Living, Learning & Loving God!: Donations & Items for the Children

I cannot fully express just how EXCITED I am about leaving in 13 days!! It’s so crazy for me to think that in just a short amount of time I will be IN AFRICA where I can hold…love…play...comfort…support…pray… with all of these orphans!! I’ve been dreaming, praying and thinking about what my time in Africa will be like with all of these children, but I know nothing can fully prepare my heart for what it will actually be like! Once I meet all of these children…get to know them…their names…hold them in my arms…I KNOW my life is going to be FOREVER CHANGED! And I honestly cannot wait. My prayer for a while now has been for God to BREAK MY HEART FOR WHAT BREAKS HIS. I know His heart breaks when He has to see SO many of HIS PRECIOUS children STARVING to death…aching and hurting day AFTER day…having NO mommy or daddy to call their own…and to feel as if there is no hope. I do know that my heart is going to BREAK and ACHE with pain after living out this experience in Africa—but this IS my prayer! I want my eyes to see the REAL meaning in life and I want my heart to LOVE like it has never loved—which is what I’ll be doing with ALL of these children every second I am there. I want to bring them HOPE…I want to give them LOVE and I want to share the WORD of GOD with them. I know and feel it in my heart that spending only two weeks in Africa serving God’s children is not going to be long enough...(I’m praying God uses me somehow & has another plan for me to go back—but for longer than 2 weeks next time! J) But I DO know that during those 2 weeks while I’m there…GREAT things are going to happen and God’s plan will prevail. I know time and love is what those children truly need so I am SO excited to go and give that to them! However, I also know that these children honestly have NOTHING and that they still have such high spirits. My sister, Shelby, and I have been trying to collect and come up with items to bring to Africa to give to these children. Below are a few pictures of items that we’re taking with us to give to God’s children! J I LOVE giving to others and I know that these children are especially going to be so HAPPY, JOYFUL and THANKFUL!

The picture above includes these items: bubbles, balloons, toothbrushes, books, stuffed animals, fabric paint, twister mat & spinner, baby wipes, hats, baseball/kickball bases, coloring books, headbands, barrettes, beach balls, dresses and 4 arts for the nation bags!

Here are the 4 Art for the Nations bags! I was able to call this organization and they sent me ALL 4 of these bags for FREE!!! This is awesome since the money has been a little tight and I want SO badly to bring items to these children! It worked out wonderfully!! So thankful for this organization!! Bless their hearts! Below is a picture of what all comes in one of the art bags. ALL of these supplies! And we got them for FREE! Ahhh...I just LOVE it! :) Each bag has all of the art materials needed to complete about 50 crafts!

Below are some more items that I just picked up at the Dollar Tree store today--how I LOVE that everything is ONE DOLLAR in this store...really makes your money go a long way! The items in this picture include: candy, bible stickers, sidewalk-chalk, flashcards, blankets and children's books. I plan on leaving the blankets and some of the books at the Amani Baby Cottage for all of the babies! :)

If any of you are interested or would like to donate some items to the children in Africa please just let me know!! They would honestly CHERISH your gifts and your donations would be very much appreciated!! My sister and I are willing to pack and bring as many items as we collect—so please just let me know if you’d like to help in any way!!

Our team is also trying to collect as much DMC Embroidery Floss as we can! I’m really trying to collect and get a lot of this because this simple item can truly be LIFE CHANGING! One of our team leaders, Diana, wrote us and said this, “We have an AWESOME opportunity to bring a potential earning option to some of the ladies in the Karamajong Tribe... Pastor Andrew has asked us to help give HOPE to these ladies... so... we are going to teach them how to make friendship bracelets. They are easy, but can be made very creatively and with harder patterns…we will start with easy. We need as much DMC Embroidery Floss that we can collect. I will bring Zip-Lock bags and we can put together several kits to share with the ladies. Wouldn’t it be great to bless them with lots of supplies to make something they can potentially SELL???...at least we can TRY! :)” So, if any of you would like to be apart in helping us CHANGE the lives of these women in need and to bring them HOPE…please consider purchasing some of this DMC Embroidery Floss. It’s such a small thing that can truly make a BIG impact on their lives! Below is a picture of the some embroidery floss in case you’re wondering what it looks like!