Friends,
We are currently at 42% of our monthly financial need... we've found a great deal on tickets for June 19th, but are unable to book them until we reach 75% of our monthly need. Please join us in prayer!
With HOPE,
Dan & Christi
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
I DO!
Eight years ago today I was honored to say 'I DO!' to the most amazing man I've ever met!
There aren't many people that Dan truly opens up to, but if you are one of those people you'll agree that he is one of THE most amazingly humble people you'll ever meet. He's walked by my side through the thick and thin, through desperate heartache and through immense joy! I seriously ask God daily WHY He chose to bless me in this way... with this amazing husband... but He did and I'm SO THANKFUL for him!
Babe - you are truly my best friend... when we are apart for more than 2 minutes my heart longs to be with you. I LOVE waking up to you each and every day and I'm SO thankful for the husband and father that you are. You are truly an amazing example of a Godly man and I'm so proud to call you my husband! With you as an example, I'm confident that Malakai will make an amazing husband some day to a lovely woman!
Happy 8 Years Baby!
There aren't many people that Dan truly opens up to, but if you are one of those people you'll agree that he is one of THE most amazingly humble people you'll ever meet. He's walked by my side through the thick and thin, through desperate heartache and through immense joy! I seriously ask God daily WHY He chose to bless me in this way... with this amazing husband... but He did and I'm SO THANKFUL for him!
Babe - you are truly my best friend... when we are apart for more than 2 minutes my heart longs to be with you. I LOVE waking up to you each and every day and I'm SO thankful for the husband and father that you are. You are truly an amazing example of a Godly man and I'm so proud to call you my husband! With you as an example, I'm confident that Malakai will make an amazing husband some day to a lovely woman!
Happy 8 Years Baby!
Saturday, May 26, 2012
HOPE... villages of it!
After a trip to the Dominican Republic in 2003, I simply thought God would tell me to GO and I'd hop on a plane and serve overseas for the rest of my life... but God had different plans! I like to call them detours, the paths that the Lord takes us on which are many times WAY outside of what we could think up! A detour is defined as an indirect or roundabout path... and that is EXACTLY what God has been doing in our hearts and lives... refining HIS plans and our vision for our lives through some detours!
Prov 16:9 - The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
We KNOW that God has called us to Guatemala. He has called us to serve the orphan... the destitute... the lonely... to lay down our lives for the ones that are forgotten! He puts pieces of our lives together for a purpose, HIS purpose!
God was teaching us what this would look like many times in our lives... through NOT sending me back to the DR... through NOT allowing us adopt the 2 little girls from Guatemala we LONG to call our own... through the adoption process taking WAY longer than we hoped... and now through His calling to serve in Guatemala.
While our hearts so long to build on the relationships we started with the children at Eagle's Nest, God has made it clear in HIS way, in HIS timing, what HIS plans are for our family.
Prov. 19:21 - You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.
While the path has changed, our mission has not. We are going where God intended all along! Our family will be heading out in THIRTY DAYS with one-way tickets to serve at Village of Hope (Aldea de Esperanza) in San Lucas, Guatemala! We will focus on family-style orphan care, a feeding care center, and outreach to the community including a music ministry that Dan will be launching! We are truly AMAZED at how God has paved the path for this exciting new adventure!
While God has been putting together the pieces of the puzzle, we have honestly stood in AWE of how He has called us to lay down our lives, put our plans and thoughts aside, and say YES to His plans!
Village of Hope is an initiative of Lifesong for Orphans in partnership with Project Hopeful. We are SO humbled and EXCITED to be (back) serving under the leadership of this Godly organization. And God blessed our socks off again by giving us the opportunity to serve alongside Todd & Amy Block (and their amazing children) at VOH!
