Our goal is not an easy life for our children.

We were so thankful to meet several families touched by Ethiopian adoption this past Saturday!

As I talked with a woman also with 3 children similar ages to mine who just recently received a referral for a toddler boy in Ethiopia, I asked her if they were taking any of their children with them to Ethiopia, and she said,

"It would be such a hard trip for them."

And I swallowed the words I was about to say, that we really wanted to take our two oldest kids with us to Ethiopia. I suddenly felt guilty for my desire to take my children on a "hard" trip.

It took a few minutes, but then I remembered, our goal is not an easy life for our children.

Traveling to Ethiopia they may:

be bored, restless, or uncomfortable on the long flight,

get sick from exposure to new germs,

be tired from the jet lag and time change,

go hungry if they don't like the food available to us in Ethiopia,

feel sadness over some of the things they see there,

have their hearts stirred with compassion,

gain a new understand for how other parts of the world live,

learn to embrace a culture very different from their own,

begin to appreciate more all the blessings they have,

see where their new sister came from,

be haunted by the children we can't bring home from the orphanages,

develop a passion for helping others that lasts their entire lives.

So, yeah, it's a choice I'd make.

I'd rather my children be hungry, tired, sad, uncomfortable, sick, even, if that were the price for gaining a heart more like Jesus.

Find more Thankful Thursday.