My Wall Of Blessings

When I was pregnant with Lillian I decided to paint blocks that spelled out her name. I love painting and the process helped me to prepare for the new adventure of mommy hood. A few weeks ago I was feeling discouraged about the adoption process and decided that painting blocks might be uplifting again. Like many of my other art projects, painting blocks for our adoption took on a deeper meaning. I now have a “wall of blessings” in our kitchen. Every time I look at it (which is almost all day long) I am filled with a thankful heart and overwhelmed by God’s provision. All of your prayers and financial pledges are on my “wall of blessings.” I am absolutely amazed by the generosity of our friends and family. There are not enough words to express my thankfulness. Your support is the greatest gift you could give our family!!!

Thank-you to a family at our church who literally receives every fundraising request for the events in the church and still gives! You are incredibly generous.
Thank-you to a special aunt who words of encouragement came at just the right time. You have always been someone I admire and appreciate your prayers and financial support.
Thank you to a poor college student who gave more than most people with established jobs. Your generosity speaks volumes! I am thankful for you in my life.
Thank-you to some high school friends who have always been loving and thoughtful. Your support over the years has helped give us confidence to move forward in this process. Thank-you for your generosity.
Thank-you to a kind woman in my yoga class. I am amazed by the range of people who donate to our cause. Your support was a surprise and blessed my day. Thank-you.
Thank-you to everyone! You know who you are! I am deeply humbled by your support! I am going to pick up another ribbon today … we have filled six feet of ribbon with kind words, prayer pledges and financial support.
Thank-you!

On the inside ....

I have a million thoughts, praises, and fears swarming around in my head. The last thing I want to do is share them with the world. But a dear friend encouraged me to post it on the blog. I suppose facing your fears is one way to begin processing them. My fear, is of course, that people will not approve of our adoption journey. Maybe not blatantly disagree with adoption, but the details. Like international versus local adoption debate. Or maybe they disagree with the amount of money we will invest into the process. A quite valid argument. Or disagree with raising a black child in a white home. Or the million other negative aspects people could focus on. The worse for me is saying nothing at all. Honestly, the silence is heart retching. Did you or did you not receive a bright orange envelope with our story? In the end, I could respond to each of these concerns. In fact, I could spend my whole life responding to the concerns/opinions/thoughts of others. I have done a pretty good job of that so far in my life. So what is my point?
Exactly this: The only person I am responsible to answer to is God. His opinion is the only one that really matters. So, precious friends and family, thank-you for your concerns. Thank-you for allowing me to search within myself and make sure this adoption journey is not about me. It has brought me to my knees with humility and forced me to search my soul. You have forced me to find the source of my hope and purpose will come from. In other words, I can’t stay in a people-pleasing role forever. Not only is it impossible, but it is fake.
I am choosing to make my faith in Jesus Christ the life, not you, my deeply loved friends and family. I whole heartedly welcome your feedback. But at the end of the day, please know that I will ONLY listen and follow where God leads me.
If this is something you would like to support please return your orange envelope with a prayer or financial pledge. Chris and I deeply appreciate your support.
Words cannot thank a friend who has given in her time of need (You know who you are). When you are scratching the bottom of your own piggy bank and unsure how your own needs will be met, you gave to us. Thank-you.
Thank-you also to the ones who started this whole process off. Before even receiving a letter in the mail, you saw a need and generously responded. You are the only people I know with the God-inspired gift of generosity. We might say “I would give you the shirt off my back if you needed it.” But, these two people live out this slogan. Not just talk, but action. Thank-you. I can only hope to be that generous in my own life someday.
Thank-you to all the other precious friends and family who have shared words of encouragement. They help keep me fueled. Without your support I don’t know where we would be.
With a thankful and unwavering heart,
Erin

Welcome ....

Hi friends,
If you are reading this then you have received our letter in the mail. Yeah! Thanks for following up and checking our blog. I have never been great at the face book, twitter, and my space thing … However, I will do my best to keep our adoption journey updated on this blog. We are excited about the adoption adventure and want to have as many people involved as possible.
We appreciate your support and are so grateful for our wonderful friends and family.
Using the village to raise our kids,
Erin Lynn

This is a copy of the letter we mailed out ....


Dear friends and family,
We hope this letter finds you with joyful spirits. This year has been an exciting and busy adventure. Lillian will be celebrating her first birthday at the end of June and is quite busy pulling all the tupperware out of drawers, tasting anything on the floors, and reading books. Chris will be entering his second year as joint-owner of Durus Construction and loves the job. Erin stays busy playing with sweet Lillian everyday and is still taking one class each semester at George Fox University to complete her Masters in Family and Marriage Counseling. Indeed, the past year has been rich with blessings.
We are excited to share with you our hopes and dreams of expanding our family. As of May 1st, we were accepted into the Ethiopian adoption program through an organization called All God’s Children International. AGCI is a non-profit organization that was established in 1991 and has united more than 2,200 children with their forever families.
Many people ask, “Why Ethiopia?” That is a valid question. With over 147 million orphans in the world it is hard to know where to begin. The need is tremendous in our own communities, state, country and across the globe. We have spent countless hours in prayer and in doing research to make this big decision. To put it simply, we believe that God has called us to serve in this country. From the very beginning our hearts have been burdened over the orphans in Ethiopia. We know that international adoption will present us with challenges in the future. However, we desire to remain faithful to His calling, despite the obstacles that may seem impossible from our current perspective.
We believe adoption is more than raising a child. Our desire is to learn, share, and celebrate the beauty of Ethiopia. God willing we would love to partner with Hannah’s Hope Orphanage and possibly be a part of building another desperately needed facility in the Addis Ababa area. Parenting a child is only one of the many ways we hope to meet the needs of this country. As many people have heard before, one out of five children contract AIDS by the age of five. One in two people do not get enough to eat, which is 38 million hungry people in Ethiopia TODAY. Undoubtedly, there is a desperate need for basic necessities, education, and hope.
The cost of adoption is an overwhelming $30,000. This includes the home studies, orphan care fees, and travel expenses. We have always found it more comfortable to be on the giving end rather than the receiving end. However, this is not a journey we can do on our own. We are both humbled and encouraged in writing this letter to you. First, we are asking our friends and family to consider praying for our adoption process. If you are unable to pray or have been blessed with more than you need, we are asking if you would be willing to financially contribute. We are always surprised by the statistic that if your household has an annual income of 40K, you are in the top 1% richest in the world.
Our goal is to reach 600 people with our story. If all 600 people would be willing to contribute $50.00 it would pay for the entire adoption. Would you please consider praying for us, sharing our story with others, or being 1 of 600 to make this adoption possible?
Words cannot express our gratitude. Thank-you.
Changing the world together,
Chris, Erin & Lillian Bailey