Simply Love Fundraising Program for Adoption Families {update}

I have a BIG SURPRISE for you! I spent 10 hours revising the Simply Love Kit, 10 NEW updated designs, and 10 Top Selling wholesale products for you to sell!  It’s all up and ready to go- email me for a new packet on the blog– includes wholesale prices and 10 updated Simply Love Graphics!  I have revised the information to help eliminate any stress raising funds for your adoption.  If you are interested in fundraising with Simply Love – this is it!  We want to help you w/ 23 countries celebrated!

{Missions}

My Crazy Adoption partnered with Visiting Orphans in 2010 and I’m thrilled to let my crazy readers know hot off the press mission news!  Here are two new God Adventures available for you to join.  You can travel to beautiful El Salvador and Honduras this summer to minister to orphans!  Read more about these two incredible opportunities to simply love and radically change your life.

El Salvador [read more]

Dates: August 6 – 13, 2011
Leader: Casi Mattox
Location: El Salvador
Cost: $2000 – $2300 (varies depending on flight & individual travel insurance costs)
Details: Visiting Orphans is sending this team to work with a variety of ministries which may include Remar Orphanage in El Sunzal, CIPI orphanage working with babies, toddlers, pregnant teen moms, younger boys and older girls (about 130 total), CISNA all boys center with approximately 50 boys, Center at San Martin Aids Center, and Cuidad de Los Ninos orphanage located near the Pacific ocean, approximately 1 hour from San Salvador where the team may do a work project one day. There will also be a sightseeing day which may include lunch on the mountain, zip lining, San Salvador volcano or souvenir shopping.

Honduras [read more]

Dates: June 10-17, 2011
Leader: Casi Mattox
Location: Siguatepeque, Honduras

Cost: $2100-$2300

Details: Visiting Orphans is excited to partner with Providence World Ministries to serve the least of these in Honduras.
This team will visit and work with La Providencia Orphanage as well as widows and orphans in the surrounding Siquatepeque community. In furtherance of James 1:27, La Providencia focuses on providing housing, food, clothing, education and medical care through providing loving families for 96 boys and girls in the Aguas del Padre community outside of Siguatepeque, Honduras (approximately 1.5 hours from San Pedro and 2 hours from Tegucigalpa). They also provide housing, food, clothing, education, and medical care for 96 other at-risk children from the local community. These children are given a family environment, spiritual nurturing, high-quality education, and practical training to enable them to live spiritually fruitful lives and take their place as leaders in Honduran society.

This team will also have 1 sightseeing day to explore the beauty of Honduras and do some local shopping.

***

1. Orphans desperately need you to come and simply love them- BASICALLY Haiti is happening to children all over this world….the media is just not covering it.  They lose their parents suddenly to HIV, malaria, malnutrition, starvation and other horrific ends to a life.  Or, they are traumatized as they are just abandoned and left with a feeling of worthlessness, feeling forgotten and not knowing the consistent love of a parent or anyone else.  Some orphans never even get to see outside of the building of their orphanage.  Orphans in this world, unless visited by God’s people, will not know their Savior as their Abba Daddy.  He is their Father and He is the only one who in our absence can give them the consistent love they were created to receive.  If we don’t go…who will go for us?
2. Lose some weight - Are you loaded down with the weight of mommyhood?  The busyness of your life as a mom- the comfortable, conveniences of structure, play dates, Target runs, carpools, sports events… well, mission trips do a great job at shaking things up and forcing you to let go and serve out of your comfort zone.  Traveling to a foreign country can be really scary, but being immersed in a different culture allows you to see and smell and touch and taste and hear things that will literally change your life.  Leave your busyness at home (it will be there when you return) and open your hearts wide to crazy love orphans.
3. Be part of a God-Inspired Adventure- this means doing something radical, out of the normal, daily routine we get stuck in as moms.  You get to see God work in others lives and in your own life on a mission trip.  Plan on something going really crazy- this is all part of the adventure.  I encourage you to super-size your joy and patience and understanding and compassion and affection on a mission trip.  If you have set expectations, I guarantee you will be turned upside down.  Leave your expectations at home and allow God to guide your steps through Honduras and El Salvador.

