Operation Giggle

Awesome chance to help bring a child home!!!!

2011-01-28T05:41:00.000-05:00

Hi guys I just wanted to tell you about an awesome fundraiser being done by Matt and Mandi over at The Journey Continues to bring Keliah Faith home. If you don't know Matt and Mandi they are the parents of Drew from New Day. Hop on over and look at what she's got going on I think you will be glad you did. (Also can I just say they came home less than a year ago with two boys and are already on their way to adopting Keliah Faith that kind of stamina, 3 adoptions in less than 2 years, should just be appreciated!!!) So go on over and see Mandi and give what you can to help bring home Keliah Faith!!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Operation Sucsessful!

2011-01-21T04:21:00.000-05:00

I opened my email this morning and those are the words I read. Then I saw this picture:

Praise the Lord! The boxes made it! That makes it worth it. I now have to fight with Fe*Ex to make them see I don't owe $2400 but I know that will all be ironed out in the wash. I just had to share the news.

Also if you want another reason to Praise your socks off hop on over to Striving for 31 and read my bloggy friend Amber's post and you will be jumping for joy twice as high!!

Thank you God for meeting every need.

I will tell you this much when He shows out like this it really convicts me that we haven't filed our paperwork yet...anyone know what the health rules are like for back issues?

Well that is another post for another time...right now it is 4:17 am, and I woke up and couldn't sleep so I checked my email and well the rest is history!

God Bless!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

The Post I have been putting off.

2011-01-18T00:17:00.000-05:00

I have put this post off all weekend. I am afraid. I need a fresh dose of God's power here. I have talked to FedEx time and again and I am having major problems getting ANYWHERE with them. At this point they have sent me a bill for $2400 after we have already paid over $1000 for shipping. I am at the point where I am just a hair behind angry and I need this to all get worked out! I am trying one more avenue tomorrow. I am going to the place I shipped from and I am taking the bill, my reciepts and I am going to camp out until someone helps me. Please pray that we can get these gifts pushed through. I can tell you one thing next year these gifts will be shipped 2 months before Christmas. I can't deal with the stress of the kids not having them already. PLEASE PRAY that this works out! They are asking for money we do not have to be paid for the gifts to be released. At the end of my rope here...God is good ALL THE TIME and I know I am just waiting to see that goodness here!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS!

2011-01-02T18:03:00.000-05:00

Our packages have been held up in customs. They are asking for documentation that has already been sent. I resent it today. They are threatening to send the items back to us at our expense and we just do not have the funds for this. Please pray that God will grant us favor and that these gifts would be released ASAP!

Sincerely,

Sherri D. Roe

Gifts Update

2010-12-27T23:36:00.000-05:00

Hey guys I am working on an update on the gifts. We did hit quite a few snags. First of all the surgery happened so quickly that we had not recv'd all the gifts so we had to wait until a week post surgery to ship. Then they requested some additional paperwork that I am really the only one that could get together and that was another hold up...(for those of you who don't know less than three weeks ago I had a MAJOR back surgery with several screws and rods inserted in my back, this was NOT planned and threw a wrench in EVERYTHING!) But God has provided and hopefully the gifts should be there now. I will update again as soon as possible. God Bless!!

Sherri

Operation Giggle Stateside Info

2010-12-09T11:23:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I want to let you know about Operation Giggle Stateside. We have 9 families who live in a trailer park near our church. Because of the economy these families will not be having a Christmas if we don't do something. Below is a list of the families and a little information about the children. If you would like to sponsor a family by buying (at least) one warm outfit of clothes and a toy for each child as well as some small gift for the parents, or household item that the adults can share please send an email to operation_giggle@yahoo.com these items will need to be purchased and shipped so that we can deliver them on Christmas Eve. If you would just like to donate money to help in this cause please use our PAY PAL button and make sure you put FOR OPERATION GIGGLE STATESIDE in the notes section. Jesus commissioned us to go into all the world but he directed his disciples to start where they were and expand...this is an opportunity for Operation Giggle to make a difference right here in Cleveland, TN. Thank you all for participating!

If a families information is in red that means they have been sponsored.

#1 Husband and Wife and 2 children

3 year old Boy 4T-5T. He likes wrestling toys or cars

7 month old Girl sizes: 6-9 months. Baby toys

#2 Husband and Wife and 1 child

4 year old Boy 4T-5T. He likes Spiderman and wrestling men.

#3 Husband and Wife and 3 grandchildren

12 year old Girl, Size 12.

11 year old Girl, Size 12.

6 year old Girl, Size 6.

#4 3 Adults and 3 kids

8 year old Girl, Size 10-12. She likes DSI games.

6 year old Boy, Size 7. He likes cars and trucks.

8 year old Girl, Size 12-14. She likes DSI games.

#5 Husband and Wife and 2 kids

11 year old Boy, Size 10. He would like underwear (size 8), gloves, toboggan, and video games.

8 year old Boy, Size 8. He would like gloves, toboggan and video games.

#6 Woman and 3 kids

18 month old Girl, Size 24 months. Hat, mittens and boots (size 7-8).

13 year old Girl, Size 16 slim pants, and medium shirts. Would like school uniform clothes (collared shirts) and would like video games.

16 year old Girl, Jr/Miss Size 11 pants, and XL shirt. Would like hair stuff.

#7 Three adults and 1 child

15 month old (Checking on gender). Size 18 months. Would like boots (size 6)

#8 Husband and wife and 5 children

15 year old boy, Size 32x34 pants, XL shirt. Likes music.

12 year old girl, Size 6 pants and medium shirt (in women’s). Would like a Jacket.

12 year old girl, Size 4 (Jr/Miss) pants and Medium shirt. Would like a jacket.

11 year old girl, Size 00 pants (Jr/Miss) and Small shirt. Would like a jacket.

8 year old girl, Size 8 pants and shirt. Would like a baby alive and doll stuff.

#9 Mom and 2 kids

9 year old boy, size 10. Would like soccer stuff.

4 year old girl, size 4T. Likes Hannah Montana.

We're getting closer on shipping!

2010-12-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

Praise the Lord! I checked Pay Pal today and we have had over $300 in donations so far! Thank You! I am going to try to get the boxes packed a weighed on Saturday so that we can get them shipped out the first of next week, please pray everything goes well so that we can get the gifts to the children as soon as possible. As I said before any money that is left over after postage and customs will be put toward Operation Giggle Stateside...we are trying to get Christmas for 22 children who live in a trailer park near our church. If you are interested in giving money toward OG Stateside please do it via the pay pal link and just put in the notes section that the money is for the local children. Once again, every penny that is not "earmarked" will go to shipping and customs first and any money left over will be allocated for the local children. Thank You all again!

I will be checking into the hospital today for my surgery which will be at 2:30 EST. Please pray for me and my family during that time. God Bless!!!

Sherri

Shipping Update

2010-12-07T07:50:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! I wanted to give a little update. We had our wrapping party on Saturday. We had lots of help and I REALLY appreciate it! We have recv'd right around $700 in shipping money. Not all of the sponsors were able to send in $25 for shipping...matter of fact quite a few of them were not able to do so. If everyone had sent $25 that would have been $1375 and we would have had plenty for shipping...However we are now short.

I am not able to cover the difference. Matter of fact I will only be able to check email and the blog myself until Thursday morning. I am going to be having a major (unexpected) back surgery on Thursday and I will be hospitalized for 4-8 days. My dear friend Tara and my family will be taking care of taking getting the packages weighed on Saturday and then we will know what our shipping need is for sure. There is just know way to know this until we get all the gifts. (We are still waiting on 5 that have been shipped but we haven't recv'd). Tara will be guest posting on this website as soon as she knows what our need is and I am going to have to depend on you my faithful followers to let others know about this need. I will be hospitalized and sedated and have no clue what is going on. I trust God to let the right ones know about this need. It's out of my hands. I am going to be out of work for months and even if I was working I don't normally have hundreds of dollars just hanging around :-)! Carrie needs these gifts by the 20th so we need to ship ASAP. I will be checking the blog again over the next few days. You can contribute via Pay Pal. All money will go toward the shipping. When we get enough to cover shipping I will have Tara post that as well. If any extra money is donated it will be used to buy warm clothes for a group of children here in my town that are VERY needy, my church is trying to help them. God knows my heart and he knows my limitations and I have no doubt that he will provide!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

5 "New" Kiddos!

2010-11-22T07:40:00.002-05:00

UPDATED: 9:07AM on 11/30/2010 These 5 are still available. If you would like to make a donation through PayPal to help us buy for them that would be great. You still have time to sponsor one of them as long as the gift is mailed to me by no later than Friday.

Thanks!

Sherri

I just reviewed the New Day site and it looks like there have been 5 kiddos added. So if you wanted to get in on the fun and didn't get to pick a child now is the time. You would need to be able to shop for the child and get the package mailed by the last day of this month.

So here are the fantastic 5!

From left to right: Tony, Evie, Molly, Melissa, and Nicole

Email me if you want to sponsor one of thes cuties!!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Time to mail those gifts!!!

2010-11-18T22:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Guys! Just a reminder all China families need to have their gift to me by the last week of this month. Please make sure to email me if you are going to be unable to do so.

Thanks and God Bless!!!

Sherri

P.S. We will be having a Wrapping Party at my church at 11:30 on December 4th. Everyone local is welcome to come help!!!!!

Shipping Info

2010-10-19T13:55:00.002-04:00

For those of you with shipping questions please click the link below. If you are sending a donation you can do it via pay pal or by ck. Please make cks payable to Sarah's Hope or to Sherri Roe. Please put Operation Giggle on the for line. Thanks!

http://operationgiggle.blogspot.com/2010/09/attention-new-day-sponsors.html

I am still ALIVE!

2010-10-18T23:59:00.001-04:00

Hi guys I had to have an unexpected surgery. I will post more in a few days. Could use some prayers right about now. God Bless!

Sherri

Attention New Day Sponsors!

2010-09-26T23:39:00.001-04:00

We had a request from the Orphanage that we do not include notes and pictures. I know that you would love for your little one to know who loves them but this confuses the children because they associate the pictures as something from their Forever Family. They have enough to process as it is so please do not include a picture of your family in their gift. (Unless you are a matched Mama and Daddy who know for sure you are going to adopt that particular child.) Thanks so much!

We haven't had any takers on the Ethiopian project so I am trying to think of a way to change it up a bit. Any ideas are welcome!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

YWAM: The Ethiopia Project 2010

2010-09-18T22:48:00.001-04:00

PRAISE THE LORD!! All the New Day Children are Sponsored!!!

Lets get started on Ethiopia!!

I have went around and around with myself trying to decide how to do this project.

Here are the basics. We have 161 people that we would like to help in Ethiopia this year. This consists of:

50 widows

30 babies

8 school-aged children in our orphanages

35 street kids in Gimbie

38 Orphanage staff - nannies, cleaners, cooks, nurses

I would love to give out each persons name and let families buy for each person like we did last year. But that creates several problems:

1. It is very hard to get photos of each person where they live (all spread out over a large area) and post them online. If the children are adoptable we can not post those pictures online due to Ethiopian adoption laws.

2. There are specific needs and sometimes their needs are not items that we would normally buy as a Christmas gift.

3. Shipping. We must ship these gifts to Washington and then they are sent with adopting families in their luggage to Ethiopia. That means we must be very careful of weight and size of the gifts we send.

So I have thought long and hard about how to be able to meet these needs and do so in the most efficient and most effective way. Joy and Becky at YWAM have been so helpful during all of this and they recommended making bags for each person. These bags would be a way for the street children to carry their goods as well as make packing easier. The bags we are talking about are made like these but will be made of a more durable plastic and will have Operation Giggle and our motto on them:

Becky and Joy gave us a list of things that would be useful in the bags.

We have went back and forth trying to decide what the best way to do the bags is. I thought about trying to find 164 sponsors to each do 1 (or 2) bags and honestly I think that would be alot of work and a lot of waisted shipping money. So what I have decided to do is post a list of what we need for the bags and asking for volunteers to buy the items (or order them off line and ship them to me through a company like O*iental T*ading.)

For example one of my friends found notebooks on sale and bought notebooks for the 48 students who needed them. One family could buy half the small flashlights (we need 88 of these), or maybe you know a company that could donate all of the wash cloths...you get the idea. Everything will be shipped here and I will round up a "crew" of helpers to assemble the bags and get them ready to mail.

I understand that this takes some of the "fun" out of it because you don't have a face to look at and you don't get to see a wrapped present all ready to go but honestly this ministry isn't about us. It is about those in need and I feel we should help them as efficiently and as effectively as possible and I feel as if this is the way to do it. I hope you feel the same. So without further ado here is our list of needs...can you help?!

I know this maybe a little hard to read but it is the only way I could get it posted. If you want more information about an item or if you would like me to email you the list as an attachment email me and I will be glad to. Also if you can only afford to buy half of one item please email me we will work it out!

Thanks again for all of your help!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

4 More to go!

2010-09-18T19:46:00.000-04:00

Only four more children from New Day Orphanage in China to find sponsor's for...they are Chad, Jayce, Josiah, and Logan. Email operation_giggle@yahoo.com with your name and email address if you want to sponsor one of these sweeties!

Only 5 children left to sponsor from New Day!

2010-09-17T14:35:00.000-04:00

Wish List for New Day Foster Home Children 2010

2010-09-17T14:30:00.001-04:00

Below is the most up to date wish list for the children at New Day.

