Give a Gift with meaning and purpose this Christmas

SIM Christmas Gift Catalogues
Christmas is quickly approaching, a season when we work hard to find just the right gifts for our family and friends. That's why we are delighted to share with you our SIM gift catalogues that have become a favorite of our partners. Each contains more gifts than we have ever offered before, allowing you to give with lasting significance. Check out our gift catalogues from our offices in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia! Adoptive Families Click on the link to see their gift list. Some fun stuff. Included are: Jewelry, some really cute stuff clothing dolls trinkets books!!!!! and even a program for making a life book that looks super great! Spoon Foundation also has some gifts available Samaritans Purse GIFT CATALOG Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog The Samaritan's Purse Christmas gift catalog is a small window to the needs of people who face difficult and often life-threatening challenges. By giving a goat, medicine, or a hot meal, you are not only saving lives, but also showing the love of Jesus Christ to those who are hurting. Click here to view the gift catalog   BUILD-A-BOX Build-A-Box Didn't get your shoe box to a collection center in time for National Collection Week? You can still send a gift to a child overseas by using Build-A-Box online. Customize your box by choosing gifts and adding a photo and personal greeting, or have us pack and send a box for you. Click here to send a gift-filled shoe box online

Grace Center in Bahir Dar, buy a doll help a mom

It has come to my attention that some really cute rag dolls can be bought from the single moms from the Grace Center in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.
You can get more information about the center at these two sites:
http://graceforethiopia.org/WP/
http://mamameheret.com/

This is a wonderful organization which helps single moms care for and keep their children. They get job training and skills and other educational opportunities.  It is certainly worth checking out.
You can currently buy the doll from ACASA. I understand that you can buy the doll directly from Grace For Ethiopia.
Here is the doll.

ACASA also has these dolls (below) listed for sale but I do not know if they are from the same center or another. I love them.You can buy ones somewhat similar but not as cute on this site. DollsnBears. This site has a section on dolls with African heritage. It is a good resource, but mostly decorative or collector dolls.

KIDMIA aids local Ethiopians in adopting orphans

I want to send you all this news article about KIDMIA and the work they are doing to help the cause of the orphan in Ethiopia. I think you will all be encouraged and inspired by this bit of news. Because of a project called Seed Adoption bringing the news of how local people can be involved in adoption of children many local Ethiopians are now adopting orphans, keeping them in their own country and culture. This is a great thing and I personally am really excited about it.
Check it out.

KIDMIA

Ethiopian Orphan Relief and FOVC buy a brick

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-ethiopian-orphan-relief--inc---The-March-edition.html?soid=1103640951423&aid=bvK-3dYwBgw

'Buy a brick...build a legacy'
Our newest campaign begins...TODAY! Please join us in building a safe and secure home for the children of FOVC.  There are other ways to help also! Check it out on the above link to FOVC.

Good news for HIV kids in Ethiopia

Amid all the speculation and uncertainty in the area of adoption in Ethiopia there is also some super great news for kids with HIV. Drawn From Water has posted the good news on their blog. Check out the story here.

exerpt of the basic gist of the good news!:
(In the past)....The law has said that no one is able to access ARV medication until they are into stage 3 of the 4 stages that occur within HIV.........................Yesterday we received word that the rules have changed.  Now all children 2 and under who are diagnosed with HIV are automatically given access to Anti Retro Viral medication as soon as their tests come back!


Good news. 

One Day Without Shoes | www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

One Day Without Shoes | www.onedaywithoutshoes.com

Check out this event. April 5th. Go without shoes.
There are two great videos on their site about this and what it does. 

Tom's will also donate a pair of shoes for every pair of shoes you buy. Good time to get those shoes you have had your eye on and do a good thing at the same time.

