cmas card 2010

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Create modern Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

GIVEAWAY TO FEED 5,000 CHILDREN

You heard right we are doing a giveaway to feed 5,000 children. When I traveled in May 2010, we visited a city, Kroo Bay (the poorest place on earth according to the UN) where many orphaned and abandonded children live. In my hour I spent there I probably have 10+ children approach me as orphans needing a home, food, and a family to love them. Honestly, this is where my heart broke and it broke hard for these children. So the TRS team traveling in January has the opportunity to feed 5,000 children and we can't do it without the financial support needed to feed them. It only costs .50 (yes I said 50 Cents) per child, which is $2,500 total. Click HERE if you would like to donate directly to the Kroo Bay feeding program.

 This is there primary water supply in Kroo Bay

So in order to help the team traveling raise the funds needed to accomplish this we are going to do a GIVEAWAY to help spread the word. One winner will win 1 new simply love tee shirt. One more winner will win 1 Magazine necklace. Check them out HERE



Here’s what you need to do to enter: (you pick 2)

1. Write a blog post about the Giveaway and inspire your readers to enter the contest!! You can use any post or pic on my blog.

2. Shout out on FB, Twitter, or an email blast and share the Giveaway and Kroo Bay paypal link to your friends and family!

3. Purchase a Simply Love Sierra Leone shirt or Magazine Necklace (all proceeds will go towards Kroo Bay feeding program)

4. Donate thru the Kroo Bay feeding program link located above

Now, leave me a comment right here on the blog post on how you entered the Giveaway today and your blog address or email. I will randomly select a winner from the blog comments on Monday December 20th.

(PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE 20 SHIRTS IN STOCK(please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com for available sizes)  WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO SELL/GIVEAWAY THE SIZES WE CURRENTLY HAVE IN STOCK) Thank you for understanding this!

HIV/AIDS

Today is national HIV/AIDS awareness day and although the children we are adopting don't have AIDS I have seen the ill iffects of it first hand. No they are no different than you and I on the surface. AIDS/HIV is TREATABLE in the U.S. but unfortunately in a 3rd world country like Sierra Leone it is not. A good friend of our's posted it very clearly written on her facebook today "In the US, an HIV+ child will grow up, go to college, get married, have kids & live a normal life with a projected normal lifespan. In a developing nation, 50% of HIV+ kiddos die before they're 2 years old... So when people ask "why do you work in other countries when there are needs in the US?" ... This is why folks..... This is why...."

I have been thinking alot today about this issue we are faced with a disease that is treatable but not curable. Our good friend Lori who I and Rich had the opportunity to travel with to SL this year, her soon to be adopted children's mother is HIV+, I watched her bond with the biological mother of her children and watching them laugh and cry together. It really touched my life, before Lori had came in Sept 2009, her children's mother was on her death bed, dying from this horrible disease. She now has the treatments available to treat the disease and has made an incredible difference from the pictures I saw of the Sept 2009 trip. One life changed all because of treatment, which you can provide for any child suffering with this disease.

I am so grateful for the nation we live in and the opportunities such as life that we are given. If you would like more information on how to sponsor a child thru TRS that you can help for as little as $20 a month please visit here You can change the life on an Orphan forever.

Cyber Monday!!

Tomorrow is Cyber Monday so of course we are having a HUGE sale on our adoption t-shirts!! Check out our products section of the blog located here We have all t-shirts in stock and will ship them out Tuesday morning!! Just in time to stock up for Christmas!!!

THIS WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

Sponsorship of an orphan will change your life and family forever. Just recently Jayden is praying and always prays for the children in Africa, specifically Sierra Leone where our precious Kevin is. Emma was just talking about Christmas gifts and said she wanted to give any toys she received to the kids at the Covering. Sponsorship is an amazing gift and sponsoring a child thru The Raining Season is like no other sponsorship. You will get to Skype monthly, write letters, send gifts, have an opportunity to travel and meet you child, and the list goes on.

With this being said The Raining Season is soley ran on child sponsorships and as the center is growing rapidly we are needing more staff and the costs of rice is rising. Each child is in need of an additional food sponsorship for $40 a month and a caregiver sponsorship of $35 a month. These sponsorships will allow TRS to hire more staff and provide excellent meals for the children. We are trying to get 2 children sponsored personally by friends and family we know, this would be such a blessing to be able to share this joy with each and every one of your families. You all know Kevin, we sponsor him completely but still need the 2 new sponsorships covered for him and William is 9 years old.  If you would like information on sponsoring a child please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com

Please pray

Please be praying for our family and some major prayer requests right now. I can not share the extent of them but just if you don't mind please be in prayer as we have some things needing a miracle right now.

Thank you and God Bless!

Our story

EMOTIONS

Well I took a week off from the bloggy world and really felt like I was supposed to post this today. This weekend was an amazing time spent in Branson with the family and enjoying SDC and the Dixie Stampede but for some reason I just feel like a part of our family is missing. Yes I know that part in thousands of miles away living in a wonderful environment and I know he is safe and happy but I just am having one of those days where I really I mean really really miss him!! God is definately teaching me some major patience thru this adoption journey.

If you know me very well at all you know that I am a rather impatient person. I know it's all going to happen in God's perfect timing but he never said it would be easy. I keep having these dreams of flying into the airport with all the families who are adopting from SL with our children and just seeing our family and friends faces the first time they get to meet Kevin. Yes I am crying as I type this, this whole journey has brought out the crying side of me (Just ask the ladies who I got to spend 10 of the most amazing days of my life with in May). There is nothing harder in this world than waiting, BUT we serve a wonderful magnificant God who can help us thru these times and well I guess that is why I am blogging today. I am asking for your prayers in the "waiting" period of our adoption and journey to bring our sweet Kevin home.

