Saturday, February 21, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
A letter from Jon & Michele Oakland to some of our friends and family:
Dear Friends of the Hopkins Family,
This letter serves as a bit of a Hopkins Family update. Brian and Danna are great friends of ours, so we love to give them advice. It makes us feel important and helps greatly with our self worth. In addition, we are able to point out some of their flaws and then our own issues don’t seem so bad. We highly recommend this type of relationship.
Back to the update…Danna has three jobs. She works at The Buckle in the mall, as a Silpada Designs representative selling fine Jewelry, and most importantly she does an amazing job of raising her four children and keeping Brian on the cutting edge of fashion.
Brian also has three jobs. He is the lead Pastor of Journey Church (now a church of about 1,400), he is working towards his Master’s in Leadership at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon, and he also does a fantastic job of being a father and raising his four children…Danna does not require his help with the fashion thing.
After observing our friends’ lifestyle for a bit, Michele and I turned to each other and said, “BORING”! You know what Proverbs says about being lazy. To sum it up it says “to not be”.
Our always eager to learn friends said “You are right! What should we do?” We quickly replied, “You need more kids. You should adopt 3 more from Ethiopia! That way when Danna starts coaching basketball she will not be wasting time on recruitment. She has the entire team under her own roof.” BRILLIANT!
“But what about the cost?” they asked. It will cost about $34,000 to adopt three basketball players, I mean children, from Ethiopia. “No problem!” we snapped back. “Have you not heard of the bailout plan that Congress has cooking? Soon money trees will be sprouting in most of your friends’ back yards and probably yours too.” “Really?” they said. “Yes really!” we replied.
OK, enough with the sarcasm. The reality is that Brian and Danna have made a decision to bless three beautiful, older children that are living in an orphanage in Ethiopia. They will be adopting them into and onto the Hopkins Team. Can you imagine the new life that is ahead of these three kids as they transition into this incredible family? Michele and I know that all of you have many financial commitments and that the current economic outlook leaves all of us scratching our heads. You probably have questions like... “Should I put more in my 401k or less? Should I refinance my house or sell it? Should I get in the stock market or get out?” Let us ask you this… Can you give us a better investment idea than providing three children with a family? An investment in three human beings whose lives have been marked by pain that we can only imagine. Will you consider being on this investment team? Yes, we need financial help, but we need prayer over the adoption process also. We ask that you would consider helping with either or both.
Thank you, in advance, for your prayer and support! We’ll keep you posted as to the Hopkins’ adoption progress as it unfolds in the coming days. Please be in touch if you have any questions.
Ever Gratefully,
Jon & Michele Oakland with and for
Brian, Danna, and kids
Please direct any questions to Jon & Michele Oakland…jon@journeyweb.net or 406.570.5138.
This letter serves as a bit of a Hopkins Family update. Brian and Danna are great friends of ours, so we love to give them advice. It makes us feel important and helps greatly with our self worth. In addition, we are able to point out some of their flaws and then our own issues don’t seem so bad. We highly recommend this type of relationship.
Back to the update…Danna has three jobs. She works at The Buckle in the mall, as a Silpada Designs representative selling fine Jewelry, and most importantly she does an amazing job of raising her four children and keeping Brian on the cutting edge of fashion.
Brian also has three jobs. He is the lead Pastor of Journey Church (now a church of about 1,400), he is working towards his Master’s in Leadership at George Fox University in Portland, Oregon, and he also does a fantastic job of being a father and raising his four children…Danna does not require his help with the fashion thing.
After observing our friends’ lifestyle for a bit, Michele and I turned to each other and said, “BORING”! You know what Proverbs says about being lazy. To sum it up it says “to not be”.
Our always eager to learn friends said “You are right! What should we do?” We quickly replied, “You need more kids. You should adopt 3 more from Ethiopia! That way when Danna starts coaching basketball she will not be wasting time on recruitment. She has the entire team under her own roof.” BRILLIANT!
“But what about the cost?” they asked. It will cost about $34,000 to adopt three basketball players, I mean children, from Ethiopia. “No problem!” we snapped back. “Have you not heard of the bailout plan that Congress has cooking? Soon money trees will be sprouting in most of your friends’ back yards and probably yours too.” “Really?” they said. “Yes really!” we replied.
