Tortilla Tuesday!!!

What do you get when you put these

With some of these















Add a little sprinkle of this



















And a crumbling of this?



Voila! Tortilla Tuesday- Breakfast Burrito Style!



Mmmm Mmmm good! :)




Well we had good intentions of making today an ALL DAY Tortilla Tuesday, but you know how days go, and we ended up doing it for lunch because breakfast came and went and dinner plans are already taken. (If you have no idea what I am talking about, see this post about Tortilla Tuesday)





We gathered to have breakfast burritos (for lunch) and I brought my laptop to the kitchen so we could watch a few of the Lifesong Honduras videos together and read about the children in Honduras. (Look closely and you can see Edmund on the computer)




We prayed for the orphans and for those at Lifesong Honduras who are caring for the children and families





And as we ate our meal with tortillas, we remembered how very blessed we are and talked about the fact that even though we love tortillas, it would be kind of boring to only have that with every meal.

We talked about how we are spoiled with being able to have all kids of different foods depending on what mood we are in. On any given week we can have BBQ, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mexican, or American food! What a simple way to stop and think about how the rest of the world lives and to be able to take one day to pray for kids like Edmund and Edgar in Honduras and ask God how we can sacrifice something to be able to give to those who are in need.




If you missed out or forgot about Tortilla Tuesday (like I almost did!)- it's not too late! Either get some rice and beans and tortillas together for a super easy dinner tonight, or take the time to do it tomorrow and talk about it with your family. Lifesong has gotten over 30 commitments so far-  I would love to see them reach their goal of

What difference does Lifesong Honduras really make in the lives of the 550 students we work with?


  2011 Vision Team member, Brian Kerz, speaks from what he saw first hand:

Isn't teaching the gospel message really what it's all about?  And after leaving Lifesong Honduras to live on their own, 90% of Escalon graduates still consider themselves Christians and 85% continue to attend church on a regular basis!

Lives are being changed.  Lives can continue to change because of the difference being made by people like you!

Edgar {Lifesong Honduras}

Edgar is 15 years old and in the 10th grade at Lifesong Honduras.

On June 5th, 2009 his father was shot and killed because he didn't want to sell his property, leaving his mother alone to raise Edgar and his brothers.

Recently Edgar's family decided to move to another state and wanted him to join them.  However, even though it was hard to watch them leave, he was determined to continue his education at Escalon.  After being there for 3 years, Edgar understands his need for education as a step towards a better life.

When asked about these major trials he has had to face in his young life, he simply says,

"It's just like "Pastor Guy" (Lifesong Honduras director) always says, "we should never give up."  

After graduating Edgar wants to study in the medical field.  He desires to use these skills to help people in need and give back as he has been given.

With your support we can continue to serve more kids like Edgar.

Our goal is:

We have 16.5 commitments.

We need 83.5 more.

Please prayerfully consider joining us as we strive to bring joy and purpose to orphans in Honduras! YOUR DONATION WILL BE DOUBLED by a gracious giver!

Contact us at at info@lifesongfororphans.org to make your commitment AND be sure to tell them tha we sent you from our blog!

Hear personal stories and check back for progress through the end of the month!
*All administrative costs are covered, so 100% of your donation will go directly toward helping orphans!

Put yourselves in their shoes

{Check this post out from Lifesong. I love how they challenge all of us to put ourselves in the shoes of one of the kids in their care. Get your kids involved! Remember that we are blessed to be a blessing!}


Edmund is just one example of many who have been helped by Lifesong Honduras, and are now giving back.  I love how he obviously cares for these kids and even gives what little he has away so they can have shoes!  What a great example. Watch this inspiring video!





Here’s a question for you… How many pairs of shoes do you have?.


10? 20? 30? (eek!) {Yes, I am guilty too!}

The kids at Lifesong Honduras have one pair each… sometimes two (a pair of boots to serve in).  Wow.


This Saturday join us for Shoe Saturday.  Simply count your shoes… and get your kids in on it too.  


Have them count theirs.  


And then tell them about the children in Honduras.  


Tell them about Edmund who sacrifices his own money so children in the village can have something on their feet.  


Then as a family pray.  


Thank God for His faithfulness and His blessings on your family.  Thank Him for raising up men and women and children in Honduras to care for the poor, the orphaned, the vulnerable.  Ask Him to continue to provide and watch over them.  Ask Him raise up supporters so Lifesong can continue to serve in Honduras.


We are reaching for a goal:

Please pray that we can reach this goal?   Maybe God wants to use you?  Will you prayerfully consider joining us?
Maybe you can't give $30 a month... Maybe you can give more.  Today we want to encourage you to give your best!


One commitment we've received was a one time gift... Another commitment was matched by the donor's employer... meaning his gift has now quadrupled!  We are so excited to see people rise up and give what they can!


Thank you to those who have committed so far.
We have 15.5 commitments.


Can we make 100?


We have 7 days... 84.5 commitments to go.


With your help we can do it!

Tortillas for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Yum!

What did you have for breakfast this morning?


Maybe some coffee?  Yes?




