Saturday, June 27, 2009

Day 5

I'm sitting in the internet cafe in Jinja. Internet is very slow. I'm actually posting this on Day 6. Yesterday was mostly a travel day. Uganda is beautiful!! I'll post more later. Not sure when I'll have internet again. Only 3 of us were able to get in town and get on the computer. Everyone is doing great! Much love to all!

Day 4

Note: This has not been proofread at all!! Please forgive typos. Also, we have very rare and unreliable internet access and it's extremely slow I'm not able to get any pictures up at this time. Thanks! :)

It’s Friday at 1:30pm here in Africa and I’m sitting on an airplane leaving Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and headed into Entebbe, Uganda. We’ve been travelling around like crazy and haven’t had internet for the past 2 ½ days so I’m trying to catch up while I have some time. I’m sad to leave Ethiopia. I have fallen in love with this country and its people. In many ways it feels like I’ve been here a very long time and in other ways it feels like we arrived yesterday.

I’ve been processing lots of emotions and spiritual questions over the past few days. Seeing so many orphans can be very overwhelming at times. It is so hard to comprehend how so many children can be fatherless. It think is especially difficult for us as Americans because most of us are not surrounding by orphans in our daily lives. I’m the kind of person that likes to fix problems for people. There is no way on earth I can fix the problem of 143 million orphans so this becomes a very challenging task for me. I want to rescue each child. I want to love each child. The reality, however, is that I can’t. What I can do is make difference in the lives of the child or children that God puts in my path. I can’t pretend I don’t know there is an orphan crisis in this world. I can’t become apathetic toward an epidemic that is far too large for me to comprehend. I am responsible now. I am responsible for the things that I have seen. I will one day be held accountable for what I did with the things I have seen. But I’m not responsible for solving the problem. I’m responsible for listening to God and obeying Him. His Word tell us over and over how much He loves orphans and that we, as Christians, are called to take care of them. I have definitely been challenged during this trip and I challenge you to ask yourself what are you doing for the orphans of this world.

So after arriving at the Negesh Lodge in the pitch black and pouring rain the night before, we awoke to a peaceful clear morning greeted by the sound of hyenas and monkeys. Yes, I did say hyenas and monkeys. The weather was so crisp and the air was clean, a welcome change from the exhaust-filled streets of the city. Our lungs thanked us. The Negash Lodge was wonderful. We all stayed in perfectly constructed huts spread out along a stone path way. It almost felt like somewhere you would stay for summer camp, but way cooler. Monkeys were running around and seemed to not be bothered by us. After breakfast we piled in the cars to begin another 1 ½ drive to Kidmia.

The countryside of Ethiopia is such a sharp contrast to the city. Just about everything is different. Most of the homes are huts created out of tree branches, manure, and straw. Electricity is available, but only in certain areas. The roads are not paved and are in such a terrible state, we even had to leave one of our cars behind in the middle of the journey because it wouldn’t survive the trip. We’ve coined the term “POA” which stands for Part of the Adventure. Whenever something crazy happens, we all just say “POA!”

Kidmia Orphanage was so wonderful. As far as orphanages go, this seems to be an amazing one. It has pretty nice facilities and tons of rooms for kids to run and play. This orphanage is very young so there are only about 30 kids in it right now. It is funded by Gladney Adoption Agency I believe. I’m not 100% sure about this, but I know Gladney is the agency contracted to do adoptions there. The kids were amazing! They told us that currently none of these children have families and all are available for adoptions. We played with these kids, painted varnish on the pavilion and had a great time. We tried to teach them the game “Simon Says.” It was hilarious, especially since Amanda’s husband’s name is Simon. We had him lead it and then they a few kids tried to lead. One kid in particular, Abraham, who was about 8 or 9 years old, did a great job. He was an amazing kid. I would have loved to take him home as well as Selam and Habibah. Actually, I could have taken them all home!

We stayed at Kidma most of the day, and then began the long drive back to the guesthouse. On our way back, we had to stop to pick up the car that we left on the side of the road. Holly wrote a little snipit about what happened when we did this. Here is what she had to say:

A Story from the road…A crushed “sole” by Holly Willis

Driving from Gaunchir back to Addis yesterday afternoon we stopped to drop 3 people off at the car we left behind when we entered a “rough road”.

