New Things... Sharin' the Love

My sweet friend Nicole rocks! Knowing that I was selling bead necklaces to raise funds for my next trip to Ethiopia, and knowing that I still have lots of puzzle pieces to sell, Nicole emailed me to help. It's a way that she can get involved. Thank you Nicole! Nicole loves to upcyle and make domino necklaces. So, let me tell you a little more about them.

The domino is hand picked to be used. Her hubby drills the hole (it's more delicate work that you'd think) and she does the design. After the design is on the domino, she coats them with a thick resin and then cures them under glass for several days.

So, here's the deal.

With your $21 donation towards 3 puzzle pieces, I will send you one of these cool necklaces. I have the following domino necklaces ready to send to you:

• two "worth the wait" (pictured on the left)
• two "ethio flag" (pictured in the center)
• two "family hope love" (pictured on the right)
• one "love forever" (top picture on the right)

But guess what, Nicole is so creative and cool that she also offered to make some custom necklaces. Those look pretty awesome too. This one below she sent to my friend Megan:

So, if you want one of these cool custom domino necklaces, you can make a $35 donation and send the pic you want on the necklace.

Again, Nicole, I can't thank you enough for how you've participated in serving others. You may not be able to go to Ethiopia, you may not have a million dollars to donate to the organization, but you can use your gifts and talents. Nicole, you're doing just that. What a treasure you are!

On another note, I have a bunch of bead necklaces to get rid of. Donating $26 will get you a sweet necklace that directly supports my next trip to Ethiopia. But, it also impacts the ladies in Ethiopia who make the magazine beads. This one I just added. The magazine beads are interspersed with colorful glass beads.

This might be a little lengthy, but hang in there with me. I have one more very important thing to share.

Meet one of my sweet friends in Ethiopia. This is one of my widows. She's a beautiful lady. A hard working lady who serves FOVC in many ways. You are impacting her life. You are changing her family tree. As a widow in Ethiopia, she has nothing. Except her children to care for. With the assistance of FOVC, she has a job and an income. She's one of FOVC's widows. And when I was in Ethiopia in October, I would often find her preparing food for the children or working on a craft project. In this picture she's working on bracelets which can now be found on FOVC's website.

Our FOVC widows receive training in other areas too. While some are in the livestock program, others are in the crops program, and others are working on crafting. Check out these baskets they made that snuck into my luggage on my return flight. The sell of these baskets directly benefits my widowed lady friends in Shanto, Ethiopia.

As I've mentioned above, I have a few new things on my necklace tab here on my blog. Check them out and see what you can buy. If you order in the next two days, I can probably get it to you by Valentine's Day.

P.S. my birthday is coming up soon. One of my birthday wishes is to get everything on my necklace page sold so I can add some new stuff...

Coming Soon

I have some new necklaces completed and one sold from the necklace page. I hope to get that page updated soon. My to-do list is quite lengthy this week since my Judah is celebrating his 4th birthday on Sunday and we're doing a family gathering on Saturday. But hopefully in between Super bowl commercials, I can get my blog updated.

After all, you're really going to want to see the necklaces donated by a dear friend that she and her husband so neatly crafted. Can't wait to share those with you too!

What's New

I know I haven't written a lot here. But I haven't been doing a lot with Ethiopia stuff. I piddle some, dream some, and do some follow up, but nothing amazingly note worthy. On the flip side, FOVC is doing some cool things but it's just not directly related to what I'm involved with. I'll share two things about that:

1. The well drillers headed to Shanto this past week to finish up the well. It was dug and cased but needed the pump dropped into it and piped. Finally, the clean water that they dug to, will be pumped and given to the people of Shanto. How cool. Water is Life.
2. Desalegn reported that the drought is very serious. I can't imagine. I got goosebumps just typing those words. Here I sit with a keurig behind my laptop and a gallon of distilled water next to it and yet there are people dying because of a drought in the land where my son was born.

So, what have I been up to lately you ask?

