My blogs, Part Two

On my blogs look at the LA Connection, she is a very talented designer and on the roll look at Bek Wales blog, a great mom with lots to say. Look at them. They are great blogs.

Children Stole My Heart

I cannot find the picture of the baby that I held. So many people need help. Please become a follower and share with people you know. The Freedom Project is to help refugees and families but we also want to be a part of the community that we will be lining in and be a part of helping everyone that we come in contact with. The goal is to make the lives better or safer for everyone we meet. I look forward to having more people come along and join the blog and keep up with things that are happening and be a part of the solution. Soon there will be chances for you to add something like a silent auction, come to one of oue fundraisers. Please tell your Friends. Thanks for all you read and are a part.

Blessings,

Jennifer

Children

Thanks fully there are many children who have been adopted from nations in Africa. My friends D and A have adopted an beautiful child, E-girl (names are not given to ensure safety). D had started a web sight http://www.ethiopiakids.com/. If you are an adoptive parent from Ethiopia please visit and help those who are in the long and often hard process. This family is a blessings and if I had permission I would put a picture of the beautiful E-girl and all the kids who have been given forever families.

One of the goals of the Freedom project is to have a orphanage or help one financially that already existed. Please join in me prayer as we look forward to being more active in the work of the Freedom Project.

All of the ministries we will either start or assist in are worthy of your time, prayer and support. Please remember these are people who are hurting. Please join me in prayer for them.

Thanks for caring. It means a lot.

Back to School

As I walked through Target today I saw "Back to School" and "Decorate your Dorm" signs all over the place. When I was a teacher this was my favorite time of year. I loved getting ready for the students to come to school. Now, when I see those signs and all of the great school supplies (yes, I still buy notebooks and markers, just for me) I am always transported back to the schools I visited in Africa. Where I was in Africa, school was a privilege, not a right. Students yearned for an education, knowing, hoping it would help them have a better life. Of the schools, all 16-20 we visited, a few were concrete rooms with tin roofs but more of them than not were tin buildings held together with mud and straw. The classrooms were overcrowded. Sixty students would sit in a "room" meant for twenty. They had no books or chalk. They had no computers or pencils and paper. Yet, this was the dream. And in that place they learned because there were teachers who wanted them to learn. But primarily, they learned because they craved knowledge. You should have seen their faces. You should have heard the laughter and joy. I wish you could have seen them laugh at our feeble attempts to say something in their language. They soaked in every tiny piece of information they were given. They walked miles alone to get to school because they wanted to learn. Statistically there is very little chance of them getting out of the life they lived but if the could, it would not be without an education. I left some of my heart with those kids, in that country, on that continent.

As you buy new backpacks and paper, as you check things off the list and wait in long lines with children who dread the beginning of the school year, I challenge you to think of two things. First, the right we have to education is a gift, a ticket to the world of adulthood and success. It is everything, second only to a relationship with Christ. Second, think about the schools and students on there other side of the world. There are no supply lists that lead to frustration. But, just as with your child, the education they often fight for is the ticket to life. They do not get to stand in lines while the person in front them runs to get the folder with pockets because they got the one without. They walk miles, sometimes without shoes to have the chance to learn something that one day may help them help others.

The Freedom Center wants to be a part of making a school (hopefully more in the future) where each students has a chair of their own, where each student has paper and pencils, where each student learns something that can better the lives they lead and the community they live in. When you are in line, thank our Father for the privilege of shopping for school supplies. Please pray for those who live in a world where education is not easily obtained and is often abandoned. In that line. try not to get in a hurry or be frustrated, instead pray for those students who sit 4 to a seat and crave everything they can learn. While you wait, pray. While you wait, thank the Father that you live in a nation that has school supply lists that make long lines at Target. Consider thanking the Father for the privilege of having a supply list at all. If your feet hurt from a long day of work, shopping and long lines, pray for the children who walk miles on rocky roads to get to school.

Doesn't the PSA that NBC does end every segment with the statement, "the more you know. . . ." ? Pray they will know more and pray they will know the Teacher of us all.

Progress

Just wanted to let you all know that progress is being made in the whole process. It is slow but is being made.

Remeber the People who have no Freedom

Right now there are women and children all over the world that do not have the freedom that we have. As we begin to enjoy our weekend, think about them as you go to the store and buy the food that they don't and sleep in a bed that many of them do not have. I try to remember this when I am feeling too secure in my life. I try to be thankful. I often fail but I try.

Help the Widows and Orphans

In the genocide in Sudan, the Congo, Char, Rwanda etc., but specially Sudan, Darfur to be more specific the women and children are spared. Spared, I cannot even really use that word, the are raped, beaten, watch their husbands and fathers brutal killed and their homes destroyed. So I am not sure spared is the word.

A friend, actually, someone I have never met but have connected through Face Book and I consider a friend sent me this verse when she found out that my ministry had a goal of housing these women, treating their trauma the best we can, teaching them a trade, educating and making sure the children are healthy. She did not know me well. She did not know that James 1 held a special place in my heart. The kindest, most wonderful woman and teacher had her students memorise the entire chapter of James 1. Many of them in their late 20's can still say it world for world, but I digress. The verse she sent me, the them verse for The Freedom Project is James 1:27, a verse I have read and heard 100's of times. "Pure, unstained religion according to God our Father, is to take care of the orphans and the widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupt by this world. James 1:27"

The work of The Freedom Project is not easy and it occurs to me that many of you many choose not to read and or follow this blog and ministry because once you have the information you are accountable for it. Please do not overlook the horrible acts going on right on out watch. Soon I will be asking you to participate in on-line auctions, by inexpensive gifts for any occasion, you will be buying anyway. Or maybe I will ask you to pray, pray for my ministry as we move to help these women and children. Pray for the hearts of those of us who do this work.

