MISSION ETHIOPIA: STAYING CONNECTED

STAYING CONNECTED

A few months before I started this fabulous journey I read about an amazing program. It is one laptop per child (olpc) it was a program where if you purchased a special laptop for a child in a third world country they would send you one for free. So once all of this got underway I thought I would check into the program figuring that since the computer was designed for third world use I would be able to use it to keep up my blog and communicate with friends and family. Unfortunately the program had ended. (note if you are interested you can still send a computer to a child you just do not get one anymore) So I started searching on e bay for one. I got outbid numerous times but was sticking to my budget. I asked numerous sellers that had no buyers if they would sell it to me at my budgeted price, no takers. So I kept trying. I also wanted to get one before June 30 as it came with a free year of t mobile service which needed to be activated by that date. Well on June 29th I won!!! The seller so kindly e mailed all of the t mobile information so I would not miss the deadline. The even better news was through e bay I had received a coupon for 10% off of a purchase through the end of the month. So when all was said and done (computer, shipping and coupon redemption) it was twelve dollars less than my budget!!!
It is a fabulous little computer and this post was typed from it. I recently saw that 5000 of these were sent to Ethiopia so hopefully I will not have to head to the major hotel(the only place in Addis Ababa with wifi) to use it but will be able to connect to the network set up for the ones sent over.

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HOLIDAY SALE RESULTS!!!

The Holiday sale at Coonley school was a lot of fun. I meet some great people at the tables beside me. I sold a lot of Sandy Candy - it was the hit of the sale. The students came through one class at a time on Friday and some classes brought notebooks to keep a wishlist for when they got picked up from school. At one point there were numerous children sitting on the floor in front of my table writing down "Sandy Candy" and the cost, it was so sweet. Most of the children came back!!! After my costs I made $236.00 this weekend - hooray!!! My plan now is to list my hand made items on Etsy but my camera needs to be fixed first, I will keep you posted on when they are on Etsy. I would like to thank a few people; The Lawrence family for letting me stay at thier house this weekend, Jane for letting me use her African fabric again, Saba and Emery for being great helpers at my booth both after school on Friday and part of Saturday. I must tell you these two six year olds are great sales people, they brought friends and even teachers to the table. They explained over and over to customers how to make the candy and never got tired of repeating the instructions. I wish I would have been able to take some photos but my camera is not working. I would also like to thank the friends of mine who made the journey out to the sale, it was great seeing all of you. Thanks again everyone.

A NEW WAY TO HELP!!!

I have just signed up with i give. Please read the description below. It is very simple to sign up for once you sign up choose Mission Ethiopia as your cause and each of the supportive websites will donate a portion of your spending this mission. Thank you so very much for your generosity.

http://www.iGive.com
Company Overview:
Turn your everyday online purchases into donations for your favorite cause! Support any cause in the U.S. or Canada with up to 26% of each purchase at over 700 online stores, just by shopping through iGive.com. iGive is a free service for shoppers and the causes they support.
Mission:
Change online shopping...for good!
Products:
The iGive.com Mall features over 700 top-notch online stores including eBay, Expedia, Sephora, Staples, NORDSTROM, Best Buy, Banana Republic, PETCO, iTunes Store, Macy's, Victoria's Secret, and hundreds more. New stores are added every week, and we're happy to take your suggestions.For a complete list of participating stores, visit: http://www.iGive.com/shop

I GIVE IS "PAYING" OFF

For all of my I Give supporters a huge thank you. I received my first check today for just over thirty dollars. In total we have raised over seventy dollars. Every little bit helps and this is such an easy way to give. If you shop online just sign up at http://www.igive.com/ with Mission Ethiopia as your chosen cause and everytime you shop at one of over seven hundred online stores a percentage is donated to this mission. I have added an i give toolbar to my computer so that when I go to one of the stores that is signed up with them it automatically takes me through i give. Thank you again.

RUMMAGE SALE RESULTS

This past Saturday was the rummage sale. It was a lot of work that took team effort. First we loaded up the items in my garage (most of which were donated) and then went over to my storage unit and loaded it up. I did have a bit of a walk down memory lane but managed to fill a fourteen foot truck!!! Then we took a much deserved break to eat. We crossed the street and headed into the sports complex to set up. Once the tables were set up and boxes unloaded the real fun began, setting up the tables. It was exhausting and tedious but when it was done it was a beautiful sight. We did get to go home for a much needed night of sleep before the sale began. The sale was to begin at 9:00 am but the line started forming just after 8:30 am. Once the doors were opened we had a consistant line for the first couple of hours. There was never a time when there was not at least one customer there but usually there were more. My goal was to raise $1000.00 but after expenses I raised $426.63, I am now that much closer to my goal!!!

