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!

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

Meeting Endale For The First Time! from Peter Kidd on Vimeo.

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!

"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.

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.

It Has Been Awhile!

Well, this is my first post in two years! Some how adopting our third child from Ethiopia has kept me fairly busy. Lots of challenges, transition and growing for the Mandanis family and me personally. As I sit back and take stock of my life I am amazed at the beautiful tapestry that God has woven in my life. If you had asked me 10 years ago what my family would look like I would have never envisioned it as it is today. I am so thankful that God holds the master plan and I can relax and trust that he has plans to give this family a hope and a future. All I have to do is be willing to be "radically obedient and then I can enjoy the ride" as my friend Lysa Terukurst says.

What is on our hearts now? Many topics that are tough to talk about. Sexual slave trade, bonded slave labor, poverty, AIDS, malaria, unclean water and the orphans crisis in Africa!

My journey outside my nice little life began when I attended a leadership conference for my church at Willow Creek Church in Chicago. In addition to the many seminars they featured a segment called "What One Woman can do." They highlighted three women who had heard God speak to their heart about the compelling issues going on around the world and decided to do something. I was so touched and moved by all of these women. After these women spoke they had exhibits outside from organizations around the country that are making a difference. I grabbed books, pamphlets, brochures and started reading. All at once my eyes were opened to the stark realities and hopelessness of the majority of our world.

I noticed article after article in magazines and newspapers about the plight of orphans in Africa. I began a personal journey to learn what was happening and began educating myself on these serious and compelling issues. The numbers were staggering. I learned that there were 45 million orphans in Africa and 5 million in Ethiopia alone mainly due to the AIDS pandemic. Young children were watching both parents die and often caring for them throughout their illness. In some cases they were left to care for their younger siblings all alone. As I evaluated my own very blessed life, I felt compelled to make a difference in some small way. Although there are many serious and challenging issues in Africa, which can sometimes be viewed as overwhelming, I firmly believe that each of us can make a difference one life at a time.

I felt that God was asking me to go and see for myself. I spent ten days in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia visiting orphanages and seeing first hand so many children who have been orphaned by AIDs. The numbers were staggering but the children and their faces would haunt me for the next 10 months. I spent many sleepless nights sifting and processing what I had seen. Our family talked for hours about our responsibility to help others and what kind of response God was asking from us. My husband and I both agreed that after seeing the desperate needs first hand we could not look the other way. We could not look the other way and could never forget! And so began our journey to bring our son, Tam home.

Our trip to Ethiopia to bring Tam home reminded us again of the plight of these children. We knew we were being asked to never forget, to never walk away, and to never stop caring. After much research we decided to partner with Children's Hope Chest and the Kidd Family to reach out to our networks to help children. Andrea's husband, Pete took one more trip to Ethiopia on a "vision trip" and hand picked an orphanage/community center to come along side of and help. We have 88 children who are in desperate circumstances. We are currently working on sponsorship for these children, raising capital to help with improvements at the orphanage and I am hoping to lead a mission trip with our sponsorship community next summer to let these children know they are precious and dearly loved by the Lord. Your can also write to these children via letters or email and attach pictures of your family.

The website for Children's Hope Chest is www.hopechest.org and you look at who they are what they are up to around the world! Also here is a link to an interview done with the CEO that tells his personal story and his heart for helping orphans.

Here is the link for the Tom Davis interview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfdv4tvQ21Q

Thankfully out of 88 children who need sponsors, we only have around 11 left! The family we partnered with (The Kidd Family) are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia (4th child and 2nd from Ethiopia) and will be moving there for 2 months. Ethiopia recently changed their travel requirements and are asking families to travel twice with a two month window in between. Their little guy is only 14 lbs at 1 year old and is severly malnourished. They have made the decision to move their entire family to Ethiopia to be with him during this time. Talk about amazing and sacrifical hearts! They are going to be visiting our care point/orphange while they are in Ethiopia and assessing the needs and loving on our kids. They have offered to bring care packages for our sponsorship community. We currnetly have a sponsorship community of 44 families who want to come along side this orphange/community and make a difference. God is definitely at work! I am so thankful for all of these families and desire to reach out and make a difference!

Listen to mmandaniss Playlist