USBORNE books Fundaiser

My dear friend Mandy Golightly is an Usborne books consultant and has generously offered to donate 50% of her profits to a wonderful family in the adoption process.  Thank you Mandy for your giving, generous heart.  May God bless you in return!

Charlie and Bonnie Schilling have a wonderful family.  3 biological kids and 3 kids from Ethiopia.  Recently, their son's 2 brothers from Ethiopia have become available for adoption and this family is raising funds to go bring them home!  What a blessing, and what a step out in faith.  They have listened to the call that the Lord has placed in their hearts, and even though the task is scary, they believe that the Lord is leading them.  I am believing with them for every penny for this adoption of these two boys who need to be with their brother, and need a forever family.

Would you think about helping them bring their sons home?  You don't have to do a thing except place an online order.  You can do it in the comfort of your own home, in your jammies, in your undies!  These books that you order are absolutely great books, of high quality and kids love them.  The best part is that they will ship directly to your own home.  You get something wonderful out of it, books for kids, but the best part is that you could be helping take care of orphans like the Lord commanded us to do.  Thank you for opening your heart to this family. 

For the fundraiser and to place an order, please go here:
Usborne books fundraiser

Blessings,
Amy

My Stuff Bags

I just cannot stand the thought of kids in pain.  Especially emotional pain.  I have had the privilege of being raised by 2 wonderful parents, which today seems like a total luxury.  I am blessed.  Why should I be blessed because I was born on the right continent?  Why should I be blessed because I was born into the right family?  The fact is that I have no right to live in my blessed little world and turn my head away from those kids that don't have the same luxury that I do.  I simply can't turn my head away.  I hope you can't either.

MyStuffBags is something I came across when searching for children's charities in the United States.  It is an awesome organization.  Many kids get ripped from their homes and end up in foster care.  Most if those kids leave their home with a small trash bag of belongings and enter their new home with next to nothing.  But this organization's goal is to give every child entering the foster care system a bag full of their very own stuff.  Stuffed animals, toiletries, school supplies, baby items and blankets.  My eye caught this because I am not great at knitting or crocheting, but I can make those cute little flannel knot blankets and there is a quick pattern on the website.  You can get the kits at most fabric stores, and with a coupon they would be an awesome price!  There are dimensions on the site for the blankets that they need, as well as the address of where you can send the stuff.

There are so many kids in the world that could use your help. Some right in your own backyard.  One blanket could make a difference.  You will never see who gets it, where it goes, or the joy that it will bring.  But God will see, and it will make his heart so happy.

Here is the link to the website:

My Stuff Bags

God bless you dearly,
Amy

COFFEE ANYONE?

Just-Love Coffee Roasters is a company that sells Fair Trade, organic coffee beans with over 20 different types.  The best part about them is they donate a portion of their proceeds to non-profit organizations, including adoptive families.

If you are a coffee drinker and are interested in purchasing coffee and helping out a fellow adoptive family, the Vagnoni's, please visit here and get your caffeine fix!

Just Love Coffee

Amy

Meet the Vagnoni's! Help them bring their child home!!

Adoption is one of my most favorite things.  I LOVE talking about it, thinking about it, and blogging about it!

We are the Vagnoni Family: Mike, Amy, John, Ryan, and soon to be another brother or sister!  John and Ryan came home to Illinois in February 2010 from Ethiopia.  We have felt the Lord call us again to international adoption, this time from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  As of right now, March 2012, we are beginning our home study and the gathering of paperwork.  We are so excited to see the Lord at work again in this adoption!

Why don't more people adopt?  I hate to say this, but a HUGE reason is financial.  It is expensive.  But when the Lord calls you to do it, you just gotta answer and step out in faith.  The Vagnoni's have a few fundraisers they are doing to help them bring their child home!    If you LOVE coffee, which I do, you can purchase fair-trade coffee from around the world and help contribute to their adoption.  Please consider helping this wonderful family, and make the orphan number one less!  God bless to all who open their hearts to give.

