Fields of Grace Africa

SEPTEMBER UPDATE

2009-09-25T10:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have updated. I have new pictures. Burkina was hit with a devastating flood this month. Many people lost everything they had, which wasn't much. Our watchman lost his home and his wife is pregnant. The government opened up schools to house the homeless and are currently putting up community tents for the people to live in. A letter from our director is below this blog entry.

As for our FOG house, we have 8 girls and 7 babies. We recently lost a child who had kidney failure and could not bring to the US for care, as they will not do transplants. All our girls are learning a trade and are well taken care of.

We do have children who are needing sponsors for school. If you are interested please contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org. It costs $200.00 a year to send a child to school. All our school children are taught English by a private tutor we have hired.

I appreciate your time and help :)

Ann

Dear Family, Friends, Sponsors, and Supporters,

We send you greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Thank you so much for all that you do and continue to do for the humble people of Burkina Faso and Africa at large.

As you may have seen on the news Burkina Faso , especially Ouagadougou has been hard hit by heavy rains. Which started on September 1, 2009. Many families are destitute and need HELP! Over 150 000 homes were destroyed and nine lives lost. We have no welfare system. We are doing the best we can to help one another. Our resources are limited. Many that survived lost everything they owned. Some still need shelter, food, clothing and medical attention.

Burkina Faso, formally known as Upper Volta , is moving forward very rapidly. Its people are known to be honest and hard workers. They have paved the way for foreign investors to help build the country. Now the Burkinabes needs training and development that will help “them” and future generations benefit and take-part in this economic growth. The continent of Africa is the cradle of civilization. Every human being has a connection to Africa . It’s time to focus on a new Africa . To build upon the rich heritage and culture that has been ignored by media and is being smothers by the ruble of war, poverty, sickness and disease.

As you know, FOG and UAHH provides social services and training including: Counseling for women and girls in crisis (unwanted pregnancies, spousal abuse and sever poverty); You can make a difference, please sent your tax deductible contribution today to:
Until All Have Homes
1424 Madison Avenue
Piqua, OH 45356
ann@untilallhavehomes.org
For information on corporate donation & grants, please contact Ann Grabeman, our director & founder for Fields of Grace.
Thank you and may the blessings of God overtake you,
While we search the refrigerator for leftover desserts, many search to find a bit of food.
While we choose between the many different beverages on the menu, many long for a drink of clear water.

While we struggle with the latest diet to loose some excess pounds, many lack adequate nutrition to maintain proper weight.

Biba Foadey

May 16, 2009 Update

2009-05-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a LONG time since I have updated! But much has been going on. We how have 8 children along with their moms at our house. The children are finishing up their school year PLUS are learning English at the class we offer through FOG. Right now we have 3 groups and Biba says more will be added once school is out. The kids are LOVING learning English!

All the girls are doing well Biba is a constant inspiration and role model for them as problems do arise. We are buying more beds and are about at capacity. I am going to post some pictures so you can see the children :)

Thanks for your patience and support.

Ann

March 12 UPDATE

2009-03-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

A couple updates:)

AJ, the little boy who we brought here for new legs is up and walking. It is a miracle because when I was there in Decemember he wasn't even wearing them.

Also one of our pregnant gals who was 7 months pregnant lost her baby. It was a very emotional time for everyone so pls keep her in your prayers. She will most likely go back to her family.

We also have a new mom with TWINS! More on that soon!

Where there is no vision the people perish!

Ann

FEBRUARY 22 UPDATE

2009-02-22T14:11:00.000-08:00

I know it has been forever since I have updated and updates I do have! Biba has been working very hard in Africa taking care of ALL OUR girls and kids! We have 5 moms, 6 kids and 2 pregnant girls. It is amazing how much everyone has changed. Please take a moment to scroll down and view the pictures from December. There was on little girl who only weighed 4 pounds and was very sick! I will post her before and NOW pictures AMAZING!

Biba spends many hours with the girls and loves them ALL. We have 2 full time staff members to help with the girls, babies and also to teach them to weaved. We have also hired an English teacher to teach all the school sponsorship children and our girls at FOG English. Biba loves all the girls so much and says if she is gone for a couple hours or is late coming in the morning they call her to find out where she is.

