HELP US HELP THEM

See that little post on the right that says "gofundme"? We are raising money to build a kitchen at our school in Ethiopia. I am asking anyone and everyone who feels lead to make a donation and help us spread the word.
We have a little over 200 children at the school and Adanech the founder and another lady cook the food at Adanech's house and walk in back. It's equivalent to 6 city blocks but it is very rocky.
Our hope is to add a small kitchen with a stove and sink and possibly a little cafeteria. It will make life much easier on these women and the quality of food would be better.
Please help us help them.

THINK WE HAVE OVERCROWEDED CLASSES IN AMERICA?
 

IT WAS ....

 In Charles Dickens "The Tale of Two Cities" he quotes "It was the best of times, it was the worse of times...
In the book of James he says " Consider it pure joy my brother and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds."
Seriously? Let's face it, as humans it is either good times or bad times and I don't know many of us who are joyful when bad times come around. But as a Christians, we know...yes we do.
I would say this past year has been "the worse of times" for my family. And I can honestly say if it hadn't been for God I don't know how I would have got up each day. But I did because of Him. At the end of the day I would say "I made it. I'm still here. The world is still going on." But to be totally honest the "pure joy and trials" well... let's just say I wasn't feeling it. As far as I was concerned the trials could go away. I wasn't feeling the joy. Nope! Not this girl.

Thankfully, each day I read a word from God and if it was a bad day(and most of them were) He got me through it. If it was a good day I thanked Him. Hmmm... I was beginning to get it. Bad day...made it. Good day...thankful. Bad day... grateful I made it. Good day...grateful for it. It's not like my emotions are a switch you can turn off and on. I was choosing to find joy, gratefulness and love. I could either waddle in a pool of self pity or get up each day, lean on God and persevere.

Yesterday was a very good day and it was so easy to find the joy and be happy. Today not so much. It would have been much easier to just sit around and be upset. But I choose to be joyful. I choose to love and I also choose to forgive. It's true if you don't forgive you are the prisoner not the other person. They go on with their life not giving a care what they did to you. Forgiveness doesn't mean you condone the actions of the other person or you have to like them and be their best buddy. Forgiveness is releasing you to move on. It is one of the most powerful things you can do.

Like I said, today wasn't a very good day. I am concerned about our foundation and not having enough sponsors, donors and as for me enough time to work on this blessing God has trust me with. My desire is that I can work for our foundation. I never wanted to receive a paycheck doing this but in order to make this everything God desires it to be I need to work at it full time. Often our passions don't pay very well monetary but they do pay our heart abundantly!

I cried out to God and said "please Lord, show me what you want me to do."

Can I be honest here? I don't gamble but I was kind of hoping His answer would be "here is some numbers go down and buy a lottery ticket and your prayers will be answered!" Ahh yes. The easy way. I took some quiet time and waited for that still small voice. Sure enough I hear "reach for your bible." I have a small bible in our office. So I reached for it expecting some amazing scripture to jump out at me. Nope. Out slips a devotion card I had put in there a few years ago. One side had this quote from Washington Irving "There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly love, which lies dormant in the broad daylight of prosperity, but which kindles up and beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity." Wow...that spoke to me. On the other side was a scripture Hebrews 10:36 "You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of  God, you will receive what He has promised." At that moment I found pure joy in my trial. I knew I would find peace because God gave me the answer...PERSEVERE!

You see I may have my trials, we all do but I personally know of a couple of hundred precious children that God has placed in my life that have no food, no clean water, no education, some one parent or no parents. They have trials but whenever I am blessed to go to Ethiopia and visit them they are smiling  and hopeful because they know that myself and others who go with me are there because we care about them. They are not forgotten. We are going to make a difference. We tell them God loves them and He sent us to them and we share about the one true King. And the smiles get bigger.
Do I know what is going to happen with the foundation? No. What I do know is that God always finishes what He starts and on that word alone I will trust Him. He will provide a away for me and others to feed, cloth, educate, love and teach these little ones. They will learn that God provides. That God is always faithful and with God ALL things are possible!
Be joyful in all trials. To say that doesn't mean your not going to cry or hurt or be angry it means you will learn from these trails to trust Him. And once you put that trust in Him, that my friends is pure joy!
                                                    My Ethiopian Babies!



Our daughter Jordan with her new friend

She lost her family to AIDS.

