Decide to Make Christmas Different This year-GIVE instead of Get~

It's beginning to look a lot like...
Gifts that Give. Shopping with a Purpose.
This Christmas will you buy gifts that give twice? All of the items below can be purchased and given as gifts to your loved ones while also funding some great causes! Some orphan care, some adoption, some widow care.
Shop away!
*A good listserve AGCI mom came up with these GREAT ideas-check them out.......

Jenkins Family Adoption - Africa Tie Die Bags, Christmas Ornaments, artwork, and tshirts
In her Etsy shop!

Lifesong for Orphans Tshirts – 100% goes to orphan care and adoption funding - $20 each

Lifesong for Orphans - Sponsor a Child in Liberia $50 per month

Casper Family Adoption Fund - visit her Etsy shop or her blog for handmade hair accessories, necklaces, and broaches.

Buriani family Adoption Fund - adopting THREE siblings from Ethiopia! Visit their etsy shop for cute little girl shoes! $29

Biggerstaff family adoption fund - tshirts $20

Kirk Family Adoption - Ahni Art (customizable scripture canvas art)

Kelley family adoption fund - Pitter Patter Art - tshirts, key fobs, artwork, bags, and jewelry (all customizable)

Gobena Coffee - Funding orphan care in Ethiopia-organic fair trade coffee, tshirts, and coffee mugs

Schmelzer Family Adoption Fund - Bracelets

Stutzman Family Adoption Fund - tshirts - $12

Jewett Family Adoption Fund - Christmas Ornaments $15

Ucherek Family Adoption Fund - tshirts $15

Blackston Family Adoption Fund - tshirts $20

Wiphan Orphan Care - tshirts, coffee, operation silent night, and cookbooks - proceeds go to orphans and widows in Zambia!

Light Gives Heat - helping women in Uganda

Small Wish - baby slings made by an adoptive momma!

JunkPosse - adoptive momma and grandma - uses proceeds to fund adoptions and orphan care

Sseko Designs - helping women in Uganda - shoes & straps

It's Poppy Dip - raising money for their adoption fund - girls dresses & more

James 1:27 Designs - raising money for their adoption fund - Christmas cards & birth announcements

147 Million Orphans - orphan care in Uganda - tshirts, bags, accessories & more

Baby Zoowon - blankets - for each blanket purchased, one is given to an orphan in need.

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Jenkins Family Adoption - Africa Tie Die Bags, Christmas Ornaments, artwork, and tshirts
Gifts that Give. Shopping with a Purpose.
This Christmas will you buy gifts that give twice? All of the items below can be purchased and given as gifts to your loved ones while also funding some great causes! Some orphan care, some adoption, some widow care.
Shop away!

In her Etsy shop!

Lifesong for Orphans Tshirts – 100% goes to orphan care and adoption funding - $20 each

Lifesong for Orphans - Sponsor a Child in Liberia $50 per month

Casper Family Adoption Fund - visit her Etsy shop or her blog for handmade hair accessories, necklaces, and broaches.

Buriani family Adoption Fund - adopting THREE siblings from Ethiopia! Visit their etsy shop for cute little girl shoes! $29

Biggerstaff family adoption fund - tshirts $20

Kirk Family Adoption - Ahni Art (customizable scripture canvas art)

Kelley family adoption fund - Pitter Patter Art - tshirts, key fobs, artwork, bags, and jewelry (all customizable)

Gobena Coffee - Funding orphan care in Ethiopia-organic fair trade coffee, tshirts, and coffee mugs

Schmelzer Family Adoption Fund - Bracelets

Stutzman Family Adoption Fund - tshirts - $12

Jewett Family Adoption Fund - Christmas Ornaments $15

Ucherek Family Adoption Fund - tshirts $15

Blackston Family Adoption Fund - tshirts $20

Wiphan Orphan Care - tshirts, coffee, operation silent night, and cookbooks - proceeds go to orphans and widows in Zambia!

Light Gives Heat - helping women in Uganda

Small Wish - baby slings made by an adoptive momma!

JunkPosse - adoptive momma and grandma - uses proceeds to fund adoptions and orphan care

Sseko Designs - helping women in Uganda - shoes & straps

It's Poppy Dip - raising money for their adoption fund - girls dresses & more

James 1:27 Designs - raising money for their adoption fund - Christmas cards & birth announcements



147 Million Orphans - orphan care in Uganda - tshirts, bags, accessories & more

Baby Zoowon - For each

blanket purchased, one is given to an orphan in need.

