World Malaria Day

Today is World Malaria Day.

I have seen malaria up close and personal many times.  I have held children burning with fever and losing consciousness from a disease that can be prevented and treated.

Our son Emmanuel had severe malaria when we first met him in Ghana.  We spent days treating him, praying he would live.  Thankfully we were educated and knew what to do to get him help.  Many parents aren't so lucky.  They don't have anyone to tell them the truths of malaria.

• A child dies from malaria every 60 seconds
•  Most of the children are under 5 years old
• In 2010, almost 600,000 children in Africa died from malaria
• Malaria is preventable, treatable, and curable
• The testing and treatment for a single person infected with malaria costs less than $3
• The average cost of a mosquito net is $4 – too expensive for most Ugandan families who live on less than $2 a day.

Hope Grafted In is blessed to partner with Healing Faith in Uganda.  Healing Faith is a ministry that provides medical care and malaria education, while sharing the love and grace of Jesus.  I was able to spend time with them a few months ago.  We spent the day providing malaria education in the village of Kagoma Gate.

I will never forget our time meeting with one mother.  She opened up and shared her story with us.  She had lived a hard, tragic life, filled with abuse, death of children, and exile from her home.  She didn't know what caused malaria in her children, but she did know that she had lost 4 of them to the disease.  I can still see the fear in her face grow into understanding as we walked her through the truths about malaria.  How it was prevented and treated.  And then we provided her humble home with a net.

I am ashamed to think of how I felt that day.  It was tedious, endless work walking from home to home, talking with people through an interpreter, checking in on others that had already received education.  I was hot and it smelled.  At times, it even seemed to not produce the results I was sure that it should be.  There were people that had received the education that didn't appear to be living any differently.  And I was there for 3 hours.  Good grief.  My friends give their lives to this work.  Even if that mama was the only person that day that heard truth and felt God's love, isn't that valuable and important work?  Isn't that more than enough?

If going after one sheep is good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me.

My family in Christ across the globe needs our help.  The goal is to raise $25,000 in one week to allow Healing Faith to purchase a fully-equipped Mobile Malaria Vehicle that will allow the team to reach the villages year round. Malaria peaks during the rainy season – the time when it is the hardest for the Healing Faith team to reach the villages due to poor road conditions. This vehicle will enable them to reliably reach the villages regardless of the weather and will be a huge blessing to their ministry.

I pray you will join me in BITING BACK with Healing Faith TODAY!

Update 4/26/2014--Over halfway there.  GO GOD!  Get in on the fun today by giving below!

Baby Gabriel

In my last post, I shared with you about a sweet baby that reminded me of God's goodness and sovereignty.  That baby is living with Jesus already!  While that is hard for my human heart to understand, my spirit is filled with joy at Gabriel's blessing of eternal life.

Please join me in praying for my friends who cared for Gabriel and are grieving.  After hearing this news, my heart was heavy and I just felt depressed over this broken world and the evil that comes with it.  In worship yesterday, we sang this song and I was reminded that He is faithful.


I will be going to visit with the ministry that cared for Gabriel in October, along with 3 other places.  Now, more than ever, I know that God wants this to be a time where I can bring encouragement and hope to these followers of Jesus that give of themselves daily for children. Trip costs are covered, but I want us to be a blessing as God leads while we are there.

If you would like to be a part of that, you may donate your tax-deductible gift here and designate it "Ministry Trip".  I encourage you to follow our ministry on facebook for updates as we travel.

At times ministry can be exciting and inspiring.  At times it can be weary.  Hope Grafted In is a blessing, a God-thing, and I am more passionate about it now then when God began this work over a year ago.  But a ministry that has the ominous task of continuous fundraising and asking of others makes me grow weary at times.

Just like anything in life, it comes with ebbs and flows, ups and downs.  Today I want to share a story that lifts me up.  It is for the moments like this that I have renewed strength and refreshed energy to serve.