The purpose of Village of Hope is to provide family, faith and a future to the least of these- to give them a place where HOPE can enter their world. We will do this by providing holistic orphan care to special needs orphans, primarily focused on those living with HIV/AIDS in a family style setting. Each family-style unit will consist of house parents as well as 6-8 children in the home. Our hope is to create a family unit as God intended- a family to provide life- long support as well as teach the children to have life values. The goal is to avoid institutional living and prevent children from being thrown out on the streets when they are 18. We will do this by equipping them with family- as well as life skills that meet their physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational care. Because adoptions are closed in Guatemala there is little hope of the children ever begin adopted into families of their own. One part of our vision is to develop relationship in the Guatemalan Evangelical churches, to come along side of them, educating them on God’s heart for the orphan, HIV/AIDS, as well as adoption.
Pray.Go.Give.Advocate.
As our partners, we wanted to keep you up to date and let you know that we have asked CTEN (our prior sending organization) to stop accepting funds and donations going forward will go through Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong is a 501c3 and is accredited by the ECFA (for more information, click here). If you feel led to give at any time, please visit http://lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html (electronically or by check) and indicate ‘preference Ucherek-Guatemala’ on your donation.
We are thrilled to announce that we are currently at 37% of our monthly commitments and 74% of our start-up fund. We MUST be at 75% of monthly commitments in order to leave in 30 days... that's just 45 more people committing to $30 per month... what can YOU give up each month to help send us?
Prov 16:9 - The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
We KNOW that God has called us to Guatemala. He has called us to serve the orphan... the destitute... the lonely... to lay down our lives for the ones that are forgotten! He puts pieces of our lives together for a purpose, HIS purpose!
God was teaching us what this would look like many times in our lives... through NOT sending me back to the DR... through NOT allowing us adopt the 2 little girls from Guatemala we LONG to call our own... through the adoption process taking WAY longer than we hoped... and now through His calling to serve in Guatemala.
While our hearts so long to build on the relationships we started with the children at Eagle's Nest, God has made it clear in HIS way, in HIS timing, what HIS plans are for our family.
Prov. 19:21 - You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.
While the path has changed, our mission has not. We are going where God intended all along! Our family will be heading out in THIRTY DAYS with one-way tickets to serve at Village of Hope (Aldea de Esperanza) in San Lucas, Guatemala! We will focus on family-style orphan care, a feeding care center, and outreach to the community including a music ministry that Dan will be launching! We are truly AMAZED at how God has paved the path for this exciting new adventure!
While God has been putting together the pieces of the puzzle, we have honestly stood in AWE of how He has called us to lay down our lives, put our plans and thoughts aside, and say YES to His plans!
Village of Hope
The purpose of Village of Hope is to provide family, faith and a future to the least of these- to give them a place where HOPE can enter their world. We will do this by providing holistic orphan care to special needs orphans, primarily focused on those living with HIV/AIDS in a family style setting. Each family-style unit will consist of house parents as well as 6-8 children in the home. Our hope is to create a family unit as God intended- a family to provide life- long support as well as teach the children to have life values. The goal is to avoid institutional living and prevent children from being thrown out on the streets when they are 18. We will do this by equipping them with family- as well as life skills that meet their physical, emotional, spiritual, and educational care. Because adoptions are closed in Guatemala there is little hope of the children ever begin adopted into families of their own. One part of our vision is to develop relationship in the Guatemalan Evangelical churches, to come along side of them, educating them on God’s heart for the orphan, HIV/AIDS, as well as adoption.
We are thrilled, terrified, peace-filled, and awestruck all at once! We cannot wait to see how God continues to reveal the pieces of the puzzle for this new ministry... and we want to invite YOU to be a part of what He is doing in Guatemala through Village of Hope. We challenge you to really pray and ask the Lord what part He may have you play.
Pray.Go.Give.Advocate.
As our partners, we wanted to keep you up to date and let you know that we have asked CTEN (our prior sending organization) to stop accepting funds and donations going forward will go through Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong is a 501c3 and is accredited by the ECFA (for more information, click here). If you feel led to give at any time, please visit http://lifesongfororphans.org/donation.html (electronically or by check) and indicate ‘preference Ucherek-Guatemala’ on your donation.
We are also in need of stateside reps who will advocate for Village of Hope, we are in need of prayer partners, financial partners and people who are willing to do something more than just sit on the sidelines for the kingdom of God. We invite you to come, to see, to visit, and to become invested in the lives of these orphans – as He is.