Anabelle - cute hats and sunglasses, pretty dress

Angela - infant books, snacks

Anton - Toy for 1.5 years old and soft ball

Aurora - (dolls,toy bricks)

Brooke - infant toys, baby food

Caleb - chalks, infant books, toys

Camille - Nice dress and hair stuff (small ones)

Chad - toys with music)

Claire - drawing board, hair bows, school bag

Cooper - balls, cars

Cora - （toys with music)

David- balls

Donovan -balls

Eliana - (toys with music)

Elizabeth - jewelry, necklace, bracelet, clip on earrings (no pierced ones please), watch for telling time so prefer one with hands rather than digital.

Emelia - (dolls, puzzles)

Ethan - vehicle, building blocks, jigsaw

Evangeline - toys with sounds (pref. non battery powered)

Evie - infant toys

Hannah - Stickers, color/activities books, necklace, bracelet, stuffed dog toy

Henry （balls，toys with music）

Jack - balls, toy cars)

Jadeyn - cloth dolls with sounds, toys with music

Jamison (cars,books,balls)

Jayce - infant toys

Jenifer （toys with music）

Jenna - Loves toy cars, dr. or nurse kit, stuffed animal

Joel - He wants cars, train

Joshua - picture books

Josiah - infant toys

Judah - balls, nesting cups, books

Judson - (cars ,balls)

Kiah - cloth and toy

Lindsey - (toy bricks,toy with music,balls)

Logan -(balls, toy cars)

Lucy -（dolls，books，toys with music）

Melody - (dolls , electronic piano )

Noah - (balls,cars, toys bricks)

Owen -(cars balls)

Philip - (cars,toy planes)

Polly - ( stuffed animals, toy with music)

Raegan - drawing board, school bag

Robert - vehicle

Rosie - Toy with lights and sound

Samuel - percussion instrument, building blocks

Serena - Loves jewelry, necklace, bracelet, clip on earrings (no pierced ones please) (sturdier rather than dainty), watch (will be learning to tell time so prefer one with hands rather than a digital, barbie

Shaun (toy bricks ,cars ,balls)

Timothy - vehicle, vehicle books

Vincent - vehicle

Willa - She wants nice dress, hair stuff and beautiful doll

William - balls, electronic piano

Zoe - dolls, toys with music or ringing, pencil (crayon),

5 Children Left!

2010-09-15T16:06:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to update everyone, Chad, Ethan, Jayce, Josiah, and Logan, still need sponsor's!

Please get the word out!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Wish Lists

2010-09-15T09:31:00.001-04:00

I got an email from Carrie at New Day this morning and she has asked the staff to help us by giving ideas for the gifts that the children might enjoy. Carrie also recommended for us to send toys that don't require batteries, because they can not replace them. This is the first wave of information and she is planning on sending information on the other children as soon as it is available...HAPPY SHOPPING!!

Hannah: Stickers, color/activities books, necklace, bracelet, stuffed dog toy

Jenna: Loves toy cars, dr. or nurse kit, stuffed animal

Serena: Loves jewelry, necklace, bracelet, clip on earrings (no pierced ones please) (sturdier rather than dainty), watch (will be learning to tell time so prefer one with hands rather than a digital, barbie

Elizabeth: jewelry, necklace, bracelet, clip on earrings (no pierced ones please), watch for telling time so prefer one with hands rather than digital.

Timothy: _ vehicle, vehicle books

Vincent: _ vehicle

Zoe: — Pencil ( crayon )，toys which can create music or ringing

Donovan: -balls

David-balls

Angela: ——infant books, snacks

Raegan: ——drawing board, school bag

Joshua——picture books

Ethan:—vehicle, building blocks, jigsaw

Robert: ——vehicle

Jadeyn:——cloth dolls with sounds, toys with music

Claire:——drawing board, hair bows, school bag

Samuel:——percussion instrument, building blocks

Judah:——balls, nesting cups, books

Evangeline:——toys with sounds (pref. non battery powered)

Caleb:——chalks, infant books, toys

Brooke:——infant toys, baby food

Josiah:——rice noodles, infant toys

Jayce:——rice noodles, infant toys

Anabelle:——cute hats and sunglasses, pretty dress

Evie: ——infant toys, baby food

Willa---- She wants nice dress, hair stuff and beautiful doll

Joel ----- He wants cars, train

Camille ---- Nice dress and hair stuff (small ones)

Rosie---- Toy with lights and sound

Anton --- Toy for 1.5 years old and soft ball

Kiah --- cloth and toy

19 and Counting

2010-09-14T10:43:00.000-04:00

19 Children left who need sponsors, get the word out as quickly as you can. I am really hoping the children will be taken care of by tomorrow night. I want to post the info about Ethiopia on Thursday morning. Please help me help these children!

Most current Sponsored Children for New Day

2010-09-13T11:03:00.000-04:00

ATTENTION NEW DAY SPONSORS!!

2010-09-11T22:35:00.002-04:00

We have 26 more children to get sponsored. The children that were shown as available on the last post are still available except for : Kiah, Henry, Joshua and Lucy.

Do you know someone who would want to sponsor one of these little ones? Would you consider posting about Operation Giggle on your blog, facebook, or sending out an email to your friends and family?

I would really like to post the information for the Orphanage in Ethiopia tomorrow night but I would like to have all of the children already listed taken first. This just makes things so much easier as far as bookkeeping on my end goes.

For those families who have already picked a NEW DAY CHILD I am going to go ahead and give you some information about what happens next.

This year we are going to have to change the way we do things just a little bit. You live and you learn...and last year was our first year doing this and lets just say we figured out what NOT to do on a few things. :-)

1. The first thing you need to do is purchase a box. You MUST use a 12"x12"x12" box. You should be able to find these locally. If you can not find these locally you can order them on-line. I know it is bothersome to ask for a particular size box but for us to ship the gifts we need to be able to count on how much space your gift will take up. Last year we had some presents that were VERY BIG, I am sure the children loved them but we ended up having a very hard time getting everything packed and shipped.

2. Remember there is a 3lb limit on the gifts please make sure you weigh your gift in the box and that it is under 3lb's if it is not I just ask that you try to give a little extra money for shipping. Which brings me to number 3.

3. If every family that sponsors a child gave $25 toward shipping we would be able to cover it with no problem. I am not requiring that you give $25 nor am I saying to only give $25 you give what you feel is fair but I am asking that if you agree to sponsor a child you give something toward the shipping.

4. After you get your box you may begin buying gifts for your child. Please do not buy clothes, food, or liquids. (the Foster Home is supplied with plenty of clothes and they have asked that we do not send clothes.) Also please do not send battery powered toys and please do not send guns, or any violent toys. We are a Christ centered organization and we would like this reflected in the gifts.

I understand that these requests are different then last year and if you have agreed to sponsor a child already and feel that due to these requests you are unable to sponsor that child now please let me know. I hope everyone understands that these requests are made to keep things fair and so that we will be able to continue to provide gifts without a financial hardship with the shipping.

Once you have your gift and are ready to ship it you may send it to:

Operation Giggle
123 Cedarwood Trail NW
Cleveland TN 37312

Thank you so much for sponsoring these children. Remember what James 1:27 says: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

Lets make this Christmas wonderful for these children!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

22 children have been sponsored!

2010-09-09T11:01:00.000-04:00

22 children have been sponsored so far!

Below is an updated Sponsored List.

The children with Santa hats and scarves have beensponsored!

Update! 12 children have been sponsored!

2010-09-08T15:44:00.000-04:00

The following children with Santa hats and scarves have beensponsored today!

Caitlin
Eliana
Emelia
Hannah
Jack
Judah
Melody
Noah
Robert
Rosie
Vincent
Willa

New Hope Children

2010-09-07T00:53:00.287-04:00

I am posting our first "wave" of children. If you see a child you would like to sponsor please send me an email at operation_giggle.yahoo.com in the subject line please put the name of the child you want to sponsor.

If you ask to sponsor a child this year things will be a bit different. First of all there will be a specific box that you will be asked to purchase. I am checking with the major retailers as well as the post office to find a box that will work for our needs and that should be available in most areas. The cost of the box will be very minimal. If you can not find the box I will mail you one after you donate the cost of the box plus the cost of shipping it to you via pay pal or by mailing me a check. I hate to have to be so strict on the boxes but if you were one of the people trying to pack ALL THOSE TOYS! And also trying to make sure the gift giving was fairly even...you would understand the need to keep the box sizes the same.

Also we would really like to have everyone who is buying a gift make some sort of donation toward shipping. The shipping prices I have gotten are over $1000 and we really need help paying that shipping. If you can not afford to do both then please let me know. I am sure we will have some people that do not have time to shop for toys but are willing to just give money toward the shipping.

Last year was such a great success! We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for this year!!

So without further adieu...here are the children from New Hope!

Please remember that some children may be matched with a family if you request a child that is matched with a family and you are not that family you may be asked if you want to pick another child or be on the waiting list for that child. If the Forever Family hasn't contacted me by October 15th I will match those children with whom ever is first on the waiting list. We will be partnering with YWAM again this year to help in Ethiopia. We are still ironing out the specifics but I will let you know when I have the details.

One last note, I am working full time this year so please be patient when waiting on a response. I commute 2 hours a day work 8 hours a day and take care of my family...I am not ignoring you, just trying to do it all... I will update later in the week with a reminder of what is and is not allowed to be shipped and other important information.

I have recruited a helper...my best friend and all around cohort in crime Tara helped me get this post ready and is going to be helping me with some of the massive amount of emails I get...over 700 last year! I am so blessed to have her in my life and honored that she is working with me on this.

For now if you want to sponsor a child please send me your name, your email, and the child's name you would like to sponsor.

God Bless You All!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Coming Soon!

2010-08-25T15:49:00.000-04:00

I will be adding pictures of cute little boys and girls who need someone to buy them Christmas gifts soon! I am going to try to spend sometime working on this in the next three or four days. Check back next week!

Thanks!!

Sherri

Let's get this party started!!!

2010-05-29T20:42:00.000-04:00

So this year I am determined to start out earlier and work smarter at getting Christmas delivered to all of the sweet children that God places in our path. The first thing we need is shipping money. Last year we cut things really close and were praying the money in at the end. God provided but it did make things a little stressful around here! Anyway I would like to know if anyone has any grand ideas for ways to raise the money for Operation Giggle shipping. I would love to sell something that had our logo on it or I would love to sell something that already gives some of it's profits to orphans. Any ideas?! If so leave a comment! So excited to see what God is going to do this year!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Go check this out!

2010-03-16T00:15:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I will be posting some info about Operation Giggle in the next few months we are going to start fundraising early this year but for now PLEASE go to http://bringingdrewhome.blogspot.com/ this is a family I met in this whole process they were one of our donors last year and now they need some help getting their 2 SONS home! Please go and give whatever God leads you to give!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

New Blog

2010-01-30T12:00:00.001-05:00

I just wanted you to know you can follow our new family blog at http://romans12-9.blogspot.com/

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Cool contest I found to win free groceries for a year

2010-01-18T10:11:00.001-05:00

Hey, I just entered this contest on Cozi.com to win free groceries for a year. All you have to do is put in your email address.

Even if you don’t enter, please click the link to help me win. (I get an extra entry for telling you.) Thanks!

View >>

YWAM Pictures!

2010-01-15T13:57:00.002-05:00

Please click on this link to go see pictures of the YWAM gifts being given. http://www.thatwemightbeadopted.blogspot.com/

I am not going to blog about this right now...my heart is to full! I think I will wait a few days! Thank You all so much!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Unsatisfied

2009-12-28T10:56:00.000-05:00

My new blog is being designed now so it will only be another week or so and I will move this discussion to that blog and keep this one about Operation Giggle stuff only but until then...

I have a recipe for you!

How to become completely unsatisfied with living under God's expectation level for you:

1. You must be saved for this to even matter. If you are great, if not email me I have an amazing (but true) story about the God of this universe leaving his throne to save you. I would love to share what his salvation did for me.

2. Watch God show up and show out in some unbelievable way (like providing Christmas to 130 children through a little blog with a silly name.)

3. Meet some awesome spirit-filled men and women along the way, allow them to encourage you and ask God to help you encourage them. Watch God be BIG in their lives.

4. Challenge yourself to read at least one of these AWESOME blogs....

http://the30dayjourneyforhope.blogspot.com/
http://theheidaway.blogspot.com/
http://blessingsfromethiopia.blogspot.com/

or

http://audreycaroline.blogspot.com/
http://newdayfosterhome.blogspot.com/
http://adamadiaries.blogspot.com/
oh this could last all day...I've got to stop.

5. Be a member of a spirit-filled church with a Pastor who loves God more than he loves the approval of men.

6. Pick up a copy of Crazy Love and READ IT!

7. Fall in love with a former orphan who just happens to be your best friend’s daughter (which makes her your niece).

8. It also helps to be married to a wonderful Godly man who is going through it all with you but more times than not you have to pray that God will help his heart catch up with yours...after all men are formed and women are fashioned...but that's for another day.

All of these things happening over a few months will make you COMPLETLY and TOTALY sick of yourself. It will make you realize how BIG God is and how he intends us to leave a mark on this world...not just tip-toe through it while doing your best to be comfortable.

Now for a (long) quote from Crazy Love....

"If one hundred people represented the world's population, fifty-three of those would live on less than $2 a day. Do you realize that if you make $4000 a month, you automatically make one hundred times more than the average person on this planet? Simply by purchasing this book (Crazy Love) you spent what a majority of people in the world will make in a week's time.

Which is more messed up-that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don't think we're rich? That on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves "broke" or "poor"? We are neither of those things. We are rich. Filthy rich."

I will warn you. Being unsatisfied with mediocrity doesn't feel good. It makes you second guess that $5 cup of coffee and hate that gas guzzling car you drive. It makes you want to spend nothing and give everything but it's not until we realize how much excess is around us that we can stop the financial bleeding and begin to align ourselves to his purpose. Please pray for my family as we go through this change...we want to be transformed in HIS true image. Not the image we have of him.

