A dear on-line friend of mine has posted a raffle on her blog to raise money for her family's 3rd adoption. She has some very cool items to raffle. For as little as $5, you can have a chance to win! Check it out!
Join in on the fun and help this beautiful family raise the funds they need for their home study!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Friday, January 7, 2011
Under the Same Moon
While in Haiti, a few of us from our group tried to make arrangements to visit an orphanage in Leogane. We were not able to visit this orphanage but it still remains dear to my heart. The name of the orphanage is All God's Children.
Leogane was the epicenter of the earthquake almost one year ago. Although this orphanage was destroyed during the quake, all children and their nannies miraculously survived. After the earthquake, they continued to live on the orphanage property, without a building and without much food or water until July. All the children and their nannies were struggling to survive, just barely hanging on. Most of them became severely malnourished.
And then All God's Children stepped in to help.
Now they have a new orphanage building and receive at least 2 meals a day.
Then, in November, Leogane became the hardest hit city from the hurricane. During the worst weather, all orphans and nannies evacuated to the roof of the orphanage while the building was flooded by heavy rain storms. They congregated on the roof through the entire night, clinging to each other until the storms subsided by morning.
At the same time, several of the children were in the hospital with cholera symptoms.
Once again, all survived the hurricane and the cholera for now. But they continue to be in much need of our support and encouragement.
So, a good friend of mine designed a T-shirt to raise money for this orphanage. This is a really cool shirt. Go here to find out for yourselves and please consider supporting the least of these through the purchase of one of these amazing shirts.
Leogane was the epicenter of the earthquake almost one year ago. Although this orphanage was destroyed during the quake, all children and their nannies miraculously survived. After the earthquake, they continued to live on the orphanage property, without a building and without much food or water until July. All the children and their nannies were struggling to survive, just barely hanging on. Most of them became severely malnourished.
And then All God's Children stepped in to help.
Now they have a new orphanage building and receive at least 2 meals a day.
Then, in November, Leogane became the hardest hit city from the hurricane. During the worst weather, all orphans and nannies evacuated to the roof of the orphanage while the building was flooded by heavy rain storms. They congregated on the roof through the entire night, clinging to each other until the storms subsided by morning.
At the same time, several of the children were in the hospital with cholera symptoms.
Once again, all survived the hurricane and the cholera for now. But they continue to be in much need of our support and encouragement.
So, a good friend of mine designed a T-shirt to raise money for this orphanage. This is a really cool shirt. Go here to find out for yourselves and please consider supporting the least of these through the purchase of one of these amazing shirts.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Our story of giving back
Today, I am a guest blogger over on Kari Gibson's blog, My Crazy Adoption. If you are interested in the whole story of how it came to be that our family became involved with Drawn From Water, go to Kari's blog.
Friday, December 31, 2010
When it's meant to be
I believe in things that are meant to be. Sometimes, we can try so hard to have things our way or try to manipulate situations to be in our favor because we know best.
We lost our dog Sasha 5 1/2 years ago. Olivia has been begging for a dog ever since. Steve and I have thought of every excuse under the sun to not get a dog, everything from the dog would ruin our new carpet to we don't have time to take care of a dog.
The biggest reason has been that we didn't think our girls were old enough to take on the responsibility of caring for a dog.
This Christmas, the ONLY thing Olivia wanted for Christmas was a dog. She even mailed a letter to Santa, telling him that he was her last hope for a dog.
It's winter, we have had several inches of snow and we live in a cold climate. Steve and I said we would keep an open mind and think about possibly getting a dog in the spring or summer. Our excuse this time was that a new puppy would be too hard to train in the winter.
Still, Olivia was relentless in her asking.
Two weeks before Christmas, Steve and I went shopping for the kids' Christmas presents. We set out hoping to discover something really cool and fun that would satisfy Olivia and take her mind off a dog for a while.
But we were having no such luck. Anything that was really cool was also really expensive.
During this particular day of shopping, I left Steve in the electronics department and headed to another part of the store. I ran into a friend that I had not seen for several weeks. I told her about our predicament with Olivia only wanting a dog for Christmas and that it was not going to happen.
My friend told me that if we ever consider a dog at some point, we should look into a local poodle breeder, which is where they got their female pup. She explained how this particular breeder breeds poodles that are not yippy, smart and easy to train.
At that moment, my friend's cell phone rang, so we said a quick good bye and I was off to find Steve. Just as I found Steve (still in the electronics department), my friend came running with her cell phone in her hand and pushing her cart.
She said, "you would not believe this!" Then she proceeded to tell us that that was her husband on the phone and he wanted her to know that he just talked to the poodle breeder and she had one puppy for sale - just 4 weeks old. The breeder asked if they knew anyone that wanted a poodle. After breeding poodles for 20 years, this was going to be her last puppy.
