Hands of Hope Orphan Card Making Project this Weekend!

I have been a busy beaver this past week or so! Let me explain. A few months ago (I think it was in June), our church, Grace Community Church, decided to cancel weekend services on the weekend of November 1 and 2, and instead send all the church attenders out into the community to do service projects.

What a great idea, huh?! So, to get the projects set up well in advance they asked for project ideas of all of the Outreach ministries. Our ministry, Hands of Hope International Adoption and Orphan Care Ministry, is one of those, and as the sponsor, I was asked to submit ideas. I took this message to our board, and they had a few ideas, one of which was to ask any contacts we had with agencies related to our ministry for service projects. In the end we submitted 3 ideas: 1. making cards for orphans, 2. planning a silent auction to fund our adoption fund, and 3. holding a garage sale to help fund our adoption fund.

Well, our church picked 2 of the 3 ideas along with many many other ideas from other ministries to go forward with providing 3000 volunteer opportunities! The time for signing up closed this past Monday, and it turns out that our #2 idea didn't have enough volunteers to make a go of it. So for Hands of Hope our only project left is making cards for orphans of which I happen to be the project leader AND the team leader both. I didn't really understand what that meant to be both the project leader and the team leader until this week.

As the project leader I've been responsible for getting everything ready, from contacting and working with the scrapbooking store where we're going to hold the sessions, gathering all the supplies for all the sessions, working with the Childrens Hope International contact that I have to get the information I need about the orphans, and in general getting all the planning done.

As the team leader I've been responsible for contacting each person that signed up and verifying which shift they are going to be working, trying to figure out how to accommodate everyones' request, and then also reminding each person that signed up of the date, time and location of the the sessions. And I will be responsible for leading all 4 sessions, which means that I'll be at the site from 9:30 Saturday morning until 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon, and then 11 a.m. Sunday morning until 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon! Wow! Did I sign up for alot?!

Anyway, I'm about 90% ready on both jobs. Turns out that we'll be making Christmas cards for orphans in Ethiopia. So because I'm not really crafty or creative in making cards, I decided about 2 weeks ago that it would be best for me to take DD1 and DD2 down to Archiver's (where the event is to be held), and practice making cards. We met another board member there, picked 4 card ideas that Archiver's had on the their website, and went around with one of the store clerks collecting all the necessary supplies to make those 4 cards. Well, 30 minutes , and $230 later!!!, we were ready to make our cards. We all faltered a little bit getting started, but soon we were off. The girls' imaginations took off, and we ended up making 7 cards in about 2 1/2 hours of time (Gretchen pointed out the each of the cards cost us a little over $30!, but we'll be able to use alot of the supplies again, so it's not as bad as it sounds).

After I finish up writing this post, I'll also post photos of the cards we made. I did learn lots on that card making adventure. First and foremost is: Don't buy card making supplies at a scrapbooking store! It's too darn expensive! I decided that I'd make trips to other stores and buy the additional supplies we need for this weekend. I went to Dollar Tree which quite a few things we could use, Walmart which didn't, and Hobby Lobby which was a gold mine!!!

All in all I've used about $260 of our ministries funds for this project that will have 4 sessions with 16 people at each session. We'll be passing out cards and return envelopes at the event for people to take home to consider making a donation to the Hands of Hope adoption fund which has been set up to provide interest free loans and matching grants to Grace adopting families to help bring an orphan home to their forever family. I also have had to print out the envelops and donation cards to support that, so there's additional minimal cost associated with that, but who's counting, right?!

I still have a couple of things I need to get: yellow or gold card stock, and brown or black card stock. But that's it, and I'll be ready!

I'm excited, and nervous about how this weekend will go. I'm excited because we had a really good time making the cards last weekend, so I know people will enjoy it. I'm nervous because, although Archiver's told me we could use their work room for the sessions, they didn't reserve it for us. So it's possible that other people from off the street could come in and take one of the 16 chairs that's available. That should'nt be a problem for the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions because we are there first thing when they open, but for the afternoon sessions there's just no guarantee.

So I've been praying alot over this event. I want it to go well. Not so much to show what a great planner I am, or to give me the glory for all of this event. But rather because for some people this is the first time they've done any service project at all, and I want it to be a good experience for them so they'll be more open to volunteering year round. Also because I want the Ethiopian children to enjoy the hand made cards and to know that they are loved not only by us but by God!

An invitation for all Christians

I received this email from my niece. I like the message and the idea for all of us to get involved. So I'm extending this invitation to all who would like to participate!

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT....

