Card Drive for Missions Trip

This is tagged at the top until Dec 21st.

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The day after Christmas I will be going to Ecuador with my family and other families from my church for a Missions trip.

We will be visiting an orphanage called Casa de Fe (their facebook page is here).

Our group will include my family of 4 (2 kids; 8 and 10 years old), another family of 4 (2 kids; 8 and 10 years old), another Mom coming by herself, and another Dad with his son (12 years old). To get there, we have to drive 6 hours from Jacksonville, FL to Miami, FL, take a 4 hour flight to Quito Ecuador, then take a 4 hour bus ride to Shell Ecuador to the edge of the Jungle.

Since our group includes children, we have different goals and "jobs" that we will do compared to a "typical" missions trip that you would normally think about. We aren't building a well, or a building; we aren't physical therapists coming to treat the children and bring equipment for therapy; we aren't doctors coming to bring much-needed vaccinations; we aren't even Pastors to start up a church in the area! The good news is that this orphanage has already gone through most of that; they are already set up and established complete with their own school building and staff of teachers and caregivers.

Our "job" is to (1) bring school supplies that they need (and can't get shipped to them), and (2) to love on the kids and play with the kids! How cool is that?! Of course, we will help out with any need they have. But since this is an orphanage they don't have a "normal family" model to see and be a part of. Most of the employees of the home are women. So it's important to bring in families; specifically "dads" to show the love of Jesus.

Many of the children in the home are not "adoptable". There are many children who still have parents who love them. But since many of these children are special needs, their family's tribes do not have the medical help necessary to take care of these children. So Casa de Fe takes the children in and the families come visit as often as they can. One family travels a full week from the jungle every few months so visit their son (yes, it takes a full week for them to get to the home from their village)!!

There is a touching video on the opening page of their website that talks about the home and plans they have. This is an older video - they now have the multi-purpose building and they just opened up the school earlier this year. There is still a lot of work that is needed, but they are making wonderful progress. There are pictures and updates on their facebook page.

Ok, so I was thinking about something I can do personally to make a difference in the lives of these children. So I thought it would be a great idea to do a card drive to bring these cards to the children!!

So here's the deal:

~ Send me "Thinking of You" or "praying for you" type of cards for a child (not birthday or Christmas cards and must be a "kid" card - no adult humor or inappropriate content)

~ Include the State/Country you are from in the signature part of your card (so I can show the kids where the cards came from)

~ The cards need to arrive by Dec 24th since we are leaving on the 26th.

~ If you blog, post this card drive on your blog (or email your crafty friends if you don't blog) to share the card drive throughout the stamping world.

~ Please include an encouraging message or even your favorite bible verse!

Each card received will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift certificate to Stamp and Create!

I will bring the cards to the children and will use it as a way to teach some geography as well!!

I will post the winner of the card drive after we return around the 2nd week in January.

Mail cards to:

Lacey Stephens

c/o OCF

6200-2 Lake Gray Blvd

Jacksonville, FL 32244

USA