I Love Scabies!

I know I know that sounds crazy, but I got a call from our caseworker today and she had a slightly sad tone to her voice-of course my blood pressure went instantly up-with all the friends that we have whose kids in Ethiopia have been admitted to the hospital for pneumonia, "illness that we don't know what it is" "some sort of infection", etc....and with ALL the unknowns in adoption when you are waiting to go to court and hoping that nothing goes wrong to prevent this from happening-YES, I got a little concerned instantly as to why she was making this unexpected phone call-but she said that scabies has broken out in the orphanage and that our baby girl has a pretty bad case of it-but even with that-total RELIEF washed over me and I breathed a prayer of thanks that it wasn't something more serious! Crazy to us Americans-maybe, but not to this one! :-)
Fortunately they have the medications that adoptive families have taken over and left-prescriptions needed for scabies-it is a one to two time cream all over for the night application-so it should be taken care of. I do feel for the poor orphanage workers in that they are now having to wash everything in hot water-and I think our laundry is excessive-I can't even imagine doing it for tons and tons of kids and babies.
Well, just thought I would share this interesting day and that as far as we know (other then being really itchy now) our baby girl -who is now 4 months old, is doing great. We are still on the countdown to now less than 2 months to meet her in person-ya.

What a Great Family and Testimony

This is a beautiful family and they just got 3 new blessings!

Take Your Vitamin Z: The Gospel Implies That We Do Crazy Things

Future Super Bowl Players :-)

Zach and Noah are enjoying their football -it is their first year playing and they are having fun! Their daddy Adam is an assistand coach and I think he is having just as much fun reliving his past :-) Here are some pictures..Go Foxes....
also, we are counting down the days to leave-we only have 8 more weeks-sounds like a lot, but it is coming fast! We received our tickets in the mail so it is getting real.

While a fellow adoptive mommy was gone on a missions trip, she had "guest bloggers" post each day on her blog and got a wonderful array of people-they are great to read-find them all on this blog: http://mycrazyadoption.org/
Here is one of my favorite-written by author Tom Davis (Red Letters, Fields of the Fatherless, Scared and Priceless books) and the guy that helps head up Children's Hope Chest-one of my favorite organizations: http://www.hopechest.org/ He gives great insight into how to teach your kids the plight of other children not having clean water-
From Tom:

"1 in 6 people on the planet does not have access to clean water. In round numbers that’s about a billion people.
It’s hard to imagine life without clean water because in the U.S. we have so much of it. In fact, we’re so rich, we play in it.

The water we swim in is not fit to drink? Yet, if you served it over ice, it would probably not kill you as fast as the dirty mud holes and contaminated rivers of Africa. Like the water these kids are pulling from the river.
There are people working on clean water throughout the world. Children’s HopeChest, Charity:Water, Healing Waters, and Water4Christmas are just a few of the organizations making a difference. Check them out, get involved. It’s cheaper and easier than you think to bring clean drinking water to children.
But beyond this, I want you to take time to talk with kids about water usage. What’s funny about the clip above is that it exposes a ridiculous dichotomy in our world. On the one hand you have billions of people who are killed by waterborne disease because of dirty water. On the other there’s us, frolicking through the water parks. If you are going swimming this summer, you have an opportunity to teach your kids about the value of clean water while they are at the pool
Try this. The next time you are at the pool and lunchtime rolls around, take out your cups and go to the pool and fill them with water. Hopefully this will surprise your children. And you might get a few “gross” or “eewwww” type comments out of them. Use this moment to tell them about the global water crisis. Teach them that the water in the cups–although dirty to them–is far cleaner than the water that children around the world drink.

Tell them the stories of children who instead of going to school must instead hunt for water to carry back to their families.
Here’s another exercise you can do with them. Make them carry an entire bath load of water from the backyard hose to their tub. This is how 1 billion and more people fetch their water each day. The key here is to help your kids walk in the shoes of another child a world away.