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

MY LIFE IS NOT MY OWN!

2009-12-27T22:19:00.000-05:00

I swear I have been taught more by women I may never meet than I have by Sunday School teachers that taught me for a dozen years. I am in a place right now that I am not ready to talk about but I do know my life is not my own...

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:23:00.000-05:00

Well it's 6:33 a.m. here in TN but I just had to get up to see the pictures Carrie was sending me and it was well worth it. I thought I would go ahead and post them just because I know there are other mommies and daddies and sponsors out their dying for a glimpse of their little one this morning. So I am going to post as a slideshow. If you want a picture emailed to you email me and I will be glad to send you a copy!

First I wanted to share some of Carrie's email:

Well, Christmas morning was a big success! The gifts were amazing - please thank everyone for us. It's clear a lot of thought and love went into picking out the presents. We got at least one picture of every child with their gifts; I'm sorry there aren't more, but it was so chaotic and hard to take pictures of 50 children all at once! Please tell all of your sponsors to watch the foster home's website in the coming days, because we're working on some scrapbooks, so you might be able to see more pictures of your sponsored children there.

...in the end you should have at least one picture of each child except the following little ones who were in the hospital and will get their presents later:

Catherine
Cora
Hong Nan
Jennifer

And the Hohhot foster children. We'll do our best to take the presents and get them to those children, but in the last month, some of the children who were in our program no longer are... so, they might not go to the original child. But, we'll do our best to pass out the gifts and get pictures...

... We hope you enjoy the pictures... please share them with the sponsors and pass on our appreciation. Operation Giggle was a HUGE success, and I hope this becomes a tradition!

I agree that this should become a tradition but I now have a better understanding of how to do it. So I will start Operation Giggle Christmas 2010 in September. But continue to check back because I plan on doing some other things throughout the year. Also I want to remind you that if you see some other little sweetie opening a gift you bought for a specific child it might be because your gift weighed thirty pounds and we had to break it up :) I know, I know, it is hard to stop buying for them once you start...so we did send a large box of extras to Carrie so they can bless the new little one's as they arrive. Thank You again for all of your help! But most of all PRAISE GOD for working the crooked places out and allowing all of this to happen. God Bless You All and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Now what you've all been waiting for...let the giggling begin...

The gifts are under the trees!!!

2009-12-22T23:01:00.002-05:00

I just got some information I wanted to share with everyone..

They are having Christmas in 3 different places at the foster home tomorrow morning, and they are going to do their best to get pictures of all the children opening presents so that each OG sponsor family can have at least one picture of their child enjoying the gifts.

However, they are not going to be able to get the presents to Hohhot Foster children for at least another month. So those pictures will be delayed.

Here are some pictures of the trees arround the foster home. I will post more pictures as soon as I have them. God Bless You All!

By the way THANK YOU CARRIE for keeping us up to date!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Update (the updated version...lol)

2009-12-22T13:21:00.001-05:00

So Carrie and the New Day Group now has the gifts but they did have to pay about $138 in extra customs charges..ugh! We are so glad the gifts are there safely. Please check back for updates!

In Christ Alone,
Sherri

P.S. Please say a prayer for me I have Pneumonia and I feel it! Thanks Guys!

I have had a couple of emails about this...I have had one donation...if you want to donate to be able to cover this you can. I will forward to Carrie. Thanks

Int'l shipment release=Yippee Jesus!

2009-12-17T11:47:00.002-05:00

They released it and it will be delivered today (will tonight while we sleep). So the first four boxes are through. Now we just have to get the last two through. Please continue to pray!!

Thank You God!

Sherri

Clearance delay=Please Pray UPDATE

2009-12-16T10:38:00.001-05:00

Ok so I spoke to Fed Ex and they are wanting to know EXACTLY what's in the boxes...like we have 8 dolls and 10 trucks...ect. Of course we don't have that information. So we are working with FedEx to resolve this. Please pray that God steps in and pushes both shipments through.

Dear Heavenly Father,
You know who holds the key to these gifts getting to China. Please soften their hearts and allow all of the gifts to make it through. We trust you completly! We are just waiting to hear that you have shown up and shown out. In Jesus name we ask all of this!Amen!

Anyone know what those words mean when you are shipping something to China????? That is what the FedEx website said this morning....It's in Beijing but there is a clearance delay. Please pray this clears up and that the items are delivered safe and sound tomorrow.

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

IT'S ALL MAILED!

2009-12-12T14:27:00.000-05:00

I got the last of the gifts mailed this morning! We spent right at $975 for shipping, boxes, and shipping supplies ($903 in shipping alone!!). That means I have $100.00 to send to the Milk Money Program we will make this donation on Thursday. I just want to leave it open for a few days to make sure no one else had a donation that they would like to add to our $100.00 if you want to donate to the Milk Program please feel free to do so before Thursday. Thank you all so much for everything! Looking forward to sitting back and watching these gifts be opened now!

Have a great weekend!

Sherri

A Happy Post from one Tired, Sick, and Blessed Girl!

2009-12-12T07:31:00.000-05:00

So I am proud to say 4 of the 5 boxes have been mailed. Thanks to a very generous shipping company employee we were able to send 4 boxes for $480.00! We still have one more box that we just could not fit into my car to take to Nashville with us but we think we should be able to mail it for between $200-$300. I am going to mail it this morning. So with us having to spend under $800 on shipping we will have at least $200 for the Milk Money Program!!! So thankful for that!! The first batch of gifts is set to arrive next Thursday. Please pray that God keeps all of the gifts in tact and that they pass customs and are delivered unharmed. We had some issues with the Postal Code so pray that everything makes it to the right place!

I want to say a big THANK YOU to my best friend Tara she drove me and the boxes to Nashville. I was sick and there is no way I could have drove myself. We didn't get back till somewhere around 1:30 this morning. Sorry "L" but I didn't think L'il Miss and the boys or the Pres for that matter would want you out running the roads at midnight but Tara and I are planning a road trip just for fun after the first of the year and we will call you then for sure!!!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. As I said I am sick...couging ears hurting...ect...ect so I am going to ship a package, get a shot and go to bed!!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

A giveaway, shipping news, a roadtrip, and other things on my mind right now!

2009-12-10T10:19:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! If you have a heart for Africa go visit http://www.mattandmandi.blogspot.com/ she has an awesome giveaway today! She just won a giveaway here at Operation Giggle today also for posting about our cause! I know that we would have never been able to do it without those of you who posted about our needs! Thank You all!!!

Also I have great news about shipping. We have worked it out and we will be shipping tomorrow (from Nashville) and we will be able to ship for aprox $500-$600 PRAISE GOD! Please remember Tara and I in prayer as we make the trip to Nashville tomorrow night to take all of the toys.

Have a great weekend!!!

Sherri

Winners

2009-12-10T10:11:00.001-05:00

I have been meaning to annouce the winners of the drawing for the dresses and wall art.

Dress #1 goes to: Nicole at http://journeytoourlittleladybug.blogspot.com/

Dress #2 goes to Mandi at http://mattmandi.blogspot.com/

And last but no least the wall art goes to Heather at http://keepingupwith5.blogspot.com/

Congratulations ladies! And a big THANK YOU to everyone who blogged about Operation Giggle!!
If you were a winner email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com to find out how to claim your prize!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Calling all Prayer Warriors

2009-12-09T09:32:00.000-05:00

Ok so we have been wrapping and packing and unpacking and rearranging and repacking since Sunday.

It is going to take at least 4 20x20 boxes if not 5 to ship this stuff....that is around $1800-$2100 in shipping costs!

Well we might have an answer...a friend of a friend thinks he may be able to get us a discount. A BIG discount. So please pray this works out!!!!

Thanks!

Sherri

Adoption

2009-12-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

I am copying this from another blog....http://theheidaway.blogspot.com/2008/03/reality.html

But it is exactly how I feel about adoption...I know others feel the same!

Imagine a building with many windows and one door. Inside that building are orphans of every race, suffering in every color, pain of every degree. You KNOW what is in there. Now imagine that every day thousands of people walk right past that building. Some are too focused on their own lives to even take a peek in the windows. Some take a peek, can't bear the pain that the sight brings to surface in their own hearts, and then shield their eyes and continue on their way. Some peer inside, shed some tears, and feel a bit of compassion for the ones suffering. Then some, a few, actually step inside the building. They engage with the hurting souls. They look into the eyes of these children and mothers and fathers and see their own. Their own flesh and blood. And then they do something about it. Because, once you have engaged with the suffering, you can't NOT do something. You can't go back to your suburban American capitalistic dream and thank the Good Lord for blessing you with your comforts, food, wealth, and health. You can't do it. You shudder and realize, Woe to me for not seeing this suffering before. For not seeing these souls as my own. For not doing unto others as we would have done unto us. As we would want done unto our own white children.

I pray that God uses that blog to reach so many people that it amazes the author. I know it reached me.

New Update!

2009-12-05T14:14:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! We got snow here in TN today so it has been a great day!

I have all of the gifts except for 4 of them. If I don't get those today I will have to look for other sponsors locally or take some of our money to sponsor these children.

I also noticed today that the following names had been added to the New Day Home Page however they were not showing up under new arrivals and I haven't seen them until today:

Matthias (he looks familiar does anyone know if this is just a name change?)
Sunny
Li Yang
Feng NV
Li Qun
Caroline
Karly
Brittany
Jonah

I will be emailing Carrie about these but I am afraid these are new children without sponsors. If you live in the area and would be willing to buy gifts for one of these children please email me. If you live somewhere else but you want to give extra money to buy for these children please let me know. Even if we spend only $20 a child that is almost $200. Our total right now is around $1000. If Shipping (and buying the boxes only costs $850.00 that means we have between $150-$200 which would mean that all the extra money would go to buying gifts not Milk Money. Please pray about this. It didn't surprise my God when I saw these names I am sure he has a plan. Part of that plan may be evening out what was bought for the other children because we had several boxes that weighed WAY more than 3lbs....I love you people!

Trusting God to get us through this home strech!!!

Sherri

Strike Lord Strike!

2009-12-03T15:29:00.000-05:00

Truth is truth, and in the end God, like lightening, is looking for a conduit. ~Unknown

I read that today. I re-read it. I let it sink in and then I came straight here to post.

God is like lightening and he is looking for a conduit...

The definition for conduit is: means by which something is transmitted.

Hmmm so that means God is looking for a means to transmit himself to this world. You know that is exactly what happened with Operation Giggle. I said "God I want to do something awesome for these kids but I can't do it on my own. I don't have enough. Not enough money, not enough knowledge, not enough help, not enough strength, not enough power." It's like He said..."oh you are willing but don't have enough...well guess what...I'M ENOUGH!" That's all it took...I posted a blog and BOOM the lightening of God conducted himself through not only me but all of you and these 130 children were shown love. It's amazing. It's outstanding. It's exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ask or even think...HOW? well, according to the POWER that works in me...(remember I'm not enough so...) that POWER is JESUS CHRIST! *This is Ephesians 3:20 if you didn't know* That POWER is what saved me, it's what has kept me since I was saved at 13 years old it's the POWER I use to get up in the morning and the POWER I use to be a mother, wife, employee, sister, friend, daughter, ect, ect, ect. HIS POWER IS ENOUGH!

So now that we have that settled I feel led to tell you about the next phase of my life that I will have to trust in his POWER to take care of. My husband and I sent in our preliminary adoption application on December 1st. I know that God has led us to this place. I feel his POWER all over me when I look at the faces of those without a home. I know that God has a plan...A GREAT PLAN...full of POWER to get this adoption done. But I don't have a plan. I have no clue how to raise the $25,000-$30,000 that it will take. I have no sewing ability, I can't make bows...I blog, I scrapbook, I teach, I preach, I organize, I work...those are the things I do...so I have no clue how God will turn those things into the money we need but here is the amazing thing...it's not about what I do. It's about what HE does, and HE PROVIDES, HE LOVES, HE CARES, HE IS IN CONTROL, and of course HIS POWER is enough for whatever I go through. So God you are the lightening...we are standing here in the middle of this new place with our arms extended in praise we are just waiting on you to strike. Please pray for our family as we take this journey. God Bless You All!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Praise God for He is good and worthy of our praise!

2009-12-03T12:02:00.000-05:00

I have GREAT news!!! I spoke with F*dEx today about shipping our gifts. After looking at the gifts I am convinced that we just don't need two pallets to get it all there. So I talked to a great guy who helped me out and he said if we can fit all of the gifts in two 24 by 24 boxes (which I think we can 31 gifts in each box) it will only cost us $840.20 to ship...Plus the cost of the boxes and shipping supplies...this means we should be able to ship for around $900! We were counting on somewhere between $1300 and $1500! So we should be able to send the milk program between $400 and $600! Praise God!

Thank you all so much for praying over this need! Please plan to attend the party on Sunday at Fairview to wrap and prepare these gifts for shipping. We need all of the help we can get! I will be taking the boxes to ship them on Monday morning and I will be posting the final shipping total here along with how much we were able to send for the Milk Money program. Please be praying that all of those gifts will fit into the boxes...I know the same God that made a few fish and a little bread feed over 5000 can make 31 presents fit into a 24x24 box! I have no doubt that God's hand of provision and protection has been on top of this effort this entire time. I have had such a wonderful time on this journey. I have made friends that I know will last a life time and I am a little sad to see it end. But I am not so sure that it has to end at all...after all Valentines Day is in February...I know that those cuties could use a little extra love...but lets just get Christmas taken care of first!

By the way I still have a few people who haven't sent me their gift yet...just 3 or 4 but please get those gifts over-nighted to me today! I will be forced to go and purchase gifts using some of our funds that I would like to send for Milk Money if I don't have them by Saturday at lunch...I don't want to do that but I can't let any little cuties go without gifts!

