Some bits from 2010

A greeting by Smilebox

Check out our Forget-Me-Not Blog...

http://forgetmenotchildrenshomes.blogspot.com/

Busy busy busy...

My blog has been neglected...soooo busy! A few events recently that have kept me busy...MY OLDEST BABY IS MARRIED!!! Yep! It was a beautiful wedding and oh so sweet! BUT, I did not know how hard it was going to be on a mommas heart. It's truly something that you can't prepare for. Andrew and Erica will be great together, and it's so precious to watch them ooze that 'new love!'



AND...I have ongoing work for the Forget-Me-Not Children's Program in Liberia, that has been keeping me very busy. One of the desperate needs we have, besides getting more kids sponsored, is the need for our own vehicle in Liberia. We just finished a Rummage Sale at our church...and so many from our church family showed up with wonderful donations and a ton of help! We raised just over $2000! What a great start in raising the $12,000 needed funds!



AND...we have been busy with four new baby alpacas!! One more on the way! The last month has been super insane with these new little ones! They are the cutest animals ever!!!

My baby is three!!!!

A few remaining pics from our trip...

Kenneth and a foster brother
Admiring Barry's smile!
Korpu and her sweet personality!
Our new deaf teacher, Monjue. Holding Melvin, one of our deaf children, standing next to one of Monjue's foster son's who is also deaf.

Day 5

Barry trying out the swing!
I consider the 5 of us a great team! Myself, Josephus, Pastor Peter, Donna, Tanya.
Beautiful Patience!
The swing set that Scott, I and the kids did through several fundraising pancake breakfasts at our church!

Day 4

Korpu getting weighed
Sweet Barry and his foster poppie!
Smiling Kenneth
Surprise getting measured
Some supplies we bought from donated funds!

Continued from day 3

We had the honor of visiting Pastor Peter's village, where he was born, deep into the interior in the bush. This visit was a very special day, it was a day that a water well was being dedicated. Looking at the pics here, you can see us crossing the bridge where they would collect the water for all their needs. It was green and filthy! People and children were always dying from getting illnesses from this water. A couple families from the U.S., took it upon themselves to raise the funds for this well, and we were so honored to be there for this dedication! Someone said we were the first 'white' people to visit this village. This village is very poor...no school, no latrines, no drinking water (until this well). The homes are squared huts made of dirt and sticks. The people there are amazing, joyous and dancing for us! You would have thought we gave them a million dollars! It truly humbled me to be among this tribe! What an amazing day we had!

Day 3- Our trip to Cuttington U!

A couple nursing students from our class!
Our group of 5! Love these ladies!
Proffesor Flomo and his beautiful wife
The students that attended our workshop.
Jospehus and I teaching 'Basic care and Therapy' for special needs children.
Our first meal of rice and potato greens, made by the guest home staff.

Day 2.Beach Day!

I wanted to treat our foster families for our 'special kids', to a wonderful day at the beach. It was wonderful and the day was beautiful!


A meeting on the beach with my foster families.
Love Kenneth! This face is priceless!
Martha prepared a wonderful meal of fried chicken, rice and potato salad! It was the best meal of the whold trip!
Pastor Peter saying a prayer and preaching a little!
Josephus and Korpu. I feel so blessed to have him on our team! He has such a sweet heart for this ministry!

