Could you partner with us in a small(er) way?

Would you be willing to partner with us financially in a small(er) way in order to help us raise the support we need. Here's the thought. If we had 120 people willing to support us at $21/month (about the price of a large pepperoni pizza and a 2 liter of soda - or pop to those of you west of State College) for the next 3 years, we would be at our goal. Maybe monthly seems too tough. If someone pledged to send $250 per year for the next 3 years, that would accomplish the same goal.

I know times are tight for a lot of people right now - and this is not meant to place a burden on anyone. Rather, some of you may have been considering supporting, but afraid that your $20 a month really would not make a difference. Guess what? It can and it will. It is proof that we can do together what no one of us can do alone.

Interested? Drop us an email at shannonjerry@gmail.com or you can fill out our support form below. If you would like to give online we can make that happen, too, through Network for Good.

One Big Step towards a Leap of Faith

This weekend, we took one large step in preparation for this leap that we are about to take. We packed up everything that will not fit in our suitcases or is not sentimental and will be stored, hauled it off to the church (a better location that here in the middle of nowhere), and had a yard sale. What was left will be boxed back up and hauled off to auction. Just like that. 14+ married years (+ still some childhood years) of accumulated stuff. Gone. In preparation...

What a strange culture we live in. This love of stuff, and a rewarding for the accumulation of stuff is just, well...crazy. Bazaar. Silliness. How much of our lives do we spend trying to accumulate and then managing our accumulation of stuff? And for what?

I look around my house and I think "what if?" What if we don't raise the funds to go? What if we can't move to Ethiopia? Will I regret what we just did? And as I've pondered that, the answer I've come to is that there is very little I would miss. Maybe the kids' Playdoh things they spent hours creating with. Maybe one or 2 kitchen gadgets that made life a bit easier. But other than that, I can't really think of ANYTHING I'd miss. And there were 2 large rooms in the church FULL of stuff! Holy cow. And we call that "civilized", advanced, Western, modern, progressive. Hmmmm.



So I'm thankful for this step, no matter what the outcome. And I'm really glad to have this one big step over and done with. And I'm REALLY glad to be one big step closer to Ethiopia! Preparing to leap. Yehaw!

Financial Support Update

Here's the latest on our support raising efforts. We have pledges for approximately 25% of our monthly need and about 40% of our start up needs. We'd love to have the rest of our support raised within the next 5 weeks. Thank you to those of you who have responded. If you haven't gotten a chance to yet, would you consider supporting us monthly?

Also, check out our yard sale - we're selling most everything (except for our furniture - we're still sitting on it for another 6 weeks) this Friday and Saturday from 8a - 2 p at 2100 Manor Ridge Drive, Lancaster.

Impact of Food Shortage in Southern Ethiopia

Here's a heartbreaking account of the current situation in Southern Ethiopia which is experiencing a green drought. The rains came, but they were too late for a decent harvest, resulting in a shortage of food and acute malnutrition of thousands of children. Here's the report http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85666