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.

We have had our shirts available for pre-order for a couple of days now and the response has been so encouraging. From emails of encouragement, to people letting us know they’re praying for us, to the fact that we’ve sold 20 shirts in the last 6 days, it’s just been such a great week of confirmation for us.

However, we keep getting requests from people who are not on PayPal, nor do they desire to be on PayPal, as to how they can give to our Ethiopian adoption. We certainly want to make it as convenient as possible for you to give, and realize this isn’t always the most convenient for people.

So we have opened a bank account dedicated strictly to the funding of our Ethiopian adoption. You can now send in shirt orders, or even just donations in the form of check or money order to:

The Journey
C/O Stephen Miller
7701 Maryland Ave.
Clayton, Missouri 63105

Just make the checks out to Stephen Miller, and put “Ethiopian Adoption” in the subject line. Make sure if you’re ordering shirts to include your order (sizes, number of shirts, return address) in the envelope.

Thank you all so much!

Grace and peace,
The Millers

P.S. For more to the minute updates on the adoption, follow Stephen on Twitter, username @_stephen_miller.