Thank you all so much for your help but most of all THANK YOU HEAVENLY FATHER for all of your good gifts in my life!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Oh how He loves us!

2009-12-01T13:16:00.001-05:00

He is jealous for me

Love's like a hurricane,

I am a tree

Bending beneath the weight of

His wind and mercy

When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory

and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so

Oh, how He loves us

How He loves us so.

(x2)

Yeah, He loves us

Oh, how He loves us

Oh, how He loves.

(x2)

We are His portion and

He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption

by the grace in His eyes

If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking

So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns

violently inside of my chest

I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way

He loves us,

Oh, how He loves us

OH, how He loves

(x2)

Yeah, He loves us

Oh, how He loves us

Whoa, how He loves us

Whoa, how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us

He loves us

He loves.

Yeah, He loves us

Whoa, how He loves us

Whoa, how He loves

He loves us,

Whoa, how He loves us

Whoa, how He loves

This is my new favorite song. You can search for it on You Tube. It's great. I love the picture...notice it has 5 trees...

One Week Away!

2009-11-28T18:20:00.001-05:00

With less than a week to go I wanted to update the site again. I have a few quick things to go over.

#1
I still have 17 gifts that I haven't gotten. Out of those 6 are local families and I know they will be bringing theirs to the wrapping party. So I really only have 11 more gifts that I am waiting on. If you haven't mailed your gift please email me and let me know the status!

#2
The wrapping/shipping party will be next Sunday at 3 p.m. at Fairview Worship Center in Cleveland TN. If you are local please come out and help us!

#3
I need a few extras! If you never got to sign up for a child but would like to help I have a few "light" presents and I would love for some extras to make everything even. Please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com if you would like to help.

#4
The shipping fund has $1007.75 (18.97 is Milk Money) at this moment. We need to raise $511.22 in the next week. If you have an extra $10 laying around please go on pay pal and send it our way. It will be put to good use! If 25 families send an extra $20 in it would take care of the rest of the shipping. My family will be family number 1 so I just need 24 more families!!!

#5
If you are local I need help over the next week! I need someone to pick up pallets, I need someone to help haul boxes to the church, I need wrapping paper, tape, bows, ect. Please email me if you can help!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST
Don't forget the raffle! We will be drawing next Sunday for both dresses and the wall art!!! Please be sure to enter.

3 ways to enter

1. Donate $2.00 and put for Dress #1 in the notes section
2. Post about Operation Giggle on your blog (and then post a comment on our blog telling me you did so!)
3. Send out a mass email about Operation Giggle and copy me on it (sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com).

God Bless You All!!!

Sherri

Ok...so I can't add!

2009-11-25T06:26:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to update you on the New Day shipping...if you know me outside of the blogging world you know that I am BAD with math. It is a running joke around here...well I just double checked my Excel formulas and it turns out I had added two "cells" in two times each so our actual total is $952.75 and $18.97 of that is Milk Money so we have $933.78 toward shipping. We still need to raise $566.22. If you haven't sent your gift in yet please include a donation to help ship it if at all possible. If you did not sponsor a child but still want to help you may do so by clicking the donate now button on the right side of this blog.

Just in case you haven't looked at the comment posted by a reader (Meliske) below I wanted to repost it here...

Oh my goodness! What a small world this is! This weekend some very close family friends traveled to Ethiopia from Washington with 4 suitcases- 1 suitcase of clothes and 3 suitcases of gifts donated for the children in the orphanage! Brian and Alex, daddy and big brother (9 yrs old) carried the gifts you sent. They were not charged any extra fee, due to what was inside the suitcases, and they arrived in perfect condition. Thank you for your prayers, as they protected some people who are very dear to my heart. Alex and Brian have met their newest addition, a beautiful 21 month old girl, and they will all be returning to Washington this Saturday, where mommy and another big brother and a big sister are waiting.

Praise God for his provision and protection over this family. God is SO good! Pray for this family as they continue their journey home!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

NEW DAY WRAPPING SHIPPING PARTY UPDATE

2009-11-23T13:03:00.000-05:00

If you would like to help get everything ready to ship for the New Day Children please let me know. We will be meeting on Sunday December 6th at 3 p.m.

I will post more information as it becomes available!

Thanks,

Sherri

New Day Shipping Update

2009-11-21T11:51:00.002-05:00

I am very glad to tell you that after reviewing all of the donations that have poured in over the last week we now have $916.56 toward shipping and $ 18.97 toward Milk Money. Thank you all so much. If you haven't sent your package yet please try to send some shipping money to help get your package to China. We still need over $500 for shipping and we would like to raise more for Milk Money! Praise the Lord for people to partner with that are so giving!

God Bless You All!

Sherri

Need Your Info!

2009-11-21T00:00:00.001-05:00

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Things are going so wonderful!

If you have made any sort of donation or sent a gift or donated time or anything at all please send your name and address along with a short discription of what you did to my email address sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com ... something like this:

Sherri D. Roe
452 Main Street
Somewheresville, TN 78936

I bought for Joe Doe and donated money to shipping.

Thank you all so much!

God Bless!

Sherri

The packages arrived!!!

2009-11-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

I spoke to the YWAM group in Washington tonight and they got the packages! It should be on its way to Ethiopia later tonight. Please pray for those carrying the gifts and for an easy trip through customs. Please pray that our gifts will arrive unharmed and completely untouched. PRAISE GOD THAT WE MADE IT THIS FAR! Because of God's blessing and your obedience we have touched the lives of over 80 children, women and several young men. Thank you God for providing everything we needed!

A Psalms 30:2 Kind of Day

2009-11-16T13:06:00.000-05:00

Psalms 30:2 says O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me.

That was the kind of day I had yesterday. I was in so much pain Saturday. Pain that was so bad I was in tears. I hate that kind of pain.

I got into a chair at home on Saturday night and sat their on the heating pad hurting so much. Finally I got into bed with the help of my family and I spent a horrible night tossing and turning. So tired but awaken time and again by pain. Sometime in the morning I got up to use the bathroom it took me forever just to walk the short distance to my bathroom and do my business and get back in bed. I just couldn't even think about spending the whole day like that. I wanted to worship the Lord and enjoy myself I had the Operation Giggle meeting and I just wanted to be WHOLE. I was laying in my bed with my wonderful husband and my son. My dauther was asleep (not for long). I told Mitch that I was going to have my dad (who is also our Bishop) to lay hands on me and pray for me when we got to church. I started just saying alound how I knew that God could save me. How I knew that Jesus said that FAITH could make us whole. I believe that. I believe that God has good plans for me and that He loves me and doesn't want me to live in pain. Well I was laying there and I thought wow I'm not hurting so I moved a little...no pain...I sat up (took me 3 minutes to set up when I went to the bathroom) NO PAIN, I stood up...NO PAIN, I walked NO PAIN, I ran...NO PAIN...I shouted (and woke my sleeping daughter up). NO PAIN. God is so good. I asked and he answered. Thank you heavenly father!!

Praise The Lord!

2009-11-15T20:21:00.000-05:00

First I want to say a BIG HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who showed up today. Everything went great!!! We have all of the gifts ready to pack except for just a couple that have been mailed but haven't arrived yet. We did take some pictures and I'm going to see if I can get those emailed to me so that I can post them here. I am just amazed at what God has done. He has taken care of 83 YWAM children completly. I have a few more figures to run but I also believe that the shipping has been taken care of. Praise God! I am hoping to get everything mailed by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning at the latest please pray for me while I try to tie up all the loose ends. Have a great weekend.

P.S. God healed my back I'll post more about that later!

Sherri

Today is the day!

2009-11-15T09:23:00.000-05:00

Don't forget we are meeting today (go to the Events tab for more information). I have had a couple of donors back out. So I have two children that need gifts purchased for them. I also have two children who need $25 sponsors. If you are local and could buy for the two children please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com and let me know. If you aren't local but could donate the money for the gifts let me know that as well. If you want to be a $25 donor please email me as well. Please keep us in your prayer if you are to far away to make it today!

God Bless!

Sherri

Down to the wire!

2009-11-14T06:50:00.000-05:00

Good Morning everyone! I am so excited about what God is going to do this weekend. Please be in prayer for my church today we are doing our 5th annual Dirt to Destiny Women's Conference. I am having a fit out of my back, I had surgery on it a couple of years ago and it seems to have picked the busiest weekend I've had in a year to act up. I beg for your prayers during this day. I will not be able to check email or this site until after 4 EST.

Now on to Operation Giggle stuff...I still haven't recieved all of the gifts please email me and let me know if you HAVE NOT mailed your gift for the YWAM children. (New Day (China) gifts are not due until Dec 1st). We still need to raise around $50 for shipping. Praise God for helping us find cheaper options and for the donors who have given so far. Please be much in prayer that everything will go smoothly over the next few days due to our TIGHT timeframe. I will be sitting down tonight to email each of the sponsor's that I haven't gotten gifts for (except for those of you who email me and tell me you haven't mailed them). We are believing God for everything to work out just fine for these children. I am standing on His promises and believing him to take care of everything. God Bless!

Sherri

Important Prayer Request

2009-11-12T20:56:00.001-05:00

Thank you all for everything you have done so far!

Please pray about the shipping cost to Washington. When we first looked at those costs we thought we would be shipping about 50 lbs worth of gifts now it has turned into 150. We need to come up with funds to take care of this. Please let me know if you have any ideas at all.

If you think your church would be willing to take up an offering to help or if you know of a business that might help sponsor shipping please let me know. I am waiting on prices from a couple of shipping companies but at this time it looks like it may cost between $500-$750 in shipping. I know that God didn't bring us this far to leave us and I also know that this doesn't surprise him. He is all knowing. Please pray about this matter.

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

5 p.m. November 11, 2009

2009-11-09T11:17:00.002-05:00

2 YWAM Children Left!!! Yippee Jesus!!! Get the word out! We need two more sponsor's in the next 2 days!!!

In Tears...

2009-11-09T10:27:00.001-05:00

I just had a chance to sit down and open up some of the gifts that have been sent so far and WOW! You guys are awesome I can't wait for the kids to get these gifts. Thanks for the extra in shipping too! We have another $45 toward the shipping now!

If you are helping in the YWAM (Ethiopia) program please make sure you mail your gifts out in the next couple of days I need them by Friday (Saturday at the latest).

Also if you are making a donation on-line please make it by Thursday night if possible so that I can transfer everything on Friday. Thanks again!!!

Sherri

Two-a-Days

2009-11-07T07:25:00.001-05:00

I'm a football girl...I don't mean I wear orange on game day and claim to be a football fan I mean I LOVE football. My Dad had two daughters and we loved what he loved. This love carried over into my adult life so on any given Saturday you will find my husband and I are watching any football game that we can find on TV. I love college football (GO VOLS! Hey I know everyone who reads this is from all different places and I'm sure you may not follow my obsession but hey...I'm writing here :-)!) I also love high school football. We have season tickets to the games at our local high school (GO BEARS!) and we have had them for years...my dad had his when I was in high school so lets just say it's been longer than a decade! I said all of that to say I know football terms and if you don't let me explain the title...two-a-days refers to the time at the end of the summer right before the season begins when the coaches hold two practices a day. This week is also referred to with other names by the players but none that I'm willing to post :-)! It is a hard time. The players are tired and want to rest but the coaches ask for more...twice as much! Well guess what?! It's time for two-a-days for all of us! We are down to the last 6 days of Operation Giggle YWAM's sponsor drive and we can't get tired and stop!

We have 12 children left to get sponsored that means we need TWO-A-DAY! So please post about this, send emails, announce it at your church, whatever you can do to get the word out PLEASE DO IT! Post about it on Facebook and Myspace...Put up a flyer at work (I can email you one if you want to do that). Get creative!!! Please help us FINISH STRONG!

Also please make plans to attend the Wrapping/Shipping Party and help us get everything packed and ready. (Click on EVENTS at the top of the page to get details about that!)

Thank you all so much for being the HANDS and FEET of JESUS to these children!!!!

Update on Raffle

2009-11-07T07:05:00.003-05:00

We need to raise quite a bit of shipping for the NEW DAY project so we have had an item added to our raffle. I have a few more items that I will be adding soon I hope.

Right now we still have Dress #1. This is a size 2T and it is handmade!

Now I want to add something I am so EXCITED about...if you read Carrie's blog you might remember when she got a gift from a friend here in the states. It was scripture for her wall...if you were like me you were thinking, "I wish I knew who that was I would love to get one of those for my wall!!" Well the woman behind the beautiful word art is Valerie and she has donated a wall art to our raffle. The winner will get to chose between two scriptures and two color choices black over white or black over gold...

Option 1:

Verse: "They will know us by our love."

Size: 28" width
Colors: Black and White or Black and Gold to winner's specs!

Option 2:
"For I know the plans ..."
Size: approx. 34" width
Colors: Black and White or Black and Gold to winner's specs!

What a great prize! Thanks Valerie!!! (Can I just pause here to say I have met some of the most wonderful people on this journey! God continues to send me "sisters" along the way to remind me that I'm not in this alone... Julie, Valerie, Chrystie, Kelli, Tara (both of you), Tina, Jeanette oh I could list names all day but you guys know who you are and more than that God knows who you are! But Valerie has done something no one else has...she joined me on my CHOCOLATE fast...lol!!! Thank goodness that only lasted one weekend! Anyway what I really want to say is thank you all SO VERY MUCH!)

Ok so back to the reason for this post...do you want one of the items I listed above? If so you must "buy a ticket" you do so by donating at least $2.00 and putting Raffle...and the item you want (either dress, or wall art) in the notes of your donation. We will be charged a small fee by Pay Pal for each donation so if you want to donate more that would be great!!! Thanks for your support!!!