Biba is currently working on getting all the children birth certificates which means she has to go find the dads and get a ton of paperwork done. Eliza the little 4yo boy is now in school. The girls have bikes and are allowed out for short periods of time and they also go to church each week. Biba says they EAT a TON! We are also working on getting an inexpensive car as Biba is having to hire someone to run her and the girls around.

We do have a new little boy who is very sick and needs your prayers. He is currently in the clinic on an IV, he has Malaria!

We continue to be blessed by wonderful sponsors for our Burkina project. Biba is still working with the government on the land for the livestock and farm. She hopes it will be finalized in the next couple of months. Things in Africa just move way slower than here! Biba is also going to be escorting a little 9yo girl to the US that is coming on a medical visa in the next month!

I would love to hear from you and thanks for checking in! Enjoy the pictures!

Where there is no vision, the people perish!

Ann

Africa Trip Update, Our GIRLS

2008-12-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

Well, sorry I haven't done the daily updates, but I really want to get them done by Christmas, I appreciate your patience.

Today I want to share about the new girls we have in our house. Biba has decided that we are going to name the house Second Chances and all our projects Fields of Grace. When we started we thought we would be an orphanage but God had other plans and we are now taking in young homeless girls and their babies. Biba is enjoying this so much.

Right now we have 5 young girls ranging in age from 13 to 22. They were all referred to us by Social Welfare in Burkina. They all were rejected by their families for choosing not to give up their babies and were living on the street. I will share some details but this is their story and I don't want to share it too much personal info as it is their story.

I was blessed to be able spent time with each girl and baby while I was on my trip. We have rec'd 2 more girls since I left and it has only been a week. While there I had to sit down with Biba and each girl one on one and talked to them about there story. There were a lot of tears, what broke me more than anything was each of these girls is so broken and ashamed and scared.

One of the girls lost her parents to AIDS and is a Christian. She got pregnant by a boy in CHURCH who than rejected her. Already rejected because she had another child and her parents dying of AIDS, she had no where to go. She landed at Social Welfare as she was living on the streets, no food, nothing to take care of her children. I want you to understand that these girls did not even have shoes or underwear. They were hungry, very skinny and dirty. Little Arianne, the littlest of our babies at one month was very sick. Biba took all the kids and moms to the clinic. Baby A had malaria bad and couldn't eat or keep anything in. She barely weighed 4 pounds at 1 month. I am happy to report that with her treatment and Biba's care she is healthy and growing! It is a miracle. She also has a little brother who is 3 that is staying with us. The mom is still very depressed over her past and I spoke to her again yesterday. This girl is so beautiful that her in the US she could be a TOP MODEL. Biba and I spent time talking to her again yesterday via phone trying to encourage her that it is time to turn the corner that she is somewhere safe. She could use your prayers

Another girl, one of my favorites, lived with an Aunt who she was told was her mom but found out she was not. Her father was dead.The aunt beat her, I have seen the scars. She ended up getting pregnant and hiding in the fathers room for a couple of months until his mother found out. She was than kicked out to live on the streets while pregnant. She had her baby tho the baby wasn't breathing when born. She is as cute as a button now. This young lady was so depressed over her situation and after delivery tried to commit suicide when she said an angel appeared to her and told her that her baby was a gift and to name her innocent flower and to take care of her. Floita, as her mom calls her, is 3 months old and her mom is working on her past and has come a long way. YOU WOULD LOVE THIS GIRL. She has the most beautiful smile!

The other girl that I met while there has a similar story, she is a MUSLIM and got caught selling beer, gets kicked out, guy gets her pregnant and now everyone rejects her. Living on the streets, no where to go. Her little boy is just the happiest boy ever, he is 4mo and very healthy and a very good little boy.

The 2 new girls, one is 13 yo with a 1month old baby and the other is 21 with a 3 months old baby. Biba says the 21 yo is so funny and thankful and thanks Biba for everything. When she saw she had a bed, she said FOR ME? She had never had a bed. Biba says that she starts doing whatever Biba is asking before she finishes telling her what she needs done.