I know this is just a season of our "Story" and hopefully we can have the complete story finished soon. I think this part is definately the hardest because in the first 6-9 months of this journey we have been working on our homestudy, raising funds, traveling to SL and now we are in the "Still" part of our journey where we just wait patiently for the next step to be revealed. We have nothing to keep us busy, no trips to be planning. Many people have asked us "When will you bring him home?" Honestly, we have no idea, this is not your normal by the book adoption.

We knew this coming into this journey but never imagined in my wildest dreams it would be this hard, with that being said I would ABSOLUTELY 100% do it all over again :) We are currently waiting for the SL government to lift the adoption ban which we anticipate to happen the end of this month, then there court shuts down in November and December so we are hoping and praying to get a court date in Jan or Feb. BUT as you all know things could change at the drop of a hat.

These are my thoughts for today.........

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.


1 Peter 5:6 & 7

THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 24 hr Facebook/Blog shoutout fundraiser over the weekend. It ended up being 36 hours and we raised $545 for our adoption! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for showing your support and love towards our family in this time!

Also, if you donated over $25 please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com with which shirt you would like a mens or womens shirt, size, and address so I can get those out this week.

Last week we got to Skype with our precious Kevin and William (a little boy my parents sponsor) it was so great being able to see him again. I haven't seen him since May and it's getting harder as the months go by, wanting to go back very soon. Jayden asked me this morning if his baby brother would be home soon, and it was hard to answer that question. As much as I would love to say "Oh yes honey, very soon" it's just an unknown situation right now. Although, we are closer than we have ever been before. We knew coming into this that this would be a long road and definately not an easy one, I guess I (tiffany) and not so patient when my child is half way across the world. Anyways, I will get off the soap box.

We are going to be taking a couple weeks away from Facebook/Blog and the computer to just take that time to really fast and pray for our family and the adoption. So don't worry we will be back soon. I will be checking the email for the next couple of days so I can get everyone's shirts ordered and in the mail so please email us if you donated more than $25 in our fundraiser this weekend.

Thank you and God Bless!!

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

MATCHING DONATIONS???

Well I got an email from a great friend that said we should ask for matching donations, so you guessed it here we are! Here is how a matching donation works, we have a donor that pledges a certain amount of money they will match (example: The Jones family says, we will donate $500 and match it if you can receive $500 in matching funds before a certain amout of time, there fore raising $1000 for our adoptioin). Make sense? If you would like to be a matching donor or any amount please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com

We have raised $300 so far and I know we are $4700 from our goal of $5000 but one thing we have learned this year is it's in God's timing not ours and we serve a God of miracles. So anything could happen at this point :)

Thank you soooooooooo much for all your prayers, posts, status updates, blogs, etc...... We can't explain how thankful we are for all the support we are receiving. Love you all!!! God Bless!

FUNDRAISER UPDATE!

Well we are only 1 hour into our FB/Blog world fundraiser and have $175 in donations! God is so good. We are praying for the full $5,000 before tomorrow afternoon. Check out the Give Forward website HERE or you can donate directly thru our Blog under the donate tab HERE

If you donate more than $25 you will receive one of our Simply Love Sierra Leone t-shirts.

Spread the word please!! Thank you and God Bless!

2 DAYS UNTIL OUR NEXT FUNDRAISER!

So we have exciting news!! Can't share all the details BUT we can tell you things are moving right along with the adoption and we are now in the homestretch. Our next fundraisers will go towards a trip in January or February for our COURT DATE!!!! We need to raise approximately $5,000 before this can happen so...............

We need YOUR help! We have set up a fundraiser page on GiveForward.org to raise money to bring him home. On Oct. 8th we are holding “BRING HOME KEVIN DAY” on Facebook to raise money for our adoption costs. Starting at 1:00 PM on Oct 8th and lasting until 1:00 PM on Oct 9th we’re asking everyone to update their status message to BRING KEVIN HOME @ http://www.giveforward.com/Bring-Home-Kevin IMPORTANT!! Our if they would like to just donate on our blog click the donate button thru paypal.

We need as many people updating their status message as possible to make this work, so PLEASE invite your friends to join this event. Even if your friends might not know us personally, please encourage them to ‘donate’ their status message for 24 hours. Thanks in advance. This will make a HUGE difference in our efforts to bring our Son home. (You can also copy and paste this message into a blog post if you are not on Facebook) The event on Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148741498495030&index=1

Our goal is $5,000 and if 333 friends gave $15 each we would meet that goal. How easy is that!! Also, if you donate $25 or more you will receive one of our adoption t-shirts!!

POWER OF PRAYER!!!

The power of prayer can be such an amazing thing! We have seen it time and time again this year, starting with a trip in May to Sierra Leone and another one in September!! Are you crazy, two trips in one year and an adoption on top of it all??? That's exactly what we asked ourselves almost totally $8000 by the time you pay for the trips, shots, visas, passports, etc..... I have no other words to describe it but the power of prayer!! No I don't have the answers but I sure love it when God does!! His answers are always better than mine anyways and always right on time.

I say all this because we face many unknowns in life, some we can control but mostly those we can't. As most of my close friends and family know I am the detailed (or atleast like to think I am) planner. This year has probably been the biggest strength builder for me. I have learned to COMPLETELY rely on God like never before, to COMPLETELY surrender everything, to COMPLETELY give it your full heart. It's amazing when we COMPLETELY surrender everything in our life to God and just watch to see what he does with it. I say this because our family has some BIG and exciting news we are going to be sharing over the next couple of days. So stay tuned!!! :)

I-600a APPROVAL IS IN!!!!!!!

Well by my exclamation marks in the title, I"m sure you can tell we are just a wee bit excited :) Yes we received our I-600a approval yesterday. Huge step in our adoption process. But it's not done yet, we still have to Patiently wait for the Ban to lift in October or by the end of the year and then go to court in Sierra Leone. So the journey is getting closer. As this adoption becomes more of a reality, yes I said reality. No it's not like it wasn't real before, it's just start to seem within reach now :) God is really moving mountains and quickly at that so we are praying for a quick remainder of the process but this is God's will so it's in his timing.

