Touchdown for Orphans!

What are your plans for the Super Bowl?

Maybe throw a party?

Eat a lot of party food?

Or maybe you just want to pout that your team didn't make it? (oh, Bears...)

How about turning the Super Bowl into an opportunity to serve orphans in Ethiopia?

Orphan advocate, Aaron Klein, is leading a team to raise money so the Lifesong School in Adami Tulu can build a new school building.  In order to do help reach their goal, they are hosting a National Super Bowl Party!

Here’s how it works.

• You can join the party from the comfort of your couch, or from the party you always go to. There are parties cropping up all the way from Atlanta to Colfax where we’ll pause at half time and learn more about the Adami Tulu school project. And you can even host your own local Super Bowl party to support the project (you can e-mail Aaron for details).

• Simply pledge $1, $2 or $3 per point that your team scores. You can pledge by leaving a comment on Aaron's blog, or posting it on the Facebook event page, or e-mailing your pledge to Aaron.

• Every time one of the teams score, the amount we’ve raised goes up! You can follow Facebook or Twitter to get the running total of donations throughout the game.

• Your friends can join this National Super Bowl Party as well! Go to the Facebook event page, and you can invite your own friends to join this important cause. Or you can tweet or e-mail this post to your friends and family. Let’s make a huge impact on changing the world!

This is such a cool idea!  If you want to know more, you can check out Aaron's blog here!  

Here's a look at some of the lives that will forever be affected by this project:

Little Ephrem

Ephrem from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

 “What first drew me to this little boy was his sweet round face.  Obviously, he has suffered a great deal from malnutrition.  When we visited the school he and the rest of the children were so focused on their meal.  It’s amazing to see how Lifesong was changing their lives.  After lunch, I found myself surrounded by children playing a name game.  He reached out and kissed my hand.  My heart melted... I think of him daily.” 

Jenny Anderson, Orphan Advocate

Sometimes it can be hard to imagine the hardships that go on around the world.  We sit in our comfortable homes, with pantries full of necessities, and it seems strange that most of the world doesn’t have a pantry, let alone food to fill it.  But for millions of children in Africa this is their reality.  Hunger is a part of their daily lives.  Then add the fact that many of these children are also orphaned, either by death or abandonment… it’s almost more than we can bear.  It’s hard to go there mentally and we protect our hearts by pretending it doesn’t exist.  But it does.  Children are suffering.

Little Ephrem is one of those children.  Born in Ethiopia, his father is now dead and his mother disappeared years ago.  He was taken into his grandmother’s care, but she has struggled to provide for him.  At 4 years old, Ephrem is extremely small for his age, and most likely suffers from a type of growth disorder, though the lack of specialized medical care keeps us from knowing for sure.  And since he has been malnourished most of his life, it is no wonder his health is affected.

Praise the Lord, Ephrem is now enrolled in Lifesong’s Adami Tulu Nursery School, where he is getting two meals a day and seems to be flourishing under the care of his teachers.  His sweet demeanor and precious smile easily capture your heart.

 

coffee, desserts, and gifts oh my!

IMPORTANT NOTE: at the bottom of this post I'll be introducing a new feature and need your input!  Don't miss it!)

Happy Friday, all!  Can you believe it's December already!?  Oh goodness! (just between you and me, I have 12 gifts I'm MAKING this year and now that we're in December I'm beginning to feel the pressure... hmmm, if I can average at 1 gift every 1.83 days i SHOULD be okay... oh dear)

But gifts aside, let's talk about one of my OTHER favorite holiday past-times... entertaining!  And what does every American host need for a successful Christmas party?  

That's right... COFFEE!

We've highlighted Gobena Coffee before, but do you know just where the money used to purchase this coffee goes?  

Straight to Ziway, Ethiopia where Gobena and Lifesong have partnered to...

 

1. Implement a Feeding Program (breakfast and lunch for over 300 students)

2. Develop a Christian School, adding two addition classes per year (after 5 years, that 1,050 students!)

3. Complete construction on a local church

4. Build and operate a group Home (providing a Christian home environment for 12 double orphans withEthiopian "houseparents")

5. Create a sustainable business for vocational/entrepreneurship training, to help break the cycle ofextreme poverty for these children. 

 These are the goals.  Every bag of coffee(or t-shirt, or tote bag, or mug) helps!

Now you can't have a good cup of coffee without a yummy piece of dessert, right?  So here's what we're going to do...

(this is where i tell you about the exciting new feature)

Remember that cool little cookbook we introduced last week?

Well, starting next Thursday we're going to highlight one of its recipes every week... make it, taste it, review it... and there may even be some video and picture documentation of all the fun!  We're calling it:

And for our first recipe we'll be doing a dessert!  But I need to hear from you?  

What recipe would you like us to feature?

Here are your options:

1. Oreo cheesecake (I have never made a cheesecake in my life so this could be interesting)

2. Honey cookies (My favorite Christmas cookie... a German tradition)

3. Apple Scrumptious (this makes the song "Truly Scrumptious" from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang play in my head... which makes me "truly" happy)

or...

4. Baked Custard (no commentary here... other than I LOVE me some custard)

Let me know your vote... and the dessert that gets the most comments will be our very first Tasty Thursday Treats feature!

Have a beautiful (and maybe snowy?) weekend!

Soup's on...

I'm sure many you remember our friend, Addisyn Block, who has been continually advocating for orphans, specifically for our kiddos at Lifesong Ethiopia after her visit there this summer. (check out previous blog posts about Addisyn here and here)

We recently received this letter from Addisyn along with her lunch money for the past several months.  That's right--this school year, Addisyn has eaten the African soup she saw Gary and Peggy Ifft make in Ethiopia every day, and is donating the money normally spent on lunch to kids in Africa. 

Yeah...we think it's great too!

Thanks again Addisyn for your continued support and amazing example...we feel so blessed to partner with you in serving the fatherless.

More Christmas ideas: Coffee, Tees & Cookbooks

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we know a lot of you out there are making Christmas lists. 

How about this year give some that keeps on giving?!    

  

 If you remember, a couple weeks ago Leslie highlighted Gobena Coffee and the creative gifts that keep on giving--specifically to our feeding program in Ethiopia. (check out that post here)  

...Coffee not your thing?

 Just this week we are introducing some new colors in our Lifesong Shirts.  We now offer blue, green and red in women's & gold, green and brown in men's.  Check out our store to start sportin' us today! 

and...COMING SOON!

Taste of Heaven Cookbooks 

Kristy Luginbuhl, a local Lifesong-adoptive Mom has put together a cookbook that is not only filled with amazing fresh and delicious recipes but also highlights several adoption testimonials, pictures and highlights of our Lifesong orphan care initiative.  Due to a generous donor who covered the entire cost of this project, 100% of the $22 cookbook will go to Lifesong's Adoption/Orphan Care programs.  

We don't have them in yet, but wanted to let you know as you plan your Christmas shopping! If you would like to pre-order this cookbook, visit Lifesong Store today! All pre-orders will be shipped by December 1, 2010!