As they are contemplating drinking pool water, or straining their muscles carrying bucket loads of bathwater to their tub, you are challenging what our culture tells them is normal.
Water parks may be a first world invention, but you can use them this summer to teach unforgettable lessons to your kids. And that’s a good thing because to fix the global water crisis, we’ll need the help of the next generation–and sooner is better."

BUILDING THE BLOCKS...: While we wait...they can't wait!

We can't wait anymore-

BUILDING THE BLOCKS...: While we wait...#links#links

Welcome to MCF Kenya-and amazing man, an amazing ministry!

Operation Silent Night-check it out

Come on folks-it is only $45 bucks!! http://www.babeofmyheart.com/project-2-operation-silent-night/

Operation Silent Night - Wiphan Care Ministries from Wiphan Care Ministries on Vimeo.

School Daze~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, our kids started school this week-Jacob in 6th grade, Cassidy and Zachary in 3rd, Noah in 1st and Logan (our baby for now) Kindergarten. I have to say (and maybe this confession means I am a bad mom) but I wasn't sad, but very happy to have a few hours of actual quiet in my house. I didn't know what to do with myself-something or someones were missing! They are lovin school and are excited (so far) about their homework even! We will see how long that lasts. Here are some 1st day of school pictures....one very sweet thing that has happened this week is that BOTH Cassidy and Jacob came to me and asked me where pictures of Abby are-I didn't think much of them, they ask a lot to put them different places, etc....but by that evening, they both had pictures of their baby sister on the covers of their notebooks-too cute! They are so proud of her and love her. Jacob even wanted to wear his "Adoption Rocks" T-shirt for the first day and was very sad/mad when I forgot to wash it the night before. :-)

End of Summer Camping

We went with a couple people that Amber works with and their spouses-The Boddingtons and the Mayers, to Honeyman Campground in Florence OR over Labor Day Weekend to camp and relax...we took our 5 kids, so it was quite the birth control for those 2 poor couples that don't have kids yet...no, the kids were actually pretty good-for the most part. We had fun and laughed a ton!!! Here are some pictures of our time. The hatchet pictures are an inside joke about the guy across from us that insisted on chopping wood each morning for ONE HOUR beginning at 6am! Nice wake-up call! Geesh!

IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE BUT WE GOT OUR TICKETS TO FLY ON OUR FIRST TRIP!!!!

I can hardly believe I am writing this-but we purchased our tickets this week and itinerary to fly out really early on Nov. 12th, go to court Nov. 19th and get home Nov. 20th! So excited! We fly out a few days before we need to be there and are taking an extended 2 day layover in DC to see the sights and show our son them too-it will be great for the hisotry that he will be doing this year in 6th grade. None of us have ever been to DC so we are excited! We then get to Addis one day early and will try to tour the city, go to the church Abby was found at, maybe the fistula hospital and shop. We get to see abby approximately 4 days that we are there and do court apt. one day. It will be hard to leave here there, but we pray, pray that we are home with her by Christmas! Thanks for all the prayers! The kids did their parking during Silverton's Homer Davenport Days and The Art Festival in our front yard and after both weekends made $240 toward getting Abby home! adam and amber

The Heart of Courageous Movie-Can't wait!!

Check out these great new family movies comming out!

We need to really start supporting movies like these below that bring values, morals, Christian ethics to our home instead of the garbage that is out there-then the movie companies will make more!

Another amazing Gotcha Day video....

This is from one of our All God's Children adoptive families The Strobels
http://thestrobelfamily.blogspot.com/
and they just got home with their beautiful daughter from Ethiopia-enjoy!
Then below is a great song-and amazing how they make the sounds!

Meeting Ava Ethiopia Trip July 2010 from melanie Strobel on Vimeo.

Check out this new documentary!!

WE HAVE COURT DATES!

After being told last week that we wouldn't hear any news on court dates until AFTER courts reopen in October, we got a surprise call today from our caseworker, Kiersten. She told us that she had great news for us-since our file was already open in the Ethiopian court system, the courts decided to give out a few more court dates-and we got one!!

Abigail's court session (where several different people have to show up to represent her-an AGCI staff member, a member of the police force, a social worker, etc.) will be on
OCTOBER 20th.

We will then leave around Nov. 15th and arrive for OUR court appearance on NOVEMBER 19TH and arrive home around Nov. 21st from our FIRST trip to Ethiopia.