Maybe some rice and beans, with white cheese and tortillas?  No? 

{Although Randy and I have had this for breakfast in Mexico and it is delicious! Here's a picture of me tasting a fresh tortilla for breakfast that I helped make! Mmmm.}

At Lifesong Honduras this is what a normal breakfast for the 550 kids they serve looks like.


For lunch they will get tortillas with either vegetable soup, pasta, or chicken with rice and vegetables.


For dinner they will eat rice, beans, cream (similar to sour cream) white cheese, eggs (2 times a week) and (you guessed it) tortillas.






Next Tuesday, March 29th join us for Tortilla Tuesday as we eat rice, beans, and tortillas for the day and provide tools for you to use in sharing with your family… in order to further teach out children about the lives of others.

 {Good thing tortillas are a STAPLE at our house!}

Enjoy a meal at work or with your family or friends of tortillas, rice, and beans.  This is a great way to not just talk about life for kids in Honduras, but to actually experience it, if only in one small way.


We want to encourage you to use this opportunity to share the need in Honduras with your kids, friends, and co-workers.


Here are a few facts and conversation starters:
1. Honduras is one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere


2. Last year approximately 75% of new students coming into Lifesong Honduras were malnurished, their weight and height way below average, and needed extra vitamins and supplements.  Pictured below are three 7th graders from this group:

"The reward comes in many forms... to watch them grow and their appearance change, knowing that you played a part in that.  It is hard explain, but when you take one of our graduates and compare them to someone of the same age, from their own villages, even though the differences may range from ever so slight to obvious, it is visible."

-Lifesong Honduras staff member

3. There are innumerous un-reached mountain villages that still do not have electricity or running water, children without clothing or shoes, and families without food to feed their children.

- Homes are barely constructed of mud, sticks, cardboard and whatever material they can use to cover themselves.

-Many villages have no organized church, nor a pastor, nor a church building in which to meet.

-Students at Plan Escalon spend part of their education giving back… visiting mountain villages, where many of them came from, to bring food (rice and beans) and minister to the people.

- Imagine what it would it be like to live in a mountain village in Honduras… What would it be like?  Would you feel hopeful of your future?   How would you survive?

4. At Lifesong Honduras they have to make 3,500 tortillas made every day… on only 3 stoves!

- Can you imagine making that many tortillas every day?  Think about how you would interact with others in the kitchen.  How easy would it be trying to accomplish this with only 3 stoves?

*Be sure to have your camera ready for Tortilla Tuesday! Please send Lifesong a photo of you and your family or co-workers (or whoever you invite) participating in Tortilla Tuesday, your location, and a short story about the impact it made and the conversations you had to info@lifesongfororphans.org! If you have a blog or facebook, consider sharing it!


Our goal is:

Will you join us?  Every dollar will make a difference!  Every dollar will be doubled for the sake of orphans!


So far Lifesong has 4 commitments.  Thank you!  We still need more.  Together we can do more for the children and the future of Honduras!


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 the Lifesong blog all this week!

One more

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.

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 the Lifesong 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!

Coming Soon.... TORTILLA TUESDAY!

As you know, we have a very special love and appreciation for the ministry of Lifesong for Orphans.

And as I have said many times on this blog, we know from scripture that we are BLESSED to be a BLESSING. Just as God blessed Abraham to be a blessing to all nations (Gen 12), we are blessed by God so that we can reach out to bless and share His love with others.

God has used Lifesong to bless our family in both of our adoption journeys, so it is a privilege to be able to share with you some exciting things that are happening at Lifesong for Orphans and ask you to join us in participating with them! Just take a look at what God is doing already...

A generous donor has committed to match dollar for dollar all donations that come in for Lifesong's orphan care in Honduras, up to $120,000!!!! Incredible!

Starting today, Lifesong will be kicking off an exciting 10 day blog-a-thon to spread the word about what's going on at Lifesong Honduras.  We will be sharing personal testimonies from changed lives, peeking into everyday Honduran life, and giving some tools to spread awareness in your families.
One of these tools is a little something we like to call (da-daDAAA!):

Tuesday, March 29th we will be dedicating 1 meal to eat what the children in Honduras eat on a daily basis... and we want you to be a part of it!  We will also provide some great topical questions and discussion guides for you to share with your kids on what life is like for children in another culture.



Would YOU join us?

We'll share more as we get closer to the 29th, so mark your calendars, get your camera ready and head to the store to get tortillas, rice, and beans for the whole family!


Stay tuned!

Join in on the LIBERIA BLITZ! Bring Joy & Purpose to Orphans!

Hey, I bet you weren't expecting this post now were you???

I bet you thought I was on plane right now to Ethiopia NOT Liberia- right???


Well, of course that's right! Monday morning as this is being posted, I AM on a plane and should be arriving in Addis Ababa tonight.

But when my dear sweet friends over at Lifesong for Orphans asked if I would participate in this exciting opportunity and post about it on the blog, I couldn't use the excuse that I am out of the country! Nope I was too excited about this project to let it pass and so now I am actually thinking ahead and typing this a few days before we even leave! I know impressive huh?!