Fill out the VO Application HERE to start your adventure today!

Sometimes I try to come up with creative recipes to test on my family.  I’m not the best cook in the kitchen, but I love the satisfaction of my son gobbling up a meal and the simple words… “Aw Mom, awesome!”  I have made meatloaf for years, in fact, it was the first meal I made as a newlywed.  I will never forget the look on his face when I scooped out a mush of meat and plopped it on his plate.  Secretly, I was wondering why the meat wasn’t in a pretty neat loaf like the picture in my Betty Crocker cookbook, but had no idea I had made a big mess up.  I thought 1 pound ground meat, actually meant baking the meat first.  Yep, I cooked the meat before baking the loaf.  Even though it was disgusting, Mr. Awesome ate the crumbly loaf with a smile.  I think he secretly told my mom what happened, because the next day, I had a meatloaf 101 lesson.

I found this adorable meatloaf recipe on a fun cooking blog, Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy. You can make these “MEATLOAF CUPCAKES for April Fools Day!  Succulent and flavorful little “cakes” of meat with a rich and buttery mashed potato “icing” piped on top.  Are they not adorable?  Are they not brilliant?  They are!  They are!  Now, let me tell you how they came to be.”

You can read more about these delightful meaty cakes here.

I have a new on the right side bar – just click that you “Like” and you are there to hang out with me and have some crazy daily discussions about love, life, and mommyhood!

To want to serve God in some conditions, but not others, is to serve Him in your own way. But to put no limits on your submission to God is truly dying to yourself. This is how to worship God. Open yourself to God without measure. Let His life flow through you like a torrent. Fear NOTHING on the road you are walking. God will lead you by the hand. Let your love for Him cast out the fear you feel for yourself.  (Dangerous Surrender – Quote Francois Fenelon.)

After returning from Africa last month, I’ve been reading the book, Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren.  For some strange reason it brings my heart comfort knowing I’m not really crazy!  I always tell my teams that it’s normal to feel sad after returning from a mission trip due to seeing with your own eyes the difficult conditions of the orphan crisis … the problem seems overwhelming.  The quote above reminds me that I want to serve God in all conditions.  I want to worship God in all conditions and allow Him to lead me by the hand.  I’m so grateful to Visiting Orphans for allowing me to walk down a road of ministry and service in Ethiopia and Uganda.  Leading my 1st mission trip was a dangerous surrender of my fears and God has changed my life forever.

Even though the conditions are overwhelming, they are NOT overwhelming for Him.  It is my responsibility to allow His life to flow through my life a crazy torrent.  I want to surrender completely to God.

Do it afraid!

I have a new on the right side bar – just click that you “like” and you are there to hang out with me and have some crazy daily discussions about love, life, and mommyhood!

If you have a special project, fundraiser, or blog post you want to share with my crazy readers, please leave a comment with all your information and permalink (ex: http://agoodkindofcrazy.blogspot.com/2011/03/american-girl-doll-giveaway.html) to take readers directly to your site.  It’s your personal shout out!

You can also email me during the week and personally request to share your projects on Crazy Links I Love weekly post.  Please limit to adoption, missions, or orphan care fundraisers.  I want to help you get the word out there in blog land!

