Blessed...Blessed...and more BLESSED!

I won the $500 Ordinary Hero grant!
I am so thankful to ALL of you who bought on my behalf.

Not sure exactly the amount of "sheep" that were bought in my name....but will let you know soon! It was very exciting to get an email from Kelly....and to read YOU WON! So thankful! :)

On OrdinaryHero blog:

Rachel Hauter!!! Wow! Rachel went nuts with the selling....or should I say she has some awesome friends and family that purchased on her behalf. I think she now will have a whole herd of sheep to give away in Ethiopia on her mission trip :) She sold $2372.55 worth of product in those 6 days!! Wow!! She receives 40% of that total plus this $500 grant. Congrats, Rachel!!
Kelly even wondered how I did it?!?!? Funny thing is...........not sure...other than I KNOW I HAVE AN AMAZING FAMILY and AMAZING friends who God has blessed me with! I WISH I COULD NAME EVERYONE! Once I receive the list......then I will because I want to thank everyone personally for helping me and FEEDING children in Ethiopia! I couldn't wait to get over there....but now...it makes it so much sweeter to know all of you will TRULY be helping children in Ethiopia and that I will be able to hug and serve them for YOU!.....

Below are some pictures of when our team bought sheep back in July for the different orphanages and a church that we attended. Was it my favorite thing seeing these animals get treated like this...and then killed? Noooooooooooooooooo but.....thankful we got to fill up some bellies!:):):):)

Thankful:
(a.) Obtaining or deserving thanks; thankworthy.
(a.) Impressed with a sense of kindness received, and ready to acknowledge it; grateful.

Thank you again...and again...for giving so that I can go.

P.S.-------less than 2 months and I will be in Ethiopia...Lord willing! :)I'll take whatever donations you have....to send over!:)

Pictures!!

Thank you to those that supported me the last time I tried to receive the $100 free grant from OH. I have a great family that supports me 150% and amazing friends-too! :) Here are a few pictures showing a few that have supported me!
(If you did or are going to buy something to support me...PLEASE send me a picture so I can thank you!:)

Here are two really cute girls! So thankful to have them as my nieces!

Ok, Ty is sporting the "Little World Changer" shirt...go check out the OH store to get your little one something just like this!
Here is another pic of Titus...just in case you didn't believe me that his shirt does say that...he will be a "Little World Changer..." :)

Had to put this picture up! Here are my amazing sisters! They are responsible for cheering me on to sign up for the fundraiser(as did Holli:)!!!!!! I'm very blessed! :)
Its hard to say which OH shirt is my favorite...this one comes in close to being #1!:)

Thank you once again for ALL of you who are supporting me...whether you do participate in this OH fundraiser or by praying or by giving fun toys, crafts supplies, soccer balls, candy...etc.! THANK YOU times 100! I pray that the Lord blesses you in return...because you sure are blessing me so that I CAN GOOOOOOOOOOO! :)

Until Sunday!!!

Sale still going on in the OH store! PLEASE help me by purchasing products! 40% of your sale goes DIRECTLY to my mission trip costs! Can you help me help CHANGE THE WORLD FOR ONE? $500 grant to highest seller and I want this PRIZE badly!:) Thanks to all! Please go check out the store!

http://www.ordinaryhero.org/

Please make sure to send me a picture of your family if you happen to buy a sheep! I will take over your family pic and show it to those that you will be feeding! :)

...two birds with one stone:)

Well, I'm not a big fan of asking people for things! But here I go....

It actually came up this past weekend with my family...that years ago...I'd always make my younger brother or best friend ask for things....so I didn't have to! (or does that mean I was just bossy?!?!? :)

Anyways...so here I am trying to ask you all on my own! :)

Here is a way that you can help me by purchasing an item in the OH store. Every item that you purchase-I then receive 40% towards my missions trip!!! There are even opportunities for you to purchase a goat/sheep to feed MANY children. How cool is that?!?! If you do purchase a sheep...please send me a picture of your family so that all those that you will be feeding will be able to see your family!

