Orphan Tree of Hope

I am so excited to tell you about a very special way you can help orphans this Christmas. I am part of an orphan ministry at our church and we have been given the opportunity to give hope to some orphans this year. The actual tree is up at our church but thanks to the wonderful world of the internet you can take part too. Below is a list of different projects in all different price ranges that you can do to bring hope to a child. For as little as $15 you can bring a big smile to a child that has no place to call home. I will put a code with each project and please use this code when either paying online or mailing in a check.

$35 for Clothing in India (code 107 ID2)

Nearly 26 million children in India are orphans or street children, and they are among the poorest and most vulnerable souls in a country that is overwhelmed with poverty. Your $35 will provide good, durable clothing and a pair of shoes to a needy child in India.

$50 for School Supplies in Columbia (code 107 CO1)

The cost of an education in Columbia is beyond reach for too many families: only 6 of every 10 children in primary school will finish 8th grade, and thousands more never attend school at all. A gift of $50 will support 3 months of school, including fees, books, uniforms, and supplies. You can give a child the tools to build a successful future.

$50 to give Counseling for AIDS Orphans (code 107 CH5)

Over 100,000 orphans in China have lost their parents to AIDS over the past decade. After growing up with a family, they are reaching their teenage years in institutions. Many struggle with depression and others have committed suicide. A $50 gift will support 3 months of counseling to help one of these children begin to heal.

$20 for Nutritious Meals in Vietnam (code 107 VT)

Vietnam government-run orphanages receive only half the money needed each month to feed every child in their care. This means your donation will insure that a child's nutritional needs are met. Your $20 gift will provide and orphaned child in Vietnam with one additional nutritious meal for an entire month.

$50 for Aid to Ethiopia (code 107 ET6)

Ethiopia is home to 4 million orphans and is one of the world's 5 poorest countries, many young lives begin and end with suffering and deprivation. The need is overwhelming, but you can make a difference. Your $50 gift to this fund will support projects that provide food, shelter, medical care, and other critical resources to Ethiopia orphaned and at-risk children.

$15 for Christmas Gifts (code 107 ALL6)

There is no limit to the joy a simple gift can bring to an orphaned child. Your donation of $15 will purchase a gift such as a storybook, stuffed animal, or art supplies to be presented to an orphan at Christmastime.

$150 for Medical Clinic in India (code 107 ID3)

In the rural villages of India, unsafe drinking water, inadequate nutrition, and poor sanitation sicken and kill children every day. Intestinal infections - which are simple and inexpensive to treat - are the second leading cause of death for these children. With your gift of $150, our staff can conduct a one-day medical clinic in a rural village and treat 100 in desperate need of medical care.

$75 for Warm Clothes in Russia (code 107 RU2)

In the cold winter months, many Russian orphans go to sleep shivering because of inadequate heat and clothing, or warm bedding at the orphanage. Help keep a child warm this winter: your gift of $75 will provide a winter coat , hat, socks, shoes and a cozy blanket for an orphan.

$50 for Medical Care in Kazakhstan (Code 107 KZ3)

Multiple cold-war chemical and nuclear test sites are scattered throughout Kazakhstan. Generations of children have suffered a wide range of devastating illnesses and disabilities. Your gift of $50 will support medical care and therapies that can give Kazakhstan's orphans the chance for a better, healthier future.

$40 for Beijing Post Surgical Care Home (code 107 CH4)

The Children's Hope Foster Home in Beijing gives orphans a comfortable, safe, family style home in which to recover from surgery. Your donation of $40 will go to the operation of this wonderful rehabilitation home equipped with trained staff to provide post-operative care.

$5,000 To Save the Life of a Child with Heat Surgery (code 107 CH6)

More than half of the children living in China's institutions have special medical needs. Without support they must wait to receive critical medical care. Right now , hundreds are waiting for surgery to repair life-threatening heart-defects. Through this fund, you can help one more child get the care he or she needs to survive.

You can make your donations online at http://www.helpanorphan.org/ or mail a check to: Children's Hope International, 11780 Borman Dr., St, Louis, MO 63146. You can also call them at 1-888-899-2349. Don't forget to put the code either on your check or the comment section with online payment.

Thank you so much for be willing to bring some hope to those so dear to God's heart this Christmas!

Truly the Hands and Feet of Christ

A friend of mine sent me a link to a blog to read. God clearly led my friend to this blog and I am so thankful she shared it with me. As you all know my passion is orphan care and that's what got me reading this blog but God taught me so much in reading this blog.

How many of us are truly being the hands and feet of Christ? How many of us can put fear aside to love anyone and everyone. How many of us truly depend on God to get through the day?