On another note, we did get denied one grant today, praying about the 2 remaining that God will open those doors for funding for us to bring little Kevin home.

Seasons of Change

Well not only is the actual seasons changing, so is the Johnson home. I say this in a good way :) God is doing some amazing things in our life and to be honest if I didn't have him to lean on some days I'm not sure I would make it. I'm not going to lie these past couple of weeks have been an emotional roller coaster for me. Preparing Rich to go to SL, him being in SL while I'm anxious and patiently :) waiting to hear from him, to his return and news of our adoption, to finding out exactly what God wants for our life.

 This is God's story not ours. We are just his hands and feet. We are so blessed beyond belied with 2 beautiful children and one extremely special little boy in SL waiting to come home. Words can't describe how hard it is to be thousands of miles from the one you long to have in your arms. BUT I have heard many people tell me this phrase this week "It's in GOD's timing, not yours" and I am so grateful for friends who are honest and tell me things I need to hear from time to time. He has really shown me this week thru many sleepless nights, many tears, and many times on my knees before him that he is preparing us for something, something great!! I am so excited about the future and all it holds for our family. God is so good to us and he deserves all the glory. Tonight in our family devotions it just warmed this mommas heart to hear my children both cry out to God for the children in Africa, there is no prayer like a child's and I love to hear my children cry out to God for there every need. It's such an amazing honor to be raising your children serving God with all there heart.

We have had many people ask how can we pray for you, well here is the "Johnson Prayer List" :)
1) Strength and protection over our family
2) We are currently waiting for our I-600a paperwork to be approved and a quick approval would be ideal
3) Kevin's adoption case is not an easy one, he still has both parents living (one abandoned and one paraplegic) so he is an abandoned orphan but not parent less. We need favor with the court in processing his case and approving his visa with no hangups. If they can't release him because of orphan status we will need to reside in SL with him in our home for 2 years.
4) Finances, traveling to SL is not a cheap flight and each trip costs approximately $3200. If anyone has any frequent flyer miles they would like to donate that would be great :)
5) Lastly, the country of SL is prayerfully going to be lifting the adoption ban sometime in October or before the end of the year. We need for everything to be in place when this happens in order to start the process of bringing Kevin home

That's all my brain can think of right now at midnight. Thank you so much for your continued prayers, we wouldn't be were we are today without amazing praying friends and family.

Here are a couple pictures of Rich's recent trip to our favorite Country Sierra Leone

The Eagle has Landed!

Rich made it to Sierra Leone at approximately 10 pm last night (Friday). I received an email from him today saying it's been a great first day in country. He got to meet Kevin for the first time and love on our little man for a while today. Oh how I remember that first day, so much excitement not knowing what to expect. Rich is right in his element there. I will try and post more when I hear from them. The internet is not reliable there so the connection isn't always the best. Thanks for all your prayers, keep em coming :)

Also, we are going to be doing another Sierra Leone tshirt giveaway if we can get 100 comments on our blog who ever is the 100th comment will get the choice of a mens or womens Simply Love Sierra Leone amazing t-shirt. So spread the news!!

Also, just wanted to give an encouraging word today or thought. We recently had some flooding issues here and thru it all I ended up having to stick my hand in a hug ditch next to our home that was filled with water and such in the dark, needless to say I couldn't see what I was exactly going to be sticking my hand into. I know this is a crazy analogy but it works. I was thinking to myself after that, God uses us like my hand going into the unknown. We have to trust him that he knows best and no harm will come from it. It's taking a dive in and not knowing if there is alligator infested water or not. We just have to be willing to trust in the Lord to guide and lead us thru those situations in life.

10 Hours and Counting!

Well Rich has officially 10 hours until plane takesoff for Sierra Leone, West Africa. Bags packed checked, bags repacked checked, kids goodbyes said checked, letters and pictures for Kevin Checked, and lots of lovin on my hubby check! I am sure gonna miss him but he is going to have an awesome time serving all 85 kids in the center.

Check out Kari Gibson's blog where we featured as the guest blogger today Click Here. I was so honored to meet Kari thru her blog and finally got to meet her in person this 4th of July. She is an amazing woman of God with a heart for the Orphans in Africa. We got our shirts design from her simply love afrrica shirts design. We still have some in stock, check it out Simply Love Sierra Leone shirts. There is a check out button on the left hand side of our blog if you would like to purchase one, all proceeds goes directly towards our adoption costs.

Womens Shirts 

Mens Shirts Below

LESS THAN 48 HOURS!

Well in less than 48 hours Rich will be on a plane to Sierra Leone! As you can imagine this is the trip of a lifetime and we have just been busy busy getting ready for him to leave. Please keep him and the rest of the team in your prayers as they travel on Thursday morning and come home next Saturday afternoon.

Lots of things have been going on in the Johnson household. Emma started Kindergarden 2 weeks ago, Jayden started a 2 day a week preschool program this past monday. Both of them are doing great in school and I just love seeing them grow up. Here are some of Emma's first school day pictures

Been a while!

Sorry I haven't been on to post in a couple weeks. Things have just been as busy as ever. Tomorrow is a big day in the Johnson house, Emma starts her first day of Kindergarden and It's Rich and I's 7 year anniversary. Time flies when you are havin fun and servin the Lord.

Adoption update: we traveled to St. Louis last week for our fingerprints. Our I-600A is almost or should be complete soon. Things are movin right along :) Rich leaves in 18 days for Sierra Leone. I am anxious and excited for him. I can't wait for him to meet all 84 kids and love on one special little boy this momma misses very much!! I must admit the kids and Sierra Leone, Kevin is all I can think about lately, my heart misses them so much!! I can't wait to go back, I'm possibly going to go on the January trip, I will let everyone know forsure once we get a little closer.