After a series of phone calls and conversations, Steve and I miraculously ended up at the breeder's home that same afternoon to look at the puppy.
We agreed that we were just going to look - not fall in love - just look.
We both left there smitten. We told the breeder we would think about it and call her with our decision.
We waited five days, did our research and Steve and I both decided that this was the one. The one thing that sealed the deal for us more than anything is that poodles are the most hypoallergenic breed of dogs. Steve is highly allergic to cats and dogs, so this was very important for us.
On Christmas day, we wanted to surprise the kids. We arranged with the breeder to bring the kids over that morning. We got up, ate breakfast, opened a couple gifts and Steve said he wanted to go for a drive. The kids thought this was a great idea! It was a beautiful day, snow clinging to the evergreens and a light snow fall in the air.
We drove to the breeder's home on the other side of town and Steve turned in the driveway. The kids freaked out! They asked their dad what the heck he was doing just pulling into a stranger's driveway. Steve got out of the truck and said he was going to go ask for some cookies.
The girls got unbuckled and went to the floor because they were embarrassed that their father would walk to a stranger's house and ask for cookies on Christmas day.
Then Steve came back to the car and said that we could all go inside. We practically had to drag our kids out of the truck.
The new puppy was running around on the floor and I said, "Olivia, Merry Christmas!"
There are no words to describe this moment. It was all worth taking the plunge and buying a dog.
Days following, Olivia named our new puppy, "Coco". She is black with a little white on her chest and on a couple paws.
We were not able to take her home with us that day because she still needed to be weened from her mother.
So, today, New Year's Ever, Steve traveled to the other side of town in the truck, through a snow storm, with the three youngest kids to pick up Coco.
She is the most adorable, cuddly dog ever! Our whole family is in love!
Introducing.....Coco!!! It was meant to be!
We lost our dog Sasha 5 1/2 years ago. Olivia has been begging for a dog ever since. Steve and I have thought of every excuse under the sun to not get a dog, everything from the dog would ruin our new carpet to we don't have time to take care of a dog.
The biggest reason has been that we didn't think our girls were old enough to take on the responsibility of caring for a dog.
This Christmas, the ONLY thing Olivia wanted for Christmas was a dog. She even mailed a letter to Santa, telling him that he was her last hope for a dog.
It's winter, we have had several inches of snow and we live in a cold climate. Steve and I said we would keep an open mind and think about possibly getting a dog in the spring or summer. Our excuse this time was that a new puppy would be too hard to train in the winter.
Still, Olivia was relentless in her asking.
Two weeks before Christmas, Steve and I went shopping for the kids' Christmas presents. We set out hoping to discover something really cool and fun that would satisfy Olivia and take her mind off a dog for a while.
But we were having no such luck. Anything that was really cool was also really expensive.
During this particular day of shopping, I left Steve in the electronics department and headed to another part of the store. I ran into a friend that I had not seen for several weeks. I told her about our predicament with Olivia only wanting a dog for Christmas and that it was not going to happen.
My friend told me that if we ever consider a dog at some point, we should look into a local poodle breeder, which is where they got their female pup. She explained how this particular breeder breeds poodles that are not yippy, smart and easy to train.
At that moment, my friend's cell phone rang, so we said a quick good bye and I was off to find Steve. Just as I found Steve (still in the electronics department), my friend came running with her cell phone in her hand and pushing her cart.
She said, "you would not believe this!" Then she proceeded to tell us that that was her husband on the phone and he wanted her to know that he just talked to the poodle breeder and she had one puppy for sale - just 4 weeks old. The breeder asked if they knew anyone that wanted a poodle. After breeding poodles for 20 years, this was going to be her last puppy.
After a series of phone calls and conversations, Steve and I miraculously ended up at the breeder's home that same afternoon to look at the puppy.
We agreed that we were just going to look - not fall in love - just look.
We both left there smitten. We told the breeder we would think about it and call her with our decision.
We waited five days, did our research and Steve and I both decided that this was the one. The one thing that sealed the deal for us more than anything is that poodles are the most hypoallergenic breed of dogs. Steve is highly allergic to cats and dogs, so this was very important for us.
On Christmas day, we wanted to surprise the kids. We arranged with the breeder to bring the kids over that morning. We got up, ate breakfast, opened a couple gifts and Steve said he wanted to go for a drive. The kids thought this was a great idea! It was a beautiful day, snow clinging to the evergreens and a light snow fall in the air.
