Posted: Saturday, February 6, 2010 6:55 am

Come help Rusty and Elizabeth Rutledge adopt two children from Rwanda, Africa.

On Monday, Feb. 8, an evening of dining and a silent auction has been scheduled by Jim ‘N Nicks restaurant.

“We are very excited about our adoption. In order to bring our children home quickly, we are raising financial support to do so. Jim ‘N Nick’s restaurant of Murfreesboro has graciously agreed to host a fundraising night on our behalf. During the evening of Feb. 8, the restaurant has agreed to give us a percentage of the sales from the evening and is also allowing us to set up a silent auction,” the Rutledges said.

Adoption has been long been a goal for the Rutledges.

“We had talked about it a lot off and on since we got married,” Elizabeth said. That discussion led to them deciding to adopt two children from the troubled African nation of Rwanda.

Rwanda is a poor rural country with about 85 percent of the population engaged in agriculture and some mineral and farm processing. The nation is best known for the 1994 genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus and for being the home of the mountain gorilla.

The Rutledges are planning an independent adoption in Rwanda, meaning that they will be facing the challenges of a foreign adoption on their own.

“When we realized we could make a difference by becoming a forever family for two children, we couldn’t say no to adoption,” the couple said. “We recognize that adoption is not for everyone, we felt it was God’s call for us,” Elizabeth said.

Over the last couple of years, the Rutledges became more aware of the orphan crisis around the world. There are more than 140 million orphans worldwide.

“The paper work is unbelievable, but worth it,” Elizabeth said. Since going public with their desire to adopt, there’s been an outpouring of public support. “It’s been incredible. It’s completely overwhelming,” she said.

The earthquake crisis in Haiti has increased the interest in international adoptions. Not everyone is prepared to adopt, but they are ready to help both children and adoptive families anyway they can, the couple said. A list of the participating organizations is available at murfreesboropost.com