You Inspire Me

1.  Me, and my brothers, and sisters are raising money for a little girl in India who is going to have a surgery so that she can see. She had a cyst in her eye resently taken out, and she will be able to see when her surgery is done. I was wondering if I could put a post on your blog. I’m ten years old, and I am adopted from China. Love, Lily (Here’s the link to our blog)
http://davidandsarahb.blogspot.com/2011/03/geniveves-second-and-final-surgery.htmlI’d love to have a couple links on your blog

2.  The Ducommun Family are adoption baby #2 from Ethiopia and working hard on missions in Mexico.  Check out her amazing fundraising projects here – my etsy shop and fundraiser (rag dolls, onesies, tshirts) www.lkdKids.etsy.com
Ducommun blog: www.ducommunfamily.blogspot.com

3.  We sponsor a child through Children’s HopeChest at Grace Baptist Church’s orphanage/drop in center in Kombolcha, Ethiopia. Several children are not currently sponsored. In order to provide meals for these children I came up with this adorable refrigerator magnet! $7 from each sale will provide approximately 6 meals for children who are not sponsored! would love it if you could feature my new project. They can be purchased in my Etsy Shop. If you decided to profile this, I can send you a few pictures if you’d like. Thank you so much. Debi

My blog is:
http://jenkinsethiopiaadoption.blogspot.com/

My Etsy Shop is:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EthiopiaAdoption

4.  Junk Posse Simply Love- click here! Each pendant is made by hand with Great Detail.  This necklace can be reversed & worn two ways. The front has “Simply Love” that is raised up and paired with a Beautiful white pearl wrapped in sterling & a Sterling key.  The back has a raised Heart with the “Love” hand stamped on it several times. Each pendant measure just under 1″ inch & comes with a nice “20″ inch Sterling rolo chain.

Note: Tracy is donating $30.00 of each necklace sale to the Gibson Family in the process of adoption.

Please read about them here:
Adoption changed our lives, our hearts and our family woven together with love.  We are praying that God brings us another child or two through the miracle of adoption.  We are waiting, hoping, and longing to expand our family … His timing is perfect.  We are overjoyed to have two stunning necklaces helping support our adoption journey.  Thank you for opening up your hearts to Simply Love.

 

I received the blessing from my parents and I’m eternally grateful.  My dad wrote a book called in 1990 with Dr. John Trent, that shared 5 key blessings you can give your children, family, and friends.  My parents lavished me and my brothers with this incredible gift of love.  The book is still a top seller, due to the simple message of the importance of blessing one another.  The 5 Blessings: Meaningful touch, spoken words, expressing high value, picturing a special future and an active commitment.  Roger and I shared with our mission team how to give the life changing gift of the blessing to the fatherless and effective methods to heal broken hearts.  We visited hundreds of orphans throughout the 12 days in Ethiopia and constantly had the opportunity to apply what we learned, but had no idea we would meet a young boy who was going to need all 5 blessings at the same time.  The fatherless have no hope of receiving the blessing without having an earthly father, so the importance of going on a mission trip to give the blessing, hope, and love is changing the life of an orphan.

Roger and I met this young street boy “B” at the Post Office three years ago when we adopted Zoie and traveled to Addis Ababa.  The Post Office is an open market, definitely a hot spot for tourists and adoption families wanting to shop for inexpensive trinkets.  B was being sponsored by one of our team members and came to our guest home to see his sponsor mom.  We knew he was battling in his heart the choice of going to back to school or living on the streets begging for money.  We asked B, as a team, if we could pray for him.  We sat him down on the couch and circled him in love to pray a special blessing over his life.

We poured the blessing over this precious boy as we laid hands on him, and prayed for his future.  It was such an emotional experience, knowing he could possibly make the choice to go back to the old life he lived on the streets.  We gave him a Simply Love tee shirt and signed the back with each of our names as a symbol that we were wrapping our hearts around him 24/7. We will continue to pray for him as an active commitment.  His story is yet to be written, regardless of the challenges he faced during our time in Ethiopia.  He was offered a life-changing gift to earn an education at a boarding school, through his sponsored family, but he made the choice to go in a different direction.  It broke the heart of his American mama, but understanding the life of a street child is beyond our comprehension.  Our compassion and love can make a radical change, but it is a gift that must be accepted. This precious child of God has a long road ahead to healing.  Please pray for B that God will use the pain and difficulties in his life to let go and let God change his life.  If you would like to learn more about future Visiting Orphans mission trips, please email me.