I've been doing some personal things, hanging out with my husband, doing crafty things with my kids, sledding in the snow and then laying in bed for a few days when I pull my back out of normalcy. But I've also been doing some thinking about FOVC and how I share the story. So, I'm going to try to communicate with you what I've been thinking lately.

When I share with people about the work I'm associated with in Southern Ethiopia, I want to draw them in. Help them understand why they should care. And suddenly, after speaking to a group of elderly folks in care facility, it hit me that I might be doing this wrong. You see, I'm passionate about what I'm doing. And I also think that others should get involved. Because many of my blog readers include other adoptive parents, I've tended to focus on that general area. You know, I'm volunteering there because my kid is from there. And his birth family is still there. While I believe that's a hugely important role, it's not the only reason I'm doing it. I'm also doing it because I like to treat others how I'd want to be treated. Call it the golden rule, or reference the bible, however you want to look at it, they're people in need of help and I raised my hand.

So, here's my dilemma. As I've shared with lots of people about the work in Ethiopia, did I convey the right message? Yes, people have cared and have donated money, bought a necklace, or prayed for us. But does it break your heart? People are literally dying of starvation and tomorrow, even I will get up and go on with my day. Why aren't we more burdened for these people. Why are we day dreaming of our next trip to some dreamy vacation spot, when our brothers and sisters in the horn of Africa are DYING?

Friends, I don't want to share the yucky pictures of the effects of starvation. But I do long for you to know the truth. That simply put, our wealth is beyond measure in their eyes. Do I think wealth is wrong? No. But do I think that you and I both could give more of our wealth away. The answer to that is yes. All day long, it's yes.

And it's not just Ethiopia friends.

Do you even recall that it wasn't too long ago that Haiti marked two years since the earthquake? Two years. And what's being done there? How have I given to those people, who didn't birth my son? Have I cared about them? Cause they're mankind too? And if you claim to know Christ, they are your brothers and sisters. I know, I know, I can't save everyone. But I can't save even one if I don't start somewhere! So tomorrow, when I wake up, I hope to look at that with a little different view and a call to action. Will you?

FOVC Garden Update

While in Ethiopia in October, we started a garden on the FOVC campus. We took the hard, rough ground, prepared it for planting and then used the new seeder to plant it. Without a lot of instructions or follow up, I crossed my fingers and prayed that God would make it grow. If this garden would bear much fruit (or veggies), then the woman would literally see the benefit and keep working at it.

Well, Friday night, I got some pictures from Desalegn that warmed my heart. Below you will see the ladies working in the garden behind the FOVC school:

These pictures may not look like a lot to you, but they tell me a ton. And I can't wait to follow up regarding what I'm seeing and learning from these pictures.

I love that this picture shows some more areas of the garden ready to be planted... let's go buy some seed and then Lord, would you let it rain!!!

Dream Come True

"I have a dream... that one day little black boys and girls

will be holding hands with little white boys and girls,

as sisters and brothers..." - MLK Jr.

Awareness

For some time now I've had two things I've wanted to do to bring awareness to my church family and community about hunger (and other issues) in the under developed world. But these last 6 months I've been busy trying to keep up with life, changing jobs, and travelling to Ethiopia twice.

With no trips to Ethiopia in the immediate (as in next 12 weeks) future, I'm ready to roll those things out. And when they happen, I'll be sure to share. For now, I want to keep them mostly a secret so that my church family and friends can be surprised and pay attention rather than thinking they already know.

Eeek! I'm excited.

Bringing awareness to those in need is a priority for me. But first, I have to finish my plan for 2012 Crops for Widows program for FOVC.

pine needles

I came home from a missions meeting last night to find a porch full of pine needles.  And I missed Ethiopia even more in that moment. 
 
If you've ever been to a coffee ceremony in Ethiopia, they usually cover the ground with awesome smelling pine needles of some sort.  I love that about Ethiopia. 
 
So, when I got home last night, I was thankful that Ryan had given me a taste of Ethiopia and had taken the Christmas tree out!