Sherri

New Faces at New Day! (Updated)

2009-11-05T11:54:00.001-05:00

We've had two families sponsor these cuties! Thanks so much for your support!

New Day Foster Home has a few new faces! Click "here" to read all about it! There are three new babies that came this week and a couple of other new cuties that have arrived over the last few weeks. We have two children that we still need sponsor's for. Lindsey and Jennifer click "here" to see thier pictures. Please let me know if you would be willing to sponsor one of these cuties. The deadline for the gifts to be to me is December 1st. Please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com if you want more information!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

"Shipping/Wrapping Party" (updated)

2009-11-05T08:58:00.005-05:00

Calling all troops...

At least the local ones that is!

We will be meeting on

Sunday November 15th from 2-4:30 p.m. at the

Fellowship Hall of Fairview Worship Center.

The address is 5545 Runway Drive NW Cleveland TN 37312. (Turn left off of North Lee Hwy as soon as you pass Galaxy Bowling. Make the first right and you will see the Church over to your left. The Fellowship Hall is the brick building)

We will be preparing all the gifts for shipping. We need the following supplies...please email me if you are bringing supplies so that I can be sure we don't have 100 rolls of ribbon and no tape :-)!

Ribbon

2 gallon zip lock bags

Christmas Name Tags

Christmas Cards

we also still need T-shirts, Underwear, and Socks for the Gimbie Care Packages.

Also I had someone find 6 polo shirts (mediums and smalls) for a good price at Tar*et. If you find any polo shirts that are a good price I would love to have 19 more so that we could send each child one. * The person who purchased the first 6 shirts said she would be glad to go get more if someone wanted to help out with the cost. $3 each so if you are interested in donating the additonal $50 bucks or so then shoot me an email! Maybe you know a business that would be willing to donate shirts to the cause. Please let me know if you can help out with this.

We have 12 Gimbie Children that still need sponsor's please pray about sponsoring one of these children for $25. Also we will have to ship the gifts to Washington and we will be having some expense to do that. If you would like to help on the shipping please donate using the button on the right side of the blog and put YWAM Shipping in the Notes section or just bring the money with you on Sunday.

IF YOU HAVE AGREED TO SPONSOR A YWAM CHILD PLEASE REMEMBER YOUR DUE DATE FOR ALL GIFTS AND CARDS IS NOVEMBER 13TH. I HAVE TO HAVE THESE ITEMS REPACKED AND SENT TO WASHINGTON ON THE 16TH SO THAT THEY CAN TRAVEL TO ETHIOPIA ON THE 21ST. THIS IS A TIGHT DEADLINE SO PLEASE BE SURE THAT YOU GET YOUR GIFTS TO ME ON TIME.

Thanks so much for all of your help. I know it makes God smile to see His children come together to help these precious kiddo's!!!

Where we stand!

2009-11-03T11:58:00.007-05:00

I just want to take a minute to let you all know where we stand with all of our projects.

NEW DAY!

We have $251.86 toward our goal of $1500 for shipping for our New Day project. This leaves $1248.14 to be raised in the next 30 days. I know that looks big but I trust God to give us the ability to raise these funds.

So we are going to do a couple of things to try to raise that money.

1. We have donation buckets set up at local business if you know of somewhere else we should put a bucket email me.

2. Starting today anyone that comments on this post and says that they have blogged about our frieght need or have sent out a mass email about the need will be entered in a drawing to win this dress:

Isn't it so cute! It is a size 1 ( chest size 18 "), it is a pattern from the hand made dress website (also an adoption family ). We want to thank Kathy at inthewaitingadoption.blogspot.com for making this dress for us along with dress #1 that is currently being raffled off. Here is Dress #1 again just in case you missed it:

You can win Dress #1 by donating $2.50 or more with the Pay Pal button. For everytime you donate that amount and put Dress #1 in the notes you will get your name in the hat for Dress #1 I will draw for both of these dresses on December 3rd at the Wrapping Party! I will post the winner the same day!

Unfortunatly at this time I have had no donations for the milk program. Please forward our information to anyone that you think might wish to help.

YWAM

We have 12 more Gimbie children to get sponsored.

I am working on sending "care bags" to the Gimbie children I still need 25 of the following Items for the bags:

Boys T-Shirts

Boys Underware

Socks

If you can provide some of these items please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com

Unfortunatly at this time I have had no donations for the food program. Please forward our information to anyone that you think might wish to help.

Please feel free to email me with any questions!

More info on the Gimbie Street Children (updated)

2009-11-02T15:45:00.013-05:00

We just got some new information we aren't going to be able to get photo's of the street kids in Gimbie. We are going to get names and ages (hopefully). Right now all I know is there are 25 of them so I am just going to look for 25 sponsors to do a $25 donation for the Gimbie children. If you would like to be one of those 25 people please let me know. We are going to take care of the Christmas Card's for these boys so we just need sponsor's. Thank you for being God's hands and feet for these children!!!

I will keep this number updated so that you know where we stand! Rally your troops we need $25 sponsor's in less than two weeks!!!!

COUNT DOWN FOR GIMBIE STREET CHILDREN: 12

Also the little one below is taken now! Thanks Chrystie!!!

Also I have one quick update we have a new little one at the Widows and Orphan's home who needs a $25/Christmas Card sponsor. Please email me if you would like to sponsor this sweet little boy.
Kibrom - 15 months old - boy

He is at the Widows & Orphans Home and is being adopted so we can't post a picture.
His mother is sick with AIDS and his father is unknown He is the only child of his mother. Because his mother is infected with HIV and is not doing well, she cannot work and cannot provide the nutrition and care she knows Baby K needs. She has asked YWAM to find a good family for her sweet baby.

BROKEN

2009-11-02T11:50:00.001-05:00

The children that are in the 4th and final group of YWAM children are the Street Kids from Gimbie.

If you haven't read about these kids please go now and read "Blog 1" and "Blog 2" I DARE YOU!

It will change you...I know it changed me...It changes me every time I look into those beautiful brown eyes. It leaves me more and more BROKEN to the cause of adoption and caring for the orphaned and widowed in general. I pray that you take time to read these posts today and allow it to leave your heart BROKEN so that God can put it back together and make it look a little more like His.

I will be listing each one of these children by name and giving a little background on them later today. But until them get to know the Street Kids of Gimbie and ask God to protect and provide for them today. Remember there are no Orphan's of God...He knows and loves each one of us including the Street Kids of Gimbie.

Because of Christ,

Sherri

Praise God! (updated)

2009-11-01T21:21:00.005-05:00

Well today has been a wonderful day. My son got baptized tonight it was wonderful. After church I checked my email and now we have all of the children taken care of in the first three YWAM groups.

I do have one more group of children, 25 of them to be exact, that I want to help. All of these children will needed supporters to give $25 and a Christmas Card.

I will be posting those additional 25 as soon as I get the information from YWAM.

Praising God for Answered Prayers,

Sherri

Updated List and Gift Ideas for YWAM Families

2009-10-30T11:17:00.001-04:00

Updated list of all available children/adults/widow's to be sponsored. I divided them into two groups.

Need to be sponsored with a 3lb gift.

Epherem Kibru Male, 17

Kaleab Getu 18

Binyam Fekadu Male, 14

Dawit Tadesse Male, 14

Dawit Teshome Male, 13

Yohannes Teshome Male, 12

Mena, Female, 22

Lidya Female, 21

Jerusalem (Kimia) Female, 19

Alem Kedani Female, 19

Ababa G’Hiwot female, 20

Tsehay Female, 19

Roman Female, 18

Abdissa Tadessa Male, 29

Likelesh Geda Female, 70

Dinke Aliton Female, 66

Gette Gemechu Female, 78

Mamite Nemo Female, 78

Yetnebersh Gema Female, 65

Amina Rebo Female, 65

Need to be sponsored with a $25 donation and a Christmas Card including stickers, small toys ect. (whatever will fit in the envelope).

Abdissa Male, 5

Tamarit Male, 3

Yonas Male, 5

Tesfaye Male, 8

Mihiret Female, 6

Arsema Female, 6

Ytbarek Male, 8

Mesulu Female, 11

Dejen Male, 8

Assefa Male, 7

Abebe Female, 6

Hana Female, 4

Berhanu Male, 7

Tarikua Female, 7

Endale Female, 8

Tsion Female, 3

Tzibt, Female, 2

Besufekad Male, 2

Abraham Male, 7

Also several of you have asked me for a ideas for gifts. I spoke to Joy and these are the ideas she gave me.

Board games .... because of size, maybe travel games like Sorry, Checkers, Battleship, Guess Who.
For the older girls, nail polish, files, polish remover pads; hand/body cream, new, nice tooth brush and small tooth paste; lip gloss in a nice little zipper kit. (I save bags I get from Clinique or Mary Kay, for instance)
They have backpacks for school, but they might enjoy a school zipper bag with a nice mechanical pencil (and led) and pens (different colors) and maybe a small drawing pad.
Polo shirts or t-shirts for the guys ... Christian t-shirts especially for both boys and girls.
Cross/Christian necklaces for both boys and girls. Inexpensive watches.
Bracelets and hair stuff (for Black hair) as all girls like to look pretty!
A new pillowcase!
For the two younger girls .... do they make paper dolls anymore? Or a simple craft kit. A pretty skirt (on the longer side). New flip-flops that are pretty. Pretty shirts, new jammies.
Stuffed animal
Small hard candies (so they don't melt or break)
Small sewing kit, deodorant, new toothbrush, tooth paste, breath mints/gum, chap stix ... could be stuck in with something else
Sweats are easy because they don't have to fit perfectly.
DVDs (go for it! .... they like all kinds; what your kids would like .... super heros, Christian stories, animations). Their English is quite good, especially receptive. I am sure those who are doing this project would use discretion as to content.
For Abdissa (the director .... not sure he is on there) a nice Bible cover/carrier, pads to write on, nice pen, cell phone case for his belt, new belt, cotton shirt (he is a medium) long or short sleeves (no iron would be fabulous), sweater vest, new tie, socks, wallet
Socks! The boys would enjoy athletic socks, the girls pretty, unique ones
Flash lights. Electricity is only on every other day. The boys might even enjoy those head lights. That way they could read at night.

I hope this helps those of you who are buying gifts. Also I will be sending this out in an email with the address to mail your gifts to included. Please check your email. Thanks!

Sherri

Just Checking In! (updated with correct number)

2009-10-29T17:57:00.001-04:00

We only have 16 Days to get all of the YWAM kids taken care of! We still have 39 kids to get taken care of. PLEASE forward our blog information to anyone that might want to help. We need to get these kids taken care of so that the families will have time to mail the gifts or cards and donations to me.

Email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com if you need more information!!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

YWAM-Information

2009-10-23T11:16:00.002-04:00

I have been writing this update in my head for a week, I have had a hard time wrapping my head around this all so that I can condense it to a form that other people will be able to digest.

I am going to just go over what we are doing for the YWAM from start to finish, that way if this is your first time on the website you don't have to go on a "fact finding hunt".

We are sponsoring children and widows out of Ethiopia that are connected to YWAM (Youth With A Mission). There are three groups of children/widows that we are sponosring.

I am breaking this down into to different catagories. The first catagory is the groups we will be sending GIFTS to.

We are seding gifts to one of the groups of children and to the widows. First, there are the children/young adults at the YWAM Mercy Devolopment. These are children/young adults that we need families to send 3lbs worth of Christmas gifts. You may click "here" to see a list of these children. Some of the children have already been spoken for. The ones that still need to be matched with a Christmas Family are:

Ababa G’hiwot
Alem Kedani
Binyam Fekadu
Dawit Tadesse
Dawit Teshome
Epherem Kibru
Girma Garado
Jerusalem (Kimia)
Lidya
Mena
Samuel Kader
Yohannes Teshome
Yohannes Wendesen

These children and young adults are in the system but for one reason or anohter can not be adopted. The older children have "aged out" of the program but they still deserve a great Christmas. Please pray about sponosring one of these children.

We are also buying GIFTS for the widow’s. I know this might be different than what you read before. But we have had a few adjustments and we can now send gifts to the widow’s. The limit for all gifts is 3lbs. This is so that we have room to get everything to Ethiopia in a limited amount of space (and weight). You can see the widow’s by clicking "here" . All of the widow’s are still available. These women have seen, felt, and endured a lot in their lifetime; help us make sure that they feel the love of Christ this Christmas.

For the other two groups of children we will not be sending gifts. We will be looking for families to make a $25 donation to Operation Giggle and the send a Christmas card to the child. The Christmas card can include whatever you can fit in the envelope; such as stickers, hair bows, pictures, and other small items. With the $25 donation you send we will be having the older children from YWAM Mercy Development go and purchase gifts for the other children. This allows us to save on shipping as well as giving the YWAM kids the opportunity to give rather than receive. Joy at YWAM feels like this is going to be an awesome emotional and spiritual growing experience for those children. I know that it is “more fun” to pick out the gifts yourself but we need sponsor’s that are willing to realize what a great opportunity this for those older children and become sponsors. Your donation can be made on this site by clicking the “donate now” button. Please email me first to be sure that the child you want to sponsor is still available. Then donate and include the child’s name in the Note section of your donation. You can also email me to get the address to mail in a check or money order made out to Sarah’s Hope . I will be sending out an email with the address for you to mail the cards to.

The two groups we are supporting with the $25 and Christmas Card are the children at YWAM’s Widows and Orphans Home and the children from the village of T’ede.

You can click "here" to read the profiles of the Widows and Orphans home children. These children are adoptable and I can not put their pictures on the web. I can email you a picture of the child you want to sponsor at your request but this picture can not be posted anywhere on the web EVER. This is against adoption rules and could cause major problems. There are also some members of the staff and missionaries listed that you can sponsor for Christmas gifts.

The children/adults that are still available from this list are:

Abdissa
Tamarit
Tesfaye
Mihiret
Yonas
Arsema
Ytbarek
Mesulu
Dejen
Assefa
Tsehay (worker)
Roman (worker)
Abdissa Tadessa (director)

Please email me to sponsor one of these children.

The children from the T’ede village are children who live with their families but depend on YWAM to provide them with support for food and basic living expenses. You can click "here" to read the children’s profiles and pictures. All of these children are still available to be sponsored.

Abebe
Besufekad
Hana
Tzibit
Tsion
Endale
Abraham
Tarikua
Berhanu

Please email me if you would like to support one of these children.

ALL GIFTS, DONATIONS, AND CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED BY NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 13TH.

We also would love to send money for food. The donations for food are not on a tight deadline and we will be accepting them until further notice.

One last note, there are 25 other children who are part of a new program. There are 25 of these children. You can click "here" to read all about them. I would love to help these children. For $25 we could get them all a new outfit and some better shoes. I want all of the children we have taken so far covered before I add these 25 children. So if you were waiting to the last minute to take a child please think about going ahead and doing it now so that I can add these sweeties!

Thanks for reading this VERY LONG BLOG! Have a great weekend!

Because of Christ,

Sherri

Children from T'ede

2009-10-22T11:58:00.002-04:00

We have another group of children to be soponsored. These sweeties live in T'EDE. There is more information about the village below. Please email me if you would like to sponsor these children with a $25 donation for a gift and by sending in a Christmas card for the child (packed with stickers, toys and whatever you can fit in the envelope of course!).

ABOUT THE VILLAGE OF T’EDE:

T’ede (teh’ – day) is a village where the people farm for a living. Most of the farms are small subsistence farms and the people are poor. YWAM’s outreach to T’ede is done from the Adama Widows and Orphans Home and seeks to bring relief to the very poorest of the poor. The orphanage director, Tezera, was raised in this village and her sister’s husband is the only pastor there.

Abebe is 6 years old and lives with her mother (her father is deceased) who in unable to provide income for the little family. She likes pasta and orange juice and loves to play ‘running rope.’

Besufekad is 2-years-old. He is an active little boy who likes to play. His family is extremely poor and they count on the monthly sponsorship of a family in the U.S. to meet their needs for food and clothing.

Hana is 4 years old. Her mother was a young schoolgirl when she gave birth to Hana. She had to quit school to care for her daughter and continues to live with her widowed mother working as she can as a daily laborer.

Tzibt is 2 years old and she was born to a mother who abandoned her to the care of her grandmother. Her father is unknown. Her grandmother sold alcohol or begged to try to earn money.

Tsion is 3 years old and has a mother who is alive. They live in the village of Tede. Her mother gave birth to Tsion after she was raped and gave Tsion her grandfather's name instead of her father's, as is customary. Tsion's mother works as a daily laborer and makes about $.80 a day, which is approximately $16 a month.

Endale is 8 years old and lives in the little town of T’ede. She lives with her extended family who are unable to provide income for themselves. Sponsorship provides her with food and school tuition.

7-year-old Abraham’s father died in military service when he was 3-years-old leaving him and his mother without any income or means of support. His mother is a daily laborer and, on a good day, can earn 15 birr, or less than $2.00 a day. She has been struggling for four years to try to provide food and shelter, but has been asking the Lord to please help her.

Tarikua is 7 years old. Her mother has no husband and works as a daily laborer which barely provides enough to keep her family alive.

Berhanu is 7 years old and lives with a relative in T’ede. His father and mother died of HIV related causes and his grandmother is unemployed and cannot care for him. Berhanu is HIV+ but is responding well to the antiviral medication he is receiving

New Day Update

2009-10-21T14:38:00.000-04:00

I wanted to give all of you New Day supporters an update on where we stand and what we still need. As I said before all of the children have been taken care of but we still need your help!

So here is a list of what we still need:

1. We need prayer that God will meet all of these other needs!!

2. We still need to raise at least $1250 for shipping and we need to raise as much extra money for the milk program as we can.

3. We need donations for an online Raffle that we will have going on through the month of November. I have two dresses right now. If you have any ideas please let me know!

4. We need volunteers in the Cleveland, TN area to meet on Saturday December 5th we will be having a Gift Wrapping/Packing Party for the New Day gifts. I need lots of help! I am hoping to get a local radio station to do a live remote.

5. We need a place that is big enough to do the wrapping and packing that also has room for refreshments and preferably a garage door so it will be easy for the shipping company to pick it up on Monday. If you are near Cleveland and have any ideas please let me know!

6. We need two 20lb 4x4 pallets to ship the gifts on.

Other Important Information:

The deadline for all gifts to be in my hands has been changed to Friday December 4th (remember this is for New Day only).

Everyone that I had down as a Christmas Family for New Day should have gotten an email from me verifying which child you have and that we had the correct contact information for you. If you did not get one of these emails please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,

Sherri

Meeting Results and Dress Raffle (Updated to add dress size!)

2009-10-20T13:30:00.005-04:00

The meeting went well we had a good turn out especially since it was very short notice. We got all of the donation boxes made and I hope to get them placed in the morning. Things are very busy around my house right now. My husband is in MAJOR training for work until December 11th. He is leaving early in the morning and doesn't get home until pretty late most nights. Also getting the kids back into the routine of school after a week off sick and a week off for Fall Break is interesting to say the least! All of this coupled with it being the fourth quarter which is the one time of the year that I am expected to put in full time hours translates to it being a bit crazy around here! With that said, if you send an email or make a comment and I don't respond immediately please don't think I have went MIA...I'm probably just trying to find my computer that is hidden by some stack of paperwork to be completed!

On another note, we have had two dresses donated by a very generous lady named Kathy. This is the first beautiful dress! This is a size 2T and it is handmade! We will hold a raffle for this dress beginning Monday. For every $3 you donate your name will be added to the hat once. I will draw a winner on November 1st. Thank you for your participation!

Sherri

OUR FIRST "OFFICIAL" MEETING!!!!!!

2009-10-16T23:32:00.006-04:00

OUR FIRST "OFFICIAL" MEETING!!!!!!

I know many of you are not close enough to come to this meeting but for anyone in or around Cleveland, TN we will be meeting on this Sunday October 18, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

We will meet at Fairview Worship Center in the fellowship hall.

The address is:
5545 Runway Dr NW,
Cleveland, TN 37312

It is not hard to find. If you are on North Lee Hwy going toward Charleston you will see North Lee Bowling Lanes on the left. Take the first left past the bowling alley, then take your first right follow that road and it will circle around right in front of the church. We will be in the brick building.

At this meeting I will answer any questions you may have we will also be making donation boxes to place in local businesses, places of worship, or other public places. I would also like to make some sponsor information cards with the children's pictures and information on them.

We don't want to have to spend any of the raised money on this so I need people to volunteer to bring the following supplies:

Boxes:
you can see examples of what we need by clicking on this link http://www.michaels.com/online/product/DisplayEnlargedImage.jsp?imageName=sc1156.jpg . (The one with the red or pink bow).

Wrapping Paper:
Preferably Christmas wrapping paper or blank wrapping paper that matches the Operation Giggle header at the top of this page.

Ribbon:
That matches Operation Giggle header at top of this page.

Other gift wrapping supplies such as tape and scissors. Please email me by Saturday night and let me know if you are bringing supplies so we do not have to purchase these out of our fund.

Also for the sponsorship cards we could use Christmas themed scrapbook paper, adhesive, and paper cutters, if we don't have donations of these things we will not make the cards, I am not willing to spend any money from the fund for these cards. I want to be a good steward of all God gives us!

If you are from Cleveland and know of a place that we can put one of these boxes please let me know. We hope to have a great turn out! God Bless You all!

Sherri

The Widows of YWAM-Adama (updated)

2009-10-16T06:56:00.004-04:00

These are the six widows in the Widows and Orphans Home-Adama. If you would like to sponsor one of these six women please email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com Sponsor's will be able to buy a gift for these 6 widow's.

Likelesh Geda

70 years old

Dinke Alito

66 years old

Gette Gemechu

78 years old

Mamite Nemo

78 years old

Yetnebersh Gema

65 years old

Amina Rebo

65 years old

Reinforcements have been called in!!!

2009-10-15T11:27:00.003-04:00

Can I just say Yippee Jesus! (BTW I stole that from a fellow blogger...I love it, it just describes how I feel so much of the time I can't help but say it! Sorry "L"!)

My Dad has told me since I was old enough to understand English that if it were important to me it is important to God. This morning I was reminded of that loud and clear. Yesterday not one child was sponsored. I was a little forlorn but I knew they would be taken in God's time not mine.

I started thinking about all the things I need to do and I was a little overwhelmed. Last night I thought "I wish I had some Operation Giggle supporters who lived close by." But I have my family and Tara and a few other "adoption minded people" so I decided to call the pity party off and get busy. Then this morning I got an email from Chrystie, she is Kelly's (from http://adamadiaries.blogspot.com/ ) sister (one of several I've learned :-) Well Chrystie gave me her number and I called and we talked for a long time and it turns out Kelly has a huge group of supporters here in Cleveland and that means I will have lots of help with Operation Giggle. Hallelujah! God is on time! So if you are part of the "Kelly Brigade" and this is your first visit to Operation Giggle WELCOME! I hope that you find all of the information you need, if not email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com and I will help you in anyway I can. Let's get busy being HIS hands and feet for these children!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

More YWAM children! (Edited)

2009-10-14T17:56:00.006-04:00

Edited Friday 10/16/09 to add another child and the Director to the list!

These are Children who need sponsors to make a $25 donation and send a Christmas card. We can not post pictures of these children because they can be adopted. I can forward pictures once you decide to sponsor a child but these pictures can not be posted online for ANY reason. If you decided to sponsor one of these children we ask that you make the donation on line through our secure PayPal donation button or buy emailing me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com and mailing your donation to the address I provide no later than November 10, 2009. Here are the children and their stories:

Name: Abdissa & Tamarit

Ages: 5 ½ and 3 ½
These brothers were brought to the orphanage director’s home by their mother, who battles mental illness. She cannot provide for them and asked that YWAM find a loving family for the boys.

Names: Tesfaye, Bilusuma & Mihiret
Ages: 8, 7 and 6
The boys’ mother died of AIDS and their father is struggling to provide for them. He is also raising his niece, Mihiret. He cannot earn enough to meet their needs. These kids are high energy and lots of fun!

Name: Beza

Age: 8
Beza’s parent’s are in jail for the next 15 years and her aging grandmother cannot care for her. They left her at YWAM’s orphanage in hopes that a family could adopt her.

Name: Cherinet
Age: 6 ½
Cherinet’s parents died when he was a baby. His 11 year old sister tried to care for him but was overwhelmed with the responsibility of providing for and caring for him. A family promised to take him but then changed their minds. YWAM took him in to their orphanage.

Name: Yonas
Age: 5
Yonas’ father was killed and his mother was left in extreme poverty. She brought her little boy to YWAM’s orphanage asking that he be chosen for adoption by a loving family able to give him a future.

Name: Arsema and Ytbarek
Ages: 6 and 8 ½
These siblings lost their father to tuberculosis six years ago when Arsema was a tiny baby. Their mother had a heart condition that left her unable to care for her two youngest children – they are the youngest of nine.

Name: Mesulu, Dejen and Assefa
Ages: 11, 8 and 7
The parents of these siblings are both dead – the mother died of HIV and the father died in an accident. They arrived at YWAM’s orphanage in a very malnourished state. Their aging grandfather brought them because he was unable to take care of them and requesting that a Christian family adopt them.

Name: Kalkidan

Age: 5 ½
Kalkidan has been lovingly cared for, until very recently, by her grandmother and mother who was widowed three years ago. She has an older brother who is 17. Her father died of AIDS and her mother also has AIDS, which makes her an outcast in Ethiopia and with no income.

These rest of these are not adoptable children but we would like to sponsor with a $25 donation and a card anyway they are:

Name: Kenli

Age: 10

Kenli is the daughter of an American missionary mom who is serving and living at YWAM’s Widows and Orphans Home. She is being homeschooled by her mom and learning firsthand about a life of service in a foreign country! (Her grandmother said she is absolutly not up for adoption! :-) I am sure her Mom feels the same way!)

Name: Tsehay

Age: 19

Tsehay was an orphan herself and adopted by YWAM’s orphanage director, Tezera, and raised as her daughter. She now works for YWAM’s Widows and Orphans Home caring for the children as a nanny. She is a good cook, too!

Name: Roman

Age: 18
Roman was also an orphan who Tezera took in. She ran away from Tezera’s family, had a child which she abandoned, and eventually returned to Tezera to ask forgiveness. She is also working as a helper at YWAM’s orphanage.

Name: Abdissa Tadessa

Age: 29
Abdissa is the YWAM Children's Home Director. We want to thank him for the work he does by sending him a gift package also. The sponsor family for Abdissa may send an actual gift.

Thank you Becky for all of your help getting this information together! Please forward this information to your family and friends so we can get all of these kids taken care of! Thanks guys!

Sherri

In Christ Alone

2009-10-14T06:42:00.003-04:00

This morning as I get ready to go outside of my comfort zone and go speak on the radio about Operation Giggle I can't help but think about an awesome hymn. In Christ Alone. The first verse says all I need to know. He is my hope, my light, my strength, my song, my cornerstone, my solid ground. No matter what storm I face He has heights of love and depths of peace! The last part says When fears are stilled, when striving cease, My comforter, my all in all, Here in the love of Christ I stand! I am so glad that I have a God who holds me in His hand.

