As many of you guys have seen via Twitter or Facebook, our application was approved this past weekend! You have no idea how excited we are. It’s as though we just took a pregnancy test that came back positive!

So now, we are on the brink of having to make our first payment of $4,500 to our agency, International Adoption Guides, so that they can really begin to organize and work on all of this craziness! We are so grateful because you guys have rallied so much support for us and we have raised $3,600 of this first payment, but we’re still about $900 short.

So we’re really hoping to sell around 100 bags of coffee or t-shirts over the next 2 weeks.

The amazing people at Summermoon Coffee in Austin, TX have very graciously designed the “MercyJusticeCompassion” Ethiopian blend just to help us raise money for this adoption. It is honestly the greatest coffee on the planet and I’m not just saying that. That’s the feedback we’re getting from everyone who has ordered some already!

It’s all organic, fair trade, wood-fire roasted Ethiopian coffee. We are selling 12 oz. bags for $15, which is not too much more than you would spend on a bag at Starbucks and it’s going to a much better cause!

The more bags we sell, the quicker our child(ren) can come home and be with a family that loves them! So all you coffee enthusiasts, we urge and ask you to buy a bag (or 4) and tell your friends to buy a bag (or 4)!

BUY SOME COFFEE!

Or if you’d rather just buy a shirt (or 4) and you’re an XS, S, M, or XL (because we’re out of L, and XXL – SORRY), you can also just

BUY SOME SHIRTS!

Or if you just absolutely hate coffee and t-shirts, or just want to donate, you can paypal a donation to adoption@stephen-miller.com, or mail a check to:

Stephen Miller Ministries, LLC.
7701 Maryland Ave
Clayton, MO 63105

For as many people who have supported our adoption so far, there have been just about as many questions and objections.

“So how do the parents choose if you are who they want their child to go to?”

“Why does it cost so much?”

“How long will it take?”

“Why Ethiopia?”

“But you’re so young! Live a little and wait a few years…”

“Adopting kids from Ethiopia funds terrorism…”

“Those kids are better off over there with their people in the orphanages…”

“Why in the world are you adopting?”

“But you already have 2 kids of your own…”

We are finding there are a lot of common misconceptions, and an ignorance surrounding the topic of adoption in general, and international adoption in particular.

First off, let me start by saying that there are roughly 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, and around a million of them have been left without parents, orphaned by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They have no parents waiting around for the “right family” to take their children. They are being raised by the Ethiopian government who cannot keep up with this crisis and are in desperate need of people who are willing to obediently submit to God’s call to care for the orphan through adoption. If no one comes for them, 1 in 10 will die before they turn 1. 1 in 6 will die before they turn 5. And many more will die before they reach 15. No cost could be too great… But there is a cost.

It is paid to multiple organizations who all work together to make the process happen. Our first payment of $4500 is paid to the adoption agency, International Adoption Guides, who ensures that everything runs smoothly by coordinating all of this madness. Some smaller payments of $1,500, $1,000, & $2,000 are paid to obtain a home study, as well as legal representation before the Ethiopian government, plus all the documents that must be ordered in addition.

The 2 biggest payments are:

1. $9,000-$13,500 (depending on if we get 1 child or a sibling group of 2) to the Ethiopian government to help them maintain their orphan care system that they are desperately trying to keep up with.

2. $6,000-$9,000 for travel and airfare to Ethiopia to pick up our child(ren).

So you see, no one is really making money, it’s just the result of a tragic situation in a very fallen world.
And we believe that God is calling us to follow His example and step inside that tragically broken situation as He did. The cost of His Son’s life to adopt us into His family was far more costly, yet not too great, because that is was what it took to rescue us.

Unfortunately it’s uncommon for families who can have children of their own to consider adoption part of their “life plan.” It’s so often seen as only a plan B for infertile couples. So people look at us strangely since we already have 2 beautiful little girls that we love very much and God-willing, we could choose to have more if we wanted – and may yet. Because contrary to popular belief in this great country, children are a great blessing, not an accessory or inconvenience. If I believe the latter, I must call God a liar who says as much. So for now, we gratefully heed the call to adopt knowing that it will be an even greater blessing to us than we could ever imagine.

If you have any questions about adoption, leave a comment, and I’ll try to answer it.

James tells us that one of the aspects of “true religion” is caring for the fatherless in their affliction (James 1:27), reflecting God’s own care for the fatherless (Ps. 68:5). One of the ways we do orphan care is through adoption.

Adoption is often viewed as plan B, or only something that’s done if you can’t have “your own kids.” However, adoption is really an act of worship. Our motivation in orphan care and adoption should be the same reason we perform any act of biblical obedience, namely: “that they may see your good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). We don’t do orphan care to be seen by others, or receive praise from others, but rather, we do it to put the love of God on display before a watching world that they may come to know and worship our perfect Heavenly Father. Orphan care is an offering of ourselves to God for the good of millions of orphans and for the glory of His name.

But adoption is not only an act of worship; it also demonstrates the Gospel, inspiring others to worship, as they consider the character of God.

5 years ago, I never dreamed of adopting five children, and the thought of writing a book on it was nowhere on my radar. But it has been awesome. Every day I see visual reminders of the Gospel that compels me to worship our gracious God. For example…

When we returned at 2:00AM from our 30+ hour trip from Ethiopia, where we adopted our fifth child (and second son), we were in great need of a bath. We all cleaned up, including our new addition Joshua, and introduced him to spider-man pajamas. Then we got the kids up to meet their new brother. I was interested in seeing how his new older brother, James, would respond.

James walked over and casually put is arm around Joshua, saying, “hello.” Joshua did the same, and then … he jumped up and kissed James on his cheek! He began smiling from ear to ear his two cracked two-front teeth. They continued mingling, and James said, “Papa, I’m so excited.” Now, I know that type of thing will not always go on – there will be fights and feuds – but it was amazing to see these two boys together. What a strange combination, a ten year old Ukrainian from the border of Belarus, and a five year old Ethiopian from the Sudanese border, gathered in a house in Hattiesburg, MS: made brothers through the grace of adoption.

As we witnessed this first meeting of the brothers, I immediately thought about Russell Moore’s book, Adopted for Life and the chapter entitled, “Are They Brothers?” Dr. Moore brought up how he received questions after their adoptions like “Are they brothers?” He would respond, “yes” repeatedly. But then follow up questions would come like: “I mean, are they really brothers?” To which Dr. Moore would respond, “They are now.”

And so it is with Joshua and James. They are really brothers. Two kids from tiny obscure villages, one from a mud-hut in Africa, and one from a poor village where they still drive horse and buggies, gathered under the roof of a house in Hattiesburg.

This is a picture of what has happened to us in Christ. We’ve been adopted by God, in his grace, and placed into the family of God, even though we may look quite different.

The Apostle John said it well:

See what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1a).

When you consider afresh what God has done for us in Christ through adoption, how can we not give Him praise? J.I. Packer wrote that adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers. This privilege of knowing God as Father should prompt us to worship.

*** Tony Merida serves as Teaching Pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS as well as Assistant Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Faithful Preaching and the soon to be released book Orphanology. In the last 15 months, he and his wife have five adopted children.