TRS update: The Raining Season is in a fundraiser blitz for a new building fund to raise $16,000 we have $9800 left to raise before august 1st. If you would like to donate please visit there website at www.therainingseason.org and click on donate.

We still have lots of adoption t-shirts left. Let me know if you would like one!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Well this week has been an adventure! God is soooo good. Our church has a motto, "If you step out in faith, God will provide." It's so true. We sometime doubt the power of God, how he can change things, provide funds, open doors, heal the sick, and sooooo much more. We have seen some of these miracles this week and in our lives lately!

God has provided miraculously for both Rich and I to travel to Sierra Leone, that is about $4000 each!! And he has provided for every single penny of our adoptions costs. He is so good!

We sat in church at the prayer meeting on Wednesday night and the presence of God was so powerful, Pastor Curt didn't even get to his prepared sermon. We spent the majority of the evening in prayer, "Prayer changes everything." I can't mention on here what happened but it was an absolute answer to prayer. All the hurdels with our adoption haven't been completed yet BUT we are one step closer!!

Monday we will travel to St. Louis to do the final fingerprints for the USCIS approval of our adoption. This is the first step we need completed before we can start the adoption process in Sierra Leone. :)

As I type this I sit listening to What Faith Can Do by Kutless, the lyrics to the song are so true! We have seen this happen this week, here are the lyrics:

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you're stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
http://www.elyricsworld.com/what_faith_can_do_lyrics_kutless.html
You don't have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

T-SHIRT UPDATE!!

The shirts should be ready tomorrow!!! YEA!!! I will email or call you to get you your shirt(s). Also, I ordered some extras if you have anyone that would like to purchase one. Here are the extra sizes I will have tomorrow if anyone wants one:

Womens:
XL and L

Mens:
S, M, L and XL

Thanks to everyone who purchased shirts to help bring our little Kevin home. God Bless!

HELP

As all of you readers probably know by know Rich and I are involved with an Orphanage or Center as we like to call it in Sierra Leone, West africa. The center is ran by The Raining Season, truely a ministry that is changing children's lives!!

We are currently expanding our facilities to provide a home and loving care for more orphaned children. We are so blessed that our son we are adopting lives in the center there until we can bring him home. The Covering is the official name of the center and it truely breaks my heart that I can't be there daily to see all the children and workers I fell in love with this May.

We have stepped out in faith on leasing a new building but we need to raise $16,000 by the end of August. That's only 30 days away! If you feel led to donate please visit www.therainingseason.org If you know a church that would be willing to let us come and speak about The Raining Season please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com

We also have a couple children that still need sponsors. Have you considered sponsoring a child but don't want to give up $20 a month? DO IT!!! It will not only change the life of an orphaned child but It will grow your faith!!!

And last but not least. Sorry for such a long delay in getting the t-shirts. They will be ready this Wednesday and I am going to personally drive to Bolivar and pick them up. I will be calling you when I can deliver them to you. I still have some extras that I ordered if you would like one, please msg me.

MIRACLES

Well this week has had its ups and downs but God has provided some miracles in our lives. I can't even begin to explain how this week has brought us closer as a family, closer to God and closer as husband and wife. We had an unexpected surprise when our only computer died this week, with everything on it and no back up. God provided and we were able to buy a cheap acer at Wal-Mart. I also came home from running a quick errand one day this week to find $30 on my kitchen counter. Rich only has 43 days till he leaves for Africa. GOD has provided for everything we need to start his journey, shots, passports, etc...

On another note, please be in prayer for a set of twins that one our friend's here sponsors from The Covering. The are very sick and despertaly need medical here in the USA. Along with Suwuju who we are still trying to get medical care for here. Also, Erica and Tina are currently in route to Africa for some items that need tending to at the center. We are hopefully leasing a new building soon. But the new building start up cost is about $25,000 which will be due by August 30th. If anyone has any churches, events, etc that we could speak at to raise funds please message me. thank you!!

These past couple of days have been rough emotionally for me. I miss Kevin like crazy and it is so hard not seeing him every day. Wondering if he's walking all over the place now, how many words he's trying to say. All the stuff parents love to experience with there children. It's so hard not having our 3rd child here with us, but God is watching over him. Please be praying for the SL embassy to pass the new adoption law and for everything else to fall into place for us to bring him home.

Okay, that's it for now.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE A SPONSOR

So as a child of The Covering to have a sponsor is an amazing feeling. They so love reading there letters and pictures from there aunties and uncles in america. Here is a little video on Sponsorship

The Covering Home for Children from Tina S on Vimeo.

We have 12 kids that still do not have sponsors. Here are two of the little boys in the center that still need sponsors:


This is Musa. He only has a educational sponsorship available. It is $40 a month and will provide an excellent education. Msg me if you are interested.


This is Shariff. He came to the center as a rock laborer and now has the opportunity to be a child again. His only sponsorship left if his personal which provides for all his personal needs. It's $20 a month. Anyone want to help?

CHECK THIS OUT!

You have to watch the most recent TRS video. We are outgrowing our current center and desperately need a new center for more space for more orphaned children. Visit it at http://vimeo.com/13229669

Also, we have 12 children in the center that do not have sponsors, they range from $20 a month to $40 a month. If you would like to sponsor a child please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com and I can get you pictures and monthly sponsorship info. As a personal sponsor myself, I know this sponsorship will be like no other sponsorship you have ever done before. The sponsorship is so personal, you can send letters, toys, pictures etc. And you will get letter, pictures, videos and you can even have opportunities to travel to see your child.

Please please watch the video and be praying if God will have you sponsor a child or donate for the new building!!

Also, please be praying for Suwuju still, we have a Doctor that is working on our behalf for the hospital to take Suwuju as a probono (good will) or donate the treatment. This is going to be huge!!! I am going to fast tomorrow and am asking my fellow friends and family to also fast with me on Suwuju's behalf.We need to be specific when we pray and they major need is for the hospital to accept his case as a PROBONO case! We have a doctor now we just need God to work on the financial aspects.