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (1 Cor. 13:13)

The Blessing

My bloggy friends… I want to know what YOU are reading this month?  You are smart and crazy and interesting, so I want to know what you recommend!  Please share book title and author in the comments.

I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
Dr. Seuss

I can read in red. I can read in blue.
I can read in pickle color too.
I can read in bed, and in purple. and in brown.
I can read in a circle and upside down!
I can read with my left eye. I can read with my right.
I can read Mississippi with my eyes shut tight!

There are so many things you can learn about.
But…you’ll miss the best things
If you keep your eyes shut.
The more that you read, the more things you will know
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.

If you read with your eyes shut you’re likely to find
That the place where you’re going is far, far behind
SO…that’s why I tell you to keep your eyes wide.
Keep them wide open…at least on one side.

I love going to the zoo.  I remember as a kid, going to the Chicago Zoo weekly with my mom and brothers.  It was always an adventure!  My brother, Greg who had more energy than five wild chimpanzees, would run and jump on every manhole he could find.  The horror of watching him crash through one up to his neck, has caused me a life long fear of walking near any size manhole or street gutter.  My family thinks it’s real hilarious to push me watch me dart around the grids.

The zoo has a certain level of energy and excitement, don’t you agree?  The smells alone will make you feel like you’re on safari.  I love zipping through the displays, but my hubby takes his time reading every single marker above the cages.  Seriously, I could make it through an entire zoo in half the time, which makes me the official zoo guide winner.

This spring break, I somehow convinced my family to visit the St. Louis Zoo.  I love zoo food, zoo trains, zoo shows, and zoo gift shops.  You can view the monkey cages and count on a different disgusting scene every single time.  This year, the six chimpanzees on call were busy playing with empty Cheerios boxes, throwing them back and forth to each other, as well as peeing on the alpha male’s head.  But, in my opinion, the new baby chimp stole the show.

Zoie loved the foaming camel, the frisky penguin who nibbled on her daddy’s finger, and the beautiful peacock she decided to chase through the snack bar.  We had so much fun riding the train, despite in the frigid wind.  We all walked away with serious wind hair. (sorry Hannah)  I’m thankful for a fun, crazy day at the zoo.  The only stinker, was not having Michael with us.. he escaped the fun staying home to work.  We missed you!

My crazy readers, what is your favorite zoo to visit?  Also, why in the world does a camel foam… I really need to know!

If you have a special project, fundraiser, or blog post you want to share with my crazy readers, please leave a comment with all your information and permalink (ex: http://agoodkindofcrazy.blogspot.com/2011/03/american-girl-doll-giveaway.html) to take readers directly to your site.  It’s your personal shout out!

You can also email me during the week and personally request to share your projects on Crazy Links I Love weekly post.  Please limit to adoption, missions, or orphan care fundraisers.  I want to help you get the word out there in blog land!

Crazy Links:

1.  As much as we want our little one home, we also wanted to help other couples become parents through adoption. In order to do this, we have co-founded Leaves of Love and we would LOVE for you to check it out. It is a great way for adopting parents to raise money for their adoption and I think it would be an awesome topic for one of your posts since you have so many fundraising mamas who read your blog. Since finances seems to be what scares people the most, we created Leaves of Love to make fundraising fun, stylish, and successful! Would love to chat all about it…really hoping you might be willing to write a post about it to spread the news about it! Angela’s blog here.

