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| Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Urgent Needs
Sunday, September 25, 2005
You might notice that we have a new topic listed to your left, labeled "Urgent needs". Here you will be able to quickly find out the most pressing prayer and physical needs of Home of Love.
posted by Thomas at 10:41 PM Saturday
Friday, September 23, 2005
 Josiah came to Home of Love in July, while we were away. We think he is very cute and are so glad that God has given him to us. May we be good guardians of this new child. Josiah doesn't have a father, he went off one day from the house and never returned. During the application process, we try and get information about the family history and of course all about the child. When asked the date when her baby was born, Josiah's mom answered confidently, "Saturday"! After prodding, she finally remembered it was the Saturday after Ramadan ended and we were able to look at last years calendar and try to find out the date. posted by Thomas at 11:07 PM Root Canals are painful!
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Last week, we took two Home of Love girls to the Dentist. They had been complaining of bad toothaches. The Dentist was rather aghast at their condition and recommended root canals but explained in a low voice to me privately that if they didn't have the funds he would just pull the teeth. He asked if they were poor and how they knew me. I happily was able to tell him that indeed we want the root canals done even if they were going to be costly (50$ per girl) because these girls were like family and we want good treatment for them. The Dentist was amazed and spoke of how lucky they were. Actually, this kind of expensive treatment would not have been available normally to our kids but a church in Hawaii donated money specifically for the orphanage medical needs and so we were able to use money from that fund. A public THANK YOU is due to the First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu that blessed us with the finances to give good treatment to our kids. "Aloha," from the staff at Home of Love.
posted by Colleen at 7:44 AM Letters of cheer!
Sunday, September 11, 2005
 Last week at "Home of Love" we spent time looking at scriptures on the subject of giving. We talked about not only giving money but that one can also give time, love, our skills and encouragement. The topic of family and helping each other came up as we thought about times when we are tired, lonely and discouraged. In those times we need to reach out to others and in doing so we'll also be blessed. Putting our money where our mouth is we spent half of our morning service writing notes of encouragement to each other. The kids wrote to the staff and the staff to the kids or to each other. I told the kids to thank the staff for what each one does well and to praise them for their service. It wasn't long before yellow, pink, and blue notes were flying around the room and many were coming up to me for more. At the end, I had the staff stand up and the kids gave their notes to them. It was a great time and everyone was visibly happy. Thomas was doing Sunday school but I saved his notes for later. We laughed as we read one that said simply, "Uncle, you are a good driver." Others said "Thank you for having good plans for us." As you read this why not write a note of encouragement to someone today, it takes little time and means so much. posted by Colleen at 11:48 PM Apples-Enough for Everyone!
Thursday, September 08, 2005
 Today we gave out apples to the children. The littler ones received their apples in the morning and the older kids got their apples after they returned home from school. Elio and Gideon are our two newest kids. They are brothers and have recently lost their mother. Elio (6 yrs) and Gideon (4 yrs) have only been at Home of Love for about 3 weeks. When Elio returned home from school he was struggling to get his shoes off, while carrying his school bag and holding his apple. I offered to hold his apple and he looked very distrustful at me as if he wondered if I'd really give it back or not. I held it carefully until he had his shoes untied and then handed it to him. He looked away and said, "I am not going to eat it, give it to Gideon." Gideon is the younger of the two brothers. I didn't understand at first why he was so worried about me holding his apple if he didn't even want it and then it dawned on me. "Gideon already had an apple; he had it this morning and has already eaten it." I explained. Again he looked up at me wondering if I was tricking him or not. I smiled and told him, "We treat everyone the same here, if you get something then of course your brother also will get it. We don't love one child more than the other. You are equal." He looked at Gideon smiling and nodding and then back at me. He then gave me a slight smile as he walked by, clutching his apple. posted by Colleen at 11:05 AM Playground faces challenge
Sunday, September 04, 2005
We recently heard that the playground will be subject to about 50% of its worth in taxes when it arrives at the Chittagong port. This news is quite disheartening because we thought we were so close to actually being able to order and ship the playground. Now, we are looking at another lump sum that might be needed. Please, pray with us. We are trying to find a legal way around it or at least to bring the amount down.
posted by Colleen at 7:48 AM We are almost there!
For all of you who have heard about our dream to buy a playground for the orphanage, (scroll down to August 16th) we would like to update you on the amount we have already received. This is amazing and so exciting for us. With thankful hearts, we have received $11,259.00 up until this point. Our goal was 12,500.00 so we are VERY close! Now all that remains is the $2,500.00 needed for shipping. If this comes in we will be able to order it in the next couple of weeks, shooting for a target date of January to get it all set up. If more finances than needed for the actual playground come in, we would like to buy some extra exercise equipment for the boys. Thank you so much to all who have given towards the playground; it's a joy working with you!
posted by Thomas at 10:59 PM
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