Great news! We have a new Sound of Hope event scheduled for this coming Monday in Fayetteville, Arkansas and we would LOVE to see you there! Here are the details:
Date:Monday, August 2nd Time:4:00pm - 8:00pm Place:Arsaga's Coffee (Crossover location) 1852 NCrossover Rd Fayetteville, AR 72701
(479) 527-0690
www.arsagas.com
This
will be a very relaxed event and you can come and go as you please.
Rusty and I will be there to share information and answer questions
about The Sound of Hope and how you can get involved. We will also have
some incredible merchandise for sale that benefits orphans &
vulnerable children in Swaziland, Kenya, and India. Donations will be
accepted and are appreciated (but are not required).
If you're wondering what kind of merchandise we will have, here's a sneak peek of a few of our items!
The Sound of Hope T-shirts
The
proceeds from one shirt are enough to feed a child in Africa for a
MONTH! How awesome is that? Our basic black shirt is shown, but we also
have a few "limited edition" shirts in green, red, and brown. Every
shirt is printed on soft American Apparel shirts. *Price: $15
Timbali Purses
Hand-crafted
by women in Swaziland, Africa. Each purse is unique and beautiful! The
women who create Timbali crafts also care for thousands of orphans and
vulnerable children at carepoints in Swaziland. With every purchase you
help these women earn the income that sustains their families AND you
help give HOPE to these precious children! *Price: $25
Hands of Hope
Hands
of Hope was created from a vision of orphan artwork that not only
allowed these children to express themselves, but also created a source
of income to provide for their needs. The proceeds from this artwork
help provide needy children with food, clothing, shelter, and
education, mentoring, or learning a sustainable life skill. Every piece
is unique, made by children in India and Africa. We hope they will
forever leave a handprint on your heart! *Price: $5 to $25
Hands
of Hope are painted on fabric from India and Swaziland and left with an
unfinished edge. They can be framed, hung 'as is' on the wall, or sewn
into other crafts like a pillow cover, wall-hanging, or quilt. Our India
pieces (shown above) are on a wide variety of brightly colored and
patterned cloth. They are all 8x10 size and are tagged with the child's
name who painted them. They are priced $5 to $10. Our Swaziland pieces
(shown below) are on more muted colors like brown, green, orange,
maroon, black, and navy. They come in many sizes and are priced $10 -
$25. We have a large variety and every piece is not shown here, so come
to a Sound of Hope event to find one you love!
We
will also have Timbali table runners and Sound of Hope notecards
available for sale. The runners are $30 each. The notecards are $10 for a
pack of 8 and feature some of our adorable Swazi children.
Please
help us spread the word if you know anyone in the Fayetteville area!
Come by for a visit, bring some friends and hang out with us over a cup of coffee!
*note :: When buying merchandise or making a donation we can accept cash or checks.
Checks may be written to The Sound of Hope. For cash, exact change is appreciated.
It's time for us to hit the road again! We're leaving tomorrow to come
South for yet another support raising trip! We'll be traveling half the
day tomorrow, staying with friends in Cincinnati, driving all day
Wednesday, and arriving in Arkansas late that night. We would really
appreciate your prayers for safe travels, our car staying in one piece,
and protection over our hearts, minds, and relationship as we set out
(things always seem to go wrong on these trips!)
We will be
taking every opportunity we have to share on this trip. I'll be really
honest with you friends, we HAVE to. We are really, really
struggling right now when it comes to raising support, both in our
personal support account (which is how we get a paycheck each month)
and also for The Sound of Hope (donations for the children and our
start-up expenses).
Our personal support account is not healthy. And by that I mean sick... admitted to the hospital, in ICU, on life support, SICK.
For it to be healthy again, we need several thousand dollars in special
gifts, and quite a few new monthly supporters. We also have $2,600 on
our credit card for our plane tickets to Thailand and don't have the
money to reimburse them. And, finally, we still have $2,000+ needed for
our Sound of Hope start up expenses. We are in desperate need of donations for us to continue our work.