And lastly, we still have t-shirts available for purchase!! IF you would like to support our adoption please please consider purchasing one. I am still honoring the buy one get one for half price deal from the weekend.

What Next?

So today I have asked myself the question God What's Going to happen next? Good things please :) God is doing an amazing work right now and I am in anticipation to see him work everything out.

We got our fingerprint appointment in the mail today from the USCIS. I can't believe this. This is a HUGE miracle. It normally takes months for them to schedule this, we got ours in 2 weeks! GOD!! Only GOD!!

A great friend of ours gave us our first financial donation for our adoption and it was a reminder from God, that he will provide for everything he calls us too!! I can't tell you how much we appreciate the people God has put into our lives during this exciting times, people to laugh, cry, express every feeling you can imagine with.

Lastly, a HUGE prayer request. We have a doctor at Mercy Children's Hospital in Kansas City that is willing to treat Suwuju! PRAISE THE LORD!! BUT we are still waiting for the financial office to approve his case as a probono, which means they will cover all costs completely! This is going to take an act of GOD to get approved so we need all the prayer warriors out there to please please pray! Suwuju's life depends on it.

That's it for today!! Thanks for reading our blog!

Two day t-shirt blitz!!!

We are going to have a 2 day blitz this weekend!
The first one is when you purchase a t-shirt at full price f $24.95 you can purchase a 2nd shirt for half off, that is $12 for the 2nd shirt.

The 2nd blitz is a friendly little contest to see who can sell the most t-shirts for our family! The lucky winner will receive 2 of our Amazing Simply Love Sierra Leone adoption shirts (your choice).

You can participate in both Blitz’s. In order for you to receive entry into the 2nd blitz the person you are referring must pay for the shirt by Sunday night and they can also participate in the buy one get one ½ off! Two amazing fun blitz’s!!

If you are new to our blog, we are selling T-shirts for our adoption of our little boy who lives in The Covering in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Here are the pictures of the shirts!

Front of Women's Simply Love

Back of Women's Simply Love

Front of Men's Simply Love

Back of Men's Simply Love

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!

the giveaway winner is Stacey McElroy!!! Congratulations! I will email you with what shirt you would like!! Thanks so much to everyone who participated in the Giveaway. You can still purchase a shirt if you would like! We are doing the first t-shirt order for 2 weeks. So msg me soon if you would like one.

Thanks again to everyone who particiapated and got the word out on our giveaway!

HELP PLEASE!!

A little boy in the Covering is in need of desperate medical care here in the U.S. His name is Sawaju and he is 11 yrs old. While we were in Sierra Leone in May we took him to the Doctor and the originally thought it was a tooth problem, then a broken jaw and now have had CT scans done and it is a Riccits Lymphoma (sp) which is a type of bone or soft tissue eating cancer, so a portion of his jaw is deteriating because the cancer is taking over in his jaw.

We have been denied medical coverage thru St. Jude because his records show a shot of Chemo has been given to him which was probably antibiotics. We are FRANTICALLY searching for preferably a pedicatric childrens hospital to treat him. If you have any connects or resources with a doctor please please please message me. I spent most of my day yesterday trying to find a treatment center for this little guy and we havae came up with nothing! Please also pray for Sawaju as this will be a very difficult transition once we are able to bring him to the states for medical care.

This is Sawaju


Thank you and God Bless!!

A couple more hours!

You only have until midnight tonight to enter into our t-shirt giveaway. Email me or leave a cooment if you want to be entered into the giveaway! We can't wait to bless someone special with one of our amazing t-shirts!

GIVEAWAY!!!

This is a giveaway for a Simply Love Sierra Leone T-shirt. We created these shirts in order to raise funds for our personal adoption and the shirts help us billboard for the orphan crisis in Sierra Leone, West Africa. The giveaway will go until Friday night at midnight and on Saturday morning we will pick a winner. The winner will have the choice of either a Men’s or Women’s Shirt in any size. All you need to do is one or all of these simple things:

1)Give our blog T-shirt giveaway a shout out on your blog or Facebook or both for double entries (our blog address is www.johnsonlove5.blogspot.com)
2)Email all your friends and family about our giveaway and have them email me if they would like to purchase a shirt, my email is tiff.johnson85@gmail.com
3)Tell me why you want to win :)

You can can enter as many times as you want!! Just leave me a message with your blog or facebook address and how many enteries you have.

SIERRA LEONE ADOPTION T-SHIRTS!!

So we officially have our next fundraiser in full swing. We are selling Simply Love Sierra Leone t-shirts. We were so blessed to find Kari Gibson's blog where she sells Simply Love Africa shirts and allowed us to use the design to make Simply Love Sierra Leone shirts. These t-shirts were created just for us and our adoption. Which bring a very special meaning for our family. Each shirt is $24.95 for XS-XL. If you would like one please email me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com or use the Paypal button located on the left of this blog. All proceeds from our shirts goes towards our adoption costs.

Here is what they look like!! Pre-order yours today!

Women's Front


Women's Back


Men's Front


Mens Back

ONE STEP CLOSER!!

Well I am doing a little happy dance right now! I just mailed our I-600a which is the government paperwork to approve us for the adoption! Yes this is a HUGE milestone for us and Rich and I had a great little date lunch to celebrate this afternoon.

As most of you know Rich will be traveling in September to visit the country of Sierra Leone and aid The Raining Season in projects they have planned. We are still in need of ANY medical providers that would be willing to give up 9 days to help SAVE THE ORPHAN!! Please email me if you know anyone interested.

Also, be watching our blog within the next few weeks we have a new fundraiser in the works and a very special giveaway planned!

Family fun!

This weekend we celebrated our precious Emma's 5th bday. I can't believe my oldest is now 5. Here are some fun pictures from the weekend!

Summertime!

