Lifesong For Orphans Opportunity

Honduras Blitz from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.
What if every time you gave a dollar to orphans it became one more? 
One more dollar towards food, education, shelter?
One more dollar towards sharing the Gospel and providing Biblical mentorship?
One more dollar towards changing the life of a child?
I love to use this platform to advocate for those in need... and thanks to a generous donor every dollar given to Lifesong Honduras will be matched… up to $120,000!  We praise the Lord for this amazing gift and invite you to be a part of it.
Over the next 10 days we are teaming with Lifesong and are hoping for 100 1-year commitments of $30 a month.  Just think, for about $1 a day a life in Honduras can be forever changed.

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Partnering with Tree of Life Missions in Honduras, Lifesong for Orphans is able to work toward providing hope to the hopeless, help to the helpless and healing to the hurting.  TOLM reaches kids through a program called Plan Escalon.  (Escalon is translated "escalator" and is used to describe the children's escalator out of poverty/brokenness.) 
Through this program we strive toward:

• Providing an education to the poorest of youth


• Providing food to the poorest of youth


• Providing vocational training & micro-business opportunities


• Providing free medical and dental clinics to those in need


• Training young people to give back to their communities


• Reaching people in the jungles of the Mosquito Coast 

Stay tuned for stories, personal testimonies, and fun ways to spread awareness and instill a heart of giving in your kids!
Our goal is:

Will you help us?  100 commitments in ten days is no small feat, but with God it is possible.  We have seen Him move mightily in His people to serve orphans and we pray that this ten weeks will be a testimony of that!  Together we can make a difference in the lives of these kids!  Together we can do more to bring joy and purpose to orphans!
Contact Lifesong at info@lifesongfororphans.org to make your commitment AND be sure to tell them that we sent you from our blog!
Hear personal stories & follow the progress on our blog all this week!
Check back often to hear personal stories and get updates on the progress.  Please join us in prayer as we ask the Lord to raise up 100 commitments!

Good News??

This was posted by an agency(don't know which, but heard they were reputable), and it seems to be mirrored by other agencies as well....soooo...sounds like good news:)!!




'Today we want to update you on the feedback we received yesterday from our
foreign staff in Ethiopia, which was confirmed in a discussion with our adoption
colleagues in a Joint Council caucus call later in the day.

At this time, all Foreign Staff on the ground in Ethiopia are reporting that
MOWA has completed their staffing changes and are now currently working at full
capacity to complete those adoption cases currently re-scheduled or assigned a
court appointment through the courts of Addis Ababa. Our staff believe this to
be around 800 cases they are working at full force to complete with no
restrictions on the number of cases processed each day. This is great news! We
are thrilled to hear these drastic changes do not seem to be going into full
effect.

We are also pleased to report that for new cases moving forward; it appears the
original changes proposed by MOWA will not be implemented to the degree of 5
cases a day. At this time it is unknown whether or not MOWA will issue a formal
statement regarding how they will process cases in the future, but from all
discussions it will not be a drastic decrease from before. Through the continued
work, meetings, and advocacy of many Foreign Staff members in Ethiopia, it
appears any future changes within the case processing for MOWA will avoid
sweeping and disproportionate alterations to the number of cases processed each
day. Rather, the hope is that MOWA, Joint Council, Adoption Service Providers,
the US Department of State and other NGO organizations can come together to
support the government of Ethiopia in strengthening the process for ethical
adoptions to continue while also improving the general social structures to
assist with family preservation in Ethiopia. This plan was acknowledged in the
recent posting by the US State Department this morning at
http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html. We understand the US Department of
State cannot issue a formal statement without MOWA issuing a retraction. Based
on the information we are receiving, MOWA is concentrating on processing the
current adoptions and the new staff is not focused on numbers, but doing their
jobs.'"

Africa or BUST!

Today I'm linking up with my bloggy friend Linny over at aplacecalledsimplicity.blogspot.com, to let you all know our prayer requests as we begin a new journey to Africa!

We have our homestudy ready(for one child/twins up to 12 mos) and our agency picked out...and the country...well, it WAS(IS) Ethiopia.

That said:)...here are our prayer requests:

1. Ethiopia....we're struggling to turn in that application with all that is going on, but the cry of 5 million orphans can't be stopped, playing over and over in my head! We need CLARITY...FAITH....to make this leap!

2. Siblings/twins....yes, that's right, I really have this feeling that it's supposed to be TWO babies! BUT...we NEED the extra income to make this happen! The enemy has in fact, been working extra hard in this area lately...and we have actually LOST income...so please pray for the extra needed to meet the requirements!

3. Uganda....we have looked extensively at Uganda as an alternative...the travel is 3 1/2- 4 1/2 weeks!! Not sure at all if we could do this...BUT GOD!!:) We would need absolute peace(and a few signs;)) if this is the route the Lord wants us to take.

I absolutely LOVE Africa and we are so excited to be able to rescue one(or two) of these precious ones! Would you join us in prayer? And if you want to be a part,financially, of bringing our daughter/son home, you can donate through the link on the top left!

Ethiopia Update

Here's the down-low on what happened during the conference call this morning as written by JCICS. I did sit in on it. Why do we always pick countries with issues!?!:)

Notes from Dept of State Ethiopia Call 03/11/2011

Following are our notes from the Department of State Office of Children’s Issues conference call regarding Ethiopian adoptions. These notes do not represent nor are they in any way attributable to the Department of State or US Citizenship and Immigration Services. We are providing the notes with respect to those adoption service providers who could not participate in the conference.

We extend our thanks to the Department of State for conducting the conference call and to US Citizenship and Immigration Services for their participation and contributions.

The Department of State is Actively Involved
• The Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs announced a reduction in the processing of intercountry adoption cases from 50 per day to 5 per day, effective March 10, 2011.
• The Department of State is actively involved in discussions with the Government of Ethiopia, other governments and stakeholders.
• A coalition of countries is preparing a proposal to assist the Ministry increase its capacity.
• Embassy suggested that children with special need’s cases should not be delayed.
• The US Embassy officials have a scheduled meeting with the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs for Monday, March 14, 2011.
• There are areas of concern related to intercountry adoption, however the reduction is disproportionate.
Adoption Cases
• Currently there are no implementation guidelines for in-process cases.
• For adoption cases registered with the Ethiopian court, the best estimate is a one-year delay.
• The staff change at the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs has been confirmed as taking effect the week of March 13, 2011. The impact this will have on adoption cases is not known.
• It is estimated that between 800-1,000 adoption cases are currently on the docket of Ethiopian courts.

All this said...I really don't think this will turn out to be what people fear. I know ET and the US(among other countries and NGOs) will work hard to make the process ethical and "timely"..they have all stated such in the past, and I see no reason that would change now. I'll let you know Monday!:)

In the meantime, we have looked into Uganda and Ghana(?)...but my heart is in Ethiopia! Pray I'll be able to lay that down if necessary, and go where the LORD leads us. To HIM be the GLORY!

Ethiopia Campaign II

Hi my sweet bloggy friends!!! We are once again asking for your help in spreading the word about the situation in Ethiopia! Please consider signing this petition(it only takes one minute), then pass it on to all your friends:)! You DO NOT have to be adopting from Ethiopia in order to sign this! As adoptive parents, I hope we will stand together for the children, no matter where we are adopting from!

Thanks! Here's the link to the petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43714.html

Five Things You Can do to Help!

1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on!

2) Have you adopted from Ethiopia? Please send us up to 3 photos and 50 words or less with what you would like the Ministry to know about your child – we’ll compile the information and send a book to the Ministry of Woman’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs. Send your photos and stories by Sunday, March 12, 2011 to be included. Please note that sending photos and stories gives Joint Council unrestricted right to use the information you provide. UPDATE: we’ve received so many emails in support that our email server has crashed! We’ve set up an alternative email account – please start emailing your photos/stories to emergency4ethiopia@gmail.com. Thanks for your amazing support!

3) Share…Please send this Call to Action to family members, other adoptive parents, and everyone you know! Post, forward and share your adoption stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Make sure you include us in your posts so we can all hear your stories! Here’s links to our pages: Facebook, Twitter and our blog.

4) Stay informed: Get up-to-date information regarding the situation in Ethiopia by signing up to receive information from us: click here to do so, make sure you choose “country and issues specific information” and “Ethiopia.” And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our blog!

5) Help ensure our advocacy can continue: Joint Council is a non-profit and receives no government funding. Please join us in ensuring more children live in safe, permanent and loving families. Donate today!