Children's Haven Update

My most recent post detailing the hearts of Jake and I to start up a children’s haven in Asikuma, Ghana can be found here.

In that post I talked about how we could feel God leading us to start construction on the children’s haven project as soon as possible, but we weren’t sure where the funds were going to come from. We decided to add the remodel of one of the buildings onto the tasks for our August trip anyways....knowing that doing so would cost above the $25,000 needed for the medical clinic and library/classroom alone. As you all know, we weren’t able to get started on the remodel for the children’s homes at all during August so we pushed it back to the December trip coming up. Well, something COOL has happened in the mean time. God just seems to have a way of funding things that are top priority in His mind. :)

Since we got home from our August trip our church, Cornerstone Church of Ames, told us that they wanted to help support us in our endeavors in Ghana. Our church has a large global ministry and they said that we should feel comfortable reaching out to them for help….that we don’t need to ‘go it alone’ so to say. Jake and I had many conversations about this, and in the end decided to put forth a proposal to ask our church to help us with the funding we need for the beginning construction/remodel of the children’s haven! We got to meet with a few of the ‘big wigs’ a few weeks ago and they have decided on giving us a one-time financial gift that will cover the remodel of 2 of the children’s homes, as well as furnishings, and an outside fence/gate to enclose the property. Can I get a WHOOOOP WHOOOOP?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!! Jake and I were SO EXCITED!!!!!!!! Once we get these first two homes up and running we hope to eventually remodel the other two buildings as well, but this will be a great start. Here are the items our construction team will be tackling on the homes this December:

-Patchwork/repairs to building structures and rooftops
-New window screens
-Enclosing porches
-Modernizing bathrooms
-New coat of exterior paint
-Pipe polytank water supply from medical clinic to children’s homes
-Fence/gate installed around perimeter grounds

Construction of furnishings:
-Bunk beds
-Cubbies/dressers
-Table & chairs for eating/homework

We are SO THANKFUL that our church ROCKS and will be supporting us with this project! We are also SO THANKFUL for all of you, who paved the way for our projects in Asikuma by donating to the first-fruits of our work in August. Because of the urgency of getting the children’s haven up and running, finishing off the library has been put on hold until our spring break trip in March. As for the medical clinic we left behind funds to have Nana hire out the remaining jobs to be finished. According to Nana, the clinic opened up about a month ago, and treated 43 patients in its first week open! We hope to get a much more extensive/detailed update to share when we are back to check on how it’s running in December.

Long-term, our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation will be responsible for covering the salaries of the house mothers hired to work at the children’s haven. At full capacity, each home would likely have 6-10 kids with 2 house mothers each. Our foundation will also cover the day-to-day operational costs for electricity, water, and building upkeep. Adoption Advocates International will cover the care fees for any child on the adoption track within their program including food, education, sanitary needs, and medical costs. The majority of the kids who will reside at our children’s haven will be in-process for adoption. :)

That brings me to a list of tangible items that are currently needed for our partnering NGO in Ghana – The Ripley Foundation. The Ripley Foundation works with many schools and orphanages who are in bad shape and could really use some donations. Our children’s haven will also need to stock up on these items as well, so we will be making room for as many of the following donations as possible for our December trip:

- Thermometers
- Blood Pressure cuffs
- Children’s play games (any that would fit reasonably in a suitcase)
- Toys (Frisbees, nerf balls, wand bubbles, dolls, trucks – anything that would fit reasonably in a suitcase)
- Shoes (Sizes 1yr to 15yrs) I am crossing this one out because we already have PLENTY of shoe donations
- Boys Clothes (all sizes)
- Girls Clothes (all sizes) Anyone up for sewing more pillow case dresses? :)
- Bed Sheets (twin mattress size)
- Cups & Plates
- Kitchen cooking utensils for stovetop cooking (spoons, dippers, tongs, slotted spoons - preferrably metal)
- Diapers
- Baby Formula
- Socks
- School Items (educational items, crayons, coloring books, etc)
- Children’s picture Bibles

I think that about covers it for now! Can you picture it folks?!?!?!?!? Can you!?!?!?!?!?! Ahhhhhhh…..I can’t wait to see how God will bring this all to fruition and use these homes for His purposes!