Picnic Fun!

Sunday was our annual Adoption Ministry Family Picnic at Bradley Lake Park in Puyallup, WA.  Families who have adopted or are in process of adopting with Adoption Ministry – both domestically and from Ethiopia – gathered for an afternoon of great food and fellowship!




















































Special thanks to Anna Jones who organized the picnic and, along with her husband and son, brought all of our decorations and the main dish – you did a fantastic job and we sure appreciate you!

For Poor People

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again…

kids are amazing!

And we know it’s because their parents are doing an outstanding job instilling a worldview that puts Christ first, promotes others over self and includes giving as a lifestyle. 

We told you about a girl who made and sold stick dolls to raise money for formula in our orphanage.  An Awana group saved their extra cash so they could provide a house for a family who didn’t have adequate shelter.  Another boy raised money for a house by selling homemade jewelry and writing and performing plays. 

This month we’d like to tell you about a handsome young man we know who set out on his own fundraising scheme. 



Six year old Andy wanted to do something to help people in Ethiopia who don’t have all the food and toys that he does.  After donating the contents of his piggy bank, he set up a spot in his yard with a bag and a clever sign.  When that wasn’t bringing in what he thought it should, he found a couple of his knives to donate to the cause and labeled them with $6.99 price tags. 

All together he raised $23.53...


which he gave to his very proud Grammy to send to Ethiopia!


Thank you Andy!!

Large or small, these gifts of love given with unselfish excitement and joy are very pleasing to God’s heart.

Links You’ll Like

Five Ways to Minister to Adoptive Families
@lifeway.com
I hope you have seen a rise in adoptive families in your church... While all families — adoptive, foster, blended or otherwise — have unseen struggles, there are some unique challenges that kids who have been adopted and their families face that many kidmin teachers and volunteers may not be aware of.  Here are a handful of helpful considerations from an adoptive dad to help you minister more effectively to these amazing children and their forever families.

Somewhere to Run
@nohandsbutours.com
Unfortunately, the spiritual warfare doesn’t end once the adoption is finalized. It lurks in the background seeking opportunities to hurt our testimony and discredit God’s faithfulness. In fact, adoptive families are one of the most under attack groups of people I’ve ever come across. In talking with adoptive parents, I hear so many of them saying the same thing to me over and over again. The same things I’ve said to myself at various points in the journey. I feel so alone. I feel like I’m failing. The people I counted on for support aren’t supporting me. My social worker didn’t tell me this part would be so hard. The stress is getting to my marriage. Our extended family doesn’t understand what we’re going through. But oftentimes we aren’t as quick to see the see the spiritual warfare on this side of our Travel Approval.

A Note on Spelling
@Afaan Amarina
I often ask people here in Ethiopia how a certain word is spelled in Amharic or Oromiffa. Their usual response to this question is to just say the word slowly rather than write it down. When I write a word down two different ways and ask which is correct, I usually get “you are right!” It’s a hard habit to break, this desire to spell things correctly, but in both languages, if it is written as it sounds, it is written correctly.

Of Light and Shade in Ethiopia
@Yahoo News
It's Sunday and people are out with their umbrellas. Through the wide, golden landscape of northern Ethiopia, terraced from countless generations of touch by human hand, they walk to the nearest town and to the nearest church.

Hope for Lost Mamas
@flowerpatchfarmgirl.com
I never understood the depth of my emotional fragility until an adorable tyrant wormed into my heart.  I never knew how much I sought the approval of others until I felt like I had lost it.

To Mothers of Unattached Children
@overcomingmyself
We are sisters, you and I… We've been the recipients of abuse, emotional and verbal and physical.  We've had to turn the other cheek, put up a brave front, treat others the way they would want to be treated even though they refuse to do the same for us.  We have had to show love- real love, yes, but mostly fake love and somewhere-in-between love- to some of the most unlovable people imaginable, all in the name of healing. 

Four Things to Do When Bringing Home A Child From Hard Places
@Vergenetwork.org
While we were in our process I had followed a few blogs as they brought their kids home and their honesty in the first few months after their children arrived home was so good for me. On one hand I had read that it wasn’t at all easy in those first few months, but on the other hand you don’t really comprehend that until it’s you in those shoes. My biggest advice when you bring your kids home is to know that this is a journey. Two steps forward and three steps back is how I look at it. It’s a long and hard journey and if you thought that your wait for your child was grueling, you have no idea what the next few months/years have in store for you.

Buy a Ball ~ Build a Business!

On Sunday August 24 Adoption Ministry will be hosting a wonderful event to help single women in Ethiopia have the opportunity to operate their own small business and thereby become self-sustaining.

And you don’t even have to attend to be a part of this effort!

Sunday August 24, 2014
3-6 pm

High Cedar Golf Club
Orting, WA

Golf balls are available to donate at $10 per ball using the link below.  Each ball will be numbered and dropped.  The ball landing closest to or IN the hole wins!  A business start-up in the winner’s name will be awarded to a prequalified single mother in Ethiopia through our Adoption Ministry 1:27 program.  The winning ball donor will also receive a fantastic gift basket!

It is our passion to empower vulnerable families in Ethiopia with the opportunity, training and tools to become self-sustaining through an IGA (income-generating activity).  We are seeing the fruit of this effort in many lives already but we need your help to offer this opportunity to many more women.  Here are two ways to take part...


Visit our website to purchase golf balls via our convenient online shopping cart.  Here are the links to our websites where you’ll find the “Buy A Ball” button: 
adoptionministry127.com -or- ywamethiopia.com



If you can, please join us for a tasty BBQ buffet, a silent auction for some amazing items and then watch the balls drop from the sky!  Tickets are $20 per person.



You can register to attend the event by:

• downloading the registration form, printing and mailing it in!  

Adoption Ministry 127 Golf Ball Drop Registration Form

• calling our office with your credit card info ~ 253-770-2283

Deadline to register is Weds August 20 so sign up now!

Thank you so much for helping us empower women through meaningful employment and filling them with hope!