We have had 9 children spoken for as of this moment in the YWAM group. Please continue to forward information to your friends and family, post links on your blog, and most of all pay for provision of our needs.

If anyone that is near TN has access to a 20lb pallet (2 to be exact) we need them! We also still need shipping funds for NEW DAY!

Our God will provide I have no doubt!

I leave you with the lyrics of "In Christ Alone"

God Bless!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

"In Christ Alone"

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied;

For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain;

Then bursting forth in glorious day,

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory,

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine—

Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—

This is the pow'r of Christ in me;

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home—

Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

Tying up lose ends with the New Day sponsor's...and trying to unravel the new project...

2009-10-13T15:07:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone I am excited about the feedback I have gotten since I posted this morning. We have 4 of the Ethiopian children spoken for.

Ejob Tesfay, Yamiakwork Getu, Melat Fekadu, and Bethlehem Tesfay are spoken for. All of the other children are available.

On the NEW DAY front I sent out emails today to each Christmas Family verifying the child you have. Please make sure you get the update and respond to it so that I will know that I got the placements correct. My inbox has been on fire the last few weeks and I have made a few mistakes. I think I've gotten them all corrected now thanks to some really flexible sponsor's. ;-)

I am getting an email together right now to send the Christmas Families that includes the shipping address for the gifts. If you want to help with shipping for New Day PLEASE donate with the button on the side of this blog. We need to get some funds in so I can order the boxes. I will be on the radio tomorrow trying to drum up local support you can tune in by clicking this link: http://www.mymix1041.com/ and clicking on Listen Live. It will be at 8:15 EST. Pray for me. I am a little nervous!

Thank you all for your support and prayers!

In Christ Alone,

Sherri

Ethiopia here we come!

2009-10-13T08:17:00.001-04:00

If you just come to this site to look at the cute pictures and get in the Christmas Spirit this post might not be for you but if you have ever been bowled over by Jehovah Jireh (God our provider). Then you just jump on this joy train and take a little ride with me.

First I want to quote Ephesians 14:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

As I write the post I want it to be known that the success of Operation Giggle is not to be accredited to me AT ALL! God did all of this. He took over and this thing is ALL ABOUT HIM. I wouldn't be alive without him and I wouldn't get out of the bed in the morning with out a fresh dose of JESUS! I don't believe in religion, I believe in a relationship and although our relationship is not always what it should be because of my failure God loves me and he is always waiting to meet me where I am.

Now that I've given the credit to the one who deserves it I just want to say WOW!!

Yesterday was amazing. I woke up yesterday morning with one thought "almost all of the kid's are spoken for, what now?!" I just knew that God wasn't finished showing out but had NO CLUE where to go next.

God spoke loud and clear. First I was convinced that I would not add any other children until the ones I started with at New Day were taken care of. I decided to "lay out a fleece" I asked God to make sure all of the children were taken by the end of the week if his will for this ministry was to help additional groups, well guess what....God took care of all of those children in ONE DAY!

So now what? Well just like Jabez I (1 Chronicles) needed God to enlarge the borders of Operation Giggle.

Well already God has granted what I asked. We have more children to sponsor.

The first thing I want to say for those of you who love NEW DAY like I do is that NEW DAY will loose nothing because of this. If you make a donation on-line you can put NEW DAY in the notes area and we will "dog ear" that money for the NEW DAY project. Any money I have left over from "dog eared" funds will be sent to the NEW DAY MILK MONEY program. However I believe that I have been called to help all orphan's not just orphan's in China so we are enlarging our borders to include Adoption Ministry of Youth With A Mission Ethiopia or YWAM Ethiopia.

I found this ministry on "this" blog of a friend of a friend. She is in Ethiopia right now with her daughter and as I was reading about the need I had to call and at least see if we could help. So I did and we can!

Click "here" to view the blog for the YWAM Ethiopia ministry.

We will be sending gifts to 23 children and young adults from 2.5 years old to 22 years old (and one young lady on the staff). These children are with the Mercy Development division of YWAM. The young adults are kept in the home until they get a job and establish a stable life for themselves. We will also be looking for families to make a $25 donation and send a Christmas card (and whatever will fit in the envelope with the card i.e. stickers, ect.) to 22 children, widow's, and staff at the Widow and Orphans Home in Adama. I am going to do a post with the profiles of the 23 children and young adults before this one so scroll down to see the beautiful children that need sponsored. I will not be able to post pictures of the 22 children that need donations because of law's in Ethiopia. However I will be posting profiles and names of these children as soon as I have them and I can email you their picture as long as you are careful to make sure it is NEVER posted on the internet. This request was made by the Ministry we are working with and they said it is VERY important that everyone understand these "adoptable" children CANNOT have pictures of them posted on the web. The deadline for these gifts and donations is November the 15th. The reason for this early deadline is that there is a group traveling to Ethiopia that has agreed to take our gifts with them. This means that we will just have to pay the fee for extra baggage. If we keep the gifts to 3lbs each then we should be able to fit it all into two bags which will cost us $500 in shipping.

Joy at YWAM said that there is also a huge need for funds for food at the homes. There is not a food shortage but because of inflation the poor cannot afford to buy the food. I am working with her to see how much it would cost to feed these children for one month. I know that I am taking on a lot but I feel that God is capable to do that and so much more. I would love for the whole month's food supply for January (which is when they celebrate Christmas) to come from Operation Giggle. I can't do this alone but I trust God to lead the right people to join with me in this new task. I just can't imagine hungry children giggling. So we must feed them first! I praise God for all of his goodness and for allowing me to watch him be BIG for these orphaned children and widows.

I am sure you will have lots of questions, please feel free to email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com also, I will be labeling posts about this program with Ethiopia and I will go back and label the New Day project with China so that if you want to only see posts about one or the other you can search for those words from the left side of my blog. Please let others know about this opportunity!

GOD IS A GOOD GOD, YES HE IS!!!

Sherri

The Children and Young Adults of YWAM Mercy Development

2009-10-13T08:16:00.003-04:00

The Children and Young Adults of YWAM Mercy Development

Please email me if you would like to sponsor one of these children.

Full name: Ababa G’hiwot

Sex: female

Age: 20

Place of Birth: Axum

Background: She doesn’t have any family and had been living with her aunt. Due to persecution she left her aunts home and worked in households of people. Through a friend she found to YWAM MD.

Situation: She is attending grade 11 at school. She likes to read fictions. For the future she would like to be a supporter of children.

Full name: Alem Kedani

Sex: female

Age: 19

Place of Birth: Bahir Dar

Background: She had been living on the streets for six years until YWAM MD met her.

Situation: She is attending grade 7 at school. After ten years she was able to meet her mother who is HIV positive.

Full name: Bethlehem Tesfay

Sex: female

Age: 9

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: Her mother died tragically when she was about two years old. She doesn’t know her father. She has one older brother.

Situation: At school she is attending grade 2. She speaks already very good English and likes talking to foreigners, who are visiting YWAM. She is a joyful girl and meets people in an open-hearted way.

Full name: Binyam Fekadu

Sex: male

Age: 14

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: He had been living on the streets on and off before he came to the center of YWAM MD. It is not sure yet who is his mother and sister.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 5. His passion is especially for his pigeons on the compound which he feed and care for. For the future he would like to become a doctor.

Full name: Dawit Tadesse

Sex: male

Age: 14

Place of Birth: Gende Beret

Background: He has all family members and is the brother of Abdissa.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 5. He likes English and Sport. At church he is involved in the youth group.

Full name: Dawit Teshome

Sex: male

Age: 13

Place of Birth: Gondar

Background: He has no family. When his mother passed away the neighbors cared for the children. But after some time they brought them to YWAM MD because they couldn’t afford support anymore. His twin brother Yohannes is also with Mercy Development.

Situation: He is attending grade 5 at school. He is eager to study and likes to present what he can. In the future he wants to become a teacher.

Full name: Ejob Tesfay

Sex: Male

Age: 2.5

Birth place: Addis Ababa

Background: He had been living on the streets with his mother until YWAM MD took both into the center. Now they live in a rented house supported by YWAM MD.

Situation: He is an active and joyful boy and the youngest of all

Full name: Epherem Kibru

Sex: male

Age: 17

Place of Birth: Nazret

Background: His family was very poor and he left when he was 4 years old to live on the street. After seven years YWAM MD met him and brought him to the center.

Situation: He is attending grade 7 at school. He is longing to go the way which God has prepared for him. He loves spending time in prayer and can imagine to work as a missionary. At church he is a singer and started a prayer group for the youth

Full name: Eyob Belchew

Sex: male

Age: 17

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: His family passed away and he had been living on the streets for five years. He has one sister.

Situation: He is attending grade 6 at school. He loves to make music and plays the piano at church. He joined the choir at the church. For the future he wants to become a technical engineer.

Full name: Girma Garado

Sex: male

Age: 16

Place of Birth: Djebouti

Background: He has two brothers, his parents passed away several years ago. Due to that he had been living on the streets for five years. YWAM MD met him on the street while giving bread and tea in the night and took him into the center.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 8. His favorite subject is English. He loves playing soccer and is part of a soccer team at school. At church he is involved in the youth group.

Full name: Helen Gelawu

Sex: female

Age: 15

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: Her mother passed away and she doesn’t know her father. She has one half-sister, Lydia, who is also living in the center.

Situation: At school she is attending grade 7. She likes playing basket ball. For the future she would like to become a doctor or an artist.

Full name: Jerusalem (Kimia)

Sex: female

Age: 19

Place of Birth: Harar

Background: She is the youngest child of seven children, grown up in a Moslem family. She had been living with her aunt in Harar, moved to Debre Zeit due to problems. YWAM MD got her there and took her into the center.

Situation: She is attending grade 10 at school. Her favorite subject is biology and she’s longing to become a doctor in the future,

Full name: Lidya

Sex: female

Age: 21

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: She had been living on the streets and was the first girl that YWAM MD took in the center. Her family has passed away. Helen, her sister, is also living in the center.

Situation: She is working in an advertising enterprise. Together with Mena she is living in an apartment close

Full name: Melat Fekadu

Sex: female

Age: 10

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: She had been living on the streets on and off. Through the Kebele she got to YWAM MD with her brother Benyam. Her mother is still alive.

Situation: At school she is attending grade 4. She likes the English lesson the most and wants to become an engineer

Full name: Mena

Sex: female

Age: 22

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: She doesn’t have parents and got persecuted from her brother. So YWAM MD took her to the center.

Situation: She is working in the office of an advertising enterprise and enjoys her job. Beside that she is taking computer classes. She loves fellowship with people and enjoys good food. Together with Lidya she is living in an apartment close to YWAM MD.

Full name: Samuel Kader

Sex: male

Age: 10

Place of Birth: Gurage

Background: He has no family members and lived on the streets for three years until he was brought in the center of YWAM MD.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 1. He is an active boy and eager to learn. He wants to become a policeman

Full name: Tibletse

Sex: female

Age: 18

Place of Birth: Wallo

Background: She had been living on the streets for six years until YWAM met her while giving bread and tea.

Situation: She is attending grade 10 at school. In the church she is involved in the work with the youth group.

Full name: Yamlakwork Getu

Sex: female

Age: 15

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: She has a mother and her brother Kalaeb lives also with Mercy Development. At the time she came to YWAM MD her mother has been very sick. She had been selling tissue paper on the streets to get an income.

Situation: At school she is attending grade 10. She likes reading biographies. For the future she would like to become a doctor or a hostess. Recently she assisted at a conference where she sang and shared the gospel.

Full name: Yohannes Teshome

Sex: male

Age: 12

Place of Birth: Gondar

Background: He has no family. When his mother passed away the neighbors cared for the children. But after some time they brought them to YWAM MD because they couldn’t afford support anymore. His twin brother Dawit is also with Mercy Development.

Situation: He is attending grade 5 at school. His nickname is Candy due to his sweetness. For the future he wants to be an Evangelist.In HH

Full name: Yohannes Wendesen

Sex: male

Age: 10

Place of Birth: Gojam

Background: His mother passed away while she was working in the household of other people. He doesn’t know his father. He lived on the streets for one week until YWAM MD met him and brought him to the center.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 2. For the future he wants to become a doctor or a pastor.

Full name: Yonas Neguse

Sex: male

Age: 14

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: He lost his parents and had been living on the streets for four years. He has sisters and one brother.

Situation: At school he is attending grade 5. He likes playing football. In the future he would like to become a doctor or a scientist. At church he is involved in the youth group and has a big heart for prayer.

Full name: Kaleab Getu

Sex: male

Age: 18

Place of Birth: Addis Ababa

Background: He supported his mother through selling tissue paper. At the time YWAM MD met him, his mother had been very sick. Due to some whichcraft activities he almost lost his mind. YWAM MD took him in the center, where they prayed for him. He got delivered and decided to follow Jesus more intimately. His sister is also living in the compound of Mercy Development.

Situation: He is attending grade 9 at school where he likes biology and physics. In his free time he likes to read fictions and the bible. He is interested in becoming a doctor or an engineer in the future. At church he helps in the youth group and started to play the guitar.

What an Amazing Day!

2009-10-12T22:31:00.002-04:00

Wow it has been a long busy day! I want to write this blog before sleep deprives me of any details. So please excuse me if I misspell a word or something.

First of all God has provided sponsor families for all 62 New Day Children. Yippee Jesus!!!! I am so excited about that!

I asked him this morning to please take care of all of the children by Friday; I did this for a specific reason. I will go into more about that tomorrow. But he took care of it in 1 day. Less than 24 hours!!!!

He is amazing.

Two more things he did today that just touched me in a mighty way. First of all I have been worried from day one that one of the older kids might have a hard time getting matched. Well today a friend emailed me and said give me the one you think no one will want. OH WOW! I almost cried! So that precious soul is taken care of.