This is Berharu. He was my sponsor son. He died last August. M
Heart broke like I never could have imagined. But I know he is in
heaven because he was sponsored and learned about Jesus and became
quite the little evangelist!

Jordan's Passion

A couple of months ago our oldest daughter Jordan entered a writing contest for the Jubilee Project. Young people were asked to write about their passion. Jordan is one of the finalist and we couldn't be more proud of her.
I hope you enjoy these words of a beautiful, caring and passionate 17 year old that came from her heart.

Dear Daniel” Essay Contest Finalist: Jordan Bayer

Date: 15 Nov 2012

By: Jubilee Project

Tag: Dear Daniel, Essay Contest, Finalist, Jordan Bayer

In October, the Jubilee Project launched the “Passion: In Essay Form - Dear Daniel Essay Contest” calling on Jubileevers to submit essays about their passion – what is your passion? what barriers do you face in achieving them? how do you want to change the world through your passions? We received 25 beautifully written essays that made us laugh and cry. Over the next several days we will be posting the 7 finalist essays and the winning essay on this blog. We hope they inspire you as much as they inspired us. Here is one of the Finalists. To read the rest of the essays click here.

Passion
by Jordan Bayer
“For such a time as this” encourages me daily. It means that everyone has a purpose. My life counts. Leaving the world a better place is my mission. I have come to this realization through traveling. My breaking point is orphans. I live to travel and help children.
On June 17, 1995, I went on my first journey. I was adopted by an American family and came home two days before I turned four months old. I haven’t stopped traveling since. Traveling has not only shown me the great beauty and diversity of the world, but also the immense poverty and need as well. Through traveling, I’ve learned the importance of humility, family, love, and an open mind. I’ve come to love my diversity. I am a Korean American who walks with a faith in God.
I consider any child whose parents are unable to care for him or her to be an orphan. I want to give those children the unconditional love I’ve been given. My parents have fortunately understood my passions and allowed me to travel and help orphans as much as I could. I’ve traveled back to Korea multiple times. While I love every part of my trips, the memory of helping with the babies who are waiting to be adopted stays the strongest. The workers there told me to simply hold a crying baby for no less than ten minutes. In my opinion, this was the best job ever! I got to play with babies all day. I later on realized the truth. My job was to actually love them for at least ten minutes, because no one else could. The children were many, but the care givers were few. I had been ignorant. These children taught me the importance of humility, because this was once me; family, whom I could not live without; love, which is all they needed; and an open mind, because I can’t live as if I don’t know they exist.
My parents have started a non-profit organization called the Hug Away Foundation which advocates for adoption and orphans. Through this, my parents have started a sponsorship in Ethiopia. It allows children to get an education, a meal six days a week, and minor medical care. I’ve been blessed enough to visit the school twice now. My father personally sponsored a boy named Baharu. When my mother first traveled to the school and met him, he promised her that he would get an education, so he could make a difference in his community. I’ve been blessed with opportunities to meet him. I remember this small framed boy with a gentle confidence always following the van my team and I traveled in until we got too far. Unfortunately, he passed away this last August around the age of twelve. He can no longer serve his community, but I can. He taught me that I don’t have to be much to do much. I will miss my Ethiopian brother, but I will make his life count. I will see those children grow up and break the cycle of poverty.
It’s hard to live in such a broad world when my friends live in a narrow one. Last year, during my fall break of junior year, I traveled to Ethiopia for the second time. I came straight from Africa to school. I was passionate and aware, but nobody seemed to care. My teachers demanded my make up work and my friends hadn’t seemed to notice I left. To them, Africa is just a place on the map, but it is place that has stolen my heart, the same with Korea. Although I’ve left those places, a little piece of me remains.
Often, my passions leave me heartbroken. Sometimes, I wish I loved to do other things. Traveling requires a lot of money and caring for orphans is difficult. I’ve tried to occupy my time by painting and playing the violin. While I appreciate the arts, it isn’t my passion. I’m too connected to the people and places I’ve met to quit.
I will always fight for my passions. I have just begun to find the courage to explore who I am and where I came from. There are children around the world that have captivated me. Traveling has been my best teacher and I will never stop learning. I believe love can move mountains.
I will make a difference in the world, so that I won’t regret my life. Most days, I feel lost. I let my shyness and stress of finding a college and a career get the best of me. One day, I will look back and only have memories of wondering what my purpose is, but I will always remain passionate. Although I am currently a day dreaming high school student, I will eventually move mountains.