This is the one of the most threatening elections we as Christians have ever faced. From the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values. We all need to be on our knees. Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, then stand back and watch His wonders to behold. His scripture gives us, as Christians, ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I challenge you to do so. We have never been more desperate than now for God to heal our land.

2 Chronicles 7:14 :

'If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.'

During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its' people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped.

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America . The United States of America and our citizens need prayer more than ever!

If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time, 8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific, stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, for wisdom and courage for our leaders, the up-coming election, and that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land and that Christianity will grow in the U.S.

If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along. Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

Thank You

Please pass this on to anyone who you think will want to join us. God Bless You!!!

ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT....

Patsy's retirement party

Because we've had 600 salaried employees either laid off or forced to retire, there have been lots of going away parties. The first round was for those whose last day was October 1. The next big wave is going to be those whose last day is November 1, and the last wave is those whose last day is December 1.

There's a woman that I've known for 13 of the 14 years I've been at my job. I met her when she worked in the training department as the education coordinator, and since April I've shared a cubicle with her. She is a dear sweet woman that was widowed at a young age, and chose to raise her sons by herself. She was one of the "forced to retire" people. She's only 57, so very young to be retired, and she was not really prepared financially to do so. We threw her a retirement party at work with her sons and friends from all over. She had a great time, and I think it really meant alot to her. She's been gone now for a couple of weeks, and I've all alone in my cubicle. It's been hard adjusting to not having Patsy to talk with everyday to share our lives and stories. I miss her.

I heard that she's spending this time to fix up her house to sell it, and then she's going to start looking for a job to be able to make ends meet until she can truly retire. I wish her well. This photo is of she and I at her party. One of her sons took the photo. She does look happy, doesn't she?

How will you vote?

Today I received an email from one of the women in our China travel group. She and her husband were adopting their daughter at the same time we were there adopting ours. Angie and her husband live in Kentucky. But that's not why I'm telling you about her email.

She sent me and others in our travel group a link to Randy Alcorn's blog, where he gives his opinion on how anyone that is truly prolife must vote in the November elections. He's got a good point, but I'll let you judge for yourself.

Before you go to Randy's blog, let me warn you that there is a very graphic video on the blog that is quite disturbing. I wasn't going to watch it, but decided that I needed to, if only to be able to talk about it with others that read the blog post. As I was watching the torn bodies of these babies, and their tiny little feet, hands and faces, I was thinking about Gracie. What if her birth mother had decided to take the abortion route? She very well could have, but she didn't. For whatever reason she decided to leave her in a place where she knew that she would be found and taken care of. I thank her for the decision that she made that day, one day after Gracie was born.

You know, for the past few weeks, I've been going back and forth on who I should vote for on November 4th. I was wrestling with some of the very things that Randy talks about on his blog related to the issues and personalities of the candidates. I can't say that I agree with the complete platforms of either candidate or am too thrilled about either, but after reading Randy's blog entries on the subject and watching the videos he has posted, I'm now sure without a doubt how I'm going to vote.

My prayer for you is that it will help you decide how to vote too.

Then and Now

Recently I received an email requesting two photos of Grace. The first one of her referral, and the 2nd one recent. The purpose of which is that our local library is putting together a display case for National Adoption Month of children adopted to highlight the impact adoption has on children.

These are the two photos I sent. She changed alot in a year, hasn't she?!

I can't wait to see her and other childrens' photos in the library case.

Happy Birthday (yesterday!) DD1

I now have a 15 year old daughter. Wow! Where did the time go?! DD1 turned 15 yesterday, and in all her teenage glory celebrated with her girlfriends and not so much with her family. We decided that when the girls turned 13 that they wouldn't have any more big birthday parties with the exception of a big one when they turned 16. So DD1 asked me if she could have 4 friends spend the night on her birthday. DH and I were okay with that, I mean what could happen?

Well, it was okay, but somehow it really turned into a full-fledged birthday party. She had her first friend come home on the bus with her to help her make her birthday cake, and then the rest of the girls came over during the course of a few hours after that. The theme was "80's girls", and all the girls dressed like they thought someone their age would've dressed during the 80's, you know big hair (or as big as they could make it anyway), big scrunchy on their side ponytails, leg warmers, torn t-shirt hanging off of one shoulder... It was really very cute. Here's a picture of DD1 with one of her friends.

