Scattered Seeds

Our hearts are full of gratitude to the Lord for 7 years of sweet marriage. We have experienced quite a lot in a short amount of time...the Lord continues to pour out His lovingkindness on us in such incredible ways. We recently returned from living in East Asia, two days after arriving in the US we traveled to Ethiopia to get our sons, Ezekiel and Nehemiah. We LOVE being their parents. Soon we will be returning to East Asia, but until that time we will be enjoying time with loved ones and living in America. Our desire is to wholeheartedly follow Jesus whether that is through the desert or in the harvest...He is our hope.

Why we adopted from Ethiopia

One in six children die before their fifth birthday

• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old

• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition

• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years

• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)

• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.

• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa

• In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)

• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)

• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.

• Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.

• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.

• In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring port

Sunday, July 30, 2006