A couple weeks ago I received an email from the Director of Sangaalo Babies, my dear friend Damalie.  She shared of a new little boy the home had received.  His story so far in his 3 months of life at first glance appears tragic.  More horrific than one could imagine.  A story of incest, rape, and attempted murder.  But he is a child of the King and has been rescued into a new life.

Damalie gave me the honor of naming the little boy.  I gave him the name Gabriel, after my husband and our daughter.  A name I hope will bring him protection and strength.  A name that for our family means so much.

Three years ago today our daughter, Gaby, went to be with Jesus.  God has taught me so many things over the past 3 years through the gift of being Gaby's momma.  The layers of learning appears to be lifelong.

Two sweet babies with not much in common in many respects other than they are loved by a GREAT big God that created them for GREAT purposes.  They both are so many things for so many people.  For me, today they are a reminder of God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His faithfulness.

I pray that each day of baby Gabriel's life he feels the love of Jesus.  I am thankful to know that he is receiving loving care and has a home.  He has a family.  I am honored to be a small part of that.

I hope that God's plan includes Gabriel living a long healthy life and that I will be able to meet him in October on our trip.  But if I have learned nothing else in the past 3 years it is that God's ways are so much greater than my plans.  If His plan is to heal Gabriel and take him to heaven, what a blessing.

I will be sharing more here in the coming weeks about how you can be a part of Gabriel's story.  As God speaks, I pray you will listen.

Deep Dish Pizza is Back!

This weekend!

5.4.1 campaign

Pretty excited about the new 5.4.1 campaign for Hope Grafted In.  One of the hardest things to wrap my mind around when I see hurt in the world is that I can't do anything about it.  There is nothing I could do that would possibly help.  It is too big.  Too much heartache.  Too much injustice.  Too much despair.

And that is very much true.  One person standing alone can't do much.

Although I am pretty sure that burying my head in the sand and doing nothing seems even stupider, which is what I did for so long!  SO why not step out in faith and do everything we can?

Start with doing one simple thing today for others.  Make it a new habit...to put others above yourself. It is WAY harder than it sounds.  I struggle every day, and most days fail horribly.  I am going to keep trying!

Would love for you to join us in the campaign and share it with your friends!

Hope Grafted In takes a new step

Amber's blog post today...please seek the Lord's will on how you can be a part of speaking up for others.  We are excited as Hope Grafted In takes this next step in following God's leading.

His Dust On My Feet: The Next Step: Hope Grafted In, the non-profit I helped establish last year, has grown faster and larger than we could have imagined. God took an idea w...

Gifts That Matter

Christmas time is so fun.  I love all the traditions.  I love spending more time in the overly decorated, a tad gaudy house with the treasures God has blessed me with.

But I can't shake the sick feeling I get in my stomach thinking of all the things that this season can do to a person...a otherwise REALLY good person that loves Jesus.  So many people rack up the debt.  They spend a ton of money to give a gift that most likely won't even be liked...much less used.  They get all greedy and open presents thinking, "Well this is junk.  What is next?"

We do it here too.  Don't get me wrong, I am not perfect (surprise!)  And I love to give gifts.  I love the surprise on the face of my kids when they open something and it is just what they wanted.  I love hearing my two year old look through the Toys R Us ad and say "I want this for Christmas as one of my three gifts."  We do that 3 gifts thing...each kid gets 3 gifts and then a few little pieces of junk in their stocking :)

BUT I love even more hearing my children read their Bible verses each day that I made this year and slipped into our candy Advent Calendar.  LOVE even more having them ask me if we have wrapped our gift for Alice, the little girl we sponsor, yet.  LOVE even more hearing one of them explain to another why we celebrate Christmas the way we do in our home.

If you are over the Christmas gifting tragedy in our country.  If you want to give a gift that matters.  If you want to HONOR the person you are giving to.

Try this.

Hop over to my friend Christie's blog and make a donation to help them reach their $10000 (yeah that is the right amount of zeros!) matching gift and read about all the great things God is going to do with that gift!

Purchase a brick at my friend Amy's home and ministry, Village of Hope in Guatemala.  There are A LOT of places I could send you to do this, but this post says it best for me!