When we got back to the car about 8 hours later there were swarms of people and kids “waiting”... The reason: when we left the car earlier in the day, we had given 2 or 3 kids a pair of shoes.

The kids had apparently told the whole village of the gifts and called for their friends and families to wait by this small, red car for the Americans to return.

We actually had about 100 pairs of shoes in the trunk to give away (thank you Soles for Soles!)…Though, 100 pairs was generous, it was nowhere near enough. Many children were turned away and the anticipation of our arrival turned out to be a disappointment for some.

In particular, a boy about 6 or 7 came to me wearing an extremely old and worn pair of men’s Nike soccer sandals that had the back end cut off so they sort-of fit. I told him we had nothing left and reached to squeeze his hand…He bent down and took off the shoes as if to show me again how tattered and much, much too big his shoes were. Again, I had to say I had none left to give. Two huge raindrop tears rolled down his cheeks and he walked away. More than 2 tears streamed down my face, too, and I walked back to the van to continue back to Addis. Along the way I prayed that somehow soon the boy would get new shoes, and that he would feel God’s love and peace in a way that was much more satisfying than even the nicest pair of new shoes. Yes, this story evokes a twinge of sadness, but we know in our heart that God’s love is far bigger than anything tangible from the back of a little red car.

Day 3

*Warning: I have not had time to proofread this! :)

I’m sitting in the most amazing hut in Wollisso as I type this. The ceiling is made of some sort of flexible sticks and twine and looks absolutely brilliant. I’ve never seen anything like this in America. I can’t believe I’m here, in Africa, on the other side of the world! It is still quite surreal. I feel so far from home, yet so right at home at the same time. I just adore the Ethiopian people, everything about them. Of all the countries I’ve visited, I feel this is definitely where my heart is most comfortable.

The Mother Theresa Orpanage - Home to 400+ HIV Children

We started the day going to the Mother Theresa Orphanage. We had been warned this would be a difficult orphanage to visit because it’s a government run orphanage and most of the kids never get adopted. When we pulled through the gate, I was shocked at how enormous this place was. It was like it’s own little town. Approximately 400 kids live at this orphanage ranging in age from newborns to teenagers. What we didn’t know until we got there was that all 400+ children were infected with HIV or AIDS. The campus is funded mostly by the Catholic Relief Society. It was actually much nicer than I had anticipated. The thing that was very obvious though was the lack of adults and “nannies.” We saw hundreds of kids and only just a handful of “nannies.” The campus included several dormitories where the kids eat and sleep, a few schools, a clinic, a place for the nuns to sleep and pray, an art hut, a library hut, a incredibly run down playground, a building were children make scarves for money, a big sports field, and a few other random buildings. All in all, the buildings themselves were not all that bad, just very simple. We viewed the girls’ dormitory. There were about 30 beds to a room. Basically the place was everything you would think of in a stereotypical orphanage

I was told by a college girl from North Carolina that was volunteering there for a few months, that these children do not get a lot of visitors. When we arrived, there were some children wandering around, others playing soccer, and some going to school to finish their final exams. Our plan was just to be with them for several hours, do a craft with them, play sports, and just show them the love of Christ.

These children were different from the children we had visited the day before. First of all, many were sick. Not visibly sick with HIV/AIDS, but sick with colds, coughs, warts, broken bones, etc. Tissues are few and far between so crusty and dripping noses were common. Warts are also common among HIV/AIDS children we’ve seen here. I don’t really know why this is. It was very sad. The clinic probably does the best job it can, but there are just SO many children.

One little boy about 5 years old cut his head while we were there. Amanda took him to the clinic to get it treated. When she took him in to the nurse, the nurse told him he couldn’t cry or she would not treat him. Amanda said the nurse wasn’t necessarily mean, but that she was pretty rough on the boy’s head. Amanda even had to leave the room after a short while because she couldn’t want to watch. She said the precious boy never moved or made a sound. This just absolutely ripped at my heart. This child need a mom to hold him close and reassure him everything would be all right. Instead he sat there silent, trying to remain still so he could get his head bandaged up, all alone. Also these children had much more of a survival instinct alive in them. Some would steal tings from one another, lie and tell you they hadn’t done the craft so they could get another one, and grab ziploc bags off the floor like they were gold. They weren’t mean. They were precious actually. Just trying to survive in a home with 400 other kids and very few caregivers. These kids have nothing.

