'Adopted' Shirts to Support Missions

They are finally here! Our 'Adopted' Shirts. All of the funds made from shirt sales go toward our upcoming trips. Order online and we will ship it straight to you! Paypal link is below!

Spring Break Trip Excitement!

What a crazy ride! Last November, we met an orphanage director that invited us to bring a team and visit her orphanage during Spring Break of 2011. God put together a team, and we had a great time there. 

This orphanage is a 'social orphanage' which means that the children  still have some living relation. For whatever reason, that relation does not have complete charge over the child. Most of the time, it is because of alcohol or other things that children end up in an orphanage like this. Many children are there because their family does not have the means or the desire to care for them. 

Last spring break was an amazing trip. Usually, kids take a few days to warm up to new faces that come into the orphanage, but this trip, friendships were built very quickly. It was such an answered prayer, and we came to know many sweet kids!

At the end of March's visit, the orphanage director invited us to come back again. That being said, we are taking a team of 10 people from our church during Spring Break '12. I am very excited... we are about 2 months out, and I can already hear the laughing voices of those sweet kids. We are so excited. We will hopefully have the chance to stay at 2 orphanages while we are there, and to see some orphan graduates that we have met through our time there. There are 7 people going with us this trip that have never been, and I am very excited for them to meet all these sweet children!

I know that prayer is an integral part in this process, and we would love your prayer support. Ways you can pray are:

- That God would pave the way in the hearts of the children and teens we will be visiting. 

- For open doors in the country and at the orphanages

- For team unity, and that the children will see Christ even in the way our team interacts with each other

- For boldness... that we will take every opportunity to tell these children of the love and hope of Christ

- For financial provision - It has been amazing to see God provide over and over. I know that He will continue to do so.

- That the Lord would prepare each team member for what he has to teach us during the trip.

Year at a Glance...

This past year was filled with amazing moments with the children we have come to know and love. As I was thinking through all the amazing things God has done, I was amazed at some of the great things that have happened in the past year. 


November 2010 - Erin and I took a trip over thanksgiving break. We were able to travel to the orphanage we started in, we hung out and continued to build relationships with orphans who have graduated from the local orphanages, we stayed at a home that houses orphans when they leave the orphanage, and we were able to travel to a whole new orphanage and spend some time talking with the director. It was such a fast trip, but I am still amazed at the things that God did!


March 2011 - Over Spring Break, we took a team of 4. We spent 3 days at the new orphanage that we visited in November, we also visited a different orphanage through some connections with a local pastor, we had a 'night of worship' in the city that brought together local churches, we spent time with graduates, we stayed at the transition home, attended and hosted bible studies for the graduates and much more. 


June 2011 - We took a team of 10. During this trip, we were able to visit the orphanage we sponsor, and put on a camp for them for 5 days. We stayed at the transition home, and spent time with graduates. We also took some of the graduates to a farm and had a 'retreat'. During this time we had bible studies, games and a great time of building relationships. When we returned, we did a 'serve the city' project with the orphan graduates. We painted fences and picked up trash at a local kindergarten. During this time, there were great conversations, and even opportunities to share Christ with passers by. 


This is only a short description of the things that God has been doing, but as I look back, I cannot help but look forward to what God has in the future for this ministry as we move forward...


Our next trip will be over Spring Break, and we are praying and preparing for whatever God has in store!

Back to School Necklaces!

Need a new accessory for the new school year? We now have necklaces for Hornets, Bearkats, Bulldogs and AOA Lions! All proceeds go to support upcoming Missions.

Also, we are still doing our original necklaces with 'faith', 'hope', or 'love' in Russian or English! We have many different designs and color schemes. You can order online through this blog, and we'll ship it right to you! Designs are shown below. We also have a huge variety that aren't shown. If you live in the area, you can contact me and choose some predesigned necklaces in person if you'd like!

Necklace Options

tile w/ no text $15.00 tile w/ Russian word for 'hope' $15.00 tile w/ Russian word for 'love' $15.00 tile w/ Russian word for 'faith' $15.00 tile w/ custom text $15.00 Huntsville Hornets tile $15.00 Alpha Omega tile $15.00 New Waverly Bulldogs tile $15.00 Sam Houston tile $15.00

Color Scheme

Blue Black Pink Purple Brown Green Yellow Orange Grey

Enter customized wording here:

Design number/comments:

Welcome!

Hello everyone! God has been doing some great things, and we wanted a place to be able to share! This past year, we were able to take a trip over Thanksgiving break, a trip over spring break, and a trip during June! It has been amazing to see some the connections the Lord is making with some local ministries. There are lots of new opportunities coming our way, and we are SO excited for all that is to come! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please check back to see opportunities throughout the year to get involved! 

...fighting for the fatherless. 

One Week!!!

SO, we leave in  exactly 1 week from today, so I thought it fitting to post about some of the things we're super exicted about!!!

- This is the biggest team we've taken thus far, and there are 4 new friends traveling with us to meet these sweet people and children that we have come to know and love! I can't wait for them to get to experience what we've had the blessing of experience for so many trips now!

- We are staying at the Transition Home! What's the transition home, you ask? Well it is part of a ministry of one of the local bible teaching churches there. Orphan graduates can live there after they graduate from the orphanage. They participate in bible studies and work projects. We will be staying there for the majority of our time... this is so exciting because we'll get to hang out with many of the graduates that live there! :)

- Retreat!!!!!! For the first time, we are taking a big group of orphan graduates on a retreat! We will be away from the city for a few days with them. We will be talking about identity in Christ! I am so excited for them to hear all about who they are in Christ! 

- Friends! We have made some sweet sweet friends over the years, and we definitely always look forward to seeing them on trips like this!!

- The Orphanage! We have permission to visit the orphanage for 4 days, and we will be putting on a camp for the children there! We were not allowed to visit the orphanage last year, we only were allowed to bring some of the children into the city, so we haven't actually taken a team there in a while! I am very excited to see all of the children we've grown to love and also meet all of the new faces there!

We are so excited for what the Lord has in store! We will hopefully be updating with prayer requests before we leave! We'd love your prayer support for these sweet kids and graduates!

Playlist

So... we are not ready to be home, yet ready to see our families.... it has been am AMAZING 9 days... I can't even explain it....

It is 1:37AM here now, and we are leaving for the airport at 4:00AM... so we're hoping to get a few hours of sleep before then... then we have a 3 hour drive to the airport, then we fly out at 10:15AM Moscow time.... with an 11 hour flight that puts us back in good ol' Houston at 2PM. So, we'll see ya then and say 'yeehaw'..... please stay tuned for more updates from the trip... I realize they'll come after we're home, but there was just so  much and so little time to write... thank you all for praying... we definitely saw evidence of it!

Just a little playlist we'll be listening to with some songs about serving the least of these, and about kids who need homes, and some of them are just plain great songs about Jesus.... check 'em out... this is what I'll be jammin to to pass the time on the plane.

1.) All I Have Is Christ - NA Band

2.) Always - Building 429

3.) Antidote - B.Reith

4.) Background - Lecrae

5.) By Your Side - 10th Avenue North

6.) Hope Now - Addison Road

7.) Lead Me - Sanctus Real

8.) Ooh Ahh - Grits

9.) Glory To God Forever - Fee

10.) Open Hands - Matt Papa

11.) Tears of the Saints - Leeland

12.) Temporary Home - Carrie Underwood

13.) Turn Down the Music - Shane & Shane

14.) Won't You Be My Love - Mercy Me

15.) Your Hands - JJ Heller

Let the Lord speak to you as you listen...

Thank you again for all of your prayers! See you in the США....... Пока!!!!!