Visit our website and see your gifting options.




God will continue to do HIS work in each of these precious ministries.  He leaves you with the choice to be a part of HIS work or not.

What better gift to give this Christmas than Jesus.

Orphan Sunday Pizza Fundraiser

Deep Dish pizza is back...

Supporting my missionary friend

Now don't go leaving because you think I am about to beg for money for a missionary.  IF you do, you will miss out on making a difference in lives.

My DEAR friend and fellow cohort with Hope Grafted In, Amber, is in Uganda serving with the ministries we partner with there.  She just arrived from Kenya where she spent a couple months with Haven of Hope.  She has spent this week with Sangaalo Babies (AND ISN'T FINISHED THERE) and will be going to Ebenezer Children's Home next week.

Most of this Amber will be mortified that I am sharing with you, but too bad.  She deserves to be PRAISED for her hard work.

So what is she doing?

• holding babies
• playing with children
• reading to them, taking them to church, sharing the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ with them
• taking babies to doctor visits

• grocery shopping and SHOE SHOPPING for the orphans
• building relationships and trust with orphanage staff
• paying bills out of her pocket to keep the children fed and the lights on (LITERALLY)
• mentoring and discipling orphanage staff
• sending pictures and info back here for sponsors
• compiling lists of current needs the ministries have
• prioritizing needs, basic survival needs being first 
• looking over their budgets for accountability purposes and any advice they have
• meeting ministry boards and talking with them about their plans for the future

And if that isn't enough (and that isn't even the whole list but I didn't want to lose you so I am moving on), she is being stretched and molded to be a servant of the KING.  As He changes her heart.  It has always been a pretty big, super sweet heart in my opinion, but He is making it break ever more for the things she is living.

Yep, here comes the catch.  All this takes money.  NOW, not much money because it is AFRICA.  But she has been spending about $175/week on ministry related travel and needs.

If you know anything about Hope Grafted In, we are brand new as a ministry and we send all of our funding currently over to the orphanages that need our support.  As God leads, we hope to prepare financially in the future to support these types of travel and ministry related research expenses.  BUT THAT ISN'T GOING TO HELP AMBER, and most importantly the ministries she is serving, RIGHT NOW.

SO, WILL YOU?

Donate here to Hope Grafted In for Amber's HGI related travel expenses so that she can continue her service.  All gifts are tax-deductible!  If you'd prefer to mail a check, please e-mail me!

 

Thank you for supporting this ministry and work.  We are humbled that you do and pray that you will continue to see God work in us and through us and IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU.

Blessings,

Chicken Sale

We are doing a Nelson's Port-A-Pit chicken sale for Hope Grafted In.

If you are local and would like to order chickens, email me before noon on Monday, September 10th.

Pick up your chicken on Friday, September 14th from 5:30-6:00 at our house.

They are $5 each (for half a chicken).  Great for taking to quick dinner, freezing for the future, or taking to the Friday night football game for tailgating.

New Hope Grafted In Shop!

So excited to announce the opening of our Hope Grafted In shop.  All donations are tax deductible and you will receive the item you want as a gift from our ministry!

Check out the Apparel for fall for Ladies, Men, and Kids!  And don't miss my favorite, all the Kenyan Market stuff.  We will be adding a Ugandan Market soon!

Happy Shopping!

Haven Sustainability

I am excited and nervous to write this post.

Excited because I believe this is the first step in helping Haven of Hope operate their ministry budget in the most God-honoring way possible.

Nervous, because that involves Hope Grafted In seeking A LOT of money to pay off their current debt and begin a sustainability project.

We all know, whether we have taken the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace courses or not, that you can’t balance your budget with the weight of outstanding debts pulling you down. Because Haven has operated over the past years solely on donations, they have seen GOD be faithful in huge ways. Not only has He provided for the items they need, but the ministry is flourishing and children are finding family. We know that He will provide yet again.

The Haven outstanding debts from the past several years are $3400.