I had a blast at the Mother Theresa Orphanage. In addition to doing the craft, we taught the kids a few songs. African kids seem to love to sing, and they are good at it! They pick songs up in seconds that aren’t even in their language. A group of girls between the ages of about 8-12 decided they wanted to teach me one of their little hand clapping rhymes. They pulled me over and pointed to me and said, “Wait. See. See.” They were telling me to wait and watch them so I could learn it. I caught on and joined in pretty quickly. They seemed quite impressed that this tall while girl could learn their game. It was so much fun! We did that for over an hour I bet. I can’t wait to teach my girls the hand clapping games I learned. Most of the boys played soccer and sports while we were there. We weren’t really supposed to take pictures, but I got some great video clips while we were there. I’ll post soon…hopefully.



The Orphans Singing "Happy Birthday" to my daughter Ellie who turned 6 while I was away.


While at Mother Theresa, all the sudden it hit me like someone knocked me upside the head…This is what the Gospel is all about. It was odd. I just had a complete strong sense of truth overwhelm me. Jesus LOVES the least and the lost. And we are called to be His hands and feet. I was so immensely blessed today. These children need love. And even if it was only for a day, we were able to give that to them.

Most of these children will never be adopted even though HIV/AIDS is totally treatable nowadays. One good thing about this orphanage is that these children have to take their medicine every day at the exact same time. This is essential for them. By doing this, they are able to live very long, mostly healthy lives. If they lived in a place with proper health care that would greatly increase their quality of life any many of the colds, warts, etc could be properly treated.

Children here also make scarves and jewelry and sell them at the office. They told us the money that each child makes is put into a savings account for them that they can withdraw when they leave. What a cool idea! We saw one boy about 11 or 12 sitting in a dimly lit room making scarves. The teenager leading us around told us this kid is the most brilliant boy there. He had just completed the 5th grade. And would be starting 6th grade in 2 months. Once the children start 6th grade, they attend an outside school the campus based on their ability. Most likely they told us this brilliant kid would end up having a shop on the road somewhere selling scarves his whole life. That would be considered a great success for one of the Mother Theresa orphans. I couldn’t help, but wonder what this kid could be. What talents and gifts God had given him that, if nurtured, could grow into something amazing? And what about the kids that weren’t considered brilliant that would go to a not very good school? Where would they end up? To my knowledge, these kids are adopted, but just not “wanted.” Too many cards are stacked against them. They have AIDS; they are not in a nice private orphanage, etc. etc. Please pray for these children that God would continue to touch them despite their circumstances.

On the Way to AHOPE. A store front in Addis Ababa.

After finishing at Mother Theresa, we went to AHOPE International. There we were with kids mostly under the age of 8. Many were toddlers. I think there were about 30 kids and all had HIV/AID just like the Mother Theresa Orphanage.

Children's Beds in AHOPE Orphanage

Although this facility was definitely lacking, there was much more love in this place. It’s a private orphanage with many nannies who really seem to care for the children. They love on them, kiss them, hold them, play with them, etc. Not the same as a mother’s love, but better than no love at all.

Painting Fingernails and Doing Crafts with the Kids

These kids are all-adoptable and seemed to be quite healthy. We saw on newborn that was about 3 weeks old that was absolutely precious! A few of these kids already had been matched with families and were just in the waiting process. However, I assume most will likely never get adopted. AIDS has robbed so many children of their parents. My mind can’t even comprehend how many orphans there are in Ethiopia alone. 4 million is the number I believe. 4 million! We have seen probably played with about 500 so far and that number by itself overwhelms me. It’s just a number until you see 500 faces. 500 little people looking back at you, alone in the world. It rips apart my heart and brings tears to my eyes. I try to imagine standing on a hill with 4 million little people below me and knowing they are all orphans. I don’t even know what 4 million people look like. I’ve never seen that many people at once. And the thing that is so hard is that these are children. 500 seems massive. 4 million seems unfathomable. Thankfully there is a God in heaven who loves them more than any mother could, who knows the hairs on their head, the scars on their faces, and the loneliness in their hearts. One day their lives will be redeemed. For most, it will not be on this side of heaven. But thank God there is a heaven. Thank God for Jesus.

