We are so excited to announce our 1st mission trip to Ethiopia! We will be visiting the forgotten and "cursed" slum of Kechene. We will be there to kick off the start of the school, that we have been working so hard to raise funds for and we will be building relationships and showing God's love. If your heart pumps faster when you watch this video I would encourage you to be in prayer about traveling with us over the next few months.
Showing posts with label Awake and Alive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Awake and Alive. Show all posts
Monday, September 19, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Give Away at Awake and Alive
Unbelievable!!
If you have a love for Africa and you want to show it
You have to check out
This blog!
You can win this GREAT necklace!!
If you have a love for Africa and you want to show it
You have to check out
This blog!
You can win this GREAT necklace!!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Check out what Erin is doing
If win I will get to put Awake and Alive's blog on her side bar for the whole month on September!! I am so excited! Praying so hard I win!!! It could open up lots of doors for the forgotten kiddos in Kechene, Ethiopia!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Linking up Joy
Joy is: A daddy and his baby girl.
Joy is: Knowing Darin is the love of my life and I will spend the rest of my days with him!
Joy is: Benjamin with a full belly!
Joy is: Watching my baby girl try to be a big girl.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Passion?
So I have been coming to the realization that we all have been made for specific reasons...duh right?
But I found myself getting upset that not EVERYONE had the same passion I did for Africa, Ethiopia, Kechene and their people.
But I found myself getting upset that not EVERYONE had the same passion I did for Africa, Ethiopia, Kechene and their people.
You see I have this burning, intense, flip my world upside down passion inside me!! I have never been so in love with Jesus. And this comes from seeing 1st hand what poverty looks like. God has put me in widow's homes, God has put me in orphanages, I have kissed African women and children infected with HIV. I feel like I know why Jesus was so broken for the poor and marginalized and until I felt that 1st hand I do not think I really "knew" Jesus and what it truly ment to be "Christlike."
Now when I step back and I think about what has transpired in the past few years of my life I am very troubled by who I have become with all of this. You see it is very easy to get angry at people who do not feel the way I do, or see things how I do. It is easy for me to become prideful because I "get it." But lets be real!
I do not "get it" at all!
I have never experienced what it would be like to have my child die from hunger. I do not know what it would be like to give my children contaminated water because contaminated water is all we have to drink, I do not know what it would be like to be and orphan child and have to protect and raise my younger siblings, I do not know what it is like to be taken from my parents at 7 or 8 disfigured and then put out on the streets to beg for money.
I do not "get it" as much as my pride would like to think that I do.
But in the past few months I have begun to "get" something. This passion is not about me! All Glory goes to God! I have to continually remind myself that I have done nothing to deserve to be in this place where I can make a difference! God is using me and I am trying HARD to HUMBLY accept the path God has set me on.
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
~1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Not everyone will experience the passion I have be given from God to help educate and protect the children of Kechene. Not everyone is called to adopt children. And all I am doing is trying to be obedient and deepen my relationship with Jesus. This is God's path for MY life,
Not your life, my mom's life, or my best friends life.
So I ask each one of you today not to look at anyone else "path." God will led you if you will allow Him to! (trust me it is more fulfilling then you could ever imagine)
What passion has He put in You?
Leave a comment and let me know!
I do not "get it" at all!
I have never experienced what it would be like to have my child die from hunger. I do not know what it would be like to give my children contaminated water because contaminated water is all we have to drink, I do not know what it would be like to be and orphan child and have to protect and raise my younger siblings, I do not know what it is like to be taken from my parents at 7 or 8 disfigured and then put out on the streets to beg for money.
I do not "get it" as much as my pride would like to think that I do.
But in the past few months I have begun to "get" something. This passion is not about me! All Glory goes to God! I have to continually remind myself that I have done nothing to deserve to be in this place where I can make a difference! God is using me and I am trying HARD to HUMBLY accept the path God has set me on.
"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.
~1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Not everyone will experience the passion I have be given from God to help educate and protect the children of Kechene. Not everyone is called to adopt children. And all I am doing is trying to be obedient and deepen my relationship with Jesus. This is God's path for MY life,
Not your life, my mom's life, or my best friends life.
So I ask each one of you today not to look at anyone else "path." God will led you if you will allow Him to! (trust me it is more fulfilling then you could ever imagine)
What passion has He put in You?
