers from Jesus).

God sets the lonely in families.  Psalms 68:6

He calls us to care for orphans:  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27


He takes us each case: O Lord, you took up my case, you redeemed my life.  Lam 3:58  (this means a lot as I pray for Lucy's case to go through the court and embassy system quickly.) 
God used orphans to save his people!  Moses was was adopted.  Esther was adopted.

God adopted us and took great pleasure in it:  Long before God laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.  Ephesians 1:3 (Message)

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. 
                                                                                                            Psalm 37:4

    This verse has been huge in my life.  I always find that I am most
    happy and fulfilled when I work at trusting and delighting in God. 
    When his desires (for these children to be in families) and my
    desires (to be a momma) coincide, it's a beautiful thing!




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