Faith

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