DONATIONS FOR THE CHILDREN

I recently had someone ask if money could be donated that was ear marked to be spent on the children. Absolutely, if you are interested in gifting money for me to use on the children within Ethiopia I would be thrilled to do so. If you donate through pay pal just send me a message through the blog as there is not a way to leave a comment using pay pal. If you send a check just write in your memo that it is for the children. I have not included the monies for within Ethiopia in my budget above and do not have a specific dollar amount, but the more that is raised means the more that can be given. Thank you so much for your generosity to these wonderful children who have so little.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

In one of my Ethiopia travel books I have found a solution to an issue that has weighed heavy on my heart. Having been in third world countries before there are many times when a child will appear out of nowhere asking for some money or food. If you give something to this child usually a whole group come out of hiding looking for the same treatment. It is heartbreaking not to help these children but it is always discouraged. It only encourages them to stay on the street begging, however, I am thrilled to tell you about Hope Enterprises. It is in Addis Ababa and what they do is sell meal tickets (better then giving food because the children usually trade the food for money and still do not eat) For 50 cents I can purchase eight meal tickets that I can hand out and the children can turn it in for a nutritious meal. Of course I will try to have a purse full of these at all times. Can you imagine eight children eating for 50 cents.

UPDATE

As of today over two thirds of the money has come in for this mission!!!!!! I feel very blessed by all who have helped and pray that many others will catch the vision. Please continue to pray for this mission. Thank you so much.

You may have noticed the amount needed went up by one thousand dollars. I checked flights last night and it is just over nine hundred dollars more then what I had originally budgeted for.

I also feel I need to arrive with some things for the children and came upon a rummage sale today with fabulous childrens clothes. They were having a five dollar bag sale and I filled four bags to overflowing. Once the ladies in the childrens clothing section found out what I was doing they were helping me out. One woman even took a bag and sorted clothes for me. I know God will bless them tremedously.

DONATIONS IN ETHIOPIA

As I mentioned above I would love to give as much as I can to the children once I am there. The current exchange rate is one US dollar for 9.25 in Ethiopian birr. You see a little goes a long way. There was a recent article in the Parade section of the Chicago Tribune about an adopted girl whose mom took her back to visit her birth country of Ethiopia. She was able to purchase croc shoes there for 11 birr each pair. Each dollar will be spent on items that the children at the orphange need most. Please donate today. Thank you.

THE SWEETEST GIFT

I just wanted to tell you a sweet story of a resent donation. I was at a family gathering and had given my cousin one of my cards. I was in the process of filling him in on the details when his daughter Amber came over and sat in his lap. She questioned what the card was and her daddy told her. She then whispered something in his ear and he grinned asking her to explain what the card was about. She was able to explain what I was raising money for and then he agreed to whatever had been whispered into his ear. I will tell you what that was. She had five dollars at home and wanted to borrow it from him to give me and then pay him back at home. In this few moments many things were taking place. This young girl was learning about a world she has never seen. She was able to see the need of others as greater than her own. She gave all she had in blind faith to help people she may never see. It is true that a child shall lead them. Thank you Amber for your very generous contribution and know that God will bless you and what you gave to help His children who are in far more need then we may ever be.

VISITING MY P.O. BOX

I try to get to my P.O. box at least once a week, usually when I am posting things sold on e bay. Most of the time it is empty or there is junk mail, however every so often I am deeply touched to find a donation. Each time I feel like a kid in a candy store, I cannot wait to open the envelope and see what it holds inside. Just this week I received a generous donation with a very encouraging note inside. For all of you who have sent notes along with your donation thank you. Your words of support and encouragement are truly touching. I am saving them all in a journal I am keeping about this journey. Please continue to send words of encouragement they truly help at times when I need it most.

GIVING THROUGH PROJECTS ABROAD

For those of you who would like to make a donation to me through Projects Abroad there are some things you need to know first. I have not registered with them yet as I need to know my departure date in order to register. If I register and change the date there is a seventy five dollar charge to change the date. (not a good use of money in my opinion) Since I am not registered they have no way of keeping track of things for me plus they do not accept donations for individuals. What they recommend is that you send your checks to me at my P.O. box written out to Projects Abroad and my name in the memo. Then when I am ready to register I would just send in all of the donations that are written out to them. So far this has not been an issue as everyone has sent checks directly to me or donated through paypal. I just wanted you to know this is an option as well. Thank you so much and God bless you.

AN AMAZING OUTING - WAYS TO HELP IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

I had the unique priveledge this weekend of sharing my passion for helping children around the world with two of the girls I nanny for. During all of my research on Ethiopia I came across a wonderful site http://www.fmsc.org/. At the time they were here for one day but were in the process of setting up a perminent location in Aurora Illinois (they also have three locations in Minnesota) I looked into when they had a walk in time so I could take the girls. In an effort to help them understand my desire to help children around the world two little girls not only had fun but had an experience to last a lifetime.
You have to arrive early because they can only hold 90 volunteers at a time. (Yes they did turn people away that day) Once you sign in and get your hair net on you sit down for a brief overview of what you are about to do. The gentleman explained how children around the world are starving, some are feed mud pies to trick their stomachs into being full so they can sleep. He showed us photos of starving children and then what they looked like after being fed the food we were about to assemble. There was one remarkable story I would like to share, that of a baby named Moses. A woman gave birth to a baby boy and she dropped him down an in ground toilet and left him there. A man passing by heard the cries and tied a rope to himself so he could lower himself down the hole to save the baby. Now I am quite certain that hole was very smelly and gross. As he came to the surface with the baby he made the decision to take him to an orphange. Just like Moses in the Bible who was pulled from the bullrushes this little guy was pulled from an even worse situation. The photos of Moses pulled at my heart strings. Then they show him in the movie about a year and a half later healthy and running around.
We then were sent to put on aprons and head into the packing room. We were sent to stations and put into pre labled bags, dried chicken stock, dehydrated vegetables, dried soybeans and rice. Each bag had to be weighed and fall into a certain weight and then sealed shut. Once sealed 36 bags had to be on the loading table and then they were boxed up. A cheer was shouted out and one of the people working in the warehouse took the box, weighed it and sealed it up. They turned on music and a rhythem was established. We were there for two hours about one of which was spent packing. During that time our group packed enough food to feed 32 children for one year! Then it was clean up time and into the warehouse to pray over the pallet and a half we had boxed up. We then went back to the room we started in and were given a sample of the food we just packed. It was quite tasty the girls ate every bite and asked for more. Of course there was only one sample per person so what a great leason on one serving. It costs 17 cents per meal can you imagine that!
I cannot put into words how much giving this gift to two little girls meant to me. If you live in the area I recommend you take some time out of your life to help others in need. It will change your life.
Shortly after one of the girls said she was starving and I asked her was she really starving. She gave it a moments thought and shook her head then changed her answer to she was hungry.
Remember the verse in the Bible about giving to the least of these. God will truly reward these girls beyond what they will ever know. As a matter of fact I feel they have already been blessed in just having the experience.

Another great organization that I back up is Heifer if you have not heard of them check out their website. http://www.heifer.org/

Thank you so much for all of your support and please give in someway to help the children of our world grow and thrive instead of starving.

God bless you.

THE AFTER THOUGHTS OF THIS OUTING

I just spoke with the girls mom and she told me this sweet story. One of the girls was in the shower and had a question for her mom. She asked her if the food she had packed made it to the destination it was being sent to. This six year old had been pondering whether or not the food she had helped assemble had made it to the other side of the world. I am so proud of her for thinking about it days later. So many children in this world today cannot think beyond themselves and here she is days later concerned about the food getting to the starving children. It has touched my heart so deeply to know she is thinking of others before herself. We are a selfish society so to know someone of the next generation is already considering others brings a tear to my eye. Keep up the great work with these amazing girls!!! I love you Saba and Emery.

ADOPTION OPTION

Ever since this mission has been underway I have wrestled with the idea of adoption once my six months were finished. It is not a decsion I want to make lightly as it is a life time commitment. For those of you who know me and know my heart you are aware of how much I wish to be a mom. I find it miraculous that shortly before I began all of this, Ethiopia opened up for adoption to the United States. I met a woman who runs an adoption support group, during the expo I was in, and have joined in on a meeting. She has put me in touch with an adoption agency and we have been working together to see what makes the most sense for what I am doing. She has spoken to people within Ethiopia regarding my adopting from within. I will spare most of the details but there are a few things I would need to have sorted here before I go over. Once inside of the country they would be more than happy to help me out. I have always felt my children would come from Ethiopia and do not want to be over there and my child has picked me out and I did not take care of some paper work and must leave that child behind. I am checking into grant programs but first must go through a home study. Once the rummage sale is over it will be much calmer around here and I will sort this out. I am asking for all of you to pray that if this is meant to be it will all fall into place. The cost to adopt one child from Ethiopia is $11,500.00 and for two it is about $17,000.00 I have always wanted twins!!! Please note this amount does not include the home study fee which varies from social worker to social worker. The reason I have added this to my blog is because the agency has just informed that Ethiopia may soon be closing adoptions to single woman. If this is going to happen it must happen now!!! I know if this is the direction my life is to take God will provide. I ask for your continued support in anyway you can give it, just knowing you are praying is so amazing. If you feel lead to help out financially it would be an added blessing!!! Please feel free to pass my blog address on to anyone you may feel would be interested in reading it or adding support. God bless you!!!

GOD ANSWERS MY PRAYER IN AN AMAZING WAY!!!

I have an amazing story to share with all of you. As you have read above I am considering adopting from Ethiopia and have been praying for guidance and direction in this area. For those of you who know me you know that I like to research things and be organized. So on Monday I sat at my computer for a couple of hours researching cribs. I am not sure if the nursery has to be set up before the home study or not but I thought I would research cribs. Well for those of you who are already parents you know a nice crib is not cheap. After a couple of hours I thought to myself that I wished it were May. For you see in May there is a town by me that is divided up into four sections and each section is assigned a Saturday to throw whatever they want out on the curb and the garbage collectors will take it. Over the years I have seen furniture, including cribs, art, car seats you name it. Most people put stuff out on Friday so others can take things before it is collected. So it entered my mind that this would be a great way to acquire a crib. If I reach my goal of going in November I would be back in April and I would want everything organized before I go. Monday night on my way to work I was praying in my car. I prayed about whether I should pursue adoption since a crib alone was so much - and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I then went on to tell God I needed a sign that if I should continue with adoption - I needed a crib. So as I rounded the corner at work what was lying on their curb at the end of the driveway? A crib!!! I came inside and asked about it and was told it was in perfect condition except they had tried to paint this white crib brown. It turned out to be an expensive Italian crib complete with instructions!!! So the dad and I loaded it into my car. The next day I headed to Home Depot and found out how to remove the paint and redo it. It is a project I will tackle after the rummage sale. God not only answered the prayer of a crib but He put it on a curb because I thought what a great way to find a fabulous crib and it be free!!! God is so amazing - He truly blows my mind away.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG...

Things are underway for preparing the nursery. I have been stripping the crib and have one piece left to go. Once it is all stripped I will sand and paint it, photos will be posted soon.

I have decided to turn my bedroom into the nursery rather than the guest room. Some of the people I have shared this with have reacted differently then I thought they would. In order for this to make some sense I will share a story from my childhood and then perhaps you will understand. When my parents divorced our house had to be sold. In our house both my brother and I had large bedrooms that occupied 3/4 of the second floor. My mom could only afford a small two bedroom apartment and was planning on sharing a bedroom with me. In our house we also had a family room but now all of our toys and games had to stay in our bedrooms because we no longer had additional space to play. My mom thought ahead to me having friends over to play or sleep overs and decided that the walk in closet aross the hall from my room would serve as her bedroom. She had a twin sized bed with built in drawers assembled in the room. The headboard touched one wall and the foot board the other. The bed was wider than the space to the door and so her bed covered part of the doorway leaving her door useless. She did have enough room for a small round table next to the head of her bed. It is because of this example of sacrificial and unconditional love that makes this decision an easy one for me.Thank you again mom, I love you very much. I do not know how long I will live where I currently am but if I make the guest room the baby's room(my original plan) there will not be much floor space for the baby to play and explore. I have purchased a chair and a half with fold out bed for the nursery so when guests come they can have my room and I will sleep in the pull out bed. I will take my guest bed apart to store and move my bed into the guest room. For those of you who know me well know that I did my graph paper layout of both rooms to determine what would work best and I believe this is the best decision. One day I plan on having a fabulous master suite somewhere but for now I am happy to have a place to sleep at night. Please continue to pray that things go well in regards to my home study (will keep you posted on the date) and this entire adoption process.

FORGING AHEAD WITH ADOPTION - September 15, 2008

After much prayer and careful consideration I will begin to navigate the waters of international adoption. I have started to work on the nursery so the social worker who comes for my home study sees where my child(ren) will sleep. If you have read the crib story above, I began striping off the brown paint today using this great citrus eco friendly striper (highly recommended) I have taken before photos and will photograph the whole process and add photos as I go. I purchased a changing table off of craigslist tonight and what do you know its previous owners were identical girls.(I would love twin girls or girls of similar age)
I will be contacting local social workers to determine who will hold my hand through this process. Please keep me in your prayers as I only want God's will for my life. I feel the doors are opening for this to happen so in faith I am stepping through.

* The cost of the project includes accommodations with a host family, three meals a day, the back up of local staff members who are available 24 hours a day and insurance (comprehensive travelers and medical insurances) A member of the staff will meet me at the airport and spend a couple of days with me teaching me local customs, how to use their public transportation, where to get safe water, where to exchange money etc.

** These prices are all based on todays market and are subject to change.

*** This total includes donations, money I have made having garage sales and the money raised at the craft show.

CONTACT ME

If you have any questions please go up to where my current photo is (top right side)and click on view complete profile and there is a place to click that says contact me. For those of you confused by the two spellings of my name I will tell a brief story. I went to an all girls high school and in my junior year there were numerous Kimberly's in one of my classes. The teacher told us to come back the next day with a way for him to tell us apart. I became Kymberlee with a "y" . So for legal purposes please write my name; Kimberly Holst. Sorry for any confusion. Thank you again for taking the time to read my blog.