Preparation for Halloween Outreach in the works

We are getting ready for our Halloween Outreach for the kids living in the local homeless shelter. You can read the post below if you would like to contribute to this event. I went down there the other night to find out what the kids wanted to dress up as for Halloween. I can't tell you how precious these kids are. You should have seen their little faces light up just thinking about what they wanted to dress up as for Halloween. I always write down their top three picks just in case I can't find something. There were 26 kids total the other night and there will be more that come in before the event on Saturday. I thought I would share just a couple of the cuties with you.
I also must share some pics from my group of girls at the Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. I LOVE these girls. A few of us have been leading a bible study there every other week with the teen girls for over three years now.
For bible study the other night I gave them all pictures of the kids living in the shelter that will be at our outreach and had them decorate treat bags for them. These girls put their hearts and talent into it. It was a great opportunity to open their eyes to those less fortunate and give them a little face to pray for when they leave. These girls have many life moments of their own and I can honestly say that I know their own experiences fueled the passion that went into decorating these bags. I told them to keep the pictures of the kids and pray for them to find a home. One girl told me she was going to hang them up in her locker and pray for them everyday.

Life is all about giving back no matter what situation you are in yourself. God uses it for His good.












I then had them stick a little note in the bags for the kids. They wrote them completely on their own and you should see some of the sweet things they had to say to these kids whom they have never met but yet found a connection through a picture and maybe their own life experiences.
I LOVE my TBCH girls!!!


Also....just a heads up..... I will be posting soon about sponsorship opportunities for all of these specific children in Sierra Leone that reside in the center that I was blessed to be able to start up.
They are precious!!
Exciting stuff!!!

Halloween Outreach 2009

ITS THAT TIME AGAIN!!
We, here at Ordinary Hero, are gearing up for our 2009 Halloween outreach. We will be bringing the Moms and their children that reside at the Nashville Rescue Mission out for a day of fun and fellowship to our annual Fall Festival at Bethel World Outreach Center, Franklin campus.

We have held this outreach annually since 2006. This gives the children that reside at the homeless shelter a wonderful opportunity to escape their reality for a few hours and enjoy just being kids. The kids will provide us with their top 3 choices of what they would like to dress up as for Halloween. We then provide each child with a costume of their choosing. You can't imagine how excited these little ones become as they get to dress up as their favorite super hero or princess and enjoy a day of fun filled kid adventures. The Moms and kids will be bused in for the Fall festival from 12-4 on Saturday, October 31, 2009.

This outreach has been proven year after year to not only provide a day of fun for both Mom and child, but we have seen relationships formed, opportunities for help arise, and hearts being touched by love and kindness. Many who volunteer often say that it changes their lives to have their eyes opened to the need right here in our own community. Many times these Moms and their children are forgotten. Many do not even realize that there are homeless mothers and children that live right here in Music City. This outreach has formed relationships which then open the doors for many to be helped all the way through Christmas and for years to come.

Let's join together and make a difference that can create memories that will last a lifetime for these children. For many of these children, this will be the first costume that they have ever had. If you would like to be an Ordinary Hero to a child in need by donating $22(paypal deduction included) to a child that will go toward the purchase of a costume ,

PLEASE CLICK HERE.

or mail to :
Ordinary Hero Foundation
P.O. Box 1423
Brentwood, TN 37024

(please make note of Halloween Outreach)


If you would like to read more info of last year's 2008 Halloween Outreach CLICK HERE. to go to the Ordinary Hero Website. You may also see info of 2006, and 2007's Fall Festival outreach on the website under OUTREACH.

If you would like to view a video of a past Outreach which documents the festival and some of the Mom's and their children that have been helped as a result, CLICK HERE.

If you have questions or need more information, email Kelly at kelly@ordinaryhero.org .

Everyone coming together to make sure this event blesses these children is what always contributes to it's success. Many, many thank you's for your support of this outreach and these children. We look forward to another successful event.

Kelly Putty

Children in the Balance

It is hard to believe that this has all been going on for almost a month. We quickly realized that what we walked into in Sierra Leone was more than we ever expected. God allowed us to see things that our minds never could have imagined. BUT it is all for a purpose. These are children that no one knew existed nor took an interest in until the TRS group discovered them last November. We went there one month ago to simply move them into our center and offer them a better way of life and uncovered a tragic way that people have made money off of these children. They are innocent children and most of them don't even realize that a better life can even be imagined. Their stories stick with me. Their questions about America, chocolate factories, school, playgrounds.....all the things that we take advantage of that they only dream about.....stick in my mind.

These children need prayer and I thank you for the prayer you have given them. Now is a crucial hour. There have been 35 children that have finally been moved out, but not to our center. At the time, I don't know which 35 have been chosen but I do know that the certain children that we came to SL to care for have not been moved. The facility they have been moved to is overcrowded now and they are requesting that they be moved to our center :) So you see, God is moving these kids according to His plan. But they need fervent prayer, especially the particular kids that we showed up to care for. I will include some pictures for you to be in prayer about for these particular kids.