Well I finally have sometime to post again. We love the summertime and although it has been pretty hot here, it's not Africa hot :) I keep telling this to Rich and he just laughs! We had a great weekend and spoiled Rich on Father's Day.

Family news:

Emma turned 5 last Thursday! I can't believe my oldest is 5 now, sniff sniff :) Where does the time go. She is turning into such a beautiful young woman. She has played princess dress up for the past week and is so excited to finally be 5. It's so precious. I just love this age.

Jayden is sillier than ever. I think the summer brings out his giggles and silliness even more. He's just like his daddy, the little comedian. We are so blessed with such wonderful children.

Sierra Leone news:

We are now trying to raise money for Rich to travel to Sierra Leone in September of this year to travel with the medical team. Yes, I said medical team. No he will not be doing anything medical besides applying band-aids and loving on the kids, had you scared there for a minute didn't I? LOL This will be an opportunity for him to go and meet Kevin and all the wonderful kids at the Covering. It will give him a chance to see the culture and be used however God needs him. So let the fundraising ideas begin..... If you have any please please email them to me at tiff.johnson85@gmail.com We only have 2 months (technically 4-6 weeks for the funds needed) before he travels. We need to raise approximately $3200. WOW! We serve a God of miracles! I can't wait to see him in action loving on our kids at The Covering and helping however he is needed. He will do so well in Sierra Leone. It makes my heart happy to know that I married a man of God who will do anything for his family and wants to help in anyway possible.

Also, we are still needing doctors, nurses, counselors, etc. for the Sept. Trip. If you know anyone who would be interested in traveling please email me.

Check out the video recap of my trip from May http://www.vimeo.com/12292225 It's about 20 mins long but so worth it!

Enjoy!!

Leaving Sierra Leone, the hardest part

Leaving Sierra Leone, was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. I have cried often today just thinking about what to say for this post. Reliving each one of these very moments in Sierra Leone. Lori, one of the ladies who traveled with me and has now become like a big sister to me wrote this about Leaving Africa and I really feel this sums up every feeling I went thru returning home:

Leaving Africa

It doesn’t take long after the chaos from the Freetown Airport settles for that lump in my chest to slowly move to my throat. Just 15 minutes ago my mind was racing with standing in long lines wondering if I can get my bags on the belt back to the United States…and oh where did I pack my bug repellant because it is not even air conditioned in here as we wait for the man to process all 14 pass ports…and really who knows if I even took my Malaria pills anyway? I say all of that because there is a mosquito and that bite on my leg might the one thing that triggers this flood gate of emotion I have been holding since I left the center. NOPE, I keep holding because I have time to run upstairs and grab one last glass bottle of Fanta before our plane leaves. Now, I am sitting on the plane and it is really happening. I am leaving Africa. I begin to panic as I realize all of the anticipation of this trip from planning, to fundraising, to being here is over. I miss my family, but where do I put the new emotion of overwhelming love for this country and the people who reside in it? I did not know that part of my heart existed. I don’t want to leave and in the same breath I’m so sorry for saying that out loud that my children or husband may think I don’t want to see them. As I look out the window I see the last glimpse of tin houses with dirt floors and realize that their life will continue with or without me here, but the children…how God can I leave the children that you placed right in the middle of my heart? They know that I left because the demonstration of sadness and grief was evident, but do they know I’m coming back? Am I coming back? God, you brought me here. What are you going to do with me now? Do the children know that my heart aches too? Do they know that my tears are not just for them and their pain but for mine, too? Do they realize the impact they have had on me? What will I do without them? Who will greet me with a parade of smiles upon my return? God’s grace is always sufficient because of course I had several beautiful smiling faces very ready to see me once I got on American soil. I am now faced with the balance of pre-Africa and post-Africa. This will not be easy as I recall my first experience of opening my bags at my house to unload the gifts I purchased from all of my “friends” at the Freetown market and I was knocked down by the wave of “the scent of Africa”. I find myself nestling my nose into the suitcase just trying to place myself back in time to two days ago. Do I really think I will forget everything I just felt or saw last week? I feel so desperate to reconnect. I can only wonder what the kids at the center are doing now. I guess they have figured out by now that we really have gone. I wonder if they still sing and dance when we are not there to record and take pictures of their every move. Ah yes, that is what I will do is watch my videos and pictures for the 83rd time today. I wonder who has posted something on their blog, maybe something I have forgotten about. Okay, that is it! I haven’t scheduled this break down, but here it comes. The tears start to roll down my face and I silently whisper “I just miss them” and before long I locked my door because no one will understand, especially my kids, but I am in a full blown sob. I would love to talk to someone about this, but I don’t have an answer to the question “well don’t you feel like you did a wonderful thing while you were there?” and I definitely cannot respond to “you really need to pull yourself together because this can’t be healthy.” Don’t you think I know that? Healthy is not how I feel. I feel very unhealthy. So unhealthy that I cannot process the very simple things of my pre-Africa life like enjoying my son’s baseball games, going to the grocery store, and just forget planning that birthday party that is supposed to take place next week. How is any of this relevant when I just spent quality time caring for the mothers of starving babies and holding children who do not have a mommy or daddy. Children who just want you to touch them. Children who don’t even complain when they are sick or scared because they don’t have anyone to complain to. If a human ever wants to know their purpose in life it only takes one day in Africa to know you can make a difference for someone. Please don’t misunderstand, my pre-Africa life is important, but it lacks substance and I just found my platform. I did that. I made a difference in someone’s life last week, but what about this week? I know I am making a difference in the lives of my children, but now I know that they too can make a difference for someone else. Although it will take time I have to try and figure out a way to express this that is within me because on top of everything else, I feel extreme responsibility to share what I saw. These kids at the very least deserve that. They might be considered forgotten by most of the world but not by me. How could I forget all of the naked or ½ naked bodies that so quietly yearn for someone to just notice them. Then there are those brave soles who speak out and make the request for help as their handicapped mother urges them forward. The image of the children who run behind the car with the sucker stick hanging out of their mouth wondering if I will return or forget them is forever etched in my mind. The mother who won’t give her listless child water, not because she doesn’t care or that she is inhumane, but because she realizes that each drink only prolongs the suffering of the child she cannot save. A place where there is so much suffering and so much sadness…why do I love it so much? It because of what the people have taught me. I go there to share my resources and to be the hands and feet of God, but these people have shared with me a hope that could have or maybe should have been gone a long time ago. When I recall the people I have met Quami, Osseh, Foday, Daniel and all of the other staff members. I see a hope and a love for God that is immeasurable. I watched women doing laundry for 80 children by hand with a smile on their faces. These people work 6 long days a week and are nothing but grateful for what the Lord provides. All of these memories factor into the daze I find myself in, but none like the overflowing emotion that comes when I remember the faces of those children I have developed a deep connection with. These children who are in the process of developing that same inner strength that comes with living and enduring the conditions of Sierra Leone are beginning to understand that hope comes from God, but for 1 week they saw that hope of God in me. They received my love openly and returned theirs to me. The truth is they have become a part of me and the depth of this connection cannot be described only felt. That is why it is so hard to talk about, but I will find a way because I know that once God starts and stirs something within his people He is faithful to complete it. Until then I will stand faithful in knowing that I did leave Africa, but it did not leave me.