This is the link: http://leavesoflove.blogspot.com/

I waited to share my final blessing of the mission trip, because I’m still processing the miracle God orchestrated for Roger and me.  The desire to meet Zoie’s birthmother has never diminished in our hearts and we knew being in Ethiopia together, we would make every effort to reunite.  It was thrilling for me to take Roger back to the clinic Zoie received her immunizations with her birthmother.  I watched my hubby weep with emotion holding the book with her name and information.  He was able to witness with his own eyes the single word “Kore” the only tangible information we had locating where Zoie was born.  (Kore- Korah community living on the trash dump)  We believe it is not a coincidence that God allowed our daughter’s birth home to be in the very same spot Visiting Orphans ministers to the fatherless.  It was His plan all along to bring us together.  We are so honored to lead mission trips with Visiting Orphans and work directly with Project 61 in Korah… our brothers and sisters.

During our 12 days in Ethiopia, Roger and I hired a driver and visited the three places we had that Zoie’s birthmother documented on our adoption paperwork.  We visited the clinic, Felewah- area where she worked, and the police station she relinquished her baby, Senait.  God had something big prepared for us that day and we are forever grateful.  Our dear friend, Bisrat Fantahun “Bissy” joined us to help with translation and God used him in a mighty way.  Bissy called the police sergeant that was listed on our document.  We were beyond disbelief when he actually answered the phone and agreed to meet with us.  He told our friend that he remembered every detail of the interaction with our birthmother.  He worked helping the fatherless for 15 years.

We met the police sergeant on Wednesday and I will never forget the details as long as I live.  I want to honor our daughter, Zoie and keep some of the details private, but also want to give hope to other adoptive families searching for your child’s history – it’s worth everything!  I understand that this might be a controversial statement in the adoption world, but in my opinion, the experience is priceless.  We will have something tangible to give Zoie if our daughter wants to learn information about her birthmother.

We sat down at Kaldi’s Coffeehouse and shook hands with the sergeant.  I immediately started crying because his face was so kind.  I knew instantly that this precious man was the last key to finding information on our daughter’s birthmother.  Bissy explained to him our story and we had the paperwork for him to look over.  He told us that he remembered every detail of that day meeting birthmother.  He told us what happened, what she looked like, smelled like, emotions she expressed, and every detail leading up to the relinquishment of her precious baby girl.  His memory was our gift from the Lord.  I showed him several recent photographs of Zoie Senait and he carefully looked through each one.  Finally, he stopped and told us that Zoie’s birthmother looked exactly like…

He told us that the photo was a perfect match.  We were overcome with emotion, but he patiently waited for us to ask him a few more questions.  The most important question I wanted to ask the sergeant was what happened at the end.  This is the part of the story I have asked myself a million times.  It’s a scene I replay over and over in my heart.  What does a mother do when she hands over her baby?  He told us solemly that once her statement was documented, beautiful birthmother handed him her baby and walked away sobbing with tears.  My heart breaks in a million pieces to even comprehend what she must have been feeling.  She gave her baby girl a new life, a new chance, a new beginning… but had to say goodbye forever.

The next statement the police sergeant asked us was life-changing and beyond our wildest dreams.  He told us he would take us to the spot he met Zoie’s birthmother.  He knew the exact location and was willing to show us personally.  We drove to an area that is one of the poorest in Addis Ababa.  Unbelieveably, it’s located directly behind the luxurious Sheraton hotel.  He walked us to a narrow alleyway and stopped under a large tree.  He pointed down to a cement curb and said this was where he found her sitting, crying and holding her baby.  He told us that he wore plain clothes so he would not frighten the mother.  She sat on the curb and explained to him why she was unable to keep her baby girl.  He validated her and helped her walk to safety.

This was Zoie’s crossroad.  Her birthmother sacrificed everything in order for Zoie to have life.  In a perfect world, we wish with all our hearts she could have stayed with her mother and lived a healthy, thriving life in Ethiopia.  But, God had a different plan and it all started here.  There are no words to express our gratefulness to the man who gave us a glimpse into the story of Zoie.  We may never meet the woman who gave birth, protection, and safety to our daughter, but we have a priceless gift of information from the man who gave her hope.