OK, enough with the sarcasm. The reality is that Brian and Danna have made a decision to bless three beautiful, older children that are living in an orphanage in Ethiopia. They will be adopting them into and onto the Hopkins Team. Can you imagine the new life that is ahead of these three kids as they transition into this incredible family? Michele and I know that all of you have many financial commitments and that the current economic outlook leaves all of us scratching our heads. You probably have questions like... “Should I put more in my 401k or less? Should I refinance my house or sell it? Should I get in the stock market or get out?” Let us ask you this… Can you give us a better investment idea than providing three children with a family? An investment in three human beings whose lives have been marked by pain that we can only imagine. Will you consider being on this investment team? Yes, we need financial help, but we need prayer over the adoption process also. We ask that you would consider helping with either or both.
Thank you, in advance, for your prayer and support! We’ll keep you posted as to the Hopkins’ adoption progress as it unfolds in the coming days. Please be in touch if you have any questions.
Ever Gratefully,
Jon & Michele Oakland with and for
Brian, Danna, and kids
Please direct any questions to Jon & Michele Oakland…jon@journeyweb.net or 406.570.5138.
A Note From Brian & Danna:
Last November, I (Brian) was part of a trip to Ethiopia for the purpose of zeroing in on where and how Journey and Harvest are going to pour into Ethiopia to help relieve human suffering. We spent the first several days in and around the capital city of Addis Ababa—at orphanages, at a government-run long-term care facility for the mentally and physically impaired, and at an enormous K-8th grade school. After our stint in Addis, we drove about 5 hours south of Addis to the city of Awassa. After we checked into our hotel, our hosts came to take us to a couple of orphanages in and around Awassa. The first one we went to that afternoon was called CCCE-Awassa. It was a lot like all the other orphanages we had been to—precious kids running around and the warm welcome of an Ethiopian coffee ceremony hosted by the orphanage staff—except this time there were these two kids—a brother and sister who I was just gripped by. Just a few minutes after meeting them, I thought I heard the Lord whispering into my soul, “These kids are going to be a part of your family.” At first, I just sort of blew it off. “Must be that last round of coffee from the Ethiopian coffee ceremony.” (It was the strongest coffee you’ve ever seen or tasted…the best coffee you’ve ever had…just very, very stout). But in the hours we were there at CCCE-Awassa, I couldn’t shake the Lord’s whisper, “These kids are going to be a part of your family.” We left the orphanage and went to dinner with the director of the orphanage. Over dinner I asked him about the kids. He told me about how they had come to be at the orphanage and that they had been referred to a family in the United States, had been accepted by that family, and were just waiting for that family to finish up their paperwork and then they would be going home to the US. “Hah!” I said. “I knew I missed it. I knew it was just the coffee! So much for hearing the voice of God’s Holy Spirit!” “But,” the orphanage director said, “if you even remotely think that the Lord is speaking to you about these children being a part of your family, you should send an email to a woman named Emily in the U.S. who handles all our adoptions and let her know that you’ve met these kids and that you’d gladly be in the “back-up position” just in case anything goes sideways with the family who is working on adopting them.” “Interesting,” I thought. After dinner, we went back to our hotel where I stepped out onto this balcony to dial Danna up on the satellite phone. I said, “Honey, I think I met the kids who we’re supposed to adopt.” Now, Danna and I have both felt God’s call on our lives to adopt kids—specifically from Africa—for some time. We didn’t know how or when that would unfold, we just knew that it was part of what God had in store for us, but when I said the words, “Honey, I think I met the kids who we’re supposed to adopt…” I thought the call got dropped…there was only silence on the other end of the line. “Hello?” “I’m here,” Danna said, “I just don’t quite know what to say.” I went on to tell her that the boy was 13 and that his sister was 9. I told her how they had come to be at the orphanage and how the Lord had whispered into my soul, “These kids are going to be a part of your family.” And Danna wasn’t convinced. Hard to fathom, I know. “I thought we would be adopting younger kids…the boy is a teenager…what do we know about parenting a teenager? You can tell me more about it when you get home…”
When we finished our tour of Awassa, we headed back to the capital city of Addis Ababa. The first thing I did when we got back was to send an email off to the woman named Emily at Christian World Adoption telling her that we’d be glad to occupy the “back-up” position if anything went haywire with the family who was working to bring the kids home. I figured that’s what Danna meant when she said, “You can tell me more about it when you get home…” A very short time later Emily sent me back an email telling me not to hold my breath for these two, but that there are other kids for us to adopt.
