SHINE Update

Last year H started SHINE - Sharing Hope IN Ethiopia - to raise money for Kolfe Orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Initially, she wanted to help them purchase books for their "library" which is really a cabinet with locks on it.  After talking with some people who have been to Kolfe, we determined that there may be a better way to bless the boys of Kolfe. 

Earlier this month, Eileen Mestas and Solomon visited the home office of the Gladney Center for Adoption in Fort Worth, TX.  They delivered a check to The Gladney Fund for $194.52 to be used in their Kolfe Education Fund.  This money will be used to pay for the boys of Kolfe to continue their education once they can no longer go to the government schools. 

All of the money had been rasied by H through yard sales, picking up coins in parking lots, her birthday party, and any other way she could convince others to participate in this effort. 

Solomon, Eileen and Scott Brown of Gladney

H is already raising money again for 2011.  She hopes to continue to raise awareness of the orphan boys of Kolfe and help them receive an education that will help them lead productive lives once they leave the orphanage.  Most importantly, she hopes to help them hear about the love of Jesus and how HE is the Father they so desperately need.

For more information about the work Gladney does in Ethiopia, go to this link.

A Little House Birthday

Six years old.  That's how old they turned today.  Six years. 

It's still sinking in.

We had a fun time celebrating Little*House*on*the*Prairie style.

I didn't get photos of everything.  After I read a short LH book (for the girls who don't know who Laura was), they made homemade ice cream in plastic bags.  The ice cream was actually good too.

Then it was time for cake and ice cream....

 The first birthday girl with her funfetti*cake.

 The other birthday girl with her strawberry cake.

 After cake and ice cream it was time to open gifts.

 Big sister was a big help today!

 Big brother was the official toy inspector.

 They played marbles like they did "in the old days".

All the prairie girls.

It was a fun time of celebrating with friends.  Sweet girls!



Yes, yes, yes

Yes, Upward is in full swing again this season.  We have 4 kids on 3 teams so we're at church every Saturday morning.  Photos will follow soon.

Yes, the twins are turning six on Thursday and there's a party planned.  Photos will follow soon.

Yes, it has been over 3 weeks since my last post.  I had such good plans for the new year.  We've had "events" but I'm a little behind on blogging.  Photos will follow soon.

Happy New Year 2011!!

After a week of illness - fevers, strep, ear infection - the kids were thrilled that we finally let them out of the house for a few minutes yesterday to play in what was left of the snow.  There was still enough for a snowball fight!

And after it got dark we all lit sparklers to celebrate the coming of the new year.

 There's nothing like lighting sparklers in your pj's and rainboots!

It's a brand new year.  We're excited to see the places God will lead us, the new friends we will meet, the old friends we'll enjoy, the easy and hard lessons we'll learn,

and the joy we'll find in following Jesus.

Happy 2011!!