Biba had all the girls cleaned up, down to having their hair done and fingernail polish. They have new clothes from head to toe and lots of food. You would not believe what these girls can eat. They have nice bed, a very nice place to live and are being well taken care of. Biba has someone who comes in to help the girls during the day. There are house rules they have to follow and one is not leaving the house by themselves. Biba also bought 3 weaving looms at $200.00 each and the girls will be learning to weave cloth starting next month. They are responsible for their children and the house while they are there. Biba and I sat down and worked on our goals while I was there. As you can imagine we had many people stop in and also call to see if we could take in someone they knew. We had to set up our mission statement in order to clarify what we are doing and who we are helping. We truly want to help the girls with nothing. Biba thinks we can house and help up to 10 girls and their babies in our current house :) We are hoping that within the next year we will become self sufficient financially with our Second Chances house financially. Until that time we will need to continue to need money to keep our house and project going.

I took lots of girly stuff for the girls and the girls got sick from eating all the chocolate in one setting :) They all are taking good care of themselves and their babies. Biba has a nurse on call and she comes when needed or at least once a week. I have to say Biba is incredible! She wears so many hats and I have never seen someone give so much of them self or what she has. Biba does not have much but what she does have she gives away. She loves each girl and spends time with them each day. As I would say, she doesn't take any crap from them. They got in a spat while I was there and we had to sit down and talk to them and Biba just told them from her heart how to work it out. I could not have handpicked someone more loving, caring and responsible person as Biba to oversee our projects. She is incredibly fun too!

I know this has been long and I am posting pictures. I have been so blessed by my trip and these girls. I would love to be able to stay with the girls for awhile, they were hard to leave.

I will post more highlights from the trip early next week. Still to come, meetings with people needing things, meetings with the government and also a couple of orphanages!

Thanks for checking back!

Ann

Visit Updates, Day 1

2008-12-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry I have not posted more about my trip. It was hard to do that from Africa and than I came home to children, jet lag, and a house with NO Christmas done :) I am going to update each day on here this week and I am working on getting all the photos online for you to see. There are plenty.

When we first arrived in Burkina (without luggage) it was so dusty and smokey we could not even take pictures. Evidently this is their dusty season and it is so think it looks like FOG and takes your breath away. The smoke if from people having fires at their homes. The nites were in the 60's and they think that is cold :) Biba whisked us off to a private party for the US Ambassador. 24 hours of flight, no shower and a fluffy party. It was fun. They love to dance and everyone was so kind.

The next day was the party for the sponsor kids at FOG. Biba totally outdid herself with the planning and organizing. We walked in the gates of our house and there were most of the children (around 10 could not make it) Biba had rented tables and chairs and even had tableclothes. The kids were all dressed in their best and very well behaved (well except for a table of young boys, but they were just being boys). Biba had arranged for a professional photographer to take pictures thru out the event which was nice as it freed me up to enjoy the kids. All together there were over 100 people there. Biba had arranged for 3 of her pastors to come speak to the kids. They gave the children an encouraging message about how it only takes one person to change their world and how blessed they were to have sponsors. Lots of praying and than it was time for the party. Biba had lots of helpers and there was so much food. There was salad, tons of rice (I think she said they cooked 50 pounds) with meat and veggies and 35 chickens. These kids can EAT. I mean their plates were piled high with food and there was very little left. WE also served pop which is a treat over there. Biba had also made up little snack bags with popcorn and other treats for the kids that they took home. Which was good because the 70 bags of candy I made up were LOST in my luggage somewhere in Paris.

I did have an opportunity to tell the kids how much you all cared for them and what a privledge it was to know them.

After the eating was done, the older boys played DJ. The kids all danced and did the bunny hop, it was so cute and they were so happy. We finally handed out the group gifts to the children. Each child got a shirt, skirt or outfit depending on their age. I have pictures of each child rec'ing their gifts that I will be sending to you. After that we did group pictures. The kids all wanted to be hugged and hang with us. Everytime you turned about there were kids hanging on you.

It was getting dark and we finally had to send them home. It was an unbelievable day and it was made possible by you. Thank you to all who donated towards the party. You made is possible and even if you did not donate we made sure every child rec'd a gift.

On a side note, since I did not have my luggage I did not hand out all the pictures and cards you sent, Biba is doing hat this week. Also, you who bought extra's for your kids for Christmas, you children will be rec'ing those this week too. There was just so little time to get everything done while I was there.

Where there is no vision, the people perish!!! Thanks for all you do!

Ann

Quick update from AFrica!

2008-12-09T01:02:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry that I have not posted before now. Between being busy, jet lag and sporadic internet this is the first I have had the change. Burkina is amazing and I am having a wonderful time. Biba is an incredible hostess and is making sure I am well taken care of. Then we arrