Ethiopia Here We Come! Fundraising!

I've been praying about who God would send with me to go to Ethiopia. Not only did I feel from the begining that God wanted someone to travel with me on this incredible journey, I knew He'd bring along just the person He wanted to go. David didn't feel he could go this time for various reasons but truly felt the Lord leading for me to go anyways. I was THRILLED and honored when he told me I should go. Through various events, many unbeknownst to me, God was working in Rachaels heart and she told me one Sunday that she was praying about going with me. WOW. Awesome. Honestly, I truly believe everyone should go to Africa at some point in their lives. But thats just me. If you haven't watched the video in my previous post please do. It truly is the music of my heart. Rachael and I are both in need of some funds to cover the costs of our trip, donations we are taking with us, etc.

I have been so blessed by my blog buddies and friends who have donated already, I was truly blown away by your response to my original post. From the bottom of my heart thank you.

Rachael and I have been talking about how we can raise more money to cover the costs and we've decided on a yard sale! My kids are thrilled to be able to be able to take part in this, they want to sell lemonade and cookies, Nichol wants to make bracelets. Besides that we have plenty of things we're sure we can sell to raise money for this trip, for Africa. We have so much, they have so little. Because time is getting away from us, the holidays, and so many other things going on we're doing it THIS WEEKEND! Yes, its quick but we know we have a great big GOD! Ifyou have things you'd like to donate and live near me send me an email and we'll arrange it! THANK YOU to everyone that has already donated items for the sale!

We covet your prayers that God would provide for every part of this trip. We are excited to see what He's going to do and can't wait to love on the children of Ethiopia. To minister to them in a very real way, to show them love, to meet their immediate needs, to show just a tiny bit of how much our Jesus loves them. We're not going out to save the world, we're simply going out to make a difference in the lives of those we come in contact with each day. We're praying that God would guide our steps, guide this trip, put just the right people in our paths for us to minister to. To love. To feed. To encourage a weary soul. To show the love of Jesus through our actions.

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. James 2:26

I was reading this morning and this verse jumped out at me. "...once our eyes are opened,we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know,and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12 Then in my blog reading I saw my beautiful friend Gwen has this same verse posted on her blog. Its so perfect. Speaks so loudly to what God has called us to do. In looking up this same verse in different versions I saw that The Message put it this way.
Rescue the perishing; don't hesitate to step in and help.
If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook?
Someone is watching you closely, you know— Someone not impressed with weak excuses. Now I'm not usually a big fan of that translation but for this verse, I loved the literal way it was worded. So fitting.

For more information about our trip check out this facebook link.

The song "Yours" by SCC has been so real to me, especially in the past month and I leave you with this video. I tear up every time it comes on the radio. To God Be ALL Glory, Honor, and Praise in all that we do.