Ethiopia Trip 2011/Fundraising, prepping and vaccines

The anniversary of my first mission trip is almost here. Because I saved many posts in drafts and never got around to sharing, this whole week will be used to share every day that I was in Ethiopia on the same coinciding date. Brittany and I spent days and months fundraising, praying, seeking the Lord. At times, I wondered if this was truly God's will. At those times He'd give confirmations along the way, a note of encouragement, a verse or a donation. I couldn't believe everything was falling into place. What amazed me the most is those that provided to get me there. Surprisingly, it seems those with the least amount of money gave the most to help me help orphans, my dream. I couldn't believe the Lord was finally granting the desires of this mamas heart. I always thought I'd have to wait until old age to reach this life goal. That He would give me favor and answer so obviously was surprising for me! It was truly miraculous. There were times I worried, wondered and agonized over if all the money would come in. I'd pray pray pray and at the deadline of each necessary step the funding would come in at the last moment. Here we are on 7/12/11. At 6:14 pm we received confirmation that ALL the funding came in and I was set to LEAVE! JOY from Set apart for Him paid the balance off. You have no IDEA how big the Happy Dance was that we did! We jumped we hollered, we PRAISED the Lord!

Most people were really supportive. A very few people commented negatively. The bible is pretty clear on the responsibility of a Christian. James 1:27 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world." It doesn't say wait until your children are older and out of the house. It doesn't say once you are retired or empty nesters. It says PURE RELIGION INVOLVES ORPHAN CARE! If you claim to be Christian, than you need to be helping the orphan and the poor. My leaving for 10 days wasn't me abandoning my children or forsaking my responsibilities at home. I have homeschooled my children since 3,these children have had no other caregiver their entire lives. I've only ever left them at the birth of a sibling. I've been a homemaker for over a decade now. The thing that irks me, those that commented do nothing, and I do mean nothing for orphans or the poor. Nor did donate even a pair of underwear, socks, coloring book or so much as a toothbrush, malaria net, or formula for children who have NOTHING. Funny how you can have encouragement of many, and it only takes a few negative comments to cause doubt. They did occasionally grip my heart with fear and doubt from the evil one. At one time I felt unworthy of His blessing. I worried if the plane would crash or a terrorist attack. At one point I wanted to leave a post saying if the Lord took me and you donated please don't feel bad, it's just the Lord's will. I also wanted to complete a small book of everything I've ever wanted to share with my children written down "in case." Finally the Lord told me to take every thought captive and that His plans for me were good. I resolved to not deal with fear mongers and nay sayers or give them anymore brainspace. Thankfully when I felt unsure or worried my husband would pray for me encourage me, tell me how blessed it would be and how excited he and the children were for me. My husband is amazing. If he would have showed even the slightest doubt I would have been to fearful to go. Instead he spurred me on. Love him. So many milestones were FANTASTIC, like getting my 1st passport. Here I am getting a couple vaccines. Here the kids are filming me get my vaccines!

Then off we went to celebrate the boys birthday a day early.

Party w/ a Purpose!

This day last year... my sweet friend Brenda helped us plan our Party with a Purpose. It was nice. We let people drop in anytime during the 4 hour gathering so people were stopping by throughout the day. Here we collected donations, did a short spiel on Ethiopia, fundraised a bit and made cards for the orphan kiddos. The kids had so much fun! I am bummed I didn't take more photos. Thank you to all who came out to lend support. We made Ethiopian foods so the children could experience the culture a bit and colored pictures. They got to see the Ethiopian alphabet. My favorite was when one of the kids wrote "Dear Orphans"... then thought about it for a moment and began again and wrote "Dear Friends" instead. Well played Josh! ;-) Later you will see photos of us giving these out to kids in Ethiopia! It was wonderful and we were blessed to share about Ethiopia, a beautiful, ancient fascinating culture and country.

Here we made ( or at least tried to make) Injera, ( the tortilla like bread) iab, the yummy yogurty type dish and dorowat. ( chicken in red pepper paste) Afterward we sorted the donations, started clean up and the kids had a question for us here... How could we say no? :-)