We drove to the breeder's home on the other side of town and Steve turned in the driveway. The kids freaked out! They asked their dad what the heck he was doing just pulling into a stranger's driveway. Steve got out of the truck and said he was going to go ask for some cookies.
The girls got unbuckled and went to the floor because they were embarrassed that their father would walk to a stranger's house and ask for cookies on Christmas day.
Then Steve came back to the car and said that we could all go inside. We practically had to drag our kids out of the truck.
The new puppy was running around on the floor and I said, "Olivia, Merry Christmas!"
There are no words to describe this moment. It was all worth taking the plunge and buying a dog.
Days following, Olivia named our new puppy, "Coco". She is black with a little white on her chest and on a couple paws.
We were not able to take her home with us that day because she still needed to be weened from her mother.
So, today, New Year's Ever, Steve traveled to the other side of town in the truck, through a snow storm, with the three youngest kids to pick up Coco.
She is the most adorable, cuddly dog ever! Our whole family is in love!
Introducing.....Coco!!! It was meant to be!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
One little girl could use your prayers
I have been home from Haiti for 2 months now and still feel just as messed up as I was when I first arrived home. I was only there for a week but experienced enough to impact me the rest of my life.
For the past several years, I have been reading a lot about human trafficking and I have been following organizations advocating against human trafficking. Each time I read another story of a tragedy involving trafficking or a rescue, God gets my attention over any other injustice in the world.
One part of my experience that I will never forget, are the beautiful children of Haiti. There was one little girl in particular that stole the hearts of many in our group. In fact, members of our team left money to buy her a school uniform so she could go to school. She had been wandering the streets on her own until she entered school.
The teacher has relayed glowing reports through a mutual friend to our team back in the US. We have enjoyed seeing pictures of her in her new uniform, smiling and very happy.
Earlier this week, I received a very disturbing email from our contact in Haiti. This girl is in danger of being trafficked.
I can't share details of this story. But I will say that they have haunted me all week. Up until this point, I have read some horrible stories of children being sold into the slave trade. Nothing has shaken me more than this story.
Our contact is doing everything in his power to intervene and to rescue this beautiful child.
In Haiti, there are currently 300,000 children working in the slave industry. 1 out of 10 children in Haiti are working as slaves. Since the earthquake in January, sex trafficking in Haiti has been rampant. Just google any of this and you will find several stories on the Internet to back this up.
These statistics shake me even more now that I can put a name and face to a potential innocent victim to this horrendous crime.
Please pray for little 'B' and her future. Pray that my friend will be able to work through red tape fast enough to rescue her. It's all very complicated. Thank you!!
For the past several years, I have been reading a lot about human trafficking and I have been following organizations advocating against human trafficking. Each time I read another story of a tragedy involving trafficking or a rescue, God gets my attention over any other injustice in the world.
One part of my experience that I will never forget, are the beautiful children of Haiti. There was one little girl in particular that stole the hearts of many in our group. In fact, members of our team left money to buy her a school uniform so she could go to school. She had been wandering the streets on her own until she entered school.
The teacher has relayed glowing reports through a mutual friend to our team back in the US. We have enjoyed seeing pictures of her in her new uniform, smiling and very happy.
Earlier this week, I received a very disturbing email from our contact in Haiti. This girl is in danger of being trafficked.
I can't share details of this story. But I will say that they have haunted me all week. Up until this point, I have read some horrible stories of children being sold into the slave trade. Nothing has shaken me more than this story.
Our contact is doing everything in his power to intervene and to rescue this beautiful child.
In Haiti, there are currently 300,000 children working in the slave industry. 1 out of 10 children in Haiti are working as slaves. Since the earthquake in January, sex trafficking in Haiti has been rampant. Just google any of this and you will find several stories on the Internet to back this up.
These statistics shake me even more now that I can put a name and face to a potential innocent victim to this horrendous crime.
Please pray for little 'B' and her future. Pray that my friend will be able to work through red tape fast enough to rescue her. It's all very complicated. Thank you!!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Christmas 2010
Grandpa and Grandma and their grandchildren.
Beautiful Olivia
Avery and crazy hair
Great Grandma, great grandchildren and one miniature Santa
Avery opening gifts
Lauren opening something she has wanted for a LONG time.
Remember the Duct Tape bags? My nieces are now proud owners of them.
Samson and his new guitar!
Avery sporting her new classy bag!
My little Shepard boy
My sweet little angel! (Avery on far left)
Baby Jesus!
Christmas Eve cookie baking and decorating!
Dressed our best
My handsome, photogenic boy
Reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas'
Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas begins with Christ
Merry Christmas!
Celebrating the true meaning of Christmas...
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
Luke 2:8 - 14
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.jpg)
.jpg)