Even still, I couldn’t shake off the Holy Spirit’s whisper into my soul, “These kids are going to be a part of your family.”
I got home from Africa and life went on…but the Holy Spirit’s whisper stuck with me. A few times Danna asked me, “What do you think happened with you hearing from the Lord about these kids? Did you hear Him wrong?” “Maybe,” I said. “But let’s just wait and see. You never know what could happen.”
About a month had passed and it was a Monday…December 8th, to be precise. I (Brian) was doing some reading in the living room when I heard Danna scream out from the other end of the house—from the room where the computer is—“Honey! Come here!” Now, Danna’s not usually that effusive, which caused me to jump up, quite alarmed, and run back there to see what all the commotion was about. As it turned out, Danna’s scream was caused by an email from Emily at Christian World Adoption telling us that the family who was working to bring the kids home would not be doing so and would we be interested in bringing them home to be a part of our family? There Danna sat, at the computer, with tears streaming down her face saying, “I guess we’re supposed to do this, aren’t we?” “Yup.” I said, “I think we are. I don’t think it was just the coffee from the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I think I really did hear from the Lord.”
And so, we’re adopting this boy and his sister. But adopting these two has turned into adopting them and another boy (also 13), because the two boys had been promised that they would be adopted together (they’re best friends and roommates at the orphanage—this boy has been there for about 18 months and the brother and sister for about a year). So, we’re adopting two thirteen year-old boys and a nine year-old girl from Ethiopia (a fact which simply thrills Bailey, Dylon, Preston, and Jazmyn). We hope and pray that these three kids like rambunctious little brothers and sisters!
That’s our story. Thanks so much for reading this far and for considering how you can help us bring this children home to join the Hopkins family. It means the world to us to have your love and support and prayer toward this daunting and exciting adventure.
When we finished our tour of Awassa, we headed back to the capital city of Addis Ababa. The first thing I did when we got back was to send an email off to the woman named Emily at Christian World Adoption telling her that we’d be glad to occupy the “back-up” position if anything went haywire with the family who was working to bring the kids home. I figured that’s what Danna meant when she said, “You can tell me more about it when you get home…” A very short time later Emily sent me back an email telling me not to hold my breath for these two, but that there are other kids for us to adopt.
Even still, I couldn’t shake off the Holy Spirit’s whisper into my soul, “These kids are going to be a part of your family.”
I got home from Africa and life went on…but the Holy Spirit’s whisper stuck with me. A few times Danna asked me, “What do you think happened with you hearing from the Lord about these kids? Did you hear Him wrong?” “Maybe,” I said. “But let’s just wait and see. You never know what could happen.”
About a month had passed and it was a Monday…December 8th, to be precise. I (Brian) was doing some reading in the living room when I heard Danna scream out from the other end of the house—from the room where the computer is—“Honey! Come here!” Now, Danna’s not usually that effusive, which caused me to jump up, quite alarmed, and run back there to see what all the commotion was about. As it turned out, Danna’s scream was caused by an email from Emily at Christian World Adoption telling us that the family who was working to bring the kids home would not be doing so and would we be interested in bringing them home to be a part of our family? There Danna sat, at the computer, with tears streaming down her face saying, “I guess we’re supposed to do this, aren’t we?” “Yup.” I said, “I think we are. I don’t think it was just the coffee from the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. I think I really did hear from the Lord.”
And so, we’re adopting this boy and his sister. But adopting these two has turned into adopting them and another boy (also 13), because the two boys had been promised that they would be adopted together (they’re best friends and roommates at the orphanage—this boy has been there for about 18 months and the brother and sister for about a year). So, we’re adopting two thirteen year-old boys and a nine year-old girl from Ethiopia (a fact which simply thrills Bailey, Dylon, Preston, and Jazmyn). We hope and pray that these three kids like rambunctious little brothers and sisters!
That’s our story. Thanks so much for reading this far and for considering how you can help us bring this children home to join the Hopkins family. It means the world to us to have your love and support and prayer toward this daunting and exciting adventure.
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