Tunnel vision

My friend Jeannett just posted about the remarkable work of St. Jude Children's Hospital. Her post got me thinking about all of the work there is to do...it is vast and there are so many places and people that need--and deserve--our attention.

There are a lot of things I care about, but of course there is just one of me, and I can't do it all, and you can't do it all. The question is, can I do SOMEthing? And what might that something be?

I know that many of us who have adopted internationally regularly face the question of, "why adopt from another country?" Shouldn't we care for "our own" first? This question is complex and the answers are equally so, and I admit to feeling (quite) frustrated with the sentiment behind it. (I will not go into those reasons at this time.) Ultimately, if the Lord has given you a heart for something...then go for it. That doesn't mean you ONLY care about that one thing. Or judge others who are doing something else. But you put your money/time/efforts where your mouth is and embrace the calling on your life. And hopefully share about your journey along the way, because how else will the rest of us learn?

I remember (at least) one time where I got the incredulous "why AFRICA?" question. I was a bit flabbergasted by this, considering the widespread orphan and AIDS crisis going on there. My initial thought was, why not??? (My second and third thoughts were, why is it so shocking and what do you have against Africa?! Of course I didn't verbalize those!) We really wanted to go where there was an urgent need. Many people are not interested in transracial adoption. Even though no one likes to admit it, some people have strong negative feelings about HIV and AIDS and Africa in general. We don't. So that's where we went.

ALL of this to say, I don't want to have tunnel vision when it comes to our world. I will continue sharing about Ethiopian adoption, Africa, and HIV, because as far as I can tell this is the calling given me. And I know you have one, too, and we need to hear about it! (On that note, if you haven't already, please take the time to find out about what is going on in Africa, and consider if/how you can help. A large-scale problem, but we can all do our part. I think I'm still figuring mine out!)