We are sad that it is about 3 months away, but excited that we FINALLY have a date to look at! We are going to call and get flight quotes in the morning and see what they look like....we then have our caseworker review any that we find (our itinerary) and when they approve it, we can book it!

Please pray as there are several documents that need to be at the court in order for both Abigail's part and our part to be able to pass. One is the MOWA letter-and many times it isn't there when it is suppose to be-so PRAY!

Pray that the judge and all the Representatives of Abigail will be healthy and let nothing stop them from coming to work on Oct. 20th and Nov. 19th! After these 2 courts are done and passed, Abigail will be legally ours in the eyes of Ethiopia courts!! But, we have to wait for her visa and passport to be ready and that is what the next wait will be for-so that we can then go on the 2nd trip.

Continue to pray for Abby's health as she lives in the orphanage.

Pray that we will get a quick Embassy date after our 2 court dates.....after we pass court-we hope that the trend continues that has happened with the last group (they are there in Ethiopia, just now there picking up their kids)-they only had to wait 3-4 weeks from their court appointment to their return trip and embassy appointment-which is where we can BRING ABBY HOME! This is the part we want to get to as soon as possible. There is still a chance that we can have her home by Christmas-so pray hard!!! If not by Christmas, it will be January.

One less orphan...

I had to share this great testimony to adoption, orphan and widow care-one of our All God's Children's fellow adoption moms is in Ethiopia now and wrote this as she is sitting with her new baby girl.....it really touched my heart!!!

Melanie Behr Strobel Facebook Note-on Monday, August 23, 2010 at 2:43pm
"I am in Ethiopia and since this is my second trip in one month, I can tell you it feels a bit like coming home. There is something here that has stolen my heart. First and foremost it is the birthplace of a little princess who sleeps next to me so sweetly and peacefully. She was born in this beautiful land of great history, beauty and friendly smiling people. She was also born into circumstances that surpass all understanding for many of us. She was born into poverty, perhaps cultural shame or maybe to unhealthy parents who would not be able to care for her. The total circumstances of her birth we may never know but we do know that God perfectly orchestrated her survival and her safety. Of course I cannot explain why her and not all the children we see who endure so much, but I find myself feeling such gratitude to God, who rescued our daughter, first adopted her, and then connected all the many dots to make her our child.
Ethiopia has also stolen my heart because there are so many children who still wait. From newborn babies through young adults, we have seen the staggering numbers who wait to find their last best hope. Maybe it is their hardship that makes me want to pray over each child and ask God to connect with each individual child's heart. They are so innocent in there hardship. I wish I could do more for the children I have met and sometimes it feels strange to know that I return home to fresh food, running water, wonderful schools and many simple comforts. After seeing all that I have seen in such places as Korah or on several of the streets of Addis Ababa, I just know there is more we can all do. International adoption for me has brought me an awareness that I always hoped I would find. Adoption is a feeling of hope and redemption. It is a feeling of being stretched to see the needs of million of children right in front of us. It seems that we as a family have now been entrusted with this priceless little gift and all God asks in return is to pass along the knowledge we have gleaned. I feel that this path has lead me to encourage others to better understand the plight of the orphan or the call of the widow. Help the child who remains behind with sponsorship, help with an education, personal letters, prayer, a visit to he or she through a mission trip or very simply by sharing your own testimony with others.
Tomorrow we head back to a shopping area of Ethiopia called the Post Office shops and I cannot tell you how eager I am to revisit the orphaned children who sleep across the street under the bus station. They are orphans and beg to survive. Not only do they beg for money to eat but one child begged me to bring him to America. His question haunts me yet I find myself giving a wink and a nod to God every time I think of it. Helping one child at a time when there are millions is all we can do. Just BE THE CHANGE for one. Help one. Pray for one. Pay for one. Think of one. Adopt into your hearts or perhaps your homes just one. And all the while thank God for first adopting YOU!
This is my fifth child, Tedessa, who for five years had to dig in the trash dump in Korah in order to survive. With the help of www.p61.com, Tedessa will begin boarding school outside of Korah this September. Education equals hope and it the lives of children such as Tedessa, hope is everything!!!!! Sponsor a child and change a life for one!
This is a link to the Strobel Family's wonderful blog-
http://www.thestrobelfamily.blogspot.com/