Now that I am a mess again after reading that for my 10th time, I wanted to share this story with you. As we were leaving Freetown's little airport and boarding the plane. I prayed Lord, I really need to sit alone with just you and really process everything. He answerered that prayer and I sat on the plane next to no one. Not even a member from our team. It was completely God! I don't even remember the plane taking off, and I was already an emotional mess. I turned on my praise and worship music and just began to weap and ask God, what now, what do I do with my life now??? As we got off the plane in Chicago and ran to the customs line. I was completely exhausted after traveling for 24 hrs, no makeup, no shower and my eyes were all blood shot from crying I proceded to the customs counter and was greated by a Korean man. He asked for my passport and tickets and what was the purpose of my travel. I responded, "Humanitarian relief and delivering 31 bags full of supplies to an orphanage where we love on 79 kids for 7 days." He then said, "Yea right, what was your trip really for??" Like I was so silly college kid coming home from a long weekend of partying. I then started crying again, yes crying! LOL Showed him my necklace with Kevin's picture on it and explained to him a glimpse of what we had just done in Sierra Leone. He then believed me and it hit him like a truck. I will never forget these words he said to me, "I wish every american would go to a 3rd world country to see how "Blessed" we are here and how good we have it. I came from a 3rd world country and it's such a blessing to see people helping others around the world." I just smiled and said, "Thank you!" He handed me my passport and said, "Thank you for visiting Sierra Leone and for your ministry there."

I will never forget this first trip to Sierra Leone and everything about it. This definately will not be my last trip either. I will post pictures and video tomorrow.

Pictures from last post

Sorry here are the pictures from the last post. We disconnected our internet at home to save $$$ and have been using local free wi-fi from McD's LOL and for some reason it didn't upload my pictures last time.

Sierra Leone Continued.......

So we have reached Saturday of my journey in Sierra Leone. As the days were getting shorter there I remember always wanting more time. This trip even though seemed like forever being away from my family seemed so short being in Sierra Leone. Saturday morning we got up at and ate our lovely breakfast at the hotel. Then it was off to visit a new possible building and location for the Center. It's beautiful and very spacious. This new building would allow us the room we need to take in more children, house workers and TRS travelers. It has a yard and actual flat ground so the kids could play soccer and even plant a garden. But the hold up on moving is of course finances. This building is 5 times more in cost than we are paying now so we really need God to intervene on this one. After we visited the possible new location for the center we went to our Center and got busy unpacking all 31 bags of supplies and sorting everything in piles.

After the majority of the supplies was sorted, I went and got Kevin and brought him downstairs for a little art project for our home. He was not real happy with the paint on his hands but he survived. He was okay with the paint on his hands but once I put it on the canvas he was not a happy camper. We all were exhausted after unpacking supplies all day and vertured out to a new restaurant that had italian food. It was a nice treat to have fettucine alfredo (Or the african version) :)

Here are some random pictures from this day:

Trip Journal Continued.......

So after our fun day at the beach, I asked Osseh if he could point out where Kevin's dad lives or beg's in Freetown and he agreed. Well as we were driving past Osseh stops the car and yells "Samuel". I was so overtaken with emotions at this point and Kevin's dad, Samuel wheels over to the car. He is a parapalegic in a wheelchair and begs on the beach front daily. It was a very special moment for me, we talked for a little while and he gave me a big hug and said, "Thank you so much for caring for Kevin." There is no greater joy in the world to know that you are caring for someone's child, who can not provide for him like you can. I gave him a hug and we said goodbye and talked about maybe meeting again while I was there. I got in the car and was just overtaken by the emotions of the event that just occured, everything that had happened that week. We are soooo extremely blessed in America. To be a father who can not care for your child, beg on the streets, be a parapelegic and then give your son to an Orphanage for them to care for him because he knows Kevin will have a much better life and be cared for. Rich and I are forever grateful for Samuel and what he means to our family.

I also want to share this with you and it's a little out of daily order but this is something that is very close to my heart. Erica emailed our team that traveled this link this morning. We met a photo journalist in Freetown at the airport as we were waiting to board the plane on our way home. She had just finished taking photos of the Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone. Here is the website for the photos, it's devistating. Each picture at the bottom has a picture info tab that explains the picture. http://www.jeanchung.net/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0

This is very very close to my heart right now considering I am in nursing school to eventually one day pursue my dream of becoming a labor and delivery nurse and then onto becoming a Midwife or OBGYN. I was in tears and asking God, why did you choose me to live in America. I could have been one of those dying women. I had eclampsia with both pregnancies and with Emma was on Magnesium for 3 days to control it. I forsure would have died if I lived in Sierra Leone. The statistic is one out of 8 women die during, before or after childbirth in Sierra Leone. That's crazy!!! It's all because the lack of facilities, medical equipment and knowledge of how to save these women and there babies.