Crazy Rain/Hail Storm on the way to Wollisso

Our third venture of the day was to travel 2 ½ hours outside of Addis Ababa to a village called Wollisso. We ended up traveling through a massive rainstorm. It was the craziest car ride I have ever been on. Let me try to paint the picture for you. We were traveling in a van probably about 20 years old or so with no seatbelts and 14 of us piled in, plus “Z” one of the translators, and our driver, 16 people in total. As we left the city, we could see the enormous rain clouds rolling in with sheeting rain in the distance. There are no real driving rules in Ethiopia. It’s kind of a free for all. Our driver is quite skilled except for the fact that he ran into a guy the other day and knocked the mirror off. The guy was fine. Anyway, so we’re all piled into this van with no seatbelts and it starts raining. Just nice rain at first. Then it starts to pour with continuous hail and the temperature drops at least 20 degrees. There is no defrost for the windows so they are all fogging up, including the front window. The people in the front seat kept having to wipe the window to be able to see. Then the sun goes down and it’s pitch black with no street lights. There was hardly any visibility at all. Many people do not have headlights or tail lights so that makes it extra interesting, not to mention the frequent crossing of goats, donkeys, horses, and people. There was probably 2 inches of hail on the road and land at times. It was like driving through wintertime slush. Crazy!! It was like a roller coaster, but without the safety. I took some funny video that I hope captures the essence of the road trip. It was great! And we all made it alive.

We arrived at the Nagesh Lodge in Wollisso. We couldn’t see much because it was so dark and wet, but it was very nice. We ate a much-needed dinner and then they walked us to our huts. So cool! Now I was feeling I was in Africa. More to come tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Morning of Day Three: Orphanages And Playgrounds

Morning of Day 3:

We're just about to have breakfast, but I thought I would go ahead and
update quickly because we mostly likely will not have internet access for
the next 2 days.

This morning we are going to the Mother Teresa Orphanage. After that we'll
head to the AHope AIDS Orphanage. Once we're finished there it'll be time to
head out to the village of Woliso where we will be putting together a
playground for Kidmia. Wolisa is about a 3 hour drive away, and we'll be
spending tonight in that town. It's in a much more remote area so
I'm not anticipating any Internet connection, and I'll also be leaving my
computer here in Addis.

Just wanted to give you all an update and let you know that you may not hear
from us for a few days. I'll try to Twitter, but again, I'm not sure what
phone service will be like.

Love you and miss you all!

This was posted the evening of the third day. Mindy hasn't had access to the Internet so we don't have any details about the day yet. She was able to Twitter a few times. You can read those update on the right side of this page.
Thanks so much,
Gail Hyatt

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

End of Day Two: Orphans and Street Kids














We just arrived home from an extremely busy Day Two. I feel like today was the equivalent of about three days. Actually I guess today was more like our Day One since we arrived last night. Today was our first full day I guess.

We started the morning we a breakfast of waffles and eggs provided by the wonderful guest home 18 year old cook. On the plane the other day Simon and Amanda had prayed over each one of us and asked God to give them specific Bible verses for each member of our team. They shared those with us this morning over breakfast. It was a great intimate time growing as a team as well as individually.

After breakfast we headed to the America World Transitional Home. There were about 80 children there. Almost all of the kids there have families that are adopting them. This was my first experience with any kind of African orphanage. It was quite different from orphanages I have been to in China and Romania. Technically, though, this is not really an orphanage. Like I said earlier, these children have adoptive parents coming to pick them up in a few days to a few months. There were several nannies at the transitional home as well as a few nurses. The kids range in ages from babies to tweens.

I had a really special experience with a little girl about 2 or 3 years old. I'm exhausted at the moment and don't really feel like typing the entire story, but it was heart wrenching and heart warming all at the same time. This little girl clung to me like glue. She barely spoke and had the sweetest spirit. She would start sobbing when I moved away from her. The nannies had to bring her back to me at one point because she wouldn't calm down. She stayed with me the entire morning even when all other kids her age went down for a nap. This is such a difficult story to put into words. I wish I could share photos of her, but I can't with out her adoptive parents' permission. I hope to contact them via email and let them know what a precious daughter is waiting for them. It comforts me greatly to know she has a mom and dad that love her deeply and will be coming to bring her home soon. I can't imagine leaving her without knowing that.

