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.