Our Switch to Ethiopia

It's been nearly 2 months since the Lord started changing our hearts from Vietnam to Ethiopia, but I realized that I never shared much about what led us to change countries. It all started on the night we took the kids to the mountains to spend the night in hopes of waking up to a blanket of fresh snow. (Every year, when we realize that the TN valley probably isn't going to get a good snow, we head to the mountains in search of some snow to play in. This year we decided to make it an overnight adventure.) That night, I had the most vivid dream. At the beginning of the dream, we were in Vietnam & totally loving it. Then, all of the sudden, we were in Ethiopia. When I woke up & was thinking about the dream, I thought that God may have been showing us a good "back-up" for if things in Vietnam didn't work out. Before then, our hearts would ache at the thought of Vietnam closing & we wondered if that would be the end of the adoption road for us b/c there was no other country on our hearts. I waited a few weeks to share my thoughts with Nathan & during that time the song, "We are the World", kept playing in my head. I definately grew up in the 80s, but I don't think I had heard that song since the 80s. Hearing the song made me think back to that time in my life & remember the way the song touched my life & opened my eyes to the needs in Africa. When I finally shared my thoughts with Nathan, I really thought he would say I was crazy or agree that Ethiopia would be a good "back-up" for us. That wasn't his response though. Instead he said, "Let's do it...now". That was a Saturday morning & on Sunday afternoon I emailed Kate at AGCI to see find out more information about changing countries. Then, on Monday morning, I woke up to Nathan calling me from work to say that one of the first songs he heard that morning on the"Muzak" channel (the music that plays in all the Home Depot stores around the country) was "Africa" (another blast from the past...not exactly about adoption...but part of the chorus is "Africa...hurry boy she's waiting there for you"). So, there you have it. Not a burning bush, but a few of the many things that God used to point us to Ethiopia!