For all our needs to be met and our support account to be healthy again, we need $10,000. Yes,
10 grand. I know that seems like a huge amount, but we know that our
God is bigger than our needs! He always shows up when things seem
impossible... so we are PRAYING that every cent we need will come in!
We believe with all our hearts that we are doing the work God has
called us to do. So PLEASE PRAY with us that the money we need will
come in!
We have been working for the past month to set up
speaking engagements down South. Those scheduled are below. If you are
in the area, please come, bring a friend (or a dozen), and pray about
giving to our needs!
----------------------------------------
August 1 (Sunday) - First United Methodist Church of Monticello, AR I'll
be singing a special solo at the 9am service and 11am service. In
between those services, we'll be sharing with the Sunday School classes
about our new non-profit (The Sound of Hope) and about our upcoming
trip to Thailand! We'll also be taking donations and we'll have
merchandise for sale that benefits orphans (t-shirts, handmade African
purses & runners, Hands of Hope orphan artwork, and notecards).
August 8 (Sunday) - Oxford, AL & Helena, AL
9:00 am - Friendship Community Church - we'll be sharing about our non-profit and our upcoming trip to Thailand
10:30
am - 1st UMC Oxford - we'll be introduced to the church, and we'll be
available afterwards to answer questions/share info with anyone who's
interested in hearing about our non-profit work. We'll also be
accepting donations and selling merchandise that benefits orphans.
6:00 pm - private engagement - we'll be sharing with a friend's small group in Helena, AL
-------------------------------------------
We
also have some possible opportunities to share "in the works". These
are not final yet, but as soon as they are we will post details on our
blogs.
August 2 or 3 (Mon/Tues) - Fayetteville, AR We
are trying to set up an event at a coffeeshop or restaurant during the
evening. This would be a time when you could drop by, visit with us,
and find out more about what we're doing! You will also be able to
donate to our needs or buy merchandise.
August 4 (Wednesday) - Tuscaloosa, AL A
friend of ours is checking into us speaking at her church this
Wednesday night. We would also be accepting donations and selling
merchandise that benefits orphans.
Aug 5 (Thursday) - Birmingham, AL We
are trying to set up an event at a coffeeshop during the
afternoon/evening. This would be a time when you could drop by, visit
with us, find out more about what we're doing and donate to support us
or buy merchandise. A friend is checking with a coffeeshop for us, but
if you know of somewhere we could go (and would be willing to help us
set it up) please contact us!
We
would LOVE to see you at these events! Stay tuned to our blog and
facebook to find out more about the dates/times/locations we will be
available. Also, if you know of anyone who might want to support us, we
would love to meet with them and answer any questions they have. Our
schedule between events involves a lot of travel, so contact us ASAP if
you'd like to set up a meeting.
Ericka and I recently purchased a new camera for The Sound of Hope - here is our first test run with it this past weekend. I'm VERY excited about the quality video that comes out of this sucker:)
Forgive me for being MIA in our
"Friday Updates"; those weekly blogs I write to update you on all the
random happenings in the life of us missionaries. We've been busy with
all the Sound of Hope start up needs, and in between that we've been
trying to enjoy the summer sun. I thought I'd write a little summer
update though; so here's the latest in our lives!
------------------------------------------------
Moving to Georgia. No, not
us....*sigh. Our World Race community here is moving away! A
couple of
weeks ago we helped pack up the World Race House (the same home I lived
in when I first moved to Michigan) and sent the moving truck to
Georgia. The office is closed here, and the World Racers are moving
South to work in the Gainesville office. Almost all of them are gone
now, with just Matt, Mark, Kim, & Caroline who are packing up the
rest of their things this week. Michael & Kathy will be moving down
too towards the end of the year (after they sell their house). We are
going to miss our World Race family SO much! For now though, God is
still telling us to stay here. We have a beautiful little home (with
really, really cheap rent) and Rusty has a part-time job with the church
that really
helps with our expenses (and is able to do his job with The World Race
from home). So we are committed through the end of 2010,
and will return here after our trip to Thailand. After that, who knows?