Sponsor a Child

I wanted to share with  you our experience with Compassion International.
When we lived in South America we had the opportunity to attend a church where there is a Compassion center. It was great to visit it and see the work God was doing there. We visited several sites while we lived there. We were so impressed by the work they do that we asked them to give us a child to sponsor. We were able to go to a site and ask about any children attending who were not yet sponsored. At that time we were introduced to Marina. A 5 year old girl who had been attending for a year but needed a sponsor. Your donations to "unsponsored children" go to kids like her. So, we met with her a few times and were able to give her some gifts of clothes and toys and school supplies while we were there. On our last visit before coming back to the US we met her mother as well. Her mother appeared to be drunk and tried to give us her daughter to take with us to the US. Other than it not being ethicical and she not being an orphan available for adoption, we would have done it. But, we were able to sponsor her until she moved out of the reach of a Compassion Center, about 4 years. We continue to pray for her. We then sponosored Daniel, about 2 years, until he moved and now have had sponsorship for Jhamil, about 4 years now. This is a boy who is going to go far if he gets the chance. Smart, kind, and a real go getter. Great letter writer and so very personable. I pray we get to sponsor him for years to come...... and that he gets into the leadership program. If anyone can do it he can. We love to write to him and encourage him to be all he can be. He writes back quickly and responds to our questions. He is a great kid. We sent a little picture book from snapfish to each of our sponsored kids of our family. That was fun and we have had great letter conversation about it. It is fun to find things we have in common too. Like chickens and weather and what they are learning in school and Bible class.

We also sponsor a child in Ethiopia. When we were there to pick up our sons, the girls and I were able to meet Oliade and his family. It was a wonderful experience. Compassion provided a translator and a worker from the Center also accompanied us. We went to the Compassion Center to see where he learns and to meet him. His mother came too and they brought us wonderful drawings and flowers. Then we went to their home. We met all his 7 siblings and father. They served us the most yummy cinnamon tea ever. I bought some to bring home. It is soooooo good. And of course the yummy popcorn that comes with all hot drinks. It is like kettle corn. And bread. That was a sacrifice as bread was hard to find while we were there due to fasting days for the Orthodox church. They had the cutest little kitty. We had to walk a long ways on a rugged road and then a foot path like a hiking trail. They live in a one room home made of concrete blocks and mud stucco. It has a tin roof and a heavy door with bolts. There are no windows and a curtain to divide the room, dirt floors. There is one bed and that doubles as a seating place. They cook over a camp stove. They are fortunate to have a toilet house out back. They saved up and built that house themselves. I am so proud of them. They send the kids to school. I can tell they are educated and devoted. This is a truly great family striving to pull out of poverty for their kids. It is next to impossible in Ethiopia to do so. Education does not guarantee you a way out. What is there to go to? No industry to speak of. Maybe in time..... by the time Oliade finishes school we hope he will be primed to enter a new industry leading work force. He is a super smart kid and excels in school, he is shy, but with accomplishment and love his confidence will grow. He loves science and writes well. We enjoy writing to him to encourage him to do his best and continue in his faith. This is a great family and we hope to be able to sponsor Oliade for a long long time.

So what does your money go toward? Other than a small percentage for office cost, the money is wisely spent in the Compassion Centers. Compassion Centers vary a little bit from region to region, country to country.But this is generally what you would find. A center is located at a partner church and provides before and after school programs to kids who come. Most accepted non sponsored kids as well. If a child is sponsored his siblings can go to the center.  At the center the children receive help with school work, Bible lessons and scripture memory, a hot, nutritious meal, basic hygiene education and medical care. They play sports and do crafts. Each child has a cup and toothbrush and they brush teeth and get a shower at the center.
Our church has now created a partnership with one particular center in Ethiopia. Your church can do this too. Get families to sponsor kids from one certain center and you can take trips over to help out the center and meet the kids!

In case you did not know besides the small amount you send each month you can also send up to $200 a year in a family gift and $200 for the center. $15-25 can be sent for Birthdays and Christmas as well. The Christmas gift is spread so that ALL children get a gift. Your child's gift is from you. We like to send all we can to the kids family because they need it and will use it well. We always get reports on what they buy. Clothes, shoes, food, cloth, school supplies. Only occasionally will they get a toy like a soccer ball. Compassion also has great projects for the community. They have pure water projects, HIV projects and food projects which get food to areas in drought and help malnourished kids. Check out their web site for more things they do to help the community. There is a mother and child program which provides nutrition, hygiene and parenting training for mothers of children under 4. They also receive a hot meal and Bible study and mentoring. Some sites are also able to assist the mother in trade training. At age four the children are eligible for the kids program. You can sponsor a mother child program too. They have a leadership program for older kids where the kid goes to leadership training with Compassion and gets to go to the University for a degree. The sponsorship here is a higher cost, but really, nothing like sending a kid here to school. I hope to sponsor Jhamil and Oliade this far. I love those boys and want so much to see them break the cycle of poverty.

Consider sponsoring a child through Compassion International.

Ethiopian Guest House and what they do to help Ethiopia

I recently saw this video about the Ethiopia Guest House and what they do to give back to Ethiopia. If we were going back.......... and we hope to visit again one day, this would be a great place to stay. This is a place worth checking out. See the video at the top video section of the blog. See their web page here. Ethiopian Guest Home.