Please , please take the time and read this blog http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. Start from the beginning in 2007 and read it through. I promise you it is not a waste of time and you will learn so much in reading this.

Children's Museum

Amaya has been begging and begging us to go to the Children's Museum. Yesterday we decided to surprise the kids and they had sooooo much fun.

The Frog

Last winter we bought this little water frog for our aquarium. One morning I looked in the tank and no frog to be found. We looked everywhere for it, under the furniture, in the basement, anywhere we could think of. We even looked for signs of it getting out like marks of it in the dust (yes I have dust) behind where the aquarium sits. Chris said since it was so cold out that even if it got out it couldn't have lived long. We also thought that a fish ate it (we had a fish killing everything in the tank at the time).

This morning I was checking my email and Amaya comes in with a bucket. Amaya is so excited and said "mom, look I found something that looks like a frog with no skin". I jumped out of my chair and couldn't believe my eyes. I told Amaya to take it outside and get rid of it. Amaya wasn't to sure about that after she saw me jump out of the chair. I told her she was the one that loved bugs and creepy crawley stuff and she could take it out. Amaya got excited then and took it out to get rid of it for me.

I'm sure glad God gave me kids that like the things that I just can't handle.

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged!


Well, this is my first time of playing "Blogger Tag". I guess we will have to see how I do. I was tagged by http://tonyandrett.blogspot.com/ , and have to list 7 random/weird facts about myself. Oh my, I feel so vulnerable!



1. I am obsessed with special needs orphans and spreading the word about them trying to find them homes (if you read my blog though you know that).



2.I really can't stand cartoons. I'm OK with Disney movies and stuff but I really cannot sit and watch cartoons.



3. I am madly in love with my husband. You would think after 10 years with the same guy it might get old but no, I am still madly in love with him and still wait at the door every night for him to come home from work.



4. I wish I owned a pastry shop.



5. I also have a dream of having a hobby farm someday. Yes, I am scared to death of mice and bugs but I would love to live on a little farm.



6. I have no desire to be rich. I don't want all the stress that people with money have and I love that God has blessed me with other riches instead. I don't mind having enough money to pay my bills though.



7. I dream of bringing home more special needs kiddos someday. I know I have to be crazy because there are days I'm pulling out my hair now but I just know we have more room in our hearts for these precious kids as long as God can provide what we need to bring them home and take care of them.



So now I must tag 7 others..............

http://blessedbybaseballsandbows.blogspot.com/- Blessed by Baseballs and Bows

http://www.purposedrivenfamily.blogspot.com/- A Purpose Driven Life http://goinsgang6.blogspot.com/- Goins Gang Gazette

http://www.fergusonfamilyjournal.blogspot.com/- Ferguson Family

http://fourfowlers.blogspot.com/- Fowler Family

http://www.johnsontribe.blogspot.com/- The Johnson Tribe



OK, my friends...TAG! YOU'RE IT! I sure hope some of you I tagged will update your much needed blogs = ).

Guess What?

The little boy from my post on Sept. 16 now has a mommy and daddy working to bring him home! Praise God this child will not be sent to a horrible place to live. One more child saved!

Please Listen To This

If you are reading this and your a Christian please take time to listen to this message a friend of mine gave. Just go to http://www.zionsvillefellowship.org/teaching/archives.shtml and click on the message from Mark Goins. This is a message EVERY Christian needs to hear.

Thank you!

Fall Fun

Oh, I have to say fall is my favorite time of the year. It has been a little while since I have shared some pictures so here you go.

Chris and I made a tradition the first year we got married that we would plant a tree every year. We have had so much fun the past 10 years watching these little trees we plant grow. Now the kids get to enjoy helping plant the trees, watching them grow and taking care of them. We just planted our tree for this year yesterday and as you can see the kids loved it. We let Amaya pick where she wanted the tree to be planted. Thank goodness God blessed us with enough land that we have plenty of space to plant trees for the next 50-60 years.

Chris got the leaf blower out yesterday and made leaf piles for the kids and they had sooooo much fun. They have been waiting and waiting for there to be enough leaves to make piles.

This is Jaxson happy as can be picking out his very own, first pumpkin. He was so excited when he saw all the pumpkins and even more excited when he found out he was getting one.

Paige decided she could carry her own pumkin without any help and she did a good job.

We having a praying manits living in our front bushes and Amaya has had so much fun watching it. Amaya wanted to make sure I got a picture of her watching her praying mantis. Amaya is bug crazy. Amaya even takes bugs on walks with us whenever she can find a cool bug.