100 days in Thailand. If
you missed our blog titled Destination
:: THAILAND!!! then you missed BIG news! We are
moving to Thailand for 100 days! The plane tickets are bought; we leave
in January and won't be home until the end of April. We are really
excited about what God is going to do in us and through us while we are
there. If you want to donate toward the cost of our tickets, contact me.
(We bought them in FAITH that God would provide; right now they are on
our credit card and we're praying for the money to cover them). Read our
blog for more details!
GO TIGERS! No,
not the Auburn Tigers, the Detroit Tigers. Rusty and I went to a baseball game last year
for his birthday, and got our picture taken by one of those "official"
photographers that wander around at sporting events, theme parks, etc.
We forgot about it after that (since we had our own camera) and never
even looked at the shots online. We had no idea we'd be seeing them a
year later! A couple of months ago my friend Rachel sent me a text from a
Tiger's baseball game that said, "You'll never believe this! The
photographer at the game just took our picture and gave us a card with
the info to find it online...and YOU and RUSTY are on the card!" She
brought us the card so we could see and sure enough, there we were! I
guess they decided we'd make good DETROIT TIGERS models (funny since I
was wearing an AUBURN TIGERS hat!) I hope this means our iStock pictures
will sell well!
They're
ENGAGED! Yes, we both
have engaged siblings now! My brother Brent got engaged in the fall to
Melissa Beard with a wedding date set next May. Rusty's sister Tracy
just got engaged to Frank Dey, and they are planning to tie the knot in
June! Looks like we will be home from Thailand
just in time for WEDDING SEASON! Congratulations Brent, Melissa, Tracy,
& Frank!
Love and War. That's the name of the
newest book by John & Stasi Eldredge. If you've never read their
books, I would highly recommend "Wild at Heart" & "Captivating"!
Rusty and I loved their other books, so for our anniversary I bought him
this one. We've started reading it aloud to each other a chapter at a
time and we are LOVING it! It's been so encouraging to be reminded how
important marriage is, and that there are forces opposing it. The devil
does NOT want marriage to succeed, and we feel his efforts often as a
married couple in ministry. If you're married and looking for a good
read, check this book out! (*note - I have a couple of single friends
who've read this book and loved it too!)
Modeling Missionaries. For those of
you who don't know, we've been hired as models for our friends' iStock
business! iStock provides microstock photos for sale on-line that are
used for internet ads, print ads, websites, articles, the inside of
picture frames, etc. Our friends Rosie & Shawn Gearhart have been
photographers for iStock for several years now, and have hired us to do
multiple shoots this year. We usually do anything from 1-4 shoots a
month, with lots of different themes and costumes. The money we make is
split between our support account and our Sound of Hope needs.
Since
last I wrote, we've been busy! We've completed 7 new shoots (a Wedding
Shoot, Picnic Shoot, Couple Shoot downtown, Coffeeshop Shoot,
Businesswoman shoot, Cowgirl Shoot and Renaissance Shoot). The
photographers are busy editing right now to get all those pictures
online. Many are still "in process", but I can show you a few from our
Cowgirl Shoot & Renaissance Shoot here!
The beautiful creature you see in these
pictures is named Storm.
The Renaissance Shoot
was our most difficult shoot to date. Satin shoes, a floor length
velvet gown with flowing chiffon sleeves,
floor length cape, floor length headpiece, knee high grass, lots of
bugs, a cat who wanted to be in the shots and a horse that didn't
really want to pose the way we wanted him to.... it required a lot of
patience, flexibility, and help from his owner to get these shots! (and
a very talented photographer!)