A different kind of Christmas Gift

Looking for something different?
There are many ideas out there.

You have probably heard of giving a goat for Christmas.
Here are some of those programs:

• http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ 
• http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/pages/give-a-gift-change-a-life?open?open&campaign=10152555&cmp=KNC-10152555&gccode=goat
• http://www.oxfam.org.uk/
• http://www.heifer.org/site/c.edJRKQNiFiG/b.2529663/?msource=kw1069&utm_source=MSN&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=give%2Ba%2Bduck&utm_campaign=Holiday
• Also see the Compassion link below.

What about giving water for Christmas?
You can do that through

• SIM                      SIM also has other projects you can donate to in specific countries. 
• Compassion International                Compassion also has other projects you can donate too, food programs, sponsor a child, give a pig, etc.  

• A Spring of Hope raising money for clean water in Africa.

• Water for Christmas (also have t shirts on their site and a link to more items on Junk Posse

 Sponsor a Child
 There are tons of ministries and projects through whom you can sponsor a child. Check out the charities links and labels on this blog to learn more. Or look at the right side bar, Everyone Can Make a Difference.

More gift ideas

Hey, more gift ideas here. I was looking for a certain t-shirt, which I did not find yet.... but did come across some other shirts and items that would be great gifts that have meaning!

• Check out Hands for Africa they have shirts and jewelry.

• Compassion clothing has a cool Africa shirt and other meaningful statement shirts.

• Hope 4 Africa on line store

• Every Child Ministries has this t shirt for sale on Squiddo through Cafe Press. You have to scroll down to find the shirts if you are interested. 

• Hope for Africa and several other Africa design shirts are available at this site.  Zazzle

• Compassion International funds many humanitarian projects throughout Africa and the world. They sell CauseWear to promote the ministries and projects and to raise money for the efforts. See CauseWear by Compassion International. Click any of the items on the left side bar to see more products.

• A Spring of Hope raising money for clean water in Africa.

• Adoption support t shirts on JunkPosse  

•  A dolls heart sells handmade dolls from around the world. They are your typical cloth dolls and on their heart they have embroidered their country flag and name from what I understand.  The site donates all proceeded to various orphan care ministries around the world. They rotate featuring those they sponsor on the site. Go check it out.
  • 
    

World Aids Day 2010

Today there is a focus on how AIDS has effected the world, what can be done to help and how severe is the situation. Many of us who have adopted children from Africa have had to face the AIDS epidemic first hand. Some of our kids are AIDS orphans, some are HIV +. Anti viral drugs are available and help those who can access them lead a relatively normal life. Education and awareness help prevent the spread. In Africa it is largely a heterosexual disease, directly effecting the nuclear family.

Here are two great resources that talk about the issues and what is being done.
SIM Hope for AIDS
SIM newsletter 
Tom Davis' Red Letters blog World AIDS day
Compassion International Many lies one truth
World Aids Day site . Want to learn more?

Go check it out. If you are moved to DO something, each of these has options for you.

Today I thank God my sons are alive and healthy. I think of their birth parents who died of AIDS. I pray for those who still have their birth parents and pray for wisdom in life choices for the men and women, protection for the women and children who don't get a choice.

Free Rice

My daughter found this game today in her computer class at school. Free Rice. It is a web site where you play vocabulary games and win RICE grains. As you win them, a coordinating amount of food is donated through World Food Programme. Check it out.

Adoption Ministry Resources for your Church

Do you or someone at your church want to start an adoption ministry? Here are some links to ministries already in existence and resources for churches to start just such a ministry.

Churches doing this:
There are tons of these! That is sooooo great! Here is just a smattering of what they look like. I have included the gammet. Basic contact info all the way to elaborate "why we are committed to this and what we provide".  Some just have occasional get togethers, other have lots of different kinds of meetings and resources. Great examples of what you can do. 



