Randomness: We're still here

Whoa...it's been a busy couple of weeks!  I've been working at a new job.  We had a really awesome weekend in Calgary with our church.  Then, I came down with a wicked flu, which I'm still fighting off.

So here's where we're at.  Our online auction seems to be wrapping up.  It appears next week may be the last week.  We have a few more generously donated items.  I feel as though the auction is just naturally winding down.  So, we'll accept it and leave it at that.

In the meantime, Lacey and I have been busy making our preparations for the trip.  Lacey received a crazy amount of immunizations on Wednesday.  Ouch, ouch and ouch!  She's a trooper, though and got through all
of them.  I'm up next on April 12th.  Yay.

Both of us have a tonne of physical donations to take with us to Rwanda and Kenya.  I want to say thank you to some special Angels who made that happen for me.

We're constantly going through experiences of faith, which is amazing.  We've had a few emotional moments and have been working hard to battle against the negative spirits that are trying to shift our focus from doing His work.  Please remember to keep us in prayer.

Little Akida and his mom Valerie

Lacey is still accepting cash donations for her immunizations, visas, etc.  I'm still raising funds for Home of Hope and, by now, you know how you can donate for that if you so choose.  Please just keep us all in prayer.  Remember our families, too.  They are sacrificing a lot for us so that we can go do God's work in Africa.  Please also pray for the other donors like you.  We want to make you proud and be an extension of your hands in Africa.

Thank you so much for reading our story and for all of your help and prayers!

Love,
Michelle

You are Amazing, God!

Peter Tumaini was found abandoned and nearly suffocating...
He was rescued by HOH & has been living
in the Dream Centre for almost 2 years. He is a living miracle ♥

Wow!  Praise be to our Lord!  We've had so many miracles occur over the past few days.  The online auction is going so well.  You are all so generous!  We've had quite the "battles" over a few items and it has been really fun to watch.  We've also had some wonderful friends offering to donate their time and talents to our cause.  It's so touching and has brought me to tears of joy and thanksgiving so many times.  I want to say a special thank you to Sarah, Corrine, Dawn, Tina and Dwayne for their thoughtfulness and their amazing ideas!  Thank you to everyone who has reached out to us and who has spread the word about our cause.

I will post updated auction totals on Monday.  Remember, we do not run the auction on Sundays as we observe the Sabbath.

I wanted to share with you all this insightful video from 2011, when Home of Hope opened one of the Dream Centre homes for children.  Take a tour and learn about the wonderful work they are doing to help save babies!

Thank you again and love to you all!

Michelle

Lights, Camera, Action!

We're so excited!  As you can see, we've made some updates to our blog to help you see how we're doing with our fundraising as well as make it easier for you to donate.  Thank you so much for your donations thus far.  We are praying God's blessings for all of you!!

A quick update, Lacey is still at about $1681.78 and I, Michelle, have now raised $448.22!  Slowly but surely we are making it!

We will be starting our Facebook auction within the week and will post a link here.  We now have several more items for all of you to bid on including plumbing services, massage, doula services, and more!

The big news for today is that we will be on Global News Lethbridge tonight with Mark Campbell!  Check us out at 6:00 pm.  The broadcast will also be online.  We will share video here when it is posted.

We will also be appearing on the Miracle Channel program entitled INSIGHT.  We will be on-air twice in March.  Once earlier in the month and again on March 25th.  We will keep you updated you on that as well.

Finally, we'd like to leave you with the following video.  As you watch, let these children move your heart.  Look at what God can do!  Look at what you can do and are doing as you support us to reach these little ones.  We cannot wait to hold them in our arms!

God bless you all!

Love,

Michelle

Awesome Responsibility

First, some updates:  The flights have been booked!  We're counting down to April 30th when we will fly out of Calgary with the HOH Team!  Lacey has raised $1680 so far. (Woo Hoo!!)  I have raised $300. I am looking for a job to help me raise funds, though so far it has been difficult to find something that works around church and our family's schedule.  We will be booking our immunizations soon (ouch!) and are continuing to look for businesses to donate to our online auction, which will unfortunately will not be able to take place before Valentine's Day.

Now to the reason I'm writing today.  I recently received an amazing and completely unexpected donation.  I was so touched by it that I started thinking about how much I feel responsible to each of our donors.  Let me explain.  We, of course, are seeking to do what we can for the women and children of Rwanda and Kenya.  We want to be tools in the hands of our Heavenly Father.  We must not, however, forget that you, our donors, have entrusted us with a great responsibility to see through this mission trip.  We must work hard to raise the funds to completely pay for our trip so that we are able to go to Africa and do this work.  When we are there, we promise to remember each of you as we do the work we are assigned to.  When we see the faces of the children, we will remember that it is because of you that we are able to help them.  It is an awesome responsibility and one we do not take lightly.

In closing I would like to share with you a video about one of the ministries we will be involved in.  It is called The Stella Project.

A special thanks to each of you who has donated, read our blog and said a prayer for us.  May you be greatly blessed!

Love,

Michelle

FUN-draising!

Hello, All!

We've been having such a wonderful time sharing our stories with all of you.  Thank you so much for taking the time to read our blog and follow us on Facebook!  We are in the process of putting together an online auction, which most likely will take place on Facebook.  We have already received a donation of four massage gift certificates from Dawn at Living Earth Massage.  I will be donating gift certificates for birth doula services, good for services in Lethbridge and surrounding areas.  Lacey has been busy making amazing crafts such as princess gowns, boy's ties and children's felt alphabet magnets.  We're looking for other Lethbridge-area businesses who may be interested in donating an item or two to help us raise funds for our mission trip. Our hope is to have the auction take place in time for you to purchase gifts for your loved ones for Valentine's Day. If you or someone you know may be interested, please email either Lacey or myself by Wednesday, January 30th .  Thank you so much!!

Love,
Michelle

Necessary Things

First of all, thank you so much for your amazing response to our undertaking!  We have been so touched by your words, pledges of financial support, and above all your promises of prayer.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Over the next few weeks, we'll be posting some of the items currently needed by the projects we will be assisting with in Rwanda and Kenya.

One item that has come to our attention is desperately needed in the Dream Centre housing the rescued infants in Kenya.  The children there are cloth diapered and their diaper covers are in poor condition.  If you have any gently used diaper covers, "seconds," or extra covers that you no longer need, we would be happy to take them with us to the Dream Centre. Please email Michelle or Lacey or post on our Facebook Event and we will provide you with an address to send these items to.  *Please note: We are located in Canada, so extra postage may apply.

God Bless You!

Love,
Michelle