We have been blessed to have Amber in Kenya assisting Haven staff in implementing budget strategies that will help to make their ministry even better. God has blessed the Child Sponsorship Program. Between that program and a generous once a month donation, the Haven budget will be met each month.

We are working at beginning a sustainability project at Haven with a local creamery and goat milk. This project will bring in A LOT of extra income for the ministry and help them to grow and add children to their family. The start up costs for this is $3600.

Total Haven Sustainability Project cost is $7000.  We want to raise these funds before December.  We are blessed to have $1300 already raised!

If you know of anyone that would want to donate to these projects, they can visit the link (it's in the picture) and designate their tax-deductible gift to “Haven of Hope” putting “Haven Sustainability Projects” in the Notes.

For updates:

You can follow the orphanage on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/havenofhopefamily

and follow Hope Grafted In on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/HopeGraftedIn

Please join me in praying and believing that nothing is impossible with God.

In HIS image

To say that I am blessed to be a part of Hope Grafted In is a vast understatement.  I am so humbled at all God is doing in and through our ministry.  Each day brings new passion and excitement for me.

One of my blessings in organizing the child sponsorship program was to create story cards.  A card that we send to a sponsor that tells how their child came to the orphanage.  To these cards we also added updated photos of each child.

So I am working on these today.  36 cards.  Typing 36 orphans stories into my computer.  And it was hard. Depressing.  Sad.  Dark.  And very hard.  And as I sat back and looked at the document I had created I felt hopeless.  I had the rare opportunity to be at home alone so I paused and soaked in the HUGENESS of what I was staring at.  Yes, that might not be a word, but stay with me.  These words were the circumstances that brought these orphans to a new home.  They were the words of their stories.  They were facts.  And many of them were horrific.  And I found myself crying out to God in prayer for these children.  For their tender hearts to be healed and for them to come to know Jesus as their Savior.

And I moved on to the 2nd phase of my project:  photoshop some great photos and put them on the cards.  This portion of the task was SO vastly different than the first.  This brought me joy.  Brought smiles.  Even a chuckle here and there at their funny expressions.  Pride as I recognized the light in their eyes.  Love as I remember them and know them by name (almost!).

Amazing how the facts of our lives are NOTHING without our image.  The photo of a child of God who was created in HIS image changes the facts of his or her life into the story He is writing and redeeming.

Praising God for His redemption ever at work in my life.  Amazed that He would love me enough to create me in His image.

Looking again at the children's stories through their beautiful eyes and filled anew with His hope and promise. Trusting and believing that the grace of God will continue to work in their lives as He completes their story and receives all glory and honor.

Amber shirts

Check out this cool fundraiser to raise money for Amber!  Grab a great shirt.  We just ordered ours!
$20 gets you one.  Contact me and I can put you in touch with the designers to get you one!

Hope Grafted In Tank Sale

When Hope Grafted In's website is up and going we will be offering some gear.  Fun stuff for you to wear to speak up for others and all the proceeds will go straight to our partnership homes in Kenya and Uganda.

But while we are waiting for that, we are already at work designing them, so might as well share the fun with our best supporters and friends!

Front

So we are offering the chance to purchase this Ladies Tank AT COST through July 16th to the first 15 people that email me or comment on facebook.  You pay $15 through paypal and we get it to you.  This tank is a flowy style and runs true to size for Ladies (not Juniors) sizes.  The tank is a pebble brown and the graphic is white and yellow-green.  It is a super-soft fashion tank that any lady or girl is sure to love!  Available in sizes S-2XL.

Back of tank

Size info here!

Email me!

Pity Parties are not Pleasant

I have been throwing myself my own personal pity party the past couple days.

First let me start by saying that my dear friend, Amber, arrived in Kenya and began serving at Haven of Hope.  In chatting with her and various things going on in her and there, I really wanted to be there with her.  Thinking, oh how great it would be for us to go into town together.  We could find an internet cafe, a place she could get a semi-American meal when she needs to.  We could work out a schedule for her of what she can fill her days with.  We could worship God together at Fiwagoh (had to make some of my thoughts good ones!)

