Monday, July 26, 2010

A Sponsored Child's story

On Memorial Day weekend we hosted an event at our house to share our hearts and information with friends and family about our partnership with Children's Hopechest and details about the oprhanage that we had committed to helping. During that event the video below was shown to show how much sponsorship means to a child. This is just one child's story but it is so powerful! I wanted to share it with those of you who were not able to be at our gathering and to those of you who may still be considering sponsoring a child. Pete Kidd met this special young lady the vision trip he took in December to pick our orphanage

Saturday, July 24, 2010

More Pictures




Received a text from Andrea this morning! They have all been suffering with some stomach issues but feeling better now! But I know nothing can take away the pure joy I see in her face in both the video and pictures!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

The First Encounter with their Son Endale..

Hi Everone:

Wanted to share this moving video with you of the Kidd Family meeting their sweet son for the first time! Get out your tissue box. What a heart this family has! Sacrificing resources, putting their life on hold, moving to Ethiopia and opening up their hearts and lives to Endale. Wow! Andrea texted me this morning and let me know that they do not have internet access where they are staying. All is well and they hope to visit Adama next week with all the care packages!

See their video

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Pete & Andrea Arrived Safely!


Above is a picture of the Kidd Family at church when they had Gigi dedicated. I received two texts's from Andrea in Ethiopia and I wanted to share her words:

"Things are great here! Endale is amazing and the kids are having a blast. We met with Tesfa (lead contact in Ethiopia for Children's Hopechest, his sister Yesemaich runs Adama). We will go to Adama in one week as we need to be with Endale until our court date and paperwork is done. We went over the entire list of sponsored kids and came up with a plan to meet with each child. We are all so pumped. Court is on Wed, 7/21 so please pray that all goes well. Love to everyone!

I know Andrea will send more details as she can. Also wanted to let everyone know that there are seven more children who need sponsorship at our carepoint in Adama. Sponsorship makes a huge difference in the lives of these children so if you know anyone in your network or would like to sponsor a child yourself please email me at mmandanis@comcast.net I have precious little girls and 4 little boys who need your help!


Tuesday, July 13, 2010

"Selam" to the Kidd Family!


Tomorrow Pete and Andrea Kidd will be leaving for Ethiopia. Stefan and I along with the family visited them on Saturday and took all of the care packages that were put together. We brought extra bags and rubbermaid bins in hopes of getting all of them ready to travel all the way to Ethiopia. We never dreamed we would have this many and also underestimated how many containers we would need to store them in. The great news is that we got them all put together and we are praying that Ethiopian air allows them to bring the 7 extra bins! Andrea and Pete have promised to send lots of pictures, video footage and details about their visit so please check the blog for regular updates.

Friday, July 9, 2010

CARE PACKAGES


We have spent the last month compiling lists, double checking those lists and putting together care packages for all of our 88 kids at Adama Orphanage in Ethiopia. A BIG THANKS to our sponsorship community who made it all happen. I have attached a picture showing the Mandanis Kids and the Greason kids with many of the bags. It was fun to watch them be so excited and talk with them about what it will mean to their sponsor child to receive such a special gift. Thank you for caring about these sweet little ones. I know many of you have been busy with kids home, vacation, work and it will mean the world to these little ones to receive this very special package from their sponsor family. Many of you not only sent packages to your sponsor children but did extra bags for me for those children who have not been sponsored. Thanks to Barbara Hardy who went out and shopped and brought me a huge shopping bag full of goodies to help pack extra bags. We know there will be children at the orphanage that are new that we don't even know about. We wanted to make sure these children received something as well.

Andrea and Pete Kidd will be moving to Ethiopia and departing on July 14 where they will be for 2-3 months depending on how long it takes to bring their son, Endale home. Please pray for their health and safety while they are there. Endale also needs prayer as he is malnourished at 14lbs and 1 year old. He also has ricketts. Pete and Andrea will be able to visit Adama and spend time with our sponsor kids while they are there. I am hoping they can send pictures and give us updates during their stay. I will be posting their updates and pictures to this blog so you can enjoy seeing the kids and learning more about Adama.

Also wanted to remind you that I have posted a picture of our "Africa Shirts." on the blog. They are black shortsleeved T-shirts and have the continent of Africa beaded on the front with our "logo" written underneath. It reads "Live Love Give.. Become." The key to our mission is "Become." God doesn't just call us to love others and give to those in need...He calls us to "become" the hands and feet of Jesus to the desperate world around us, and meet their needs in real, practical and tangible ways.

They are $40 and you can email me at mmandanis@comcast.net if you would like to purchase one. I have them in small, medium and large.