After every shoot I
have a new set of sore muscles and more respect for models (especially
those who work with animals!) I'm learning so much though, and having a
BLAST! Rosie & Shawn are great photographers and they are so much
fun to work with!
I'll be posting a
few images from each shoot as they go up online, so "stay tuned"! ;)
-----------------------------------------------
That's
all we have for now! Please continue to pray for us as we work through
more paperwork for The Sound of Hope and sort through more start up
needs. Starting a new non-profit is not easy and we need all the prayer
and support we can get! Thanks for reading - hope you are having a HAPPY
FRIDAY and a BLESSED SUMMER!
As promised, today we are sharing our other BIG NEWS....
We are going to THAILAND!!!
We
bought the tickets Tuesday night, so it is OFFICIAL! We leave January
18th, and won't return until April 28th. That's over 3 months which adds
up to.....
100
days in Thailand!
In essence we are 'moving'
there - we will not be staying at a missionary base or anything like
that - we will be renting our own apartment there, and buying a car to
use for our time there (then selling it back when we leave).
There are many reasons we are going to serve
overseas for this season. The #1 reason is to connect the ministry there
with The Sound of Hope. Thailand will be our fourth partnership (the
others are Swaziland, Kenya, and India). One of the conditions in our
partnership agreement is that we must go to these countries and see the
program in person that we'll be supporting. We want to meet the
children, meet the leadership, and build a good relationship with them.
We want to see the area and culture first hand. With so much corruption
in the world, this is VERY important! It insures that we understand the
culture there, have a good relationship with the leadership, that the
program is doing everything they said they would do, and that the
children are well taken care of.
In Thailand we'll be
partnering with a Thai couple and an American couple who have been doing
ministry there for 10 years. We'll be working with two children's homes
- one that already exists, and one that is 'in progress'. For the
second, there's a chance that we might even be able to help build it!
These
couples are dear friends of Rusty's, and he is SO excited to have this
opportunity to serve them. He worked with them in 2007 and 2008 when the
World Race went to Chaing Mai, and he's extremely passionate about them
and their ministry!
There are other things
we are hoping to do while in Thailand - village ministry, bar ministry
(ministering to women in the sex trade), possibly helping with World
Race teams that come through, and any other needs God opens our eyes to.
We are going to bring Kingdom, and we know God will direct our paths!
Now
you see why it is SO important that we make the purchases I
explained yesterday. The Sound of Hope needs to be 100% up and
running so that we are able to provide for the orphan programs there and
share the stories of the people we meet in Thailand. In order to share
those stories though, we have to have the media equipment we need
(camera, computer, editing software). So please, please pray about
giving to our needs!
There are two ways you can support us in
this venture. The first is to give to our support account. We still
desperately need monthly support and one time gifts! This is how we get
paid to continue to do this work, and how we'll get reimbursed for our
tickets to Thailand. We bought the tickets on our credit card in faith
that God would provide, so we are currently in debt $2,600 for them. To
give towards these needs, clickHERE.
(or, if you'd
like to write us a personal check toward the cost of the tickets,
contact me).
The second way to help us is to give towards
our Sound of Hope needs. As
I explained yesterday, we need a total of $6,250 to move forward.
The full breakdown is below:
$1550
- Legal fees & Filing fees
$2000 - Camera
$1500 - Macbook pro
$200 - Quick
books (software for our bookkeeping/accounting needs)
$1000 - Final Cut Pro (software for Rusty's video editing)
Total - $6,250
To give to these needs, make your checks out to
The Sound of Hope, and mail
them to:
The Sound of
Hope 3130 Range Road Port Huron, MI
48060
*in the
memo line, write "SOH - ADMIN" if you'd like the money
to go towards our start up needs listed above.
Please
help us spread the word about these needs! It would bless us so much if
you would share this blog on facebook, with your friends & family,
with your church, or with anyone else you know who might want to give
towards these needs! We'd be glad to answer any questions they may have.
