First, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to donate to this amazing cause! We have a LONG way to go to complete the puzzle, but we're on the right track. I'm still waiting for the puzzle to actually arrive, and then I'll get it put together (wish me luck) and start adding your names and/or quotes and show pictures throughout the process.
I've gotten a few questions about the orphans and the orphanage itself and thought I'd share just a bit more. Some people have thought that our child will be coming from this orphanage. Not the case. There is NO orphanage currently. When our child is identified as needing a home and family, the chances are that he/she is living on the streets. Those that do have some sort of home, are not living in sanitary conditions. Many are starving.
To give you an idea, you can check out this blog. They adopted their son a little bit ago, but she shows you what his birthmother's "kitchen" and house consisted of and tells you a bit more about the life they were living. From the looks of it, I would guess that he is one of the luckier children in Ghana.
When the orphanage is complete, children without parents will be able to live there and attend school. Also, those with only one parent who is unable to take care them will also be able to live there and attend school. The plan is to hire single mothers who need work, for any of the orphanage jobs (cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing) allowing them to earn a living while their child is given a roof over their head, food in their tummy and an education.
All of that said, we need to HURRY up and get this orphanage built! These children deserve so much more. If you haven't donated already, please consider doing so. All it takes is a click on the "donate" button to the right.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Help build an orphanage
The majority of our friends and family are not in a situation to be able to adopt a child. For those that are, it isn't a simple decision to make. It is a life changing decision and it's not for everyone. That said, so many of our friends have asked how they can help make a difference in the lives of orphans. This is very simple!
Chris and I recently started working with Ujimacare. It's an organization here in the U.S. with a base in Ghana. It was founded by two brothers from Ghana. One now lives here in the U.S. while the other lives In Ghana and spends all of his time working and caring for orphans. Together, through Ujimacare, they are building an orphanage and school. It will be the first in the region.
So far, they have funded every bit of this orphanage themselves. You can see the progress here. They need $20,000 for phase one which will be a 10 room building. This will help so many children who otherwise would not have shelter, food, or an education.
Here is where you come in! I purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle. For every $10 donation that you make to Ujimacare, your name (or whatever you would like written) will be written on the back of a puzzle piece. Once completed, the $10,000 will help build the orphanage and the puzzle will be framed and given as a gift to organization so that children of the orphanage will be reminded of those who cared enough about them to help give them a home.
I'll keep you up-to-date on the progress of the puzzle here so, check back often to see how we are doing.
To donate now, click just click on the donate button on the right-side of this page. On the paypal page include in the "note to seller" what you would like written on your puzzle pieces! Please keep in mind how many pieces you have purchased to be sure that what you want written will fit. 100% of your donation will go to the orphanage.
If you would like to mail a check, please make it out to Ujimacare Foundation and mail it to:
7660 Silver Fox Dr
Columbus, OH 43235
Make sure to include the name that you would like written on the puzzle pieces!
Ujimacare is a registered 501c organization so, your donations are all tax deductible!!!!
Chris and I recently started working with Ujimacare. It's an organization here in the U.S. with a base in Ghana. It was founded by two brothers from Ghana. One now lives here in the U.S. while the other lives In Ghana and spends all of his time working and caring for orphans. Together, through Ujimacare, they are building an orphanage and school. It will be the first in the region.
So far, they have funded every bit of this orphanage themselves. You can see the progress here. They need $20,000 for phase one which will be a 10 room building. This will help so many children who otherwise would not have shelter, food, or an education.
Here is where you come in! I purchased a 1,000 piece puzzle. For every $10 donation that you make to Ujimacare, your name (or whatever you would like written) will be written on the back of a puzzle piece. Once completed, the $10,000 will help build the orphanage and the puzzle will be framed and given as a gift to organization so that children of the orphanage will be reminded of those who cared enough about them to help give them a home.
I'll keep you up-to-date on the progress of the puzzle here so, check back often to see how we are doing.
To donate now, click just click on the donate button on the right-side of this page. On the paypal page include in the "note to seller" what you would like written on your puzzle pieces! Please keep in mind how many pieces you have purchased to be sure that what you want written will fit. 100% of your donation will go to the orphanage.
If you would like to mail a check, please make it out to Ujimacare Foundation and mail it to:
7660 Silver Fox Dr
Columbus, OH 43235
Make sure to include the name that you would like written on the puzzle pieces!
Ujimacare is a registered 501c organization so, your donations are all tax deductible!!!!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Dossier submitted!
We've had our dossier done and ready to go to Ghana for a while now, but our contact in Ghana was going to be out of town for 3 weeks and I was a bit worried to send it and have it arrive while he was out so, I just sent it off today. I also wanted to include a small family photo book that will be given to our child once we are matched so that the can start to get to know us before we actually get to meet!
I guess technically we've been on the wait list for a month or so, but I'm counting today as the official day that we start WAITING to be matched since they will now have everything that they need from us to start an adoption!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Update
I heard back from our guy in Ghana and fortunately/unfortunately, the children he had mentioned have a father. The really good news is that this completely confirms our trust in this organization. He had been told that the father was deceased, but doing his due diligence, he found that this was not the case. Which means, they are not orphans and cannot be adopted. With international adoption, the child must be an orphan. No matter how much the parents would rather have their children adopted to give them a better life, if they are both living, the cannot choose adoption for their children as a couple can do here in the US. For this reason, many mothers will lie about the father being deceased in order to give their children what they believe is a better life.
Please keep these little ones and their parents in your prayers.
Please keep these little ones and their parents in your prayers.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Do you see what I see?
Right there, in the middle of the massive stack of mail that I found in the mailbox after not visiting it since maybe Thursday....
Yep! It is our 171!!! This is the notice that says that the government thinks we would be OK parents.
We wanted our approval to be broad since... well, I don't know.. we just kind of said, maybe we should get approved for 2 "just in case". I'm not exactly sure what moved us to do it, but I'm glad that we did. This way, we have the option to adopt 2 children if they are siblings in order to keep them together.
It makes me wonder if years from now we'll look back on the day we made that decision and see God's work at play.
Right there, in the middle of the massive stack of mail that I found in the mailbox after not visiting it since maybe Thursday....
Yep! It is our 171!!! This is the notice that says that the government thinks we would be OK parents.
We wanted our approval to be broad since... well, I don't know.. we just kind of said, maybe we should get approved for 2 "just in case". I'm not exactly sure what moved us to do it, but I'm glad that we did. This way, we have the option to adopt 2 children if they are siblings in order to keep them together.
It makes me wonder if years from now we'll look back on the day we made that decision and see God's work at play.
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