Brazil Mission Trip

Joe (15) is going on a mission trip to Brazil this summer with our youth leaders and some of the kids in our youth group. As is typical with fundraising he sent out donation/fundraising letters awhile back. Last week he got a call from a couple who was willing to give him a very generous donation IF he went witnessing with them ten times and worked in their yard ten times.

Last Saturday was the first time Joe had ever been out witnessing and I'm sure was very apprehensive. They went to Balboa Park for Earth Day (yeah rough crowd) passed out million dollar bills which I believe have the gospel message on them. One man about fifty got in Joe's face and tried to argue with him, yelled at him, verbally abused him and Joe kept calm pointing him back to the Bible. Joe told him that he didn't know all the answers to the questions he was coming up with and told him if he wanted to know more he could talk to his mentor who knew more. The man declined telling Joe he wanted to talk to him because he was more vulnerable. Joe finally told him after the man didn't like Joe's future career choice (law enforcement) that they would have to agree to disagree because it was obvious they weren't going to come to an agreement on anything.

Yesterday they went to SDSU and passed out million dollar bills and he videotaped his mentor doing some open air preaching. Saturday he is set to go again and pass out Easter eggs with the gospel messge tucked inside and some candy.

If you have work that you would like him to do and you're local he's for hire!

Pics & Video of Little A

Last Friday, April 8, we received some pictures taken by another adoptive family who traveled to Ethopia for their court date. They also took a care package of goodies for us to give her. Later that afternoon we received a DVD of her and God is working a MIRACLE regarding her special need. He is in the miracle business and we are blessed to see Him unfolding His work before our eyes.

Contents of our care package:

I also sent off our I-600A and the fees for Homeland Security processing and fingerprinting. They'll process our documents and then send us a fingerprint appointment time. After all that is done we can have our dossier authenticated and sent off to Ethiopia!!! After our dossier is sent then we will receive news of a court date and we'll get to visit our little miss in person!!

This week we've been blessed to have $225 donated towards bringing her home. Thank you!!! We're still waiting on a second referral (second child) anyday! We'll keep you posted!!

My Crazy Adoption-Visiting Orphans Mission Trip Fundraiser

Michael, son of Kari Gibson My Crazy Adoption is going on a mission trip to Uganda. To help him raise funds his mom is selling tote/messenger bags Tote Bag Fund Raiser. Here is what she writes on her blog:

You can purchase my brand new totes with a purpose.  Each bag will help my son, Michael go to Ethiopia and Uganda in August with Man Up Trip with Visiting Orphans. Together we are raising his support and everything above and beyond will bless orphans in Ethiopia and Uganda on his trip.  Michael has helped raise $10,000 for the well project in Chucko, Ethiopia and can’t wait to visit in person the working well and see with his own eyes the miracles God has done for a rural village in Ethiopia.

CLICK HERE FOR STORE- PURCHASE YOUR TOTE TODAY!!

Our vow renewal

 Us with our pastor after the ceremony.

 Us

 Our whole family with our pastor.

Our kids watching our vows.

Hugging after the ceremony.

A few weeks ago while all of our children, our children's spouses, and our grandchildren were here we decided to renew our wedding vows. Our 30th anniversary was actually back in October but we weren't able to renew them then. Since all the kids were here we talked to our pastor (the day before) and Sage our daughter-in-law had a friend that could take pictures for us so we decided to do it! We already had a photo shoot scheduled for forty-five minutes later so we used this opportunity to do the ceremony out in our front yard area. It was good for me to resay the vows since it had been thirty years since I had said them. I moved in with Steve when I was fifteen so in March we had been living together for thirty-five years. It was wonderful to be able to do this and reaffirm our love for one another, and for our kids to witness it as well.

Tsehai

I want to share a resource with you that was invaluable on our trip to pick up Addis & Mulu in 2008. Tsehai Loves Learning Volumes 1 & 2. We have only seen Volume 1, but we are purchasing Volume 2 for our upcoming trip. It is an educational DVD in Amharic with English subtitles, with  Select episodes dubbed into Tigrinya & Sudanese Arabic. Tsehai is a giraffe puppet who learns with other animal puppets. It is geared for ages 3-6, but my girls were about 7 & 11 when they came home three years ago and they loved it. We watched it in our hotel room and they watched it on the plane on the way home. We were able to entertain a little baby with it as well giving his mom and dad a break for a minutes. Unfortuately ours was so loved it got scratched so we are purchasing new copies. There is a preview on the website. Your Ethiopian children will love it and you'll love being able to connect with them in this fun way!

Tsehai

Anna's favorite brother

Anna has missed her Jesse since he left home last summer. After he surprised us at church she told me, "I just can't stop smiling!" She was SO happy to see him. Her smile says it all!