A SMALL GIFT CAN MAKE A HUGE IMPACT

A SMALL GIFT CAN MAKE A HUGE IMPACT
Having just recently returned from my trip to Liberia, I saw firsthand how impactful the Forget-Me-Not Children’s Program truly is. Placing kids in trained loving foster family homes is so important to our ‘special needs’ children. We have been amazed at how many of our kids are thriving in their new homes, and how each one of our caregivers is carrying out their mission of taking care of these beautiful children.
However, the Forget-Me-Not Children’s Program in Liberia is in desperate need of a vehicle. Our program is growing, and the logistics of transportation for our local director in Liberia is becoming desperate. He consumes a lot of time, trying to locate an available taxi, sometimes several times a day. He visits our FMN children several times a week, as well as delivers supplies, has several meetings a week with important government offices, hospitals, doctors, as well as taking a child for regular medical care visits . He also must be available to pick up a sick child from our foster homes to take them to the clinic or hospital…this can happen very often because several of our kids are medically fragile. We are also having a difficult time with transporting large amounts of supplies that cannot be transported in a standard taxi. Therefore, a suitable vehicle is needed for this. Again, this is very difficult to find on a daily basis. Roads can be very difficult to navigate in a smaller car, due to all the pot holes, water and dirt roads that get us to the FMN foster homes. It’s not uncommon to wait several hours trying to flag down a taxi. In an emergency situation, this could be devastating to our program if we cannot get care for one of our kids in a timely matter.
Currently we send EVERY penny of our funds directly to our foster family program in Liberia, which in turn utilizes the full amount to benefit our children in need. Our program operates on a per sponsored child basis. We don’t have ANY spare funds that come in, that can cover such a need for a vehicle. We volunteer our time (sometimes can be a 30 hour work week), because we love what we do! I feel so privileged to work alongside a wonderful team that all have a heart for our FMN children. We cannot grow our program without the vital tool we need in having our own transportation.
Please consider helping us in our FMN Children’s Program Vehicle Fundraiser. We aren’t asking for a few people to give large amounts, we are asking MANY to give a little. If we can have 200 people, commit to just $30, this adds up to a $6000 amount. This would help us locate a suitable vehicle for our program. I did some checking on vehicles while in Liberia, and they are extremely expensive!! You cannot find a decent used vehicle,(used but new off the ship from oversees), for less than $5000. We are talking about a vehicle that has over 100,000 miles on it, but is in good ‘used’ shape and has some necessary options like four wheel drive and air conditioning, plenty of space to transport several foster children and large amounts of supplies. My goal is to have all the funds raised in 3 months time, starting on May 1st. Of course we will take ANY donation amount, large or small! We cherish your support of our program, and continue to move forward with great joy in growing this program. The need for our program is desperate. There is no other one program, that ONLY takes in ‘special needs’ abandoned children, and places them into a ‘trained’ foster home. We give these beautiful children a home and the ability to reach their greatest potential with the resources we have.
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the wonderful support and prayers!
Christina Hoffman #651-353-5248 (Director-Stateside for Forget-Me-Not Children’s Program in Liberia)
***Please send your giving amount, with ‘FMN vehicle’ in memo line, to…
Global Orphan Outreach, P.O. Box 97, Ladysmith WI, 54848.

Day 1 or our trip to Liberia for the Forget-Me-Not Children's Program for 'Special Needs' kids

Tanya and Karin
Surprise and I
Our first morning meeting
Our first meal in Liberia after a long two day travel
Trying to load all our donations and luggage into van

My Inspiration!

Josiah finally has his custom wheels!!

The picture above, shows my sweet boy, smiling and proud! After so many months of waiting for his 'trainer' (walker), it has arrived! Now he just has to learn how to move, and be more independent.

For those of you who don't know, Josiah has Cerebral Palsy (full body). He will be three in May, and cannot talk, walk or crawl...yet. He has had every therapy we could possibly have, since we brought him into our family two years ago. Our hopes are very high, and our hearts are full. Having Josiah in our lives has truly changed our lives for the better. He is my inspiration and why I am so involved in helping 'special needs' children in Liberia... http://globalorphanoutreach.com/ForgetMeNotChildrensHome.html

Before we adopted Josiah, we already had our daughters (from Haiti) home for 3 years, and knew that we were 'stretched; with our oldest daughters cognative disability, and really wanted a 'healthy, normal' child. Well, it's funny when we put our request in with God, he does the COMPLETE opposite! He's done this with all three of our adopted children. Being on the other side now, God has used each one of our children to stretch and mold us, taught us not to be idle and comfortable. I can say, I love my life and adore my kids! My three bio boys were so easy and quiet, and just plain EASY!!! I vividly remember thanking God for giving me such easy boys and a comfortable life...then BAM!!! My life changed with several trials and struggles, then Panic/Anxiety Disorder, as well as depression. For those of you who suffer from any of these, you completely understand. Each time I had an episode, I felt like I was dying! It can be very scary and isolating.
After several years on meds, I took myself off of every medication (cold turkey...not recommended), and went into chemical withdrawals. BUT, God chose to heal me of all of it, and use this experience for His glory!