To read more about their family adventures and adoption progress and to view some of their ongoing fundraisers, please visit their blog:

God's plan for Mike and Amy

Amy

Uganda Mission Trip Fundraiser

I love Africa.  I am hoping to help someone get there to make a difference.  A fellow adoptive mama Deb Steiner is going on a mission trip to Uganda and I would love it if you would help her raise the money for it.  And you get something awesome out of it!  You can get one of these awesome bracelets that says "love with abandon" or one that says "be the change."  You can also get a bag tag like the one above that says "be the change."  I ordered the "love with abandon" bracelet yesterday and can't wait for it to come.  Love with abandon.  What does that mean anyway?  Here is what it means to me...
Love like no one is watching.  Love the unloved.  Love the needy.  ABANDON your own self just to love someone else.  Let your own life be less important and spend your minutes thinking of how to make a difference.  I have something on the inside that others want and need.  That is the LOVE of Jesus Christ.  He is the treasure.  I am just the treasure box.  I am going to open up my heart, let him come out and love with abandon.
The money from these bracelets and tags will go to help Deb get to Uganda.  Why is she going?  She and several others will be pairing with an organization called Project Hopeful.  Here are words from the blog.  "The primary mission of our trip will be to provide short-term medical services to people in Uganda.  We will set up make-shift clinics in Ssenge Village, Kampala's slums, and maybe, the islands near Jinja."

Can you help her group get to Uganda?  Consider buying one of the items on the blog.  Just 10 bucks can make such a difference.  If your heart leads you to help, here is where you can make a purchase.

Uganda Mission Trip

For Deb's Project Hopeful's blog debut, go here.

Deb's Project Hopeful Blog

God Bless You!

Amy

 

 

 

 

Let us give up our own selfish ambition

I have been asking myself a question lately.  What is it going to take for people to stop being so self-centered?  It starts with me.  I have lived the last several years of my life completely engulfed in my own agenda, my own hopes and wants.  I have strived to have a nice house, nice car, nice clothes, nice friends, nice job.  The common denominator to all of this is ME.  It reminds me of that country song by Toby Kieth "I want to talk about me."  I wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my me my.  What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see.  I tried to find a bible verse that would substantiate such an attitude, but I neglected to find one.  Instead, I find James 1:27.  "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  And Mark 10:21.  "“Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  John 13:34.  "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."  We are commanded to do everything out of love toward one another.  We are to give of ourselves in order to grow the Kingdom of God.  It is hard to do everything you can to help and love the needy in this world, yet hold our own selfish ambitions in such high regard.  Phillipians 2:3 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves."
My reason for starting this blog is to let go of my own selfish ambitions.  I really do want to value others needs above my own.  Partly because I am so blessed in this life.  Even when things in my life aren't going right, I am still blessed beyond measure when comparing myself to the rest of the world.  I live a very privelaged life.  I have hope.  I want to give some of that hope to people that have no hope.  I want to show the love of Jesus to those that don't know of it.  So if you are reading this, maybe you can, too. 
There are a lot of people in this life that do A LOT.  But there is very little people in this world that do even just a little.  What if we all just did a little?  What if you sponsored one child?  What if you were a big brother/sister to one child?  What if you gave one coat to a child in need?  I doesn't seem like a little can make a difference, but can you imagine the difference it makes for that one child?  There are 450 million orphans in the world.  Billions more that are living the life of extreme poverty.  Adopting one didn't even make a dent in those statistics.  But it sure made a dent in my two's lives.  We have to stop thinking that we gotta go big all the time.  Bigger cars require more gas.  Bigger houses take more money to maintain.  Bigger doesn't mean better.  Some people are meant to move to Africa and run an orphanage.  But more people are meant to change the world little by little, right where they are. 
Yes, peace on Earth really won't fully come until Jesus returns but peace in our hearts can happen today.  Peace in my heart comes when I know the Lord is pleased with me.  When I look outside myself and do something for someone else, peace just overcomes me.  So my prayer today is that those that read this would somehow have their spirit stirred up to show the love of Jesus to the people in this world.

Operation Christmas Child Update

Happy Valentine's Day! Tomorrow is the day after, and if you are out and about and see the Valentinee's Day loot on sale and are led to buy some of it for my project, that would be a big blessing!  Usually the dollar store and dollar bins at Target have V-Day stuff 50% off.  School supplies like pencils, erasers, little toys, stuffed animals.  Anything that would fit in a shoe box that a kid would like.  Here is the address of where to send it.  Thank you in advance, and God Bless You!!

Amy Adkins
5644 S Ingalls St
Littleton, CO  80123