(There is a contest of the affiliate(me) that raises the most money by this Sunday(at midnight) then receives $500 free from Ordinary Hero towards their missions trip! How awesome is that...?!?!?
Here is the Ordinary Hero blog----it explains the contest a little better!

So, as my title says...."you can hit two birds with one stone"
The saying is true.....you can be helping children in need while supporting my trip back to Ethiopia! :) Do you agree?!

Save the date!!!

I am excited to say that on May 20 & 21 there is a great opportunity for you! We need help re-decorating a children's room at "The Children's Home and Aid" in Bloomington. I know this is an AWESOME opportunity for many to act upon what we all heard at the Light the Fire event. (Even if you weren't at the event.....you can just jump right in and get involved!!)

Kelly and Jami both spoke about how we should be reaching out to our own communities and ministering to those in need. Welllllllllllllllllllll...here's your chance....to help make many children feel special.

The Forgotten Initiative's mission is “to bring joy and purpose to the foster care community”

"We do this by partnering with our local foster care agencies to understand their needs and then we partner with churches (the Body of Christ) to bring awareness to the needs and connect the two! We want to mobilize the Body to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus to the forgotten in our communities! All that we do is because of Jesus and for His glory."

Monetary donations are needed and even "fun" donations are needed as well. :)

If you are wanting to make monetary donations to help with costs for this particular room-checks may be made out to Lifesong for Orphans and please mark going towards-The Forgotten Initiative!
If you know this is something you WOULD LOVE to be apart of....or if you have questions send an e-mail to info@theforgotteninitiative.org -Kathy will answer your question(s) or direct you to the right person! :)

Pass the word on about "The Forgotten Initiative" or "like" it on facebook! Also, be looking for the Initiative's awesome website that should be up and running the first week of May! :)

Light the fire....

...and the fire was lit!

Well, not sure how to put the event into words...(but I'll try!) ...the most important thing was that God was glorified and people's hearts were moved...and some were even moved to action!

"And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your LIGHT will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:10

Our Called2Care's goal for the evening was simply to bring awareness to Ordinary Hero, the needs in our own community, to support Kelly Putty and Jami Kaeb, and to spread the word about the 240 children who are orphaned PER HOUR!!!!

We wanted people to know that there is ONE (or two...) out there waiting for them....needing them....not only to be taken care of...and to have their physical needs met...but to share with them JESUS loves them and died for them!

Isn't that our ultimate goal as believers...to share God's Word?!?!!?

We are excited to hear how God has/and will touch hearts for the fatherless and those in need as the days and months go on....

We've already heard of one family that had adoption on their hearts....and after the event they left saying, "who is our one?", they then got a call on Wednesday(4 days later...)

and NOW HAVE THAT LITTLE BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

How GREAT is our GOD?!?!?!

We've heard of a few other families that have said they will be starting the adoption process! I can't wait to watch God guide these families to their little one! :)

If you weren't able to make it to the event...I pray that God will give you a burden for those in need. That doesn't always mean....ADOPTION....as much as I would love to bring one home in July for myself and every other family.....I don't believe that is what God has for me right now:)....but yet, He can still use me and YOU to serve others in the same town we live in!

I'll be posting pics in the next few days...:)

Shoes....

Well, I don't have a lot of time to blog right now...but just wanted to post a picture that I took at the event!

We thought that it'd be awesome for our church family(and kids) to get involved before the event arrived. So, we asked those in our church to bring in shoes for children in need to jump-start our event! We then had the children bring them up to the stage the Sunday before the event.....to show that 240 children per hour become orphans! 240!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HUGE reality check!

It also was a great way to get the children involved and for them to realize the need right in our own town and around the world!

Thank you to those that brought in shoes! :)

We already gave some shoes to Jami Kaeb. Jami said that Lifesong could use them for a missions trip that was coming up! So yay! We also will be looking into giving some of the shoes to some area missions/shelters around here and I will of course be taking a lot to ETHIOPIA! I can't waittttttttttt! :) Ok, more pictures to come about the Ordinary Hero---Light the Fire event we had last Saturday! What a great evening it was....listening to Kelly Putty and Jami Kaeb! :)

Oh, and my friend Whitney sang...so talented!