It has now been a few months since we officially decided and announced our plans for adopting.  Amazing how things change over a couple of months.  We began researching to find a good adoption agency that could help us adopt from Kazakhstan, and it seems like every agency we spoke with was really encouraging us toward Ethiopia.  So we began to pray and look at Ethiopia, and as we did, the facts were astounding!

It is one of the oldest countries in the world, being an independent state since ancient times.  As such, it’s the second most populous nation in Africa with nearly 80 million people living there, out of which, there are 5 million orphans, a number which increases annually!  The growing number of homeless and parentless children is a mushrooming crisis that the government warns is tearing apart the social fabric of the country.  The main cause of the rising amount of orphans is the sheer poverty, leading to parents dying of malnourishment, AIDS, tuberculosis, etc.  As such, the government is very open and willing to make it as easy as possible to adopt and is making efforts to reverse this tragedy.

As we began seeing pictures and looking at the faces of these beautiful children, and the poverty and hopelessness they live in, we could just feel the Lord drawing us to this country and changing our hearts.  So we are planning on adopting from Ethiopia, using the International Adoption Guides agency to help us through the process.  They have come highly recommended from some of our friends who have also adopted and we are very excited to be working with them to bring our next child home. We are open to any age or sex, but are prayerfully considering adopting a boy between the ages of 0 and 4 years old.

Some of the good news is that we are no longer aiming to raise $50,000, but rather only $25,000… exactly half of what we would have had to raise to adopt from Kazakhstan.  So we continue on our journey to try to raise that money and have designed a shirt that we hope you will consider purchasing.  It is $20 and every penny will go to funding our adoption.  We will have them printed on high quality unisex shirts in sizes XS – XXL.

Please consider buying a shirt and also passing the word along.  If you feel God calling you to give a larger amount, you can always donate to our paypal account  adoption@stephen-miller.com.  We pray you would consider doing this as well.  $25,000 is a big number, but God is much bigger.

We so long to proclaim the gospel that the Lord, our Father, adopted us, and made us children and heirs, regardless of our race or ethnicity, nation or language.  We want to have a family of different races, cultures, and skin tones and feel called to display the gospel in this way.  Please join with us. Buy a shirt today.

we are now a month in since a massively devastating earthquake hit haiti, bringing untold death, poverty and unprecedented needs that seem so insurmountable and discouraging. and yet even as the dust settles, only a month later, people have already begun to move on, forget and stop caring, giving, acting and advocating. as the church, we have to be the ones to keep the momentum and serve the poor and devastated in haiti. so i would really like to encourage you to check out HELP (help end local poverty). this is such an amazing organization led by one of my good friends, chris marlow, who has definitely risen to the occasion and is providing an opportunity to help haiti with something so simple as just buying a shirt or two. i just got 3 today, and let me tell you guys, these shirts are absolutely some of the coolest shirts i’ve ever seen! though it’s a high quality fabric with an uber awesome design, the best part is that every penny goes to help with haiti relief. so do yourself a favor and do haiti a favor and go buy a shirt.

while you’re at it, check out their official website, and follow them on twitter at @ChrisMarlow and @helpendpoverty.

thanks guys! let’s be a people of compassion and a people of redemption together.

Continuing on in the Christmas spirit, I’m giving away my full album “People of Redemption”. It’s really simple. You just tell 5 or more of your friends about the record and you get it for free. Help spread the word!