Yes, I'm Still Here and $1400

I'm hoping there are still some of you out there who read this blog. I haven't been able to get here for quite some time but it has been as a result of some really great things that are happening. We have been working after work every night until midnight for the last several weeks on a bunch of stuff for our orphan care ministry. God provided us with a fabulous (and FREE!) graphic designer (who is also a soon-to-be adoptive mama) who has done a bunch of design work for us including creating a really cool logo for our organization (thanks, Brittany!). In addition, two of our friends who just happen to work in photography and web development have been instrumental in helping us get our website up and running (thank you, Carlisles!). This has been no small task but it has been a total answer to prayer. Once again - the cost to us for this was FREE. (Free is key when you are building a ministry from the ground up and have a budget of zippo). I actually prayed on a Monday for graphic design and technical support and had it offered to us - out of the blue - by Thursday of that same week. Amazing! We've also been in major long-range planning mode for the ministry and have gotten several key things lined up for the months ahead. In May, we are going to begin hosting our "We Heart Orphans" parties in the homes of people who attend different churches throughout our area. At these parties, we will offer a presentation on the orphan crisis and share how people can get involved through prayer, sponsorship, missions, adoption and even shopping for the cause. We'll be featuring many of the same products we sold at the women's retreat at our parties in addition to a line of products we are developing to raise money for our own ministry and help fund adoptions here in our local community. We are building on the Pampered Chef style model that utilizes a grassroots person-to-person approach to build energy and enthusiasm for something (in this case - orphans!). We have been saddened to hear how many churches in our town aren't doing anything relevant to orphans as a part of their overall church plan but we have been so encouraged by the passionate individuals at various churches who totally "get" the importance of orphan care as a Biblical mandate and who are wanting to work in partnership with us. The invitations arrived in the mail from the printer today and will be in the hands of our first party hosts this week! I've also been burning some major midnight oil recently putting together a Global Orphan Care Bazaar for our church's women's retreat. I contacted companies and organizations that work to help prevent the causes the lead to orphaning and that provide orphan care and asked them if they would like to send me products to promote/sell to raise money for their organizations. It became a huge logistical undertaking but we ended putting out an amazing display of really cool stuff from around the world and the women loved what we had to sell. We raised nearly $1400 for organizations that serve orphans. I also had the opportunity to speak at the retreat on the topic of orphan care as it relates to the love of Jesus. I was anxious about how the presentation would go, wondering if the topic might fall flat with the audience. Clearly, God had prepared the hearts of those who were listening because the response that followed my presentation was amazing. I had three women offer to host orphan parties for us. I had people sign up to sponsor multiple children from the HopeChest program in Swaziland (9/10 of the kids I brought profiles for got sponsored!). A group of preschool teachers asked if they could have their children do a project that would raise funds/supplies for orphans and cap off the project off with a presentation for parents about orphans and adoption. Three women came up to me asking for some of the adoption resources I had brought and told me how they have had adoption on their hearts for some time. One woman from another church asked me to come and speak at their MOPS group. And the list goes on. Suffice it to say, I learned a lot about faith this weekend. I did not anticipate such an outpouring of support and left the event feeling energized about continuing to build our ministry. I saw this weekend how God really is moving in the hearts of His people on behalf of orphans. I was reminded again that it is ultimately God's work that is being done as we care for orphans in His name.