Why am I telling you this? Because going through some very tough times, and being on the other side, God always has a plan for His Glory.
When we adopted Josiah, we had no knowledge of his CP whatsoever!We only knew he had no right hand, not a big deal. When I went to Liberia to get him, he was very sick with Malaria and pneumonia, but I fell deeply in love with this baby boy! It was instant! Remember, we put in a request to God, and figured it was all good. It didn't take long to know something was wrong with our Blessing (Josiah's given name). He was not progressing, not doing a whole lot of anything. A brain scan comfirmed it for us. He had suffered lack of oxygen his first hour of life.

Fast forward a few years now. We could not imagine our lives without him. He is truly a blessing! All of our kids have a special bond and care for him, as well as anyone with a disability of any kind. Scott and I adore him to death!! He is the most beautiful and determined little guy you will meet. He cannot talk, but is extremely smart! We have every hope that he will talk and walk one day in the near future. His life could have been devestating in Liberia. There is very little hope for an abandoned child with a 'special need' in Liberia. Josiah is very blessed to have a birthmom that knew she couldn't care for him, but wanted a family for him. Our Forget-Me-Not Program in Liberia deals ONLY with 'special' kids, and places them in a loving and trained foster home. It's been a lot of work, a ton of hours working together with Donna (director of Global Orphan Outreach),trips to Liberia, tears and perseverance to get our program up and running, but it's finally established and already changing lives. When God placed this program and the need on my heart, I told him he had to find the time in my day for it. Well, he did. I feel so blessed to be the director of this program, and be so involved with the lives of these kids, as well as our caregivers and my team in Liberia. I love each and every one of our FMN kids. My life is very busy, but God continues to give me the time in the day to devote to this program. This is HIS program, and it's to be used for HIS GLORY!
Here we are again, yes in the adoption process since last April, and no special requests to God. Scott and I have just thrown our arms up and are saying, "God, just give us the child you want!" He does anyways! God is soooo good!

Haiti on my heart...

I have not wanted to post anything about Haiti, well, because I just don't know what to say. The whole world knows about the earthquake, we see the pictures and read the words of those in the midst of this horrible disaster. Our daughters are from Haiti, their birth famlies are there, our sponsored child is there. I know we will not hear of there safety for quite some time. I have been reading and hearing some wonderful things happening amidst the devestation. The director of the orphanage where our girls are from, Dr. Jacob Bernard from New Life Link, was able to move all the kids from one of the orphanages, into his home. They have stayed safe and are trying to get a lot of them out of Haiti, that were in the adoption process. There are a lot of families that have been waiting years, and some that have only waited a short time...but they will be getting their children home soon!!!! This is an amazing miracle. If you know anything about Haiti and the process to adopt, this is truly a miracle!!! I can't wait to hear that ALL the children that were in the process, are finally with their forever families. And praying for the orphans that still need someone to be their family.

We continue praying for Haiti, the people and children. Please don't stop praying for this devestated country. Pray pray pray!!!

Want to come to Liberia with me???

Liberia-Africa


Global Orphan Outreach is planning a spring mission trip. Travel date is tentatively the week of April 7th, 2010.



This trip is for those who are interested in becoming more involved in some capacity with one of our special projects and want to see and experience first hand for themselves- Liberia and the needs of its people.



We will be visiting Forget-Me-Not Children’s Homes and its special children, fixing up and decorating some of the foster homes, visiting a University as well as building handicap ramps on campus, hold some work shops, touring Monrovia and the Bong Cty area, taking foster families out for a “day at the beach” including enjoying a Liberian style meal of chicken and rice with them. We hope to tour some hospitals, a feeding center, check out the caustic prevention/education project progress as well as taking time to drive through the 1 million acres of Firestone. There also will be plenty of free time for personal time; spending it however you wish.



Price for airfare, transportation as a group, 6 nights accommodations (air conditioned), food, and $100 donation towards the FMN program while in Liberia will be $2600. (Funds for snacks or souvenirs –you will need separately)



If you are interested in traveling with us or want more information about this exciting trip; please contact Christina Hoffman #651-353-5248 or Donna Barber #715-415-4401



*** Passport, travel visa, and yellow fever shot required***