10 Years Ago Today

10 years ago today my prayer was answered. For as long as I can remember from the time I was a very little girl I prayed that God would give me a wonderful husband.

When I was in my early 20's I didn't think God would ever answer my prayer. Funny how when your in your early 20's you feel so old if you don't have the man of your dreams yet. Finally I just started praying that God would start preparing me for my future husband and start preparing my future husband for me. I prayed that God would just send me my husband and not make me date around and be hurt like most people. I prayed that God would just show me right away when I found the right man that he would be my husband and that's what God did.

Chris and I only dated about a week or so before we got engaged (If my kids did this I would probably hurt someone). I remember the first night Chris kissed me I called mom at like 3 in the morning to tell her that I was going to marry Chris. Mom ask me how I knew and I told her that he said that he adored me. Mom said that is what she had prayed for my whole life and she also knew at that moment that Chris would be my husband. I can't even explain what happened that week but we both just knew it was right and then in a mall in Indy Chris got down on his knees and ask me to marry him.

Neither of us are your average person who wanted the normal formal church wedding. To me God is always most present when I am out in nature and see the beautiful things God has given us. We planned on a beautiful fall wedding at a friend's house that is in the country with a beautiful setting. We were going to get married with the nice fall temperature, by a pond under trees that were changing colors. We were going to have a fun hot dog roast and just give people a fun day to celebrate what God had given us. So many people worked very hard to make this amazing day happen. My dear friend and old youth pastor was the one that was going to marry us and he kept telling me to have a plan B in case it rained. I kept telling him no plan B was needed because we were in a drout, it hadn't rained in weeks and God knew this was our special day.

Well, the day finally came. I was very sick, it was very cold out (I think about 40) and it was pouring down rain, pouring down rain. I was sitting in the hair salon and mom came in and said that we had to come up with a plan B. I told her I didn't care what happened I just couldn't wait to marry Chris. In a very short time (very short time) a lot of people worked very hard to decorate the car port of my friends house, get their barn ready for the reception because we couldn't have it outside anymore and to just make sure that the wedding was still beautiful for us.

Finally the time came and we had a beautiful wedding with a couple hundred people standing around in umbrellas getting soaking wet. It is a day that not one person that was there will ever forget. It is also the day that God answered my prayer.

God blessed me with the most incredible man I could have ever ask for. God gave me a Christian husband who treats me like a princess. God gave me a husband that in 10 years never walks out the door, hangs up the phone on me or goes to bed without telling me he loves me. God gave me a man that works very, very hard to provide for his family and let's me stay at home with the kids. God gave me a man that is open to the children that God may have planned for us in the future even children with special needs that most people wouldn't even consider. God gave me a man that is a wonderful father to his children. God has truly blessed me!!!

He Needs A Home

A dear friend of mine ask me to post about this boy that really needs a home fast. Below I just copied what she wrote on her blog about him. Please spread the word about this child because he only has a few months for a chance at a family. In China once you turn 14 you no longer qualify to be adopted. He turns 14 in June.

HE NEEDS A FAMILY
This is Grady.He turned 13 years old on June 3rd of this year. On June 3rd of next year, he will age out of China's adoption program and will no longer be eligible for adoption. Sadly, his SWI just submitted his paperwork 2 months ago -which doesn't give him much time to find a family.
You can't see it in this picture, but Grady has scoliosis. It is so severe that is has caused him to be much shorter than he would have been. Apparently he has to place all of his weight on only one of his legs -and we've been told that he cannot feel that side of his body. He walks with crutch like canes....but LONGS to be able to run and play just like other boys his age.
He is living at The Philip Hayden Foundation right now. The people I've emailed with about Grady tell me he is an absolute sweetheart and a great kid. He is desperate to have a family of his own.
I know there are thousands of kids just like Grady, but something about this boy has tugged on all of our hearts here in our home. :) The kids (Andrew and Becca) pray for Grady before every meal and every bed time..without fail. They pray for God to heal his back and for Grady to have a family.
John and I feel the least we can do for this sweet boy is to diligently pray for him and advocate for him. Will you help us do this? Will you join us in praying for Grady? for his back -which will take several surgeries to "fix"? and for the Lord to quickly raise up a family for him?
I'm going to be a bit bold here..would you help us advocate for him too? If you have a blog, would you do a little post about him? or maybe email everyone in your email address list and just let them know that Grady needs prayer and a family? You never know who may see your blog post or read your email and then see Grady's picture and say "oh my! that's my boy!!!"
If you, or anyone you know of, are interested in Grady, please email me at jethalt (@) yahoo (dot) com -take out the parentheses of course! and I can put you in contact with the folks who are in charge at The Philip Hayden Foundation