I have mentioned two women in this post. I will not betray either of their identities only to say this. The teacher had gone on to be with the Lord but in addition to teaching she did not look away. She would be the first to support and want to help The Freedom Project. I miss her daily but in the midst of this work I miss her heart. The second I have never met, though I hope to one day. She did not just send this verse, she lives it as an adoptive parent. And while I have not met them I just know she is a wonderful mother to all her children.

I know this is hard and this project is not glamorous. It would easier to be caught up in the minutia of out lives but that really who you are. Join me in prayer. follow this blog and ask others to. Christian need to know this is happening and we should care because we are Christians, we should care because we are people, we should care because James 1:27 calls this caring pure, unstained religion. Don't look away. Join me in looking closer.

People are dying, souls are in the balance!!!!

For those of you who feel the call to mission, and really that should be all of us who a followers of Christ, there are those nights, when you are unable to do your job for some reason and you know that you are home and the people God has called you to serve are heavy on your heart. This night, this weekend was that and is that for me. A popular talented NFL player died in my town, MJ died, Farrah died, and there has been so much fanfare. I do not know the conditions of their souls. What I do know is that in Sudan people die without Christ by the hands of the militia everyday and that is not breaking news, no one twitters or face book's when a father is murdered in front of his wife and children and then than woman is raped if front of her kids as her house burns around her. Here we live, in the home of the free and the brave and I would not have it any other way. But today, I want to be the voice for those in Sudan. As soon as I am cleared I want to go to a neighboring nation and see what can be done about housing these women, teaching them a trade and giving them a chance to hear the Truth. Today, in the midst of the fanfare of those among us that have died remember the women who carried her dead baby around because she loves her to much to put her down. Tell people to read this blog so that when CNN covers the funeral for MJ tomorrow, (and he is due his proper funeral) we also remember the father that fought the the death for his children and lost that fight. Share this story. It is not fun, it is not easy but in my heart that is unable to sleep because it breaks for them, this is breaking news. Share this, read this, care about this. Tell others to follow because in the weeks, months and years to come I am going to share ways that they can help. Please care. Somebody has to and lots of some body's should.

*this and many of my pictures were taken in Kenya. Though I have some pictures of the horrible things happening in Sudan, I have chosen not to use them on a public blog.

Blogs that I follow and speak to me (Part I)

Like water in an arid waterless place, these are few blogs that I read and I wanted to share them with you. While they have nothing to day with The Freedom Project, the speak to me and therefore, encourage me to do the work that I am called to do. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just 3 I thought I would begin with.

I have know Amy for more than half my life. We are old friends (sorry Amy, ha ha). She often speaks the truth and it speaks to me. Take a look at her blog. http://amy-wilkinson.blogspot.com/. I promise God will use her to speak to you.

I have known Leigh since college. She runs the coolest ministry. I have not asked her to share about her ministry on here but I will share her blog. She is funny and finds God in the day to day and shares it through her blog. Check her out http://www.leighhargisgray.blogspot.com.

Joy's blog is unique. It began as a blog used to update the progress of her baby who was diagnoses with cancer. By the way, he is doing well and is in the maintenance part of his treatment. Take a few hours and read back over all they have been through with baby James (who is not a baby anymore, I think he just turned three). She gives you and honest, wonderful, inspiration account of how God has carried them all, (she is expected James 2nd younger sibling) through this time. Visit http://babyjamesgregoryryan.blogspot.com/. He is a doll by the way just as his little sister is.

I will add more off and on. So many people have things to say that, though often are not mission themed, speak to me about the lost of the world.

Remember, if you are interested in the book, or customized Christmas gift PLEASE contact me at JArnwine@charter.net. You will be shopping anyway.

Check out the blogs of these great women.

*this is not an original photo, I used it from the sample photos on my computer.

Happy 4th, Celebrate our Freedom

Today as we celebrate our freedom, remember those who so not share this gift. There are many things you can do but one thing you can do is purchase the devotional book for sale about being on mission and the framed mission or Bible verse of your choice with a mat and colored thread to match your decor. Remember you can request your own colors an mat choices no less than 4 weeks before Christmas. You are going to have to give gift anyway and each gift will come with a hand written note, on a car with out logo, explaining the difference made in the life of a child of refugee. Remember that as you enjoy your Freedom today, out goal is to bring the freedom that education, a trade, health care and the savior can give a dying world. My bank and I cannot figure out the pay pal. Just e-mail me and we will get you it to you. We are low tech. Don't each of these children deserve the best education possible, the best health care? That is what THE BIG FREEDOM PROJECT IS ABOUT

Give the gift of Freedom.

Remember, someone gave it to you.

Fund Raising

Though there is no one that likes to ask for money, The Freedom Center is going to require money to built. In addition to the custom frames and matted Bible verses related to mission, a book I have written, a devotional about how to be a missionary in your day to day life, will be on sale for the holiday season and a majority of the proceeds will go to The Freedom Project. The cost of the book is $10.00 with shipping it will be $12.00. If you are ready to order this book please e-mail me at JArnwine@charter.net and we will discuss the sales of the book. You can do the same of the cross stitch Bible verses but that will be more involved. I would love to customize the verse for your home decor. I will match the color of the lettering, as well as the mat to you home. I am even willing to stitch a verse that is important to your family. Please be in prayer about how you can use this as a gift to anyone for a holiday, birthday, or special occasion.