The nannies do the best job that they can, but it's just not the same as a mom. There aren't enough to go around. These children deeply long for the love only a mother can give, someone to hold them when they are fed their bottle, someone to rub their back when their stomach hurts, someone to stroke their face and kiss them softly. I was determined not to cry as we left, but tears poured down my face as we drove away.

Also I was totally shocked by the older children that were there. Every stereotype I had about older orphans was completely broken. These children were amazing and the joy they had for their soon-to-be new families could be tangibly felt. Parents adopting these older children are in for a treat far beyond what they expect.

After the AWA Transition Home we went to a coffee place which I guess would be the equivalent of Starbucks but obviously quite different. Then did a little shopping.














After shopping we headed to play soccer with the street kids. Since I don't play soccer, I sat on the side and chatted with a group of boys for hours. It was so fun. I taught them English. They taught me Amharic. I took photos and videos which they thought was hilarious because they could look at themselves. Most of these kids have lost one or both of their par
ents and little live on the streets or in a shack somewhere. Many were professional beggars, and they ranged in age from 5 to early 20's. I can't image my five-year-old living on the street fending for herself. What a tragedy!












We loved on these children, shared Christ with them, and just hung out. Many couldn't understand why we came all the way from America just to be with them and show them they are loved.














There was one child, somewhere around 10-12 years old, who was seriously addicted to sniffing glue and sniffing paint. It was utterly devastating. To make a long story short, a few people in our group, and the Ethiopians we are working with, started talking to him. They ended up taking him back to our guest home to minister to, feed, clothe, and pray with him. We prayed htat the Lord would break his addiction and totally change his life. How sad be so hopeless and hungry, at such a young age, that you sniff chemicals to trick your brain into thinking you're not hungry. This boy was just one out of thousands like him, I'm sure. We packed him some food, shoes and toiletries in a backpack and hooked him up with a local guy who runs a ministry for the street kids. That man took the boy to where he lives.

What a full day! I can't believe we did all this in the past 12 hours. I debated whether even to go ahead and blog about all this because I am so tired and know that I'm not truly conveying all the events of the day. If my brain wasn't quite so fatigued I'm sure I could share more detail and really get to the heart of what the day was about. Hopefully for now you can get a little glimpse. There are a lot of hurting people here, but also a lot of hope.

Everyone is still doing well. No sickness to speak of. Please pray for continued health and miraculous sleep tonight. We have an even busier day tomorrow. It will probably be the most emotionally draining one as we head to the Mother Theresa Orphanage. It's a government run orphanage and most of the children do not get adopted. When they turn 18, they "age out" of the system. Most will end up living on the street, becoming prostitutes, committing suicide or living some other terrible life. Please pray we will know how to divinely connect with these children and show them they have a future and a hope.

Thank you so much for your prayers. You will never know how much they mean to us.


Day Two - Morning: Ethiopia

It’s 4:10am in the morning here in Addis. I can’t seem to sleep. I’ve been up since 2am tossing and turning. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I slept quite a bit on the plane, the jetlag, or just all the thoughts running through my mind that won’t seem to turn off. Whatever the reason, despite, the ambien I took, I can’t sleep. After fighting it for two hours, I decided to give up and go ahead and wake up. The house is quite except for the noises of others getting up to use the restroom every now and then. I have a feeling a few others are also lying awake.

We haven’t actually seen much of Ethiopia yet except for what we saw along the way on the 15 minute car ride from the airport to the Guest Home and what we can see around us here. It’s strange, kind of surreal actually. So similar to America, yet so vastly different. People are people, but their “normal” is quite different for our “normal” in America. Already I’m realizing how much I take for granted, like instantly accessible medical care. As the man I referenced in the previous post lay dying in the street last night, it occurred to me how strange that seemed. I wanted to just call an ambulance and have him picked up and rushed to the hospital. I thought to myself, “This is such a simple problem with such a simple solution. How can he lay dying while tons watch and nothing is done?” But here in Ethiopia, it wasn’t a simple problem with a simple solution. It was quite complicated actually. How would he get to the hospital, but more importantly how would he pay? He obviously was not wealthy. People probably die like this all the time here. Reality check.

I can’t tell you how many times so far I’ve said to myself, “I wish Nathan were here.” It would have been so wonderful for him to share in this experience with me. I miss him and the girls already. For the past seven Nathan and I haven’t been apart very much, and the girls have been my constant daily focus for the past six years. I kept feeling like I was missing something on the plane ride here. I’m not used to being alone, and it is definitely taking some getting used to. You don’t realize how much of your identity is tied to your role as a wife and a mother until you step out of that role. This trip will surely stretch me in ways I did not image. My prayer is just that I can be a blessing to all the people I come I contact with. I want people to know that they are loved and know that there are people who are deeply fond of them even if they live on the other side of the world. But most of all, I want them to know that Jesus Christ loves them and is deeply fond of them, and he definitely does not live on the other side of the world. He is here, right here.

Day One: Addis Ababa, Ehiopia

We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at about 4pm. The flight was great. No problems as all. Once we arrived, we breezed through customs and met the guys that came to pick us up. We piled our luggage on top, piled in 2 cars and headed to the Ethiopian Guest.

The Guest Home is so nice, significantly nicer than I expected and the people that work here are wonderful! We actually eve have internet access, but it is SO slow. Since we lost a day because of our flight delay we have changed up our schedule a bit. We were supposed to be going to Kidmia in Wosillo today, but it looks like we will be heading out there Wednesday evening, spending the night there and staying there all day Thursday.

I have one really cool story from today...

As we drove to the Guest Home, a few of us noticed a man on the side of the road that had collapsed. Some people were around him trying to help him walk. It was really a sad site. Once we arrived at the Guest Home, we starting brining our bags upstairs, meeting together, taking pictures, etc. Shortly after, we noticed the sick man was across the street with about 4 other men around him. I could see from the balcony that they were trying to give him water. He tried to walk, but immediately collapsed again. He was obviously extremely sick.

The guys decided to head out there to pray for him. One of the guys on our team, Dave, is actually a surgeon. A few minutes later they showed back up at the Guest Home carrying the sick man. Amanda and I went outside to check out what was going on. Nathan, another guy on our team, told Amanda that they actually knew the sick kid. He was the bus driver’s aid and assisted them during their entire trip last year. Can you believe that? Out of the millions of people in Ethiopia, the random sick guy happened to not be random at all. He knew exactly who we were. It was even more miraculous because he doesn’t work for the bus driver any more so had absolutely no reason to be anywhere near the Guest Home. Dave thought he probably had appendicitis and had been sick for a while. He was in terrible pain and had a very high fever. Amanda gave the staff here at the Guest Home some money to make sure he got the necessary treatment he needed and a few members of the staff drove him to the hospital.

Normally his man would have just died on the street. Although the hospitals here are not very good, we’re hoping and praying he will recover. Maybe the reason our plane was delayed was so that we would be here at the exact moment that he was across the street. If we would have arrived last night, we would not have been here to help him. We would have been out doing other things.

I’ll try to update some pictures later, but the internet here is EXTREMELY show. Everyone is well, but very tired. It’s 8:45pm and we’re all preparing for bed.

Tomorrow we head to the AWA Transitional Home and then to play soccer with street kids. Wednesday will be a very full day. Hopefully I’ll be able to update again tomorrow.

Blessings to all.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Stuck In the Washington/Dulles Airport

Keep in mind that I'm writing this with an ambien in my body so forgive any and all typos. :)

As we got on the plane, things looked like they were going right on scheduled. Shortly after the emergency procedure video we got word something was wrong. We were told initially that there were some technical problems that the technician was working on. Nobody gave us any more info for about 2 hours. At about hour 3, the pilot gone on the phone and said the repairs were taking much longer than they had anticipated and he was sorry. That was all we heard. They started serving us dinner, putting on a, etc. Right before hour 5, I decided we were in this for the long haul, and took my ambien. I had been holding off because I wasn't sure what was going to happen. About 30 minutes after I took it, they announced the flight was cancelled and we wouldn't leave til Monday. You can see the videos below for more info about what happened next.