Grafton Refugee Camp

After we went to visit the Children's hospital, we made our way to the Grafton Refugee Camp. This was a camp designed for people to live after the war happened in 2001. We arrived with lots of suckers and candy to pass out to the children. I not thinking packed little snickers bars (lol) and in 90-100 degress weather they were melted but the kids didn't care. They were still flocking around to get the Chocolate and I showed them how to open the wrapper and slide the candy into there mouth. It was hilarious! After, the candy rage one of the Team members Heather got to meet her sponsor children's dad and family. It was a very neat experience and hit home to me because the next day I got to do the very same thing.



After the refugee camp, we went to St. George's which is another Children's Orphanage were some of the children previously came from the first orphanage TRS came into contact with. It was an awesome day, we did a feeding program for the kids and I got to meet Lucy. She was a little girl that really grabbed my heart from the Team in Sept. trip pics. She was precious and thriving. They performed a little ceremony for us. Here are some pictures from the visit.

The next day was our Beach day!!! The team was very excited to take all 79 kids and the caregivers to the Beach for a day of fun and relaxation after a day like the day before. We got there after about an 1 1/2 bumpy car ride. It was beautiful. We had little huts and tables that we could sit at. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It started out raining a little, which was perfect to cool things off and the kids loved playing in the rain, then the rest of the day stayed overcast and perfect weather. The team had a lunch there on a veranda hutch with there version of lobster and rice. I think it was actually HUGE crawdads but it was still tasty. It was really surreal to be sitting on the beach in Africa eating "Lobster" because the day before was such a hard day our team really needed this.

Day 2 of Being God’s hands and feet

Today we visited a children’s hospital. I really had no idea of what to expect for this trip and really didn’t grasp that the hospitals there were in such bad condition here. We pulled into the hospital compound and gathered around to make our plans. We walked into the children’s unit that was on the lower level and I immediately had to put my sunglasses over my eyes to cover the tears. This was the HARDEST thing I have ever seen before in my entire life and I have witnessed what I thought was so pretty rough stuff. But watching babies, toddlers and children dying from starvation, disease and malnourishment really got to my heart. As most of you know I am in nursing school and eventually will pursue the dream of becoming and OBGYN or midwife to pursue a passion of delivering babies, so the gut retching reality of being in a hospital that was about as sanitary as my toilet bowl was very hard.
We proceeded to explain to the head nurse what we would like to do for them and that we had care packets, she walked us into the main hospital building and we were introduced to the lady in charge. She then told us about a 5-6 yr old girl named Alza that was abandoned by her mother several months ago and she was living in the ICU and the staff nurses were caring for her. We passed hundreds of mothers and children waiting for care and finally reached what was the ICU. In America when you think of ICU, you think gowns, gloves, sanitization, etc…. That is not the case in Sierra Leone, we all walked in and saw about 30-40 babies to children waiting to be treated or being treated. Most of them severly malnourished and dying of starvation. The head nurse introduced us to Alza, she has some mental disorders, sensory issues, still in diapers and was just a very precious child. The Dr. who had traveled with us on this trip proceeded to examine her. She was very healthy but just longed for attention. While the Dr. was examining Alza the rest of the TRS team had a chance to walk around and visit with the mother and children waiting. We offered the mom’s a chance to go outside for some fresh air while we stayed with their child. I sat with a little girl who was probably about 11 months old. Not sure what her diagnosis was, I was just there to provide relief for her mother and comfort to the child. As the mother left the ICU I wondered if she would come back. In Sierra Leone it is very common for a mother to abandon a child at the hospital so it will be cared for. As I sat there holding her crying child all I could do was think of my own children, our hospitals, our society in the US and how extremely BLESSED we are to live in the US where the medical care is superior compared to what I was witnessing.
Eventually the mother did come back and I thanked her for the opportunity to help her daughter. I walked over to Lori who was holding Alza and my heart started to break, Lori asked me if I would like to hold her and I said “Yes, I would love too.” I faced the wall as I held her and imagined this being Emma, she was the same size, age, weight and everything that my little Emma was. I began to weep, wondering if her mother cared about her, where was she going to grow up; will she receive the medical attention that she so desperately needed??? All these questions came flooding thru my brain and all I could do was love and nurture her. Again, I was being used as God’s hands and feet to comfort his little girl. My sister in Christ. Alza and I sat in that ICU for probably an hour and I rocked her to sleep on my chest. We then needed to leave to visit the lower portion of the children’s hospital we had originally intended on giving the care packets to. I said goodbye to Alza, wondering if I would ever see her again?



We walked into the lower unit of the hospital back to where we had originally came in at with care bags of bread, peanut butter, money and water. Erica asked me if I would sit with a little boy that was an orphan that the nurses were also caring for. Of course, I agreed. As I fought back the tears and tried to muscle up the strength to feed this child I was supposed to be the one ministering to the mothers and babies in this unit but instead a little boy who was probably 3-4 yrs old, weighed only about 15 lbs who said no words and was too weak to even sit up ministered to me just through his eyes. I lifted him from his bed so he could drink and eat a little. He sat there propped up against my hand and I slowly gave him bread with peanut butter and small sips of the water. After about 30 mins of this he started to perk up a little, he started pointing at the water when he wanted a drink and the bread when he wanted to eat. It was amazing to help a starving child just do the simple things we take for granite of eating and drinking.


I cried more tears today than I have my entire life, ask the women on our team. I was an emotional mess after that hospital visit. Words cannot describe what it’s like to be in a hospital that doesn’t have the resources to treat the children there. The nurse in the ICU explained that one child in 30 days will leave the ICU alive. This is a daggering statistic that we need to change. Here are some pictures of the hospital visit.