Leave a comment and let me know!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
I would love if all my 40 followers on "a heart for adoption" blog would lovingly follow my "Awake and Alive" blog.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sending love
2 Loving daddies and their PRECIOUS baby girls.
I start this post with showing what one way to love looks like. But there are MANY WAYS TO SHOW LOVE.
I am going to give you a simple way that will slowly, over time start to change your heart and open your eyes to make your world much bigger and better!!
James 1:17 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.
As Christians we are called to love, protect, support and pray for the least of these. Through Awake and Alive, the organization started by myself and fellow adoptive momma Danielle we will be offering you exciting ways to get involved and be a part of what God calls pure and faultless religion.
We are in the process of starting a school in Kechene, Ethiopia. Kechene is a slum in the capitol and these children NEED your help to get an education and CHANGE THEIR WORLDS!! We will also be taking mission trips over there, and that will be a great opportunity to see the reality that these little kiddos deal with every day.
You can find us on Facebook, by searching for Awake and Alive to keep in the know that way also.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Awake and Alive
So excited to announce that our non profit organization Awake and Alive is up and running.
www.awakeandalive.org
Our 1st annual Awake and Alive garage sale is happening on June 3rd and 4th. All the money raised is going to educating children in the slum of Ethiopia, called Kechene.
Children like these beautiful little girls will be affected by your generosity.
Awake and Alive will be sending young kids in this area to school. If kids in this region are not able to go to school they will have to help their parents work. Many of the women in this area are widows and they have to take their young children miles up into the mountains to collect sticks to sell for fire wood in the city. Many of these sweet kiddos are not able to attend school because the mother does not have the money to afford a uniform or school books.
If you feel led and are interested in helping change the life of children in Ethiopia by donating some of your spring cleaning or old items to our garage sale please leave a message and I will contact you ASAP.
You also can donate monetarily on our website.
www.awakeandalive.org
Blessings to you and to this cause!
www.awakeandalive.org
Our 1st annual Awake and Alive garage sale is happening on June 3rd and 4th. All the money raised is going to educating children in the slum of Ethiopia, called Kechene.
Children like these beautiful little girls will be affected by your generosity.
Awake and Alive will be sending young kids in this area to school. If kids in this region are not able to go to school they will have to help their parents work. Many of the women in this area are widows and they have to take their young children miles up into the mountains to collect sticks to sell for fire wood in the city. Many of these sweet kiddos are not able to attend school because the mother does not have the money to afford a uniform or school books.
If you feel led and are interested in helping change the life of children in Ethiopia by donating some of your spring cleaning or old items to our garage sale please leave a message and I will contact you ASAP.
You also can donate monetarily on our website.
www.awakeandalive.org
Blessings to you and to this cause!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Awake and Alive
This is taken off my partner in loving the worlds blog :) I love how she describes our love and passions for Africa. We are starting a nonprofit to support Africans here and abroad, and it will be called Awake and Alive.
www.daniellesdance.blogspot.com
www.daniellesdance.blogspot.com
I also wanted to say how crazy excited Jolene and I are about Awake and Alive!!! Seriously!!! I think we would get an A+ for passion. However, we're working hard to do other stuff other than just dreaming. We're working on a website, a blog, the paperwork (that would be Jolene's awesome husband, Darin, actually), our board, making connections with other organizations doing great things in Ethiopia (Bright Future and Project Mercy, for example), making connections with organizations here doing great things for Africans (like the Red Cross Refugee Services, for example), gleaning wisdom from friends in other non-profits with hearts for Africa, contacting Africans living in the area, inviting them for dinner, hearing their stories/ideas....you get the point. A lot is going on! Until the other blog is up and running...and even when it is...we'll be keeping you posted here.
All this is going on while the Shrocks are praying desperately to pass their THIRD court date on January 24 (or 22nd. Now, I'm second-guessing!) They have had 2 in a row with disappointing results. I am in awe of how strong they are being. Jolene's words: "I know these babies WILL be home when they are supposed to be!" Pray for them, please.
If you want to get involved, let us know. We would love to share our vision with you. In the meantime, I think we've settled on an official mission statement (unless it changes before we get the website up :) ):
Awake and Alive desires to support Africans locally by building relationships and helping them acclimate into American society. Abroad, we wish to support existing organizations on the ground in Africa. Finally, by providing education and experiences to the Church we aspire to encourage Christians to be a part of the solution for the poor.