Another Random Video

We just met the rest of our group here in the Dulles Airport and had a quick dinner together. In about 1 1/2 hours we leave for Addis Ababa! Africa, HERE WE COME!

Here's another random video. Sorry these are kind of choppy. I'm not doing any editing. Just putting them online just as they are. Much love!

We're Headed Out!

We're currently sitting in the Nashville Airport waiting to board our flight to Washington D.C. Here's a quick video snip-it of the travels so far. The only problem we've had thus far is Amanda putting her toiletries in her carry on. The security people almost arrested her as a terrorist, but she quickly convinced them otherwise. Ok, well that was a bit of an exaggeration. Amanda, being the fearless leader that she is, took care of the problem and was escorted by security to put the treasured toiletries in a checked bag. All is well.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

What Are We Doing?

I'm not sure if I'll have reliable internet access while in Africa, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to text from my phone. I'm planning to twitter about twice a day. I've added a twitter feed to the top right-hand side of my blog so you can keep up to date on what we're doing there. It will constantly update itself.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Africa Itinerary


Less than 3 weeks before I leave!! I'm getting so excited! Here is the itinerary for my trip!

Oh, I have OFFICIALLY raised all my support! Buh-Bam. Thank you GOD!

ETHIOPIA:

June 20th: Dinner upon arrival

June 21st: AHOPE HIV Orphanage 9:00 am , Kid's Care Orphanage 2:30 pm 

June 22nd: Kidmia

June 23rd: America World Transitional Home

June 24th: Mother Teressa Orphanage & Compassionate Family Intern.

June 25th: Soccer Ministry to Street Kids

June 26th Departing from Ethiopia to travel to Uganda at 11:30


UGANDA

Jinji
June 26: Arrive: 1:30 PM in Entebbe, UG
Airport pick-up and transport to Jinji & Amazima Ministries

June 28: Canaan Children's Home or Amazima

June 29: 9 AM Meet Compassion little girls. 2:30 PM Amani Baby Cottage

Luwerro
June 30: Transport to Kasana/Kiwoko - New Hope Uganda

Entebbe
July 1: Spend half day at Bethany in Kampala on the way to Entebbe

July 2:Spend day in Entebbe, schedule TBD
Airport transfer
Depart: 5:15 PM for Addis
Spend night Airport Guest Home

Please pray for my group while we are gone. I'm sure we will need it! 

A member of our team as created a 24 hour Prayer Chain. Can you sign up for a slot (or 2 or 3)? Just click on the link and fill in the slot/s that work for you.  Make sure to click Save & Close under the File menu before you exit. Thanks a million!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Please Join Me in Boycotting this Movie


On July 24, Warner Bros. is releasing a horror/slasher film titled "Orphan" (http://orphan-movie.warnerbros.com). I've watched the trailer several times (horrific, I know). But the trailer is so heartbreaking. Just the message in the trailer gives misinformation about adoption, reinforcing the very myth that adoptive communities try to hard to eradicate; that all older adoptees are troubled.
 
Personally, I can't believe Warner Bros., Dark Castle Entertinment, and Appian Way had the nerve to make this movie. How many hundreds of thousands of adopted children will see this trailer on national television and hear an adoptee say "it must be hard to love an adopted child as much as you own".  How many attachment disordered children will be sent back to therapy because they get ideas from the young girl's actions? How many families could be sent into turmoil because of one movie?
 
The emotional impact and damage to adopted children is far too great a risk. However, "Without having seen the movie or read the script, it is hard to know if the entire movie is sending a ghastly adoption message, but the trailer certainly leads us to believe it is. This feeds the notion that older adoptees are very troubled and you should beware…. that’s not an image any of us want the general public to have of our kids. It plays into people’s deepest fears." (Examiner.com)
 
A Few Things You Can Do to Help Spread the Word
 
  1. boycott the movie
  2. tweet about this on Twitter
  3. sign the petition here
  4. spread the word to others and ask them to also boycott the movie
  5. post a warning about the movie ON YOUR BLOG
  6. contact the distributors (Warner Brothers),  the producer (Dark Castle Entertainment), and the developer of the material (Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, who is also co-producing the film) and express your concern about the negative impact of the film on the cause of adoption
  7. join this Facebook community