You can also share this
video that explains more about our ministry.
Please
keep us in your prayers as we move forward!
Forgive
me for being behind in updating you all, but we have big news!
We are OFFICIALLY INCORPORATED!
On May 18th, we filed our Articles of
Incorporation with our lawyer. Here we are signing the papers with our
lawyer...
And celebrating outside! (on a very windy
day ;) Two thumbs up! I am so excited!!!
On May 20th, we
received our official paperwork from the State of Michigan. I was
THRILLED! After years of working and praying and dreaming, The Sound of
Hope is now an official non-profit!
Our
Mission Statement:
The Sound of Hope exists to raise funds and
awareness for orphans and vulnerable children around the world. We are
committed to helping children break out of the cycle of poverty by
partnering with programs that offer holistic care. We seek to educate,
engage, and empower others to join the movement in creative ways.
And so,
STEP #1 - Filing with the State to be incorporated - has been
completed. We are in business! STEP #2
- Creating a Board of Directors - has also been completed. Our next BIG
step, STEP #3 is filing with
the IRS for tax exempt status. This requires a lot of confusing
paperwork (26 pages to be exact) and a 'waiting period' once they are
filed. I am working with our lawyer on this paperwork and hope to file
it in the next two weeks. Then, it could take anywhere from 2 months to
18 months to get back our approval from the IRS. Once that happens we
will be able to receipt the donations people give us as tax deductible
gifts!
In the meantime, we are
moving forward!
Last week we opened a bank account and
applied for a credit card, so we are able to take donations. We are
still working on getting a website, online store, and blog up. We are
also going to be making some large purchases in the coming months to
equip us to run this nonprofit and raise funds effectively. That's a big reason why
we're writing this blog; we need YOUR HELP to continue to move forward.
Media
is a huge part of fundraising in the non-profit world. We need a camera
equipped to shoot professional pictures and HD video to share stories
and pictures from overseas. (The cameras Rusty has been using this year
are not ours and cannot be taken overseas - one belongs to The World
Race and the other belongs to our church.)
We also need a new
Macbook Pro for me. My Macbook has been having some issues lately and
cannot function at the level needed to run a business. With Rusty and I
as the only employees right now, all the responsibilities fall on us
(fundraising, writing/PR, emails, website management, merchandise sales,
bookkeeping, etc) so I need a reliable computer.
Those are just
two of our biggest needs. We are looking at a total of $6,250 needed for
our start up costs. PLEASE PRAY about
giving towards these needs! Any amount will bless us! The full
breakdown is below:
$1550
- Legal fees & Filing fees
$2000 - Camera
$1500 - Macbook pro
$200 - Quick
books (software for our bookkeeping/accounting needs)
$1000 - Final Cut Pro (software for Rusty's video editing)
Total - $6,250
If you have a
heart for orphans & vulnerable children, we would love to have you
partner with us in this non-profit! We know God has led us to this
point, but we cannot move forward alone. These things must be purchased
for us to continue this work. We are incurring some of this debt now,
with the rest to come in the next few months. We need
you to invest in this vision! We would also
appreciate it if you would share what we're doing with anyone you know -
friends, family, business partners, etc - who might want to donate
towards this cause! We'd be glad to answer any questions you have about
our needs and our work.
To donate, make your checks out to
The Sound of Hope, and mail
them to:
The Sound of
Hope 3130 Range Road Port Huron, MI
48060
*in the memo line, write "SOH - ADMIN" if you'd like the money to go towards our
start up needs listed above.
Thank you in
advance for helping us help these precious children!
--------------------------------------
*Stay tuned for our next blog - we have more
BIG NEWS to share! There is a very specific reason we need to make
these purchases and be fully set up soon. To find out why, check back
tomorrow!
Since we started doing mission work, the #1 question we've gotten is....
"So...what exactly do you do?"
In
the mission/ministry world, the answer to that is ever-changing. As God
leads us to do new things, we pick up new responsibilities.
Soo...
we thought it would be a great idea to put together a video just for
YOU! In it we explain exactly what we do - the organizations we work
for, the different ministry opportunities we take part in, exactly what
God's call is on our lives, and how YOU can be a part of our mission
work!
So, please check out this short, 5 minute video all about our ministry. We'd love to have you be a part of it!
We are still in serious need of people to support us as we continue this full time mission work. If you feel led to give you can donate by clicking HERE.
And
if you liked what you saw, would you please TELL A FRIEND about us? You
can share this video with them and if they have any questions, just
have them comment below or contact us.
Well, we've been home for almost a week, and we're almost caught up with
our blog updates from our trip down South. We'd be forgetting a very
important one if we didn't post this though...
THANK YOU
ANTIOCH BAPTIST CHURCH!!!
On Sunday, May 30th we
were invited to speak at Antioch first to a Sunday School class and then
to the entire church. Despite some 'technical difficulties'*, we had an
AMAZING time! Your church was so warm, friendly, and inviting. The
interest you had in our ministry and mission work was so encouraging,
and we were blessed by the donations you gave to support us! Your
generosity will help us continue to serve as full-time missionaries.
Above: Rusty sharing about his work with the World
Race Below: Ericka singing after sharing about The Sound of Hope
Thanks too to all of you who bought
merchandise to support orphans in Swaziland, Kenya, and India. Your
willingness to give was wonderful, and the products you bought will
bless so many children in need overseas! Just to give you an idea of
what your donations can do:
Your church bought 18 Timbali purses. That means you
helped provide an income for up to 18 women (most are widows) in
Swaziland. Those 18 women not only care for their children &
grandchildren, but also for thousands of orphans and vulnerable children
at our carepoints!
Your church bought $375 of Sound of Hope merchandise.
That's enough to feed 32 orphans in Swaziland a hot meal of rice
(fortified with vitamins & minerals) for a MONTH!
Your
church gave above and beyond the price of the merchandise $170 (which
means $170 of donations for The Sound
of Hope). That is enough to feed 5 orphans in India for a month
(3 balanced meals a day of rice, meat, fruit & vegetables) AND buy
the uniforms needed for 4 orphans in India to go to school.
In just a few hours on a Sunday morning, look at what your
church was able to do!!!
Because we work with an
interdenominational mission agency (which means all denominations are
welcome) and not the NAMB or the IMB, we very rarely get to speak in
Baptist churches. Being invited to your church was a special treat!
THANK YOU for opening your doors, your service, and your hearts to us.
You truly blessed us, and we look forward to seeing you again!
*We'll be posting our support video (the one
that we couldn't get to play) on our blog on Monday, so stay tuned for
that!
We're
finally home! Actually, we got home late Sunday night...after almost
getting blown away by 2 tornadoes and driving through flooded roads! It
was a scary and dangerous time and we are so thankful we made it home
safely. Seriously - to all of you who pray for us when we are traveling
we appreciate it SO much! From health to safety to blessings over our
ministry time - your prayers are so important to us!
I
thought I'd take a moment for a RECAP of this roadtrip. We had a very
busy 2 and 1/2 weeks down south and we'd love to fill you in on how it
went!
There
were a lot of reasons for this trip. The first of course was that we
were needed to work at Training Camp in GA (which I shared about in my
last blog). Since we were already down South though, we wanted to visit
our family, friends, and supporters. It's so important to us to build
into the relationships of the people who invest in us financially and
in prayer, so we tried to squeeze in time with as many people as we
could! It was great to share our vision with new friends and update our
supporters. It was also great to visit my family. Check out the recap
below!
------------------------------------------------
Once
Training Camp was over, the first thing on our "to do" list was
watching my baby brother graduate! He's not a baby anymore.... I can't
believe he's 18 and done with school! We are SO proud of him!
Congratulations Jaron!
That
Saturday we'd planned a trip to Birmingham to visit with friends and
supporters. We had coffee with the Browns, lunch with the Kynerds,
afternoon visits with our sweet friends Lacey & Lindsey, and dinner
with the awesome Daniels! Here are a few pictures of our time... (Watch
for a separate blog about our morning with the Brown family :)
At Barnes & Noble with Lacey (above) & Lindsey (below).
Below: Enjoying 2 of our favorite things, Chick-Fil-A & The Daniels! :)
On
Sunday we had the incredible opportunity to speak at Antioch Baptist
Church. We were so blessed by our time there! We'd like to share a
little more about that, so look for a separate blog coming soon....
We also hung out with my family for Memorial Day....but unfortunately
we don't have ANY pictures! I think we were all too busy stuffing our
face with Dwightie's BBQ, Mom's baked beans, Granddaddy's boiled
peanuts...and of course washing it down with SWEET TEA! YUM! ;)
On
Tuesday we drove down to the Loveliest Village on the Plains.... home
sweet AUBURN! It had been over a year and a half since I'd been to
Auburn, and I was so anxious to get back to the place I love most in
the world! We ate at my favorite restaurants, visited some of my
favorite people, and enjoyed some of my favorite places. We had a
WONDERFUL time!
Meet
our wonderful hosts: Candice, Randall, & Clay Stoves! Candice and I
have been friends since my freshman year of college when we were AU
Singers together. This little family is so precious, and they took such
good care of us in AU! Candice also has a 'hobby' of making the most
beautiful cakes I've ever seen! Her house smelled delicious all week!
Meet Clay, our "little friend".
He played with us every morning and night while we visited. Isn't he adorable?!
Our first stop in AU was BIG BLUE BAGEL! We had lunch with Mike & Rene Waldrop. Love them so much!
Next
we took a walk around campus. I introduced Rusty to some of my college
professors and my WONDERFUL advisor, Chris Huggins (above). It was so
good to see her, and to share about our ministry with her! She was such
a blessing to me in college!
The next day we took a trip to Troy, but before we left we ate lunch at Toomer's with my friend Lacey! It was great to see her and share about what we're doing - she is so encouraging and supportive. And of course it wouldn't be a trip to Auburn without some world famous Toomer's lemonade!
That night we met my precious friend Shelley at Niffer's for some hang out time & yummy dinner!
Then it was time to take Rusty to his 1st ever Auburn Pep Rally! These
are hosted in the summer by Camp War Eagle and I used to sing the Alma
Mater for them when I was Miss Auburn-Opelika Area. They are SO much
fun! Here we are with Mark Armstrong ( the king of all things CWE ;) at
Jordan Hare Stadium!
Of course I couldn't pass up a chance for a picture with AUBIE!
Day
#3 we visited campus again. First stop - AU Admissions! I worked in
this office for 4 and 1/2 years and love the people there so much!
(Above) With "Fancy Nancy" (my former boss) and Mindy Street- an AU
friend who is now working in Admissions! (Below) With Ms Havlin.
Above: Lunch with sweet Mindy at Amsterdams!
Above: A surprise trip to hug Adam at The Gnu's Room
Above: "Hanging out" with my little brother at the Auburn Fire Station
Above: Bottle feeding a 2 week old baby raccoon! (I know, so random, but she was so cute I had to share the picture!) Her mom chewed into electrical wires and was killed, so my little brother rescued her and her brother.
Above:
Back to campus - one of our friends/supporters wanted us to meet his
brother who works at Auburn. We had a GREAT visit with Brian Keeter -
getting to know him, chatting about Auburn, and sharing our ministry
with him. Thanks so much for the suggestion Lane! :)
Below: Of course we had to finish the day with a classic Auburn picture in front of the AU sign!
While
we were in Auburn, we took an afternoon to drive down to Troy. We
couldn't miss the opportunity to meet my friends Kira & Oliver's
beautiful little girl! Friends, meet Miss Elizabeth Anne Aaron!
Above: Ericka, baby Elizabeth, and her beautiful Mommy Kira!
Below: Holding baby Elizabeth in her room. On the wall behind us are the paintings I made for her!
Of
course, all too soon our time in Auburn was up. The day had come to
start our 14+ hour drive back to Michigan. Luckily, on the way home we
had something to look forward to....
A visit in Tennessee with
the Wards! Ray & Candice (and their daughter Maele) are
missionaries in Thailand. They are some of Rusty's favorite people - he
served with them in 2007 and again in 2008. He was SO excited to see
them again and I was thrilled to finally meet them! Lucky for us, they
were in the states for a few months visiting family and friends and
support raising, and Ray's parents live in TN. (Thank you Mr. &
Mrs. Ward for hosting us!)
We
had a great time together, and were able to share about The Sound of
Hope with them. We are excited to announce that their Children's Home
will be our fourth international partnership! More to come on that
later, but we are so glad to add Thailand to the list of places we will
be supporting through this non-profit!
--------------------------------------
Overall
we had a long, exhausting, but WONDERFUL trip! We were able to share
about our ministry with so many people, and were blessed by our time
with friends and family. We also were given some generous one-time
gifts and got two new monthly supporters! Praise the Lord! THANK YOU to
all of you who poured into us on this trip! We love you!
We're leaving tomorrow to come
South for yet another support raising trip! We'll be traveling half the
day tomorrow, staying with friends in Cincinnati, driving all day
Wednesday, and arriving in Arkansas late that night. We would really
appreciate your prayers for safe travels, our car staying in one piece,
and protection over our hearts, minds, and relationship as we set out
(things always seem to go wrong on these trips!)
Our World Race community here is moving away! A
couple of
weeks ago we helped pack up the World Race House (the same home I lived
in when I first moved to Michigan) and sent the moving truck to
Georgia. The office is closed here, and the World Racers are moving
South to work in the Gainesville office. Almost all of them are gone
now, with just Matt, Mark, Kim, & Caroline who are packing up the
rest of their things this week. Michael & Kathy will be moving down
too towards the end of the year (after they sell their house). We are
going to miss our World Race family SO much! For now though, God is
still telling us to stay here. We have a beautiful little home (with
really, really cheap rent) and Rusty has a part-time job with the church
that really
helps with our expenses (and is able to do his job with The World Race
from home). So we are committed through the end of 2010,
and will return here after our trip to Thailand. After that, who knows?
Rusty and I went to a baseball game last year
for his birthday, and got our picture taken by one of those "official"
photographers that wander around at sporting events, theme parks, etc.
We forgot about it after that (since we had our own camera) and never
even looked at the shots online. We had no idea we'd be seeing them a
year later! A couple of months ago my friend Rachel sent me a text from a
Tiger's baseball game that said, "You'll never believe this! The
photographer at the game just took our picture and gave us a card with
the info to find it online...and YOU and RUSTY are on the card!" She
brought us the card so we could see and sure enough, there we were! I
guess they decided we'd make good DETROIT TIGERS models (funny since I
was wearing an AUBURN TIGERS hat!) I hope this means our iStock pictures
will sell well!
Love and War. 
There are many reasons we are going to serve
overseas for this season. The #1 reason is to connect the ministry there
with The Sound of Hope. Thailand will be our fourth partnership (the
others are Swaziland, Kenya, and India). One of the conditions in our
partnership agreement is that we must go to these countries and see the
program in person that we'll be supporting. We want to meet the
children, meet the leadership, and build a good relationship with them.
We want to see the area and culture first hand. With so much corruption
in the world, this is VERY important! It insures that we understand the
culture there, have a good relationship with the leadership, that the
program is doing everything they said they would do, and that the
children are well taken care of. 