Then Nellie, my dear friend and Director at Haven, went into pre-term labor and delivered her beautiful baby boy, Sean, 6 weeks early.  Last night when she text me to tell me that he was born I was freaking out.  He is so small.  What type of care will he receive there?  Can we raise funds to cover the costs of all that neonatal intensive care?  I again longed to be there.  Thinking, I have experience with this.  Maybe my time with my preemie girls was to prepare me to help Nellie.  Should I fly there?  Why does Gabe get to go on this Visiting Orphans trip?  He doesn't even appreciate it.  He's never been there to miss those people.  I ache to be with them so much I can hardly stand it.

OK, I won't share any more of my private insane thoughts lest you think I am more crazy than you already do.

WHO DO I THINK I AM?

Oh my word.  You'd think I would know by now that this isn't about me.  I am not the answer to anyone's problem.  Why in the world do I NOT know enough to not freak out that God has it all under His control, that He is faithful, that He loves them all infinitely more than me.

Amber had a productive day today taking children to get their HIV meds.  More about that at her blog.  She is already messaging me about plans for helping Beatrice and Lucy (aren't they cute?) get better nutrition and working on the Haven budget.  GOD WORKING IN HER.

Baby Sean is 6 weeks early, weighs 1.8 kgs, and was born 22 hours ago in Kenya.  He is already out of his incubator, breastfeeding, and is going home with his mama tomorrow.  I mean, really, look at him, could he be any more perfect?  GOD WORKING IN HIM.

I think I will spend more time on my knees praising my Savior.  Less time worrying about why I can't be in the center of every solution.  No more pity parties (for this week at least until I forget again!)

 More time remembering that He has got this.

HOT MC

A chance to change a life and get 31 products at the same time!

Check out our Hostess Of The Month Club and email me if you want to be in the club!  Can ship to anywhere in the US!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/99221739

Check out 31 products here to see what you can get.

And here is a sample of a monthly special so you get the idea!

Sangaalo

God has been building a partnership between Hope Grafted In and Sangaalo Babies, a baby cottage in Jinga, Uganda.  Amber was blessed to serve there in March and we will be visiting in December.  We were blessed to provide her ministry with a HGI grant in May, and hope to help again in the future.  We sent a camera over to the director, Damalie, and are working at setting up a child sponsorship program for her.

Damalie sent me an update email yesterday that she was praising God for a new home and her and the children had tears of Sangaalo (joy) over all God had done.

I love how God sends exactly the right people at exactly the right time to take care of His children.  I read this blog post this morning with tears running down my face at the realization that this home, these babies, this sweet lady was our Damalie.  Read it and stand amazed.  God is so good and serving Him is good.

http://joiningthejourney.blogspot.com/2012/07/who-knew-he-did-uganda-day-2.html

Child Sponsorship Makes a Difference

Our non-profit Hope Grafted In has a child sponsorship program and I am loving it.  Not only do I get to sit back and watch God work each month as I wire funds across the world, I get to hear about the lives that are changing.  I get to hear about little boys and girls that are being taught to trust and love others because their sponsor takes the time to make them feel special.  I get to hear that children are COMING TO KNOW Jesus because of a interaction with a sponsor or because of the sponsorship funding that just bought them a Bible.

I never would have thought when God began opening doors for these partnerships that my life would be so changed by watching Him work.  I feel so blessed to be a part of mobilizing the body of Christ around the world to stand up for these little ones.  I love all the relationships I am building with sponsors as I hear their hearts and what is bringing them to sponsor a child.

We can turn on any form of media and hear depressing news that make us think what is our world coming to?  There are no good people anymore.  Well YES THERE ARE.  I am meeting them and chatting with them every day.  God is bringing about revolution in His Church.  These CRAZY wonderful followers of Christ are just too busy simply loving God and others to be noticed.  I am so encouraged in my faith as I see God move.  THANK YOU to you all!

