Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 12:06pm
I recently saw another fb family write a similar note and it reminded me that I had wanted to do this as well so here it goes- in a nutshell—
tom and sally and their four children Emily (19), Willson (10), Andy (kaz 7) and Sophie ( Ethiopia 5)
Tom’s first wife died in plane crash in 1994–Emily was 4
2001 married
2003 adopted Kazakhstan
2005 Tom felt we were to serve full time- living off his annuity from plane crash–yes, this is crazy stuff- but we are given about $70,000 a year to live off of–God def had plans for us.
moved to Kentucky Asbury Seminary to learn more stuff–got ride of a bunch of our posessions
tried all sorts of crazy stuff to see where we “fit”—mission trips to Haiti, living in a fith wheel volunteering full time, more classes with Asbury, pastoring a small church etc
2008 adopt Sophie from Ethiopia-Sally travels alone
2009 January- Emily and Tom go to Ethiopia–Em for 2 months volunteering, Tom, 2 weeks
January 2009- talk to two angencies working in Ethiopia to see if we can volunteer- they say yes and in May 2009 we are off with 12 plastic bins of possessions, 3 bike boxes
May-July- help install 4 playgrounds, hired director and accountant for the 2 agencies and then decide to Help Habti build a traditional mud home to re-unite his family after 15 years of being away so he could support them and his brother’s orhpaned children.—
September 2009 Dahley Community Project in Ethiopia and Six Baer Essentials {food, shelter, clothing, water, health, education} was born.
we are eternally grateful that God has allowed us this small piece of His beautiful world to be a part of –we are very aware that He is more than capable and has given us a gift–
Now we stand back in awe as we watch Him weave together hopes, dreams and resources from folks all over the USA (and world) to support the crippling poverty of the Dahley Community-
Because of these dreamers we now have and have plans for:
40 children in afterschool programs
building homes for homeless and critical needs
feeding children and the community
putting in a library and health center
creating cottage industries to help lift families out of desperate situations where they are unable to feed their children daily.
So, how did we get here?
we listened to God even when it seemed really crazy (and many people think we are!)
we decided that we had NO RIGHT to food shelter and clothing etc above the bare essentials–that everything else should be give to others (we still have a long way to go on this)
We love the Journey and the Great Designer of Life
Where are we going?
towards even more simplicity, giving more and more of our resources and time etc to those less fortunate-
weaving together a support base here in the US to adopt the Dahley Community in Ethiopia–a community with 10,000 households, no running water, electric, septic etc–where children do not eat every day and when they do–it is only once, where a larg percentage do not go to school or have never had an education, where the local water is a dirty creek, where history runs deep and hope is great.
We love our life. We love you and are grateful you are sharing the journey with us.
Please let us know how we can help make your dream of sharing a reality-
Peace.
tom and sally
tom and sally and their four children Emily (19), Willson (10), Andy (kaz 7) and Sophie ( Ethiopia 5)
Tom’s first wife died in plane crash in 1994–Emily was 4
2001 married
2003 adopted Kazakhstan
2005 Tom felt we were to serve full time- living off his annuity from plane crash–yes, this is crazy stuff- but we are given about $70,000 a year to live off of–God def had plans for us.
moved to Kentucky Asbury Seminary to learn more stuff–got ride of a bunch of our posessions
tried all sorts of crazy stuff to see where we “fit”—mission trips to Haiti, living in a fith wheel volunteering full time, more classes with Asbury, pastoring a small church etc
2008 adopt Sophie from Ethiopia-Sally travels alone
2009 January- Emily and Tom go to Ethiopia–Em for 2 months volunteering, Tom, 2 weeks
January 2009- talk to two angencies working in Ethiopia to see if we can volunteer- they say yes and in May 2009 we are off with 12 plastic bins of possessions, 3 bike boxes
May-July- help install 4 playgrounds, hired director and accountant for the 2 agencies and then decide to Help Habti build a traditional mud home to re-unite his family after 15 years of being away so he could support them and his brother’s orhpaned children.—
September 2009 Dahley Community Project in Ethiopia and Six Baer Essentials {food, shelter, clothing, water, health, education} was born.
we are eternally grateful that God has allowed us this small piece of His beautiful world to be a part of –we are very aware that He is more than capable and has given us a gift–
Now we stand back in awe as we watch Him weave together hopes, dreams and resources from folks all over the USA (and world) to support the crippling poverty of the Dahley Community-
Because of these dreamers we now have and have plans for:
40 children in afterschool programs
building homes for homeless and critical needs
feeding children and the community
putting in a library and health center
creating cottage industries to help lift families out of desperate situations where they are unable to feed their children daily.
So, how did we get here?
we listened to God even when it seemed really crazy (and many people think we are!)
we decided that we had NO RIGHT to food shelter and clothing etc above the bare essentials–that everything else should be give to others (we still have a long way to go on this)
We love the Journey and the Great Designer of Life
Where are we going?
towards even more simplicity, giving more and more of our resources and time etc to those less fortunate-
weaving together a support base here in the US to adopt the Dahley Community in Ethiopia–a community with 10,000 households, no running water, electric, septic etc–where children do not eat every day and when they do–it is only once, where a larg percentage do not go to school or have never had an education, where the local water is a dirty creek, where history runs deep and hope is great.
We love our life. We love you and are grateful you are sharing the journey with us.
Please let us know how we can help make your dream of sharing a reality-
Peace.
tom and sally
