Your VOTE could change a child's life!

Those of you who have followed my blog for a while probably know that I'm the Executive Director of a children's charity called The Sound of Hope. My husband and I founded this non-profit in 2010, and it is extremely close to our heart. We work around the clock to provide rescue, protection, and holistic care for more than 200 children in 4 countries. This weekend our organization is in a competition for THOUSANDS of dollars in funding, and we need your vote!

[CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW!]

For those who may have missed it last year – "Project for Awesome" is a video competition started by an AWESOME community on YouTube. On this weekend each year, people take over YouTube with awesome videos about awesome charities – and ours just happens to be one of them!

Last year was our first year participating, but we have the BEST supporters. So many of you voted and shared our video, and at the end of the weekend we were in 20th place out of 960 videos! WOW! Because we placed in the Top 20, we won more than $15,000 of education funding for the children in our care. Isn’t that AWESOME?

Want to know how we spent that 15K? Then watch our video BY CLICKING HERE and please VOTE for us right now! Our kids need to go to school again in 2016, and your vote could help us win the funding they need! It only takes a second to vote - no registry or email required! It's simple!

Please help us give some very deserving children the gift of education! Just 3 clicks could change a child's life! 1 click to watch, 1 click to vote, and 1 click to share the link with your friends! We need people posting this on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, G+ – you name it! The contest ends Sunday at 11am, so email your friends right now, call your co-workers, and tell everyone to VOTE! Education IS hope for these children. So watch, vote, and help us get the word out – and you’ll be changing the lives of some really awesome kids.

We're headed to Asia!

I just realized today that those of you who aren't on social media probably haven't heard our great news! We're headed overseas!

Now before you get too excited - no, this is not for our adoption. This is a work trip, for our non-profit The Sound of Hope. My husband and I co-founded this non-profit in 2010, and we work full time to care for almost 200 orphans and vulnerable children in Thailand, Burma, India, and Swaziland.

We normally travel more frequently, but the past 2+ years we've been "stuck" in the US - partially due to a lack of travel funds, and partially because we really needed to finish all of our adoption paperwork before we left the country. But now it's done, and thanks to some very, very generous people we were able to buy our tickets!

We leave in 3 days (Sep 30th), so we are pretty much running around like crazy people right now - trying to finish up all of our packing and preparations before we go. We'll be gone for 47 days and we'll be working in 3 countries, 9 cities, and 5 Children's Homes! We are SO excited to be back with our precious kids overseas. We love these little ones so much, and it's been too long since we've been able to hug them and spend quality time with them. These children know that we help provide for their needs, but nothing says "I love you" to a child like spending time with them!

(Above) Ericka with the Asha House girls

(Below) Rusty with the Asha Mission boys

We have a lot of work to do while we're there. For those who may want to invest in this trip, we do have a few needs still. So many people have given so generously - and for that we are grateful! You can see from the list below that most of our needs have been met. We just have $600 to go to have our list completely checked off and our trip fully funded! If you'd like to donate, you can give online through this link.

I will do my best to post some blogs here while I'm overseas, but my main focus during any internet time will be keeping our Sound of Hope blog and social media up to date. We post a lot of "real time" updates (videos, pictures, and stories) - and we would LOVE to have you follow our journey! There are actually 5 ways you can follow us on this trip.

We hope you'll follow along and be a part of what we're doing around the world! 

Just one more day!

Hello dear friends! I hope this blog finds you all having enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends, and getting ready for a fun New Year's Eve! We have been busy, busy, busy -  between work and the holidays - but we finally made it out to Arkansas for Christmas with Rusty's family. I have so many fun blogs to share over the next few weeks, but I wanted to write tonight to let you know that you only have ONE MORE DAY (Monday) to give your 2012 tax-deductible gift to The Sound of Hope!

If you've never given before and you want a quick summary of our work, our 2012 Report is now on our blog - so be sure to check that out. But I'll give you an even shorter version here - WE NEED YOUR HELP! We have accomplished some incredible things this year, and we have even bigger dreams for 2013. We want to see the first 5 little girls brought into our new Children's Home in Thailand... we want to build a Children's Home on the land we bought in India... we want to start a Children's Library in the refugee camp for our sweet kids from Burma who risked their lives to get an education... and we want to be sure all 115 children at our carepoint in Swaziland get to go to school this coming year! And of course, that's not all. The 217 children we care for have big needs, but they won't be met without your help.

We are working so hard to bring rescue, protection, and holistic care to children in need, but our work can't continue without the support of generous, compassionate people like you. We need people to partner with us - people who have big hearts and big dreams to change the world! And I know that describes SO many of YOU - my wonderful readers! So please...

   Give for the little girl growing up in a brothel in India.
       Give for the little boy in Swaziland who needs an education.
           Give for the little girl in Thailand at risk of being sold into slavery.
               Give for the little boy who is afraid of being forced to fight as a child soldier in Burma. 

Your gift can take these children from a life of despair, to a hope-filled future!

As 2012 comes to a close, please pray about giving a year-end gift (or signing up to be a monthly donor) for The Sound of Hope. And consider sharing our website or this blog with your friends on facebook and twitter. Help us continue our life-saving work! Even a small gift can make a BIG difference in the life of a child in need!

DONATE NOW

***Thanks so much for your continued support and love. I hope you all have a blessed New Year!***

U2 + The US Campaign for Burma

On July 2nd, Rusty & I, our Thailand partners, Ray & Candace Ward, two of our new board members for The Sound of Hope (and dear friends) Annah Grace & Shelley,  and several other friends (Jefforey, Jake, & Sean) got the incredible opportunity to volunteer with the US Campaign for Burma at the U2 concert in Nashville, TN.

We spent the day raising awareness for the human rights abuses happening in Burma, and urging people to take action on behalf of those suffering.

There's a reason we all came together to volunteer for this cause. What's happening in Burma is more than just a random injustice to us. This cause is close to our hearts because of the Karen refugee children we care for in Thailand who have fled Burma. So we were thrilled to find out that Bono, the lead singer of U2 and an outspoken human rights activist, is a staunch supporter of of Aung San Suu Kyi and the US Campaign for Burma!

Check out the video below to see highlights from our day. You'll also see some great shots of the U2 Concert, including Bono's response to Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest! (Click here to see a larger version of the video in HD.)

The Casey Anthony verdict...

I didn't follow the Casey Anthony trial. I knew the basic premise - a 2 year old little girl died, and her mother was involved in some sort of "foul play" after the fact. Was her mother guilty or not guilty of actually killing the child? I don't know (again, the sentence above is all I know about the whole situation) - but I DO know the verdict.

NOT GUILTY.

I know this verdict because about 98% of my facebook friends posted a status about it - ENRAGED at the injustice of it all. It completely took over my mini-feed - every other post was about this issue.  Men and women - from all different walks of life - quickly let the world know how UNFAIR it was. They spoke up on behalf of this precious little girl - Caylee - whose life was taken from her too soon. They screamed for JUSTICE.

And all I could think was.... why don't I hear these people speak up for the millions of little girls like Caylee around the world who suffer injustice EVERY DAY?!

Don't misunderstand me - all of you who got upset about the outcome of this trial aren't wrong. Your hearts are in the right place. You are experiencing righteous anger on behalf of an innocent child. You are fighting for something wonderful! My question is - if you're passionate about all those things, why not do something now for children in need of PROTECTION and JUSTICE in Africa? India? Thailand? Burma? Children that you can actually HELP?

The world loses a child EVERY 4 SECONDS. That's 22,000 children dying every day, mostly from preventable causes. That means that because of a lack of simple things like clean drinking water or cheap vaccines, in third world countries there are children dying left and right. EVERY DAY. Is that JUSTICE?

In Thailand, prostitution is a multi-billion dollar industry. Thailand's Health Systems Research Institute estimates that over 40% of the prostitutes in Thailand are CHILDREN. That means EVERY DAY thousands of children are sold into sex-slavery and raped for profit. Is that JUSTICE?

In Africa, little girls can be raped and abused by men who have AIDS, and infected by this horrible disease against their will... and NO ONE FIGHTS FOR THEM. Is that JUSTICE?

In India, many little girls are devalued, and left on the street to fend for themselves. They are unwanted and uncared for - forced to live as beggars or prostitutes. Very few of them have an opportunity for an education, and some are married off as child brides to men 6 times their age. Is that JUSTICE?

In Burma, little girls are forced to fight as child soldiers, or they are sold to drug-traffickers or sex-traffickers. Often they are victims of systematic rape by the military, and can be forced to work as minesweepers or human shields in warfare. Is that JUSTICE?