Watermark Community Church Tapestry Ministry

Lake Pointe Church adoption ministry

Highview Baptist Church
Calvary Church Tapestry Ministry
Beauty from Ashes on line support
Healing Place Church
Desert Springs Church
Abba's Heart  a ministry of Sugar Creek Baptist Church
Irving Bible Church Tapestry Ministry creator
Open Arms Ministry of Calvary Church 
New Life Church

Guides to starting an Adoption and Orphan Care Ministry in your church:
Tapestry Blog for church
Matchbox, Christian Alliance for Orphans
DFW Alliance Adoption and Orphan Care ministry
Irving Bible Church Tapestry Ministry creator
Open Arms Ministry of Calvary Church 
Bethany Family Services guide for church ministry
CWA guide for church ministry
(I am NOT recommending either of the above agencies as an adoption agency, just a resource for church ministry).
Hope For Good Foundation
Adoption Discovery
Family Life
Focus on the Family Adoption Initiative

Here are two great articles from Empowered To Connect:
Support for Post Placement through churches
Safest Place on Earth???

If you feel that this is what God is calling you to do in your church--- GO FOR IT! There are lots of resources for you to use. You can do it.

Everyone Can Make A Difference

There are a lot of ways that a family or individual can help children and families in Africa and Ethiopia. You can sponsor a child for education and wellness; you can sponsor a family so they can keep their children; you can help a kid go to college; a person with HIV live a productive life and care for his or her family; train a family in child care and health care; help a parent gain education; educate a community for health; sponsor kids in an orphanage for education and wellness; provide a well giving clean water to an entire community; send books so that kids can enjoy the wonder of reading. The beauty of it is you get to choose! Here is a list of organizations we have looked at.

• African Widows and Orphans
• AHOPE
• Camfed-educating girls in Africa
• Children's Haven
• Children's Hope Chest
• Christian Alliance for Orphans
• Christian Alliance for Orphans blog. Plus links
• Compassion International
• Deborah House
• Dutton Family Foundation
• Ethiopian Orphan Relief
• Fields of Promise
• Heart For Ethiopia
• Hope For children
• Hope, food for starving children
• MTW
• Saint's Coffee
• SIM
• Tom Davis' Blog
• World Orphans 
• Soverign Grace church in Addis 
• Beza International ministries, Ethiopia 
• Ethiopia Reads
• Drawn From Water

Deborah House SIM

We get a great newsletter from SIM ( a Christian mission group working on every continent of the world). They do a lot of great work in Ethiopia. They have a great HIV program and a clean water program. They do a lot of other stuff too. We like to keep up with what is going on there. The needs are vast and the opportunities to give are numerous. There are a great many organizations that are reputable and a few who are not. How do I know? Well, since our resources are quite limited, we focus on one organization. SIM in Ethiopia. I KNOW they are reputable and do a great many really needed and successful works.
I recently learned about a house in Ethiopia where they take in older girls and help them learn a trade and get a good start in life. It is called Deborah House.  SIM has a bunch of information on it on their site *HERE*, what it is, who benefits, what they do, how you can help. There are also stories from the girls and articles about Deborah House. Check it out.

While you are there: Water project and HIV project, other ways to be involved with Projects in Ethiopia, and general information on SIM Ethiopia

Hunger crisis in Ethiopia

Recently I was doing vocabulary with my 6th grader. Ok, i admit it, I LOVE vocabulary. I love to learn what words mean and make up sentences. So, I overwhelmed her, but it was fun. We had the word "remedy" V. to help out or fix a problem, to be the solution, n. to provide a solution to a medical problem.
"A remedy for the cold can be found in the medicine drawer."

Ok, so for the first one I got totally hung up on Plumpy Nut as a remedy for starvation in Ethiopia. I think it is fun to say Plumpy Nut and I think it is a good way to teach my kids the reality of the world. So, she ended up using one of those many sentences about Plumpy Nut on her vocabulary test. What a smart, aware kid, using big ideas like Plumpy Nut. Of course her brothers just came from this environment, so of course she is aware! :)
What is Plumpy Nut you ask? Well here is a story about it's use in Ethiopia, and another story about it being made in Ethiopia too. This helps the economy too.
Here are two recent articles in Time Magazine about Ethiopia's hunger crisis. And a video about it too.

Family going to live in Ethiopia

A family who is on one of the groups I am with is going to live in Ethiopia. They will be working with SIM and Wycliff, both organizations are dear to us. We know several missionaries with Wycliff and SIM and we served in South America with SIM. Aser will be a construction manager with Wycliff and Kimberly will be teaching at Bingham Academy which is related to Carachipampa Christian School which Dave taught at when we lived in Bolivia. Each thing highlighted is a link and you can check out a bunch of cool stuff. They have five kids, the littlest one was adopted in Ethioipa. This is a YouTube of them and their blog if you are interested.

ineresting article on Africa aid and Christianity by an Athiest

This is a very interesting article on what is helping the most in Africa. Check it out. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article5400568.ece