Also I have gotten several emails today saying just match me up with whomever, well for some reason I just couldn't give Kevin to anyone. I kept holding on to him and he was the last one. I have been a little worried about who would be last child to be matched just because it reminded me of a bad scene in a Mean Girls movie...lol...told you I'm tired. Well I had believed God for all of these cuties to be taken care of and then when we got to the last one I had begun to panic a little. I just wanted them to all be taken care of TODAY. I was having to sit on my hands to keep from trying to "work it out on my own"...or mess it up on my own...lol. Anyway finally after 6 p.m. tonight Tanya emailed me and told me that she had just let Kevin's "forever family" know about Operation Giggle. So his Mama emailed me and let me know she wanted to be his Christmas family too...of course. God was saving that precious Kevin for his Mama and I was worried to death that he had forgotten the last New Day kid. God answered a big question for me with that final "God Moment" and I have big news...but you will have to wait until tomorrow for that news because I am going to bed!!!

(I already have the post written...just feel like I should wait till in the morning and one thing today has taught me is to wait when God says wait!)

Also for all of you detail people out there (I am one) today is exactly two months since I posted my first blog!

Praise God and Goodnight!!!

Sherri

WE DID IT!

2009-10-12T09:00:00.013-04:00

Updated again to add: WE HAVE NO CHILDREN LEFT TO GET SPONSORED BUT...CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR BIG NEWS!!!!!

Updated to remove the boys that have been requested and change the numbers. I am trying to keep this post current.

Good Monday Morning! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I truly believe that by this weekend every one of these children will have a sponsor.

Don't forget that if you have already agreed to buy for a child and haven't gotten to see their profile that you can click on the New Day button on the top right of the screen and then click on the link that says "Our Children" it will show you pictures of all the children and you can click on their pictures to get to their profile.

As soon as I find Christmas families for this child I will be emailing specific gift information, shipping address, and timeline information to all of the Christmas families.

A friend recommended that I break the shipping down per child and asked for sponsor's for each child's shipping cost. The shipping cost is right at $25 per child. I would like to wait to do that until I see what I can raise here. I am going to be placing donation boxes at the following business here in Bradley County:

Jim Rush Funeral Home (Both Locations)

Paisley

Fantasy Styles and Tan

Debutante Salon and Day Spa

And

Dr. James White's office in Chattanooga, TN

We want to thank these wonderful CHRISTIAN businesses for allowing us to do this. I want everyone to join me in praying that by this time next month our shipping cost is completly covered. If not I may try to find sponsor's to help cover each child's shipping. Just to be clear this does not have to be the same family that has agreed to buy the gifts for the child, it can be anyone that wants to help. Like I said I will let you know if we get to the point where I feel this is something we are going to have to try to do.

If you wish to make a donation and you do not live in this area you are welcome to click on the Donate Now button and it will be placed in our PayPal account.

Please pray for me as I prepare to go on the radio on Wednesday to let others know about our shipping need. (see last weeks post for more info)

God bless you all and have a wonderful Monday!!

A little change in plans!

2009-10-09T14:54:00.001-04:00

Hi everyone! I spoke with Carrie via email today and she asked that I not reserve the children whom have been placed by the CCAA for their families. She said a lot of their families do not know about the website or even where their children are so it might backfire and we may wind up with kids without Christmas sponsor families. So I am posting a new available list. Thanks for all of your help! We only have 20 more kids to get taken care of that means we have placed 42 children!!!! Yippee Jesus!!!!!

God Bless You and Have a great weekend!!!

Sherri

Available Children:

Aaron

Cameron

Christian

Daniel

David

Drew

Ethan

George

Jesse

Jordon

Joshua

Kevin

Maria

Nathan

Phillip

Terry

Tristan

Victoria

More updates!

2009-10-07T11:21:00.001-04:00

Updated list 1:32 p.m. EST
Hi everyone! I have been MIA for the last few days. My son had Strep and it has been a long three days! We have had lots of people email me and request children to sponsor. I am so excited about what God is doing. I can not tell you how much fun it is to know that I'm not able to do something on my own and sit back and watch God show out and handle it like it is nothing! He is amazing and I love him so much.

This is an updated list of available children at this very moment. Please don't stone me if you email me in three hours and ask for a specific child and find out that they are taken. Right now at this very moment they are available (actually I just double checked and had to remove two of the kids I am telling you this is forever changing!).

Aaron
Christian
Daniel
David
George
Joshua
Phillip
Tristan
William
Yan Xia
Yan Zhi

Also the following children are available but these children have been matched with their "Forever Families" by the CCAA and I want to give their families a chance to buy for them. If the families haven't contacted me by Monday October 19th I will begin matching these children with sponsors. If you know a "Forever Family" please be sure they know about this opportunity.

Cameron
Drew
Jesse
Jordan
Kevin
Maria
Nathan
Shanna Elise
Terry
Victoria

If you are a "Forever Family" and you don't see your child's name on here contact me anyway, someone may have already contacted me to say that if you didn't come forward they would like to sponsor your child. You have "first dibs" on them until the 19th. :)

I am going to be on a local radio station Mix 104.1 promoting Operation Giggle. You can listen live next Wednesday at 8:15 by tuning in if you are local or by going to their website: http://www.mymix1041.com/ This is a great opportunity and I am so thankful that my sister gave me the idea of emailing one of the DJ's and telling them about Operation Giggle! Thanks Deanna!

We still need donations for shipping in a BIG way. I trust God to lead the people who he wants to give to our website and to the stores that are serving as donation/drop off locations. I will be posting a list of those up just as soon as I hear back from a couple of other shops.

Again, thank you for all of your support!!

Sherri

Operation Giggle Guidelines

2009-09-30T13:46:00.004-04:00

Operation Giggle Gift Guidelines

(updated because of change in box size)

If you would like to become a “Christmas Family” for one of the children at New Day please email me your name and email address along with which child you would like to sponsor. After I match you with a child you may begin buying Christmas gifts for your child. All gifts should adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Please be sure that your gifts will fit into one 12x12x12 box. We have to put all of the gifts in the same box so that we can ship them on a palate.

2. All gifts should weigh no more than 3lbs.

3. Gifts should not be wrapped. We need to be sure that each child is getting an even share of gifts. You may include sealed cards in your box.

4. Please only buy “fun” gifts such as toys, books, stuffed animals, jewelry, and things of that nature. The Foster Home has said that the children are well stocked in clothes and requested that we not send them. Also keep in mind that the Foster Home will not be able to afford to replace batteries and they can be very heavy to ship. We are not going to say that you can’t send battery operated toys but you should make sure you send extra batteries and keep the weight issue in mind.

5. You are responsible for getting the items to us. We are in Cleveland, TN just outside of Chattanooga. All gifts need to be received by us no later than December 1st in order to ensure they are wrapped, packed, shipped, and received by Christmas. When I assign your child I will send you an email with our mailing address included.

6. We are asking for each family to also include a $5.00 check or money order made out to Sarah’s Hope with Operation Giggle on the “for” line. This $5.00 will be used to go toward the $700-$1000 shipping bill, cost of boxes, and wrapping supplies. Any money left over will be forwarded to the Milk Money program at New Day.

I included a couple of pictures of the cuties just to convince you that it is worth while to go "here" to see the children of New Day. You can click on their pictures to read their profiles. We will be adding their pictures and profiles to the website here very soon until then feel free to go to the New Day site and pick the child you would like to sponsor. 12 of the children already have sponsors so make sure you lock in your choice soon!! God Bless!

Sarah's Hope

2009-09-30T12:36:00.003-04:00

I realized that I needed to let everyone know that Operation Giggle is being done as a ministry of Sarah's Hope. Sarah's Hope is a non-profit organization started in April of this year by My father, Jack L. Epperson and I. Sarah's Hope will be a maternity home for unwed mothers over the age of 18 living in Bradley County and the surrounding areas.

Sarah's hope is named after my daughter Sarah. In April of 1999 I found out that I was pregnant with Sarah. I was 18 and unmarried and scared to death. My family rallied around Sarah's dad (Mitchell) and I and we were married and because of the grace of God we made it. Without the network I had as an 18 year old girl I have no clue where Sarah and I would be today. The thoughts of other young mothers struggling alone to bring a child into this world and raise him or her is unbearable. God began to speak to my dad about opening up a home for those girls. He began to have conversations with New Life Pregnancy Center and learned that there was a great need for this ministry. In April we hired a lawyer and began pursuing our Non-Profit status. We are currently saving money so that we can purchase a home to remodel and get ready to house our first 2 or 3 ladies. One of the Pastor's at the church I attended and his wife have raised three children and have agreed to move into the home and be the House Parents.

I am excited at the doors God is opening in my life and I want to serve Him and worship Him in every second of every day. I know that many of you have this same desire! Thank you so much for your support of Sarah's Hope and Operation Giggle.

So Excited!

2009-09-29T11:06:00.001-04:00

I am amazed at God's goodness. I mean I know he's good and I even have grown to expect it but it still surprises me sometimes. I have had a lot of blog traffic in the last few days and this doesn't excite me because I want everyone to read what I write or because it means that the fee I paid to have my blog beautified (is that a word?!) is paying off...it's because the word is getting out about these beautiful kids! I know the more people who see the blog the more people who are going to help send Christmas to the children at New Day. I am working VERY HARD on a blog with a list of all of the children and their pictures. This is not easy seeing as how I am not great with HTML and all of that but I am working on it and hope to have it up sometime today. For all of you who have commented that you want a specific child please send an email to sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com and I will "reserve" your child for you. I am working toward having a meeting on Sunday October 11th for all of those who are close enough to get together. We will be making the info cards for all of the kids and going over the basics. If you are within driving distance of Cleveland, TN (about 30 miles north of Chattanooga) then email me for more information about the meeting. Please continue to pray about the freight and that we hear back from a local radio station about getting them to talk about it online. Pray for God's favor on everything we do and God's leadership in every area. I want to leave you with a scripture that seams to be bursting from my heart today:

Ephesians 3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Update

2009-09-03T11:57:00.001-04:00

It has been almost one month since Operation Giggle got off the ground. I am so excited by the number of visitors we have had. I spoke with Carrie via email today and she said she will send me a list of children by Mid-October. If you are interested in sponsering a child please contact me. I am planning on having a meeting as soon as we get our list for anyone in the area that can attend. I will post the specifics a little closer to time. Please continue to pray for the children of New Day and for all of those who work with them. God Bless!

Sherri

Who, What, When, Where, and Why

2009-08-12T06:10:00.002-04:00

I am so excited to be posting for the first time for Operation Giggle!

So here are the 5 W's of Operation Giggle:

Who does it benefit?: The children of New Day Foster Home http://newdayfosterhome.blogspot.com/

What do we need you to do?: Agree to buy 3lbs worth of Christmas presents for one child or help with the shipping costs of just over $1000.

When are we starting?: Right now! We will be taking donations for the shipping starting today. I will have a list of children by the end of October or beginning of November I am hoping. (We want to wait to as close to Christmas as we can because the children come and go a lot.)

Where do you send the presents?: We are in Cleveland TN just North of Chattanooga TN if you chose to "adopt" a child for the season you will be responsible for shipping the present to us at your cost.

Why are we doing this?: Because God said to! *James 1:27*

I would like to take just a minute to explain to you exactly what Operation Giggle is and how it came about.

Last September I went with my best friend Tara to China to pick up her adopted daughter Nora. While on that trip my heart was changed. I had a friend send me a text a few days before I left that said "While on this trip ask God to let you see through His eyes and when you get home don't lose that vision". So I prayed that God would let me see the people of China through His eyes and he did. The people of China are a unique people rich in heritage and in community. I loved interacting with them and I am so glad I had the opportunity to visit their country. Upon returning to the states and continuing in my normal daily life for almost a year I began to feel impressed by the Holy Spirit to look into adoption. I talked to my husband about it and although he is all for adoption he just didn't feel as if now was the right time for us because of many factors. To be honest I was a little heart broken and just could not understand why the Holy Spirit would lead me into something that was going to lead to nothing but waiting (I know all of you adoptive parents just took time to laugh because when we finally apply it will continue to take YEARS of waiting for things to fall into place).

But on July 24th I got a clear answer as to why God led my heart toward adoption I happened onto a Blog written by an American woman named Carrie who is living in China and working at a Foster Home. I sat and read her blog and cried for hours. I knew that I had to contact her. I sent her an email just saying I loved her blog and I would love to volunteer to help in some way, maybe even by going there someday. I also told her I would love to help here in someway and mentioned a gift drive at Christmas. She replied that she thought that would be great and she would be glad to help on her end. From that point on Operation Giggle was born.

I chose the name because of something Carrie had written in a post about one of the kids giggling and it becoming infectious. These children have been abandoned and have medical problems and even emotional issues yet one of them found a reason to giggle. I want to give each and every one of the children a reason to giggle this year on Christmas.

I believe in living my life, to the best of my ability, by following the word of God and I believe that we have things a little mixed up in today's society. We think that pure and undefiled religion comes from the number of times we attend service, or the kind of clothes we wear, or even our financial standing but the word of God does not say that! It says:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27).

It is our calling as Christians to take care of these children and until the time comes when I can open my heart to one individual child and bring them into my home and become their forever mommy I will open my heart to a group of children and make sure that I show the love of God one giggle at a time. I can't do this alone! I need LOTS of help. If you would like to partner with us to "adopt" one child this Christmas and buy presents for them (not to exceed 3 lbs) please join this site and email me at sdrgodsgirl@yahoo.com

P.S. Thank you Becky at Busy Mama Blog Design for making this blog beautiful!!! Go visit her site by clicking on the button on the right side of the screen.