no ordinary girl

I am so very blessed to know some pretty amazing people! And my dear friend, Karen, is one of those amazing people!

I met her in 2004, and have had the opportunity to watch God morph her from a quiet chrysalis into a beautiful butterfly, not afraid to take flight.

Several years ago, Karen was over-weight. But she grew tired of all the baggage that came with the extra weight (including how it hindered her physically and emotionally from serving God completely).

So...205-pounds lighter, she took her first mission trip to Manzanillo, MX. She hasn't slowed down since.

And now, this once shy woman is departing on the 30th (with a group of strangers) to minister to the fatherless in Uganda and Ethiopia. Her first trip without the security of her church-family. Her first trip to Africa.

Way to go, Karen! We are so proud of you!!!

You are our hero!

You are a world-changer!!

Blessed Christmas Morning!

Our first family-of-three-celebration of our Dear Savior's birth!

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:6

Richest blessings...grace and peace...
to you and your family on this most blessed day!

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phil 2:5-11

Celebration CARDS are here!!!!

Vince & I had been trying to think of something special for those you who have expressed interest in helping us bring Baby Judah home--and we thought this was a fantastic idea!

Celebration donation cards!!

Although I cannot take credit for the concept, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you from where I borrowed the idea! Click here to visit the blog of this adoptive family who is so generously sharing their blog (and ideas) to help other adoptive families raise money!
(BTW, I'm more than happy to give any adoptive family a pdf for any of the cards below, for your own adoption)

So what is a Celebration Card??

It's an opportunity for you to make a difference in the life of an orphan, and, show your gratitude to friends/family on special occasions. Below are some samples of cards that I've designed to be used for any occasion...birthday, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Easter, anniversary...

I will include on the card the person's/family name that your donation has been given in honor of, and mail it to them! The 4x6 photo announcement is mounted on complementing card stock and placed in matching envelopes. (you can click on images to enlarge)

C A R D # 1


C A R D # 2


C A R D # 3

C A R D #4

C A R D # 5

You can make a donation by clicking on our Chipin button (top, right). Our Chipin account uses PayPal, and allows you to provide a shipping address and special notes to name the honoree, occasion and card selection. Or, if you'd prefer to make a donation by check you can email me at

alisafmartin (at) yahoo (dot) com

Judah??

Judah - Let Yah (Yahweh) Be Praised.

So you've probably picked-up on the *Baby Judah* thing by now. Some of you may have even wondered if there is a little person already named Judah that we've been matched with--but the answer is no.

With our first Ethiopian adoption Micah was our *Baby Martin*, so I felt our next little person needs their own identity...so, Baby Judah it is.

The name Judah may stick permanently, or, maybe not. Guess we'll wait to make that decision when we see his/her sweet little face.

Oh, the things we do!

Sunday we took a whirl-wind trip to Nashville to have dinner with a group (a big group) of adoptive families who live in TN or near by. Three hours there, and three hours home...just to hang out with new and old friends for about 2 hours. Crazy, but so worth it!! We look forward to meeting up with them again soon! All the families are in various stages of Ethiopian adoptions -- so, of course we met for dinner at an Ethiopian Restaurant!

Here's the blog for the Nashville fellowship group...you can see more pics & more blogs.

This is Rachel! She lived in Ethiopia for about a year and managed our agency's transition home.

Unfortunately, she moved back to the states in Feb '09 --

we picked Micah up in Mar '09 --

so although she cared for Micah we weren't able to meet her.

But, surprise! We met her Sun night!

This is Rachel with Micah in Ethiopia exactly one year ago -- WOW, or what!!!

Traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony! Best coffee in the world!!

d e c e m b e r

just for fun!

http://www.mycrazyadoption.com/

Follow the link to check-out a great blog about life, children and adoption...
...and, enter a super-easy contest to win some cool stuff!!

Kari is a dear friend of our's from Branson, MO...so, show your love!!!

what do groceries & hair-cuts have in common??

Apparently a lot, according to Wal-Mart.
Yes, we got Micah's first hair cut at Wal-Mart. And I am totally at peace about it!!

Although, I had to beg Vince to get Micah's hair trimmed. Styling his hair was becoming way too traumatic for us both...his tangles and knots were totally out of control in the mornings...you can imagine all the yanking and crying!! Poor guy!

And, much to Vince's relief, Micah still has his luscious locks. You probably wouldn't even noticed he had a trim, but I promise you he call tell the difference. From now on, I'll probably trim it myself. It looked easy enough, and because of his great curls you'd never know how uneven it was!

As you can see, Micah was a little apprehensive about the stranger with scissors -- but she did a great job!!!

Coffee For You : Home For Baby : Fair Wages For Them

We just wanted to let everyone know about a fundraiser we've started to help generate funds for our adoption. We've teamed-up with Just Love Coffee Roasters--you can read their story here. The family that runs this coffee company has adopted from Ethiopia as well (with America World), and we're excited to work with them!


I met Rob at Together For Adoption, and got to sample some of the coffees.Excellent stuff...and that's coming from me--the coffee-snob!

For each bag of coffee purchased, $5 will be donated toward our adoption expenses. That may not seem like much, but if 300 of our bloggie friends purchase two bags each (one for you, one to give away), $3000 will be raised to help bring *Baby Judah* home! Wow!! And, I'm confident you will all become Just Love coffee junkies!!

Click here to visit our coffee store.

You can join our 2Buy2 Coffee Club, or scroll down to purchase individual bags.

...coffee is a perfect stocking-stuffer...the perfect gift for your work or Sunday School Christmas parties...AND, the perfect opportunity to raise awareness for the least of these!!

Thank you!!!

Jesus Has AIDS

This is a must read by Dr. Russ Moore: Jesus Has AIDS

Posted using ShareThis

Children's Hope Chest vision project

Adoption just ain't a one-time thing...

It bleeds into orphan-care...which spins your world permanently upside-down...in a beautiful way! You never again make a purchase or decision without considering, how will this purchase/decision affect my ability to care for the least of these, for the glory of God?

Some families that we know through our Ethiopia adoption are living this upside-downness in Ethiopia right now!! A group of average (well, heroes to me) moms and dads are traveling with Children's Hope Chest's Tom Davis to scout-out remote orphanages -- to establish sponsorship programs for the children in these orphanages.

Vince and I have already committed to participate in the sponsorship program, and hope to visit the orphanage(s) when we complete our 2nd ET adoption! We would have loved to join the vision team this time around, but finances were a little too tight as we save for *Baby Judah* (more on that later...).

Most of the team is blogging about their trip -- so I encourage you to follow their adventures...I AM!!

http://tomdavis.typepad.com/
(you can also read Micah's story on Tom's blog)
http://ethiopianadoptionspot.blogspot.com/
http://family-from-afar.blogspot.com/
http://afatherseyes.blogspot.com/
http://davidfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/
http://thefifthsparr.blogspot.com/
http://laughners.blogspot.com/

WORLD AIDS DAY

Today is World Aids Day.

How has your understanding of the HIV/AIDS changed since the early '80s??

Hopefully, it has.
Don't be ignorant.
Educate yourself (and your family) about the disease's transmission and treatment.

Time to be apart of the solution...

http://www.worldaidsday.org/