Spoke again at Highland Park

During the last week of school (before Christmas break) I went and spoke again at Highland Park about mission Blankets & Bears and about "giving" in general. They donated blankets and have more to come! We will be having our donation drive during the spring after all the "holidays" are over.

Gives me the shivers...

We had successfully sent 2 boxes of a shipment to Uganda to an orphanage of 200 children. We had sent 2 more boxes for the complete shipment for all children and the final 2 boxes got stuck in customs...which is something that is a problem we have encountered. Customs was trying to charge us over $500 dollars to get both boxes out. After almost 2 months of prayer customs lowered the cost to $310. After verifying with a larger organization I work with that this orphanage was in good standing this sunday a check came in to almost completely cover the custom charges. I was having lunch with the donator today and she said she just felt God was telling her to donate to us. I told her the story of how I had been praying and wasn't sure what to do with the customs problem and that when her check came to me with that amount I knew it was God saying for me to send the money. She said it just gave her shivers because she knew God had been telling her to give her money. I won't say her name because she knows and more importantly God knows who she is and He will bless her more than any human could in praise for her donation. I pray you will rely on God in prayer and faith and be obedient when He asks you to go or to do. Because of her now all these children will soon be getting a blanket and bear.

Juarez Mission

20 blankets and bears are being sent to an orphanage in Juarez, Mexico with a church group. The team will distribute the blankets & bears to the orphanage this coming week October 30th thru November 2nd. Please pray for safety and that the blankets and bears all make through customs smoothly. Thanks for all your support!

Pictures of Bears Arrival in Liberia, Africa

Go to Mission of Hope Liberia on the link below to see if you can see a bear or blanket you donated this summer that arrived in Liberia! These pictures will make your heart smile!
Talk about a Bear Hug!

http://missionofhopeliberia.net/BlanketsandBears.html

Good News

Today I received an email that two boxes of blankets and bears arrived successfully at the orphanage in Uganda, find out more about them at http://www.orphansforchrist.com/. They are still waiting on a third box to give out all 200 blankets and bears to their children.

Yesterday the missionaries from Nicaragua were in the states for dental work and were able to stop by and visit. This is were we went this June and passed out blankets and bears to an orphanage and a children's hospital, you can find out more about them at http://www.saviorstear.org/ .

Saturday the lady that solely runs an orphange in Liberia called to say she was able to pass out all the blankets and bears we sent earlier this year. She just got back from a 9 week visit there, her link is http://www.lighthousecommunitycog.com/misson_of_hope_orphanage .

Thanks for all you do to support our cause, all this good news wouldn't be made possible without your support. Please check out some of these websites to see how you can help out these children. Keep watching the blog for pictures of these children receiveing their blankets and bears once the leaders get them to me!

Blankets & Bears 5K Fun Run

We had 62 runners this year at the 5k at Medipark! Race results are posted at http://lonestarrunnersclub.net/ under results and then Blankets and Bears Fun Run 5K. Thanks to all the sponsors, runners, friends and family who invited runners or called sponsors, volunteers who came out and help and especially my husband Luke for everything! None of this could have been so successful without all of you...way to go!

Blankets & Bears 5K Fun Run

It is our 2nd race! This year's Blankets & Bears Fun Run is at the same place, Medi Park, meet in the parking lot between Botanical Gardens & the Discovery Center. Registration will be at the big red travel trailer starting at 8:00. The race starts at 8:30 am on Saturday, August 29th. Entry is $25 and 1st 25 registered get a free t-shirt. You can get an entry form online at www.lonestarrunnersclub.net or email Tori at toridawn@hotmail.com. All funds raised for the race go towards shipping costs. Blankets & Bears is a nonprofit that collects donated blankets & bears in the Amarillo area and sends them to orphanages in third world countries. Started just last November, the organization has already sent hundreds of blankets and bears to orphanages in Liberia, Madagascar, Uganda & Zimbabwee. This summer blankets and bears was able to go and hand deliver bears at an orphanage in Managua, Nicaragua. Scroll down on our link for videos of the trip and more information about what all we are up to! If you know of a business or individual who would be interested in supporting or advertising on the back of our race shirts for this year's event please call Tori at 676-5332. Thanks, this is only possible by donators and that is you!!!!

Shipment to Uganda

Last Monday I sent 200 bears to an orphanage in Uganda. Today I mailed out 65 blankets to that same orphanage but was unable to mail my other package box of blankets because of the cost of shipment. The postal worker said Tori, you look discouraged. Of course I was, I wasn't able to send all I could. It is the winter months there in Africa and the director seemed excited about getting more blankets in the winter months. We have a box of blankets ready just to put the postage and be on its way, if you would like to donate towards this shipment email me at toridawn@hotmail.com. The box weighs 50 lbs, cost is $264.50 for shipment from Panhandle,Texas to Kampala, Uganda.

Mission Trip Presentation

We will be doing our mission trip presentation for the sermon this coming sunday at the First Christian Church. Services start at 10:15 am. Luke will present the sermon on our mission trip and we will show our last video...the best video. Please come and see how God worked in our lives through this trip and how He doesn't want to stop there but start with you!

Not as Planned...but God's Plan

Not everything went as planned but it went as God planned. We have had such difficulty getting videos to upload and we even have a video ready for upload now but a new problem, the program is saying insufficent memory. (We will get it though, keep watching.) Customs never released our shipment over with goodies for the kids. Finally on the last day, after realizing the bears and toys weren't going to come, we got the items we needed through the missionaries and went to the orphanage to give to the kids. We never got to go to the Children's Hospital because they quarantined it due to the Swine Flu, so that was probably God keeping us safe. After they lift the quarantine in a few weeks or so, the missionaries will pass out bears there for us. Another mission team was there for the first of our trip, but we really learned a lot about bringing a mission trip over just by watching them. We never planned on seeing Sister Ruby but that was probably the most encouraging for us all and personally for me the place I felt the safest. I was praying in her prayer room and remember thinking I just want to stay here, I felt so safe, so at peace and we were in one of the roughest neighborhoods. We were never in that neighborhood at night.

For Wayne & Elaine things haven't gone as planned either. This is their 3rd year there and one of their schools was burnt to the ground by gangs not too long ago. When they first went down they believe they were supposed to have their school in the dump grounds. They signed a 50 year lease with the city for land, built an expensive wall around 3 acres of land for the city just to say the lease was no good. The wall still stands as a reminder. They didn't go home either, they didn't give up and things didn't go as planned. They have had children from their school go into prostitution, be kidnapped and just stop coming to school to stay on the streets....but their faith keeps them strong.