Wow, that's a lot of shirts!

We are almost there to sending out 74 t-shirts with little items carefully packaged for the extra kids at Kechene as well as the 50+ care packages ready to be sent as well. Unfortunately, we are needing to send them ALL through the mail to North Dakota first in order to get them to the family who are taking them to Ethiopia for us. The great thing is that they will have room for our packages, but it will be expensive to get them all there.

I have changed my thermometer of fundraising to an amount specific for the shipping costs to North Dakota. This will be a minimum of $150 and possibly over $200 to ship. I am sick about this since I know that this money could be used in so many other great ways other than the "Speedy Delivery" business. However, I also am reminded that none of the kids will ever get their packages until this is done so they can safely be sent with the family who is going. This is a hard thing to accept, yet also the only way for them to get there.

If you are interested in sending a small donation for this, please email me and I will send you my address. I have received some very generous donations. A HUGE thank you to those who have given already. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

In Amheric, "Ameseqnalew!"

Care packages being prepared for Kechene!

Care packages coming!

Thank you everyone for sending all those care packages. We are getting closer to having one for every child. If you would like to donate for these care packages, but do not have a sponsor child, this is a great time to do it!

I am collecting t-shirts rolled up like a burrito with little items inside like a toothbrush, hair ties, matchbox car, stickers, neat pen or pencil, or gum. Then, rubber band it and drop it off at my house or contact me to send it here to my house. I will be sending these to Minnesota after next weekend.

These will be presented to the children in Nov. when Karen's team travels to our care point to get pictures and hand deliver these well thought out packages. What a blessing they will be to all these kids!

If you want to make a monetary donation towards the extra t-shirts for the new 70 children visiting Kechene on a daily basis, you may also contact me. We are getting closer to our goal!!

A new school year...for everyone!

Glad to announce that the kiddos at Kechene will be starting their new school year very soon and are equipped to begin! They have textbooks, uniforms, shoes, health check-ups, food, and families praying for them and supporting them financially to get them to the next grade! Thank you sponsors!

However, there are 70 children from the neighborhood who pass through the doors of Kechene daily to get a meal, and then they are off to the government school not far from Kechene. Thanks to this school, they are getting a meal for the day when otherwise, it would have been impossible to eat anything each day, other than what their parents can provide. This is a blessing, yet they do not, nor have never had anyone sponsor them. They were just old enough to attend the government school, thus missing the cut off to qualify for Kechene (where they could have been sponsored). These children are just as vulnerable and have been hungry for years! They are much smaller in size compared to an American child that age due to their lack of nutrition/food.

We have a new goal set for our special neighborhood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 70 children from ages 10-15. These children are also crying out for a family to take them and to invite them into their families. To sponsor, of course, does not mean you are actually adopting a child, but rather giving the love one needs in their own country that we can provide while being a world apart. For $34 a month you are giving a child hope through letters that provide love, support, prayers, pictures, and a relationship. The money gets pooled together with all the sponsors' money from this care point to pay for much needed food (spicy, nutrition packed rice dish), medical care, education from 5 wonderful teachers, Bible lessons, and a community to keep an eye on them. They receive an "education" at the government school when they pass into the 4th grade, but there is lots of free time when they are not in school. That time can be spent at Kechene where the teachers add to their much needed educational appetite as well as their growing bodies' appetites.

This is Tsigereda. She is one of 70 in need of a sponsor.

Please pass this on to others who could possibly help get these kids a family from afar to love and support them like their neighborhood friends have at Kechene. We can do this together! That's what it is all about, after all! Have them contact me at gretabcg@hotmail.com and I will get them linked up with a child needing their support immediately. Thanks.

This is Balyo Gita. He is also in need of a sponsor.

This is Selam! She also began her first day of school at a local community college last Monday! What a great day that was! She has been here working at a farm in a training program for just about a year now and just recently was accepted into the Marketing Dept. at a local community college in Madison, WI. We are happy that she has begun a new chapter in her life. What a blessing it has been to have been a part of Selam's hopes and dreams. As she says, "God is so Good!"

Don't ever underestimate the power of God through your hands and feet! You may be the vessel God is using to help the least of these!! What a blessing that can be!

"We Got You Covered!"

WE DID IT!

56 children are all sponsored! They all have a family from afar that are writing to them and praying for them! They are ALL connected with a family! Such a great feeling!

Yesterday, I had a sponsor contact me. She had been reading the blog and each time she saw those pictures of kids left that were not sponsored, her heart just broke and she wanted to call and just sponsor them ALL! I know all of the sponsors, and others reading, feel this pull and desire to take them all! I hear it all the time. However, yesterday, she called to take the last 3. Someone was already interested in sponsoring, but hadn't had a chance to come over yet. She sponsored 2 of the last 3! So amazing what God will do with our hearts and then push us to just DO IT!