So what's the big deal???

Well, just the fact that in addition to all of the grants, loans and orphan care that they are already doing around the world, Lifesong has recently taken on an additional orphanage in Liberia, Africa. Awesome!
The children there have some basic needs that we’re trying to meet and YOU can be a part of it!

Seriously, before you dismiss this as being something for someone else to "take care of," please watch the 1 minute video and look into the eyes of these sweet faces.

YOU are the answer that God has for these kids. YOU can be His hands and feet.

70 people commiting to $28/ month for 1 year.

 That is not much.

It costs us more than that just to eat lunch at a fast-food place. ONE TIME.

Seriously, I did the math and it comes out to $336 for the year. That's it.

Sadly, that's less than what we would spend on many silly things, and yet most of us make excuses for why don't just obey. 

Well, here's your opportunity to just do something.

And make a difference at the same time. 

So without further ado-

Join in on the 5 day Liberia Blitz!

(and next time you hear from me, I really will be in the beautiful country of Ethiopia!)

Let's be the Hands and Feet of Jesus!

This week we are inviting our faithful readers and supporters to step up and help us in a time of need for Lifesong Liberia.

Lifesong has partnered with The Master’s Home of Champions orphanage and is providing a loving and safe home to many destitute and abandoned children, some of whom are deaf.  We seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus, and are focused on the goal of raising up champions for the good of Liberia and glory of God! 

This summer, another orphanage was in dire need, and thanks to an unexpected donation Lifesong was there.  Praise the Lord we can help more children!  But now, we need help too!  We need your help to make sure these children are fed every day!  We need your help to care for the fatherless!  Will you join us?

70 sponsors in one week is a tall order.  We know this.  We also know that we serve a big God who has told us that caring for the poor and vulnerable is at the very heart of who He is!  We believe we can make this happen! We pray that God will call hearts this week and we trust that you will answer!

Contact us at info@lifesongfororphans.org to commit!

Hear personal stories & follow the progress on our blog all this week!

2010 Liberia Video from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Leaving for Orphan Summit tomorrow morning!

And we are SO excited!

About the speakers, sessions, worship, over 1,000 other like minded folks attending, and especially about time away together alone. With no kids. It has been way too long since we've had that. Yes, we are sad to leave our children and will most definitely miss them, but we are confident that they are in the best hands we could leave them in and that they will have a wonderful time together with their 5 cousins at Papa and Grandma's house in the country! Pray not only for us, but for them too!

One of the things I have been looking forward to is getting to meet others who have a passion for orphans and who have been making a difference already. I have gotten made fun of a bit for having "blog friends" that I don't even know in real life, but how awesome it will be to meet up with a few of these people that I have gotten to know through the world of adoption and blogging! Then maybe I can say we're real life friends -lol!

Randy and I are especially excited about meeting some of the folks from LifeSong for Orphans, the organization that helped us bring Elliana home by providing a matching grant and a way for our friends and family to be able to participate by giving to the adoption through Lifesong. (they wrote a little about our journey to Elliana on their blog. You'll have to check it out.) I feel like I know them already from our email contact, facebook and reading their blog. But how cool it will be to meet some of them for real at the conference!

Every so often I am going to be featuring an in-country orphan care project that Lifesong is doing. Most people don't know that they are about SO much more than grants and loans for adoptions. They are working ALL OVER THE WORLD on behalf of the vulnerable and fatherless children and God is blessing their efforts as they continue! I am starting out with this post that is highlighting their feeding program and Christian school in Ziway, Ethiopia. I would love it if you took the time to read what's happening and it would be awesome if you could help support the project too! Every little bit helps! Thank you in advance!!!

P.S.
This TOTALLY makes me want to go to Ethiopia even more than ever. What? You haven't heard me talk about that yet? Oh, I guess I'll have to save that for another time! :-)

Lifesong Ethiopia 2010 from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

We found many of the students in the Ziway Lifesong School were coming to school hungry and brought no food for lunch. Teachers complained of lack of attention on the students’ part. Lifesong initiated a school feeding program in November, 2009, for all 300 students at the school.

For breakfast each receives fafa, a porridge-like food that provides the nutrients that each growing child needs. The lunch menu rotates through a cycle of fish soup, the national foods of shiro and injera, vegetable beef soup, and pasta.

Now that the Adami Tulu Nursery School has re-opened, Lifesong has also started a similar breakfast and lunch feeding program there.

The Ziway school feeding program, in which 300 children are fed two meals each day, has been very successful. Caregivers, teachers, and the students themselves report that they are much healthier, more attentive in class, and have more muscle and skin tone.

Sustaining the program of feeding each student a nutritious breakfast and lunch at the Adami Tulu School will take additional funding and special logistics. However, if it is God’s will, we know that He will provide what is necessary for the feeding program. On the first day of the feeding program, all students were measured for their height and weight and this data was recorded. Several children were found to be malnourished. Now that we have this statistical data, we intend to monitor the students’ progress.

View all current projects. View all Lifesong Ethiopia videos.

In Ethiopia, $3 feeds 1 child for a month!