I am dreaming of a day, someday, when my facebook mini-feed will be taken over by men and women, from all different walks of life - crying out on behalf of the orphan. I am dreaming of a day when people are ENRAGED by the plight of children in need - children who are vulnerable to rape, slavery, disease, and war. I am dreaming of a day when all around me all I see is people demanding JUSTICE for these precious kids. Because, just like little Caylee, they deserve better.

---------------------------------------------------

If this makes you want to DO SOMETHING, then consider giving here to protect children in Thailand, India, Africa and Burma.

Re-entry

Re-entry. It's a difficult thing.... finding yourself dropped back into your "normal" life, after several months of living a very different (anything but normal) life. You go from a different climate, culture, language, food (and the list goes on and on and on) back to everything you're used to at home.

I've done this thing before - re-entry - twice after trips to Africa and once after a trip to India. But this time was very different. For one - I was gone twice as long as I've ever been out of the country. And the other big difference is - this time I'm married! I didn't come home to my family waiting at the airport, or my roommates (who'd kept things going while I was gone) - Rusty and I came home to a house that had been empty and life that had been at a standstill.

100 days of being gone means a lot of messes to clean up. Our cars had been sitting un-used through the Michigan winter, and mine had to go to the shop for $240 worth of repairs before it would work again. Then when we got it back, we had to take Rusty's car for repairs. We had a collection agency calling us for some bill from 2009 (turns out it was a big mistake made by a very unprofessional hospital.... but still it was QUITE the hassle!) There are bills to be paid everywhere we turn, and the cost of living is much higher than it was in Thailand. Here in Michigan, the cheap gas is $4.29 a gallon! And did I mention we were dealing with all this in rainy, miserable 39 degree weather? *sigh.

It would be easy to be grumpy and have a bad attitude right now. It would be easy to see all the "negatives" and wish we were back in the gorgeous sunshine of Thailand - laughing with our friends and living the exciting life of a world traveler.

- BUT -

The truth is, in spite of these bills and mini-disasters here, we are surrounded by BLESSINGS! Re-entry may be difficult, but it also gives you a brand new perspective on the details of your life that were once just common place. I'd forgotten how much I love our little rental home, with all it's big windows letting in tons of gorgeous natural light.... and the way sunsets look from our bay window. I'd forgotten how many beautiful things we have in our home.... items that may not be worth much but that are OURS - photographs, paintings, and keepsakes- and how they hold so many happy memories. I'd forgotten how it feels to be in a place where I picked out the curtains and the bedding and the home decor, and how it makes my living space peaceful and personal.

I never realized how comfortable our (very old) pillowtop mattress felt, until I slept on a corn husk mattress full of bed bugs. I'd forgotten what a blessing it was to be able to drink water right out of the tap, and to know it is clean and safe. I didn't understand what a treat it was to have a cell phone I could call my family on anytime of the day (instead of being 12 hours off with the time difference in Thailand). I forgot what it was like to have flowers and bunnies and bluebirds in my back yard, instead of a Burmese squatter camp out my apartment window.

These are little things, it's true....but we are finding ourselves overwhelmed with gratitude because of them!

Yes - it will still take a little while before we are fully re-adjusted. We still have to remind ourselves not to speak Thai.... not to drive on the left side of the road (or get in the car on the wrong side).... not to take off our shoes outside the door.... and that we can flush our toilet paper instead of having to throw it away. It still seems odd to be in a grocery store that is familiar, with ENGLISH labels on everything, and to have a refrigerator full of our favorite foods.

And I know the sadness is going to hit us - when we begin to be "homesick" for Thailand and it really sets in that we cannot see the children, or our partners there, or do any of the things we loved. But for now - we are just reveling in the little blessings, and trying to take every opportunity to thank God for the wonderful things He has given us! It's amazing how a change of perspective can improve your life!

What have you remembered to be thankful for lately?

100 Days in Thailand :: Day 40 - The Salawin River, M-16s, & Bomb Shelters

Today was the day the situation in Burma became real to me.

It all started innocently enough - we were just going out to spend another fun day with Rapee & Pastor Banya. They had suggested we go to the Salawin River for the day - something Rusty had been wanting to do anyway! We were excited to spend time with them again, and I was excited to get my first glimpse of Burma.

Right across the Salawin River is Burma.....

They asked if we wanted to do the "boat ride" down the river and we excitedly said YES! We'd wanted to do it earlier in our trip, but some artillery fire across the river had made it unsafe. We were glad it was a possibility today because I didn't want to miss out on this experience!

So... we climbed in and went down the river....

 The ride was so peaceful, and the landscape was beautiful....