I want to take time to share one example of this with you today.  My new friend Andrea and her friend Tim, sponsor a little girl Cynthia through Hope Grafted In, who lives at Haven of Hope in Kenya.  They recently sent a package to Cynthia and the orphanage Director, Nellie, sent me this thank you to pass along to them.  They are making a difference in this young girl's life.  Cynthia's smile and the admiration in her face when I Skype with her about Andrea and Tim, say it all.  She has family.  A family that may not seem like what we here in the US see as a family, but they are family!

Dear Andrea & Tim,

Here is Cynthia your beautiful baby girl, surrounded by all the love you sent her way. You may never know how much this means to her because words can never tell enough. As her mom, i want you to know that she is very happy and grateful. She asks about you all the time. I told her that she will be seeing you and talking to you soon. I trust God this shall come to pass.

Thank you for sponsoring her hence supporting our Ministry. May our good Lord bless you mightily.

Love,

Nelly

Cynthia with her sponsor' picture.

Cynthia with her sponsors' gifts.

Because of a partnership we have with Visiting Orphans, our sponsors get to video chat with their children in a few weeks when a VO team is there serving.  I am not sure who is most excited: the kids, our sponsors, or me!  Please be in prayer for the internet connections during this time!

Hope Grafted In

Donate through Paypal to Hope Grafted In. Your gift will go to support orphans, widows, and adopting families and is tax deductible.

Guest blog post from my friend Amber.

I get a lot of questions about how everything works between Haven of Hope and this non-profit stuff, and what my role in all of it is, so hopefully this will help explain it.


Who We Are:

Shelley at Haven

When I began this journey to Kenya, I did not do it alone.  My teammate and new friend, Shelley Brown, was right there with me.  When we had first visited Haven of Hope, my heart was immediately drawn to this place and the woman who ran it.  Upon returning, I came to realize that they had touched Shelley even more.  So when I started talking to her about what God was stirring in my heart, she said "go! and let's stand up for this place together".  God had already been showing her a glimpse of all the things He wanted to do there.  The more we talked about how she saw that and the more we talked about where God was leading me, the more we began to see this great partnership the LORD was creating.  I love how He planned long before we ever knew.  I love how He joined our lives for such a time as this.  So through our new relationship, and a friend Shelley had in her home church, the three of us began the process of setting up a non-profit organization in order to be equipped to move forward. (and by us, I mean mostly Shelley!)   Thus the birth of Hope Grafted In.  Currently a 501c3 in the state of Indiana (federal status in progress), we want to speak up for those that cannot speak for themselves.  For as God grafts hope into our hearts and lives, Hope Grafted In desires to pour out His love and hope to orphans, widows, and adopting families through financial support and encouragement.


What We Do:

We feel the LORD is directing us to put all our resources and efforts toward Haven of Hope here in the beginning.  Shelley has worked tirelessly on developing the child sponsorship program where monthly sponsors help fund school fees, uniforms, and meals.  Discussion is under way on equipping HOH to become self sustainable through multiple avenues. We also hope to work closely to help them learn how to manage their new finances.  All while focusing on cultivating our relationships with them in order to reflect the Light of Him to this dark world.

The Future:
Obviously we will move how and when God calls us to, but the prayer is to take these models into other orphanages/ministries and begin implementing them there.  In addition, we desire to move into a position of offering adoption grants to individual families.  Ultimately our hearts long to follow Him and we are anxious to see where He leads.


Partner with Us:
If you are interested in partnering with us, you may either sponsor one of Haven's children at $35 a month, or you may make a general donation to help us with start up costs and future projects.  You may do both here, be sure to select Haven of Hope in the 'budget'.  Or you may write a check payable to Hope Grafted In and mail it to 11124 Pine Orchard Cove, Fort Wayne, IN 46845.  More info on HGI child sponsorship here.


Hopefully that has cleared a few things up.  Thank you for supporting us in this new adventure as we seek to live out Proverbs 31:9 "Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice."  We cannot do it alone.


Posted by Amber at 12:18 PM