Then, last night the last child, Abele, was sponsored! What a momentous moment! The best part about it, was it was 2 boys and their siblings! Children themselves wanted to take on this risk, with their work money, their allowance, whatever they can do to be big brothers and sisters to this little boy so far away! It was really touching and I will never forget this entire experience summed up by these kids reaching out beyond their worlds for someone they don't even know. Thank you, Driscolls!

...and thank you everyone! WE DID IT!

Almost there!

3 KIDS LEFT!

Once there were 56 children in a very poor neighborhood of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia who were vulnerable, very poor, hungry, no money to attend school, yet they found a care point who would look after them and give then what they had. They started coming one by one until there were 56 in all! However, the food ran dry and the teachers weren't getting paid. There was no money left in the budget.

That was Nov. 2010. Today, 53 children are sponsored! Food is being served twice a day and the teachers are getting paid. Education is being offered to all 56 children as well as 72 others from the neighborhood! Children from the Kechene community in Addis Ababa are hearing the Gospel every day and learning about their God given talents and the plan God has for their lives.

All 53 children KNOW they are sponsored. They have been receiving letters, pictures, and hope from families here in the U.S. who contacted me because it broke their hearts and they wanted to DO SOMETHING! Well, they did! 53 children have hope and a future. They are able to eat every day, live in a community where they are loved and taken care of, and know God!

However, there are also 3 children that KNOW they are NOT sponsored. They are waiting for that connection to a family. They are waiting for that hope in having someone who will DO SOMETHING for them.

Abele - Just turned 5 in June. Loves sports, music, singing, writing stories, drawing, and reading, as well learning about farming.

Tsehaynesh- 10 years old. Alayu is 8 years old and his father has died.

Textbooks and smiles!

Textbooks !

The director of Kechene Care Point, Nicodemus

I just love the look on the children's faces in these pictures! It shows that they are having fun, they are learning with their new books, and their director (pictured by the books) couldn't be more proud of where the school is than now. It is a monumental thing to these people to receive textbooks for so many subjects and so many levels of learning.

When I visited this care point, Kechene, I watched the children file into the room quietly and quickly, 56 in all. They all took their seat to listen for their next direction. I noticed a little boy limping and using his crutch to get to his seat. He was holding under his arm, his book. It was his only book and it was curled up under his arm. When he laid it on his desk, it was still rolled up. I noticed it how old and crumpled it was.

Now, can you imagine the excitement in their eyes when they got their new books? The director, Nicodemus, is very pleased and again, couldn't be more proud of his school that he started years ago. Thank you everyone for your support to make these pictures possible!

Care Packages being collected

In November, last year, I had the amazing opportunity to help pass out care packages to all the children sponsored by Karen Wistrom's team. We all had our own care package to give our sponsored child. We got to sit next to them, or put them on our laps, and share what our family had put together for them, specifically. We explained what they were getting, since some of the things were foreign to them, and what they would use it for; toothbrushes, underwear, hairties, stickers, matchbox cars, an other small gifts.

The interpreters tried their best to keep up and to put into Amharic words the best they could. This was an overwhelming task on so many levels. For one, it was amazing that we were actually sitting there with our sponsor child loving them and talking with them. For another, we did this with over 200 children! Some of the more emotional care packages to hand out were from other sponsors who were not able to be there with their child. Their words of love and prayers were overwhelming to read that many times, the tears would just come and not stop.

This year, someone else will read our family's care package letter and give our gift to Bizuayehu. Maybe they will also find it difficult to read as we love her so much, yet are unable to hold her or give her unending hugs.

Karen's team will be going in Nov. again, but this time, they will be delivering over 300 care packages!! What a task that will be! We were busy every day with 200. They will graciously visit Kechene, our care point, and take pictures of our little ones with their care package and with their loving note from a family like ours from afar.

For Sponsors...

If you are a sponsor, please send me your care package before Sept. 15 and I will make sure it gets to a team member going to Kechene. Because there are so many children this year and no one from our care point going with the team to get them there, we are limited to a small care package. Please wrap a t-shirt (size ranging from 6-10) around a family picture, letter and small gifts like a toothbrush, underwear, stickers, hairties, etc. and rubber band it twice like a burrito with your child's name on it and their reference number. I know this is very disappointing not sending more, yet the team also has so many other care packages ( just as small) that have to be delivered. If someone from our care point was going, we would be dedicating one entire suitcase to the care packages and there would be more room.

If you can't send a care package to me, let me know and I will make sure your sponsored child gets a package. We certainly do not want anyone not getiing one when the entire school will be getting the packages. Please contact me if you do not have my address and I will email it to you. gretabcg@hotmail.com

It will be so amazing to see all the children receiving their packages and hearing their letters being read to them. Below are just a few pictures of the experience they will get that the other care points had last year...

This was a little book I published from Snapfish of our family for Bizuayehu. We read it together and Misikir (left) interpreted for me. What a blessing this was to explain our entire family with her through this little book to her!