If you would like to know how you can be a part of Village of Hope please feel free to contact us at christi AT lifesongfororphans DOT org.
We are thrilled to announce that we are currently at 37% of our monthly commitments and 74% of our start-up fund. We MUST be at 75% of monthly commitments in order to leave in 30 days... that's just 45 more people committing to $30 per month... what can YOU give up each month to help send us?
all our bags are packed...
All our bags are packed, we're ready to go... but Finley is sad because we aren't at 75% so we can't leave yet! :)
Please prayerfully consider joining our team and sending us to Guatemala!
Please prayerfully consider joining our team and sending us to Guatemala!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
365 days since we first saw your face!
One year ago today we landed in Ethiopia and met our Malakai Aweke for the first time!
first family picture
I love this picture because it looks like momma has a hairy arm:)
Malakai Aweke today!
we have so enjoyed watching our little man grow in every way this year! What a blessing he has been to us! WE LOVE YOU MALAKAI!
p.s. we have been working on spanish a little...his favorite words are burrito and bano:)
please ignore the burrito all over his face:)
We talk with our hands a lot I guess!
we have so enjoyed watching our little man grow in every way this year! What a blessing he has been to us! WE LOVE YOU MALAKAI!
p.s. we have been working on spanish a little...his favorite words are burrito and bano:)
please ignore the burrito all over his face:)
We talk with our hands a lot I guess!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Exhausted!
**Update- GOD IS SO AMAZINGLY GOOD!!!! Not only did HE provide for the FULL $2,000 match that was so generously given... but HE also provided an ADDITIONAL $1,000 match... that has now been FULLY MET! WOW! Thank you to all of you for your prayers, support, and encouragement.... we are BLOWN AWAY! He is SO good!
We are currently at 46% of our startup costs and 33% of our monthly need!
It's been a FULL week here!
Lots of packing...
eating on a temporary 'table'...
making memories in our home for the last time...
moving...
from this...
to this...
one last photo outside our old home...
**Thank you so much mom and dad Uch and Christie Todd for helping us move... couldn't have done it without you!
potty training...
spending time with family...
a little pedi for some fun...
celebrating 2 months with our sweet girl and dedicating her to the Lord at church today...
i think we wore the kiddos out... can't even stay awake to eat his dinner on the run...
We got home tonight after a long, exhausting week feeling SO blessed on this Mother's Day for the blessings the Lord has showered on us. Malakai was sleeping in the car (as you can see above) and Dan carried him into his new room (where he's sleeping with his mattress on the floor)... as he laid down his sweet head, he stretched, grinned, and uttered the words 'FAMILY'... with tears in his eyes Dan responded by telling him that his family is right here with him and that we love him so much!
We are so OVERWHELMED by God's goodness in our family today! Help us be a family to the fatherless in Guatemala!
On this amazing day we've also been blessed by a generous friend and we have a CHALLENGE for you!
We have the opportunity to be blessed with a $2,000 matching grant IF we can raise $2,000 in
the next 48 hours (by 9pm CT on Tuesday)! Will you be a part of our team? We have the opportunity to be blessed with a $2,000 matching grant IF we can raise $2,000 in
**IMPORTANT: Donations often take several days to show up in our account, so PLEASE post a comment on this blog or send us a note at ucherek1 AT hotmail DOT com to let us know your pledge so we can keep everyone updated on our progress!
Monday, May 7, 2012
House of Memories
Tonight is our last night in OUR home...as we struggle with leaving the place that we call home, many great memories come to mind!
A home to Christi and I for the last 4 years!
Bringing Malakai Aweke home last June
And welcoming home baby Finley 8 weeks ago!
We will miss this place more than words can say...please pray for us on this journey! It is such a rewarding time for us but also a VERY hard thing to leave home! But we know that God has called us and we must be faithful to that call. We pray that our Father would lead the way and keep us safely in HIS arms.
We leave for Guatemala in 7 short weeks. If you feel led to partner with us, click here!
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