New Products!!  TOTES!!

I’m so excited about the new Simply Love tote bags for adoption and missions fundraising!  The totes are selling like hot cakes and I don’t want you to miss out on the craze!  For the next two weeks, we have a special price offer for Simply Love tote bags.  You can purchase the Simply Love Kit and have exclusive rights to any of the wholesale products. You can custom pick the tote of your choice, any ink color, and your favorite design.  You can print your design pick on ANY of the totes- mix & match colors!!  Go a little crazy!  Email me if you have any questions.

It’s easy to start your own tote fundraiser:

Step 1- purchase the Simply Love Kit online here.

Step 2- you pick the tote, 1 ink color, and your favorite Simply Love design.   You can print any of the 10 designs on any of the 3 tote bags featured in the Kit.

Step 3- start your fundraising project!

DESIGN 1 – SIMPLY LOVE SWIRLS

Qty 12+ = $13.70 each.  More colors available.

DESIGN 2 – SIMPLY LOVE ORIGINAL

(shoulder totes w/ 2 buckle)

Qty 12+ = $12.70 each

DESIGN 3 – FUNKY SIMPLY LOVE

Messenger bags (green & camouflage featured)

Qty 12+ = $11.95 each.  More colors available

I love going on lunch dates- don’t you?  My favorite lunch spot is Panera.  I always get the “you pick two” with tomato soup and chicken salad sandwich.  It’s so much fun to meet a friend or my hubby and spend an hour eating and talking.  I had no idea that God planned a special lunch date for me in Korah.  We spent three heavenly days working with the incredible Project 61 staff.  We planned a Man Up BBQ lunch every day for the children and community.  We slaughtered prepared 26 sheep and goat for a one of a kind roast.  We invited the entire community- men, women, children, and staff to join us for lunch.  Serving sheep and goat is truly a luxury for the families, so we knew this was an over the top missions opportunity.  On our last day, we even handed out live goats to needy families.

Roger killed the first goat to start off the celebration with a bang.  We were all a little *gulp* disgusted with the ala natural preparations, but it was part of the crazy adventure.  The killing field was in the middle of the P61 shelter we were painting, so if you can visualize bright blue paint mixed with bright red, I think you can get the full picture.  I kept reminding my squeamish team members that this was an incredible opportunity to feed the fatherless and eliminate anyone having to go to the dump that day to find food.  I want to personally thank everyone who donated money for our team to purchase sheep and goat for the BBQ.

On the first day, one of the P61 staff asked me if I would help feed the elderly men of the community their lunch.  I jumped in with both hands.  I’m so proud of Pastor and Sammy… the entire band of brothers for feeding their neighbors every single day.  It felt like I walked back in time straight into the Old Testament.  My special lunch date was a very old, happy man with leprosy.  I think my mommy instincts kicked in and started feeding my new friend by hand a delicious hot meal of sheep and injera. He was overjoyed and made everyone around laugh.  He had a mighty appetite and I just kept shoveling food in his mouth as carefully as I could.  I started praying for him and thanking God for this opportunity to simply love.  He kept thanking me in Amharic and kissing me and calling me Conjo-beautiful!  I was so honored to serve this precious wise man who had obviously had a horrific life living with leprosy in Korah.  I wanted him to feel on our lunch date valuable, respected, dignified.. living a life as an outcast can break a spirit.  But, the blessings I received in return was far greater than what I could have offered him.  Oh what a lunch date!

Our precious daughter, Zoie was born in Korah.  It was a community founded 75 years ago for the lepers and outcasts of the city.  If you live in Korah you are the poorest of the poor in Addis Ababa.  The people have been hopeless and forgotten, but with my brothers and sisters who work directly in the Korah community making a difference everyday- the community are no longer considered the trash of the city.  They are priceless treasures and worthy of praise!!

Please pray for Project 61 and the staff who work daily with Korah for strength, energy, resources, and miracles.