Matching Grant/Both Hands Approved!

We're so excited!! Mount Ararat Baptist Church and Lifesong for Orphans have committed an Adoption Matching Grant of $3,000 to help us raise the funds necessary to complete the adoption of our children. This means Mount Ararat Baptist partnered with Lifesong for Orphans will match “dollar-for-dollar” everything we raise through our Lifesong account HERE (paypal will charge a 1.9-2.9% service fee and the amount received by Lifesong will be decreased by that amount) or by avoiding the fee and sending a check to the following address between now and January 7, 2013, up to $3,000. Either way, your donation will be tax deductible.

Lifesong for Orphans

Attn: Breidenbach #3161 (include also in the memo section of the check)

PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

Gridley, IL 61744

Along with that, we also received approval for our Both Hands Rescue Mission project. Its a chance, not only to raise the funds to bring our children home, but to also serve a widow, just like it talks about in James 1:27. We will assemble a team of friends and family to help us complete the project. Together we will send out letters to ask people to sponsor us for the day as we work on a widow's house. We will have a day of fun working together as we paint, clean, de-clutter, do landscaping, etc. All the funds raised will go towards our adoption. It's just like asking someone to sponsor you for a 5K run. Watch the video to find out more about Both Hands.

Orphan Sunday

God is so good!! It was so obvious this Sunday that the Lord moved the leadership of our church, Mt Ararat Baptist Church to put together such a top notch service for Orphan Sunday. We told our story of how the Lord called us to adoption. During the service, 13 adopting/fostering families were represented on the stage with their children and signs showing where they adopted or are adopting from. It was so beautiful and moving. The messages of "the church's" adoption as Children of God and the call in James 1:27 resonated the entire service.  We have had so many people tell us how the service moved them. We feel so very blessed to have been a part of it.

The church also opened a Marketplace for the adopting families and with t-shirts, bags, prints and donations, we were able to raise $2045.00 toward our goal. Thank you church family for partnering with us on our journey!!!

Why Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a very rich culture and the country, people, and children are absolutely beautiful. When looking for a country to adopt from, those are some of the things we considered but we also found the following statistics that truly touched our hearts:

• Ethiopia is about twice the size of Texas has an estimated 4.3 million orphans
• 46.3% is under the age of 14
• Literacy rate is only 30%
• Average income $380 per year
• Only 26% have access to safe water
• Life expectancy- 59 years 
• There are .022 physicians for every 1000 people

Data collected at these 3 locations:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook//geos/et.html
http://www.awaa.org/programs/ethiopia/default.aspx
http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/6d1210430917461d8825735a007e2f2b/world-vision-ethiopia!OpenDocument&Click=

Summer 2012

The school year has started and our summer went by so quickly. I'm so thankful to be able to homeschool our son. He's such a quick learner and I love being able to witness his breakthroughs. I also love the fact that we can put school on pause as the adoption moves forward. Even though I'm excited about our first homeschooling year, I'm really going to miss summer; 90 degrees and all. Here are some shots of summer 2012.

Summer is my favorite season and I love to celebrate it.

  

I planted my first veggie garden.

We had a really good lettuce harvest. It was delicious!

Daddy and son built a cardboard boat.

The boat turned out great and it actually stayed afloat on the river.

VBS was a blast this year! They even had legos.

The guys hiked Schloss Mountain and had a great time.

Peaceful fishing with Daddy. He actually caught one.

We made a human board game in the drive way.

We had a great field trip with friends to an awesome park.

The garden got much bigger and we got tons of tomatoes and cucumbers. 

Besides the face painting, carnival games and free books, we also learned about waste management at the end of summer carnival at the library.