The girls had a great time, but were MESSY, and I guess that's typical, but the biggest issue was that they stayed up until 4:30 a.m. I figured that DD1 would be a mess and want to sleep all day, but she didn't. She cleaned (after some prodding from mom), and went to church. Why you ask? Because she has another party to go to tonight! So she's at her friend's house for another party, not for her, but because her friend wanted to have someone her own age at the party for her grandfather. DD1 is spending the night, and will be home early tomorrow morning. She then has to watch Grace becasue I have a meeting at church and her dad is playing pickleball. She should be exhausted by the time tomorrow moring is over!

I think she'd say that her 15th birthday weekend was a huge success, but I think for mom and dad it's just the beginning of a period of time that we won't be spending much time with DD1!

Halloween costumes for DDs

Halloween is always something that our girls have looked forward to. I too remember getting excited about dressing up and trick-or-treating. Now, as a parent, it's not near as fun, but it's still fun to help the kids figure out their costumes, and see all the neighborhood kids costumes as they come around for trick-or-treat.

This weekend, I was in Dollar Tree to get cheap stickers for Gracie, and happened to see these fairy wings. They came in red, blue, green, orange and yellow. Next to those there was a little fairy skirt that came in the same colors with the exception that the blue was a different shade of blue than the wings (why would that be?!). Anyway, I started thinking that this would be a cute costume for Gracie! DD1 and DD2 were with me, so course, we couldn't stop at those two things. By the time we got out of there, we bought the skirt, the wings, slip on shoes, a wand, and a tiara - all in green. We decided to go with green because Gracie has a pair of green blue Tinker Bell pjs that I think she'll be able to wear with the rest of the outfit, and Voila she'll BE Tinker Bell!!!

If for some reason it's too warm (it was 86 degrees here yesterday!), then I'll have her wear a onesie with tights. She'll be adorable! We were all 3 pretty proud that we got her a costume for $5!

Well, then we went onto Walmart, and DD2 wanted a larger light up fairy skirt for $13 to be able to go as a dance teacher. That's all she needs, so we got off there cheap on her too! DD1 wanted leg warmers and hair scrunchies to be a girl from the 1980's, $11! So for 3 girls, 3 costumes, we spent $29!!! Not bad! I can't EVER remember getting costumes that cheap. I'm so blessed to have girls that are very good about considering cost, and I just love getting a bargain!!

So we are all set for Halloween with the exception of the candy to hand out. I'm not getting that until the last minute, because if we have it too early, I'll eat it all!!

Hands of Hope goings on

We had our monthly Hands of Hope board meeting this morning, and we ran out of time before we got through everything that we needed to get through. There is so much coming up in and around the month of November, and it's truly amazing that this all happening around National Adoption Month. Coincidence? I don't think so! I believe that God is using this time to bring the plight of orphans to light, and to prod people that He is calling to adopt to get off their rears and do something!

Here's what we have coming up:

• November 2/3: Archivers Orphan Card project for Childrens Hope International
• November 2/3: Silent Auction Solicitation Project to support Hands of Hope adoption fund
• November 14/15: Frontline Expo featuring all Frontline ministries including Hands of Hope
• November 22: Hands of Hope adoption informational meeting
• Start of the Hands of Hope adoption fund; accepting applications for families that want to apply for an interest free adoption loan or matching grant
• Participating in the Grace Christmas Catalog

This is amazing! God is working in this ministry! We are also getting closer to determining who we will partner with to support an international orphanage. We've got a good candidate, and are thinking we'll go with them, but I don't want to say until we make a decision. Our goal is to basically "adopt" an orphanage providing financial support, prayer support, missions trips, and whatever else we can do to show the love of Christ to the children in the orphanage. Another goal of this partnership is to educate people on God's heart for orphans. So it's exciting!

One of things that I'm wondering now though is how the economy will affect our progress. I'm not worried because I know that God will lead us, but on the surface it appears it's not a good time to step up a ministry like we're trying to do. So prayer is definitely in order!

First post on new blog!

I found out a few days ago that AOL is closing their journals. So they conveniently had a way to transfer all of the previous blog posts off of my AOL journal account to Blogger. Well isn't that great?! Except that I've tried 3 times now, and still can't get all my posts to show up!!! So I guess I'll start anew.

If you are a visitor to my blog, Welcome! I started it a few years ago while we were waiting to adopt our daughter from China. That was in 2006. Now here it is 2008, and our daughter has been home with us now for about 14 months. She is a joy, as our other daughters are too. So we are now a family of 5. As I struggle through life like everyone else does sharing the good times and the not so good, I'll try to post my feelings and experiences as a way to capture the moment for others to share, and for me to relive my past over the years.

I can't guarantee that you'll always be entertained, but I do hope you enjoy getting in my head a little bit!