18 million

well, i started this blog more than two weeks ago. it took me another week before i actually wrote a post. and today, i deleted that post because it sounded a little too hokey. suffice it to say, i'm going to be an OCD blogger.

jamie and i initially agreed this blog would be strictly adoption-related. but i'm convinced our life is pretty interesting, so i persuaded jamie to let me make this a blog not only about adoption, but also about our various adventures. i've been told that no blog is complete (or interesting) without pictures, so this expansion really works in our favor.

if you're reading this and haven't heard, jamie and i have begun the process of adopting a baby boy from ethiopia. we are really excited. people congratulate us as if we've told them i've got a baby growing in my tummy, and we've been asked a lot of interesting questions. a friend asked me why we wanted to adopt before having a biological children, and i think the answer to that sums up a lot.

i read last week that 18 million children in africa are expected to be orphaned by next year because of AIDS. that's like 2 new york cities-worth of kids without parents. if you ask me why we want to adopt and why we want to adopt now, there's you answer. 18 million orphans. we aren't naive enough to think that the problem will be solved if we adopt one child. but if everyone sat around believing the problems of our world are too big, nothing good -- big or small -- would ever be accomplished.

baby dean's adoption has been on hiatus this week because of papers and sermons. but we'll fill out our first major set of paperwork tomorrow, which will allow us to legally enter a contractual relationship with christian world adoption. once that paperwork is processed, we should be able to start our homestudy. i feel like i already have a million more stories i could tell about this adoption. another post, for another time i guess.