Below you will see the baby that Erica is hoping to adopt. Please pray that she can get moved to our new center.


Below you will find the baby that Kelly M found last December that has stolen her heart. Please pray that he gets moved to the new center.


Below you will find a young boy that stole my heart while on this trip. His name is Tomba (could be spelled wrong). But this is the boy that was brave enough to come to me completely on his own and tug on my shirt to tell me something. When I leaned down to speak to him his eyes filled with tears and he said, " I need help....My mother is dead, and my father is dead." And that is all he said. I just wonder what caused him to have enough trust in me, a total stranger, to come to me and tell me that. Well, I hugged him and told him I would try to help him. So, to say the least, this little one sticks out to me and I am really pulling for him to be moved to our new center and get sponsored. Please pray for him. He had such a sweet spirit.


You see me pictured below with Sam holding onto Tomba. Please pray for Sam right now. I just discovered that he now has Malaria and is being treated in our center. What perfect timing for him to be moved to our center. We have the proper medication for him and he is on the mend.

Below you will find Victoria. She stole Jessie's heart back in December. Please pray for her. We fear they are filling her head with lies. We fear for her physical safety right now around the older men who live at the center. We fear she has experienced more than any 10/11 year old girl ever should have. Pray for God to speak truth to her and for her to be rescued into safety.

This is a little baby named Blessing that seemed to steal everyone's heart.
More sweet children.

Some just seemed to cry out for help just by the look in their eye. You just see destiny on them that is screaming to be unleashed.

This little one, below, literally latched onto me and would not leave my side. She stayed right at my waist with her arms wrapped tightly around me. It was heartbreaking to have to say goodbye and leave her there. I believe her name is Maui. Please pray for her to be released.

This little guy just seemed to light up a room. He had such a sweet spirit.

This little one below just bursted with personality and love. She has so much to offer this world.

This little one below has already stolen the heart of one of our readers. Please pray for her release. She already has sponsorship waiting on her. Below you will find Betty, Sam's sister. Please pray for her. I heard that she is having a hard time because of all the children she left behind. She said she was like a mother to about 10 children which is obvious from the picture below. Her heart is aching right now for them. Bless her heart, she already has a mother's heart and she can't be more than 10 or 11 herself. These kids learned quickly that they had to take care of each other.

Below you will find little Lucy. She was special to all of us because of her physical condition. I heard that she was one that has been moved to the overcrowded facility. So pray for her because she needs special care and we pray that they realize it. She started to flourish just with the limited time that we got to spend with her. Pray that she gets moved to our center. She has sponsorship waiting on her.

I know I have mentioned certain children, but all the children need prayer. Right now I don't know which children have been chosen and been moved and which ones have not. These children's lives are in the balance. Their destinies are in God's hands. I know that prayer changes things and that is exactly why things are starting to move after one month. We think a month is a long time, but compared to how long these children have been living with all this, God is uncovering and bringing things out of the darkness in His perfect time. Now is a crucial hour for these kids. We have one girl out of our group of 10 that stayed behind in SL to see this through. Please pray that this gets resolved while she is still there.

Thank you all for your support and comments and continued prayer for these little ones that are so precious to us and to God. Thank you for helping us be His hands and feet.

Kelly

A Personal Truth and a Few New Residents

I am continuing to get updates from the group in SL. They are STILL standing in the gap for these kids and believing for justice to be served. I wanted to pass on Tina's latest post. I believe she speaks on behalf of all of us and some of the thoughts and feeling that we are left with from this journey.

I will let her tell you in her own words.......
From Tina.....
"I received this email today from a friend, Kelly Jo Yaksich who volunteers tirelessly for Kids Against Hunger in Nebraska. It spoke to me in so many ways that I had to share it…"


Kelly Jo writes…

“Now the heartbreaking reality that almost did me in.....I have to interject here, that after this today, I do not know if I would make it emotionally if I came to Sierra Leone with the delivery of this container of food....There was a man and his two boys that came to package food this weekend. I went to visit with them and found out that they came to America 7 years ago as refugees from Sudan. He and his wife and his 5 children who are now age 11 to 17 years old. They first lived in Texas but chose to come to Nebraska because it was cheaper to live here. When I stood up to share our education and training and told about this food going to Sierra Leone he got VERY excited. He bobbed his head up and down throughout my talk on the orphans and malnutrition and the rescue efforts of your group.

When the event was done, he came to me with his hand on his heart and with tears in his eyes he said "I understand this. I was where these people are in Sierra Leone when I lived in Sudan. I could not feed my family. I was watching my children die before my very eyes. I was helpless to help my family and my village. Today, today I helped my country. This food today is going to my country." Oh my Tina, I nearly crumbled into a ball and wept. This was a TANGIBLE and REALISTIC way for this incredible man and his children to reach out to Africa with help. “


"As I read Kelly Jo's message and the testimony from this man, I thought of the message The Raining Season has been sharing this past year…

”147,000,000 Orphans...They Know That We Know”

We share that there are 147 million orphans in the world who are suffering and yet we have the power to change it. The 147 million orphans know that we are aware of their suffering and yet we stand by and do nothing to save them. We know they are there...we hear their stories...see their faces...know how we can help and yet as a society we choose to just stand by and not respond.

There are over 25,000 mothers each day that watch their child die of something preventable knowing that there is someone out there that could stop it from happening. Sadly these children die because many of us choose to stand silent and do nothing simply in order to preserve our own personal wealth, status or whatever we hold to be higher than human life.

I see myself and others as no different than the government officials of Sierra Leone who stand by and do nothing to assist and rescue these children under the oppression and abuse of a single orphanage director and her staff. I will never again speak that message "They Know That We Know" in the same way again now that I have personally experienced how it feels to love a child so much only to have no choice but to stand by and watch them suffer...completely helpless and powerless to change it. I have to watch these precious children suffer and possibly die all while someone within reach has the power to change it with a simple act and save that child I love so dearly. The outrage, anger and frustration is exhausting and cuts deep into my soul. I now know first hand how the parents of children who suffer needlessly feel. It is beyond words.

Yet still, I hear from people, "I have my own children, it is not my problem." I have news...it is our problem...it our responsibility to ACT. These are the children of the world and we are the adults of the world that have been placed here to protect them. God has called each of us to serve the orphan. They only suffer if we choose to ignore the call God has commanded of each and every one of us. Once we all take responsibility, that is when the world will be changed. We each have that power to take a simple step...and change a life forever...it is the same step and power that I so desperately want the government of Sierra Leone to take to rescue these children. I am still hoping and praying for a miracle...God can move mountains when it comes to His precious orphans. I am trusting, learning and listening...as painful as these days can be."

I would joyfully like to introduce you to some of the newest residents of our new center. The Lord has brought these children to the center and He sees the destiny that each one of them have. These are just a couple of pics. They have 15 or so children and were supposed to get about 20 more although I haven't gotten the latest update. I will share with you what pictures I have been given.



From Tina: "I sat with Adamse (8 years old) and asked her what she likes to play and she said her favorite game is dodge ball (this tells me she is strong and brave because I always hated that game). I then asked her what she would like to be when she grows up and she responded, “I am going to be a laundress.” I was surprised and asked why she wants to be a laundress as most children in this country want to be doctors, teachers or lawyers. She shared with me that she already is a laundress to earn money and that is all she will ever be able to do. I then shared with her that she will now go to school and then I asked her again what she wanted to be when she grew up. As she sat with a smile that clearly surprised herself and seemed to make her feel embarrassed to show me, she replied, “If I go to school, I want to be a doctor.”





And this.....is where some of the children in our new center have come from. Kroo Bay….a “town” of 16,000 people and thousands are orphans…




Praise God.....He sets the lonely in families and takes up the cause of the needy :)

An Update in Sierra Leone

I wanted to give you a glimpse into the sweet spirits of these precious children that you all have been praying for. I have shown you glimpses of their harsh reality in other posts, now I would like you to see what bubbles out of them when given an opportunity to shine. They stand ready to share love and joy with anyone willing to give them attention. They have a lot to offer this world. I pray that they get the opportunity to do just that.

To give a little update.....

Sam has been reunited with his siblings and they are now all living at the new center.....:) What an answer to prayer.

The center now houses around 15 children that have been brought in from surrounding areas. There are 3 or 4 sibling groups. Some of their stories are just heartbreaking. One sibling group was seen wandering by themselves in one of our caretakers area's that she lived in so she inquired about them and found that they were orphans. So thankfully, they now have a new home in our new center. Another sibling group was said to have been abandoned by both parents and had a grandmother that could hardly care for them. They are said to be eaten up with scabies to the point that there are big boils on them. They are being treated by a Dr and now can call our new center, home.
Erica went to the Dr with Sam's mother a day or so ago and found a man in a wheelchair who was paralyzed and had a 7 month old he cannot take care of. The child's mother had just abandoned the child. The man begged Erica to take care of his baby. So that baby now has a new place to call home.

So as you can see, the center is starting to fill up. They have a trip planned today or tomorrow to Crew Bay to check on the orphan children out there. The pictures I have posted on here with the children residing with the pigs are pictures from Crew Bay. They expect that more children will be coming to our center from that area as well.

We are very thankful that God is bringing the children into our center as He has. We are still standing on His word and believing for the precious children that opened our eyes to the need and gave The Raining Season the heart to open the center in the first place. Those children deserve the very best that life has to offer. Those children have not been forgotten. Those children are still being prayed for everyday. Those children still remain in bad conditions and need us to stand in the gap for them. Those children need to be rescued.

If you would rather click on the direct link to watch the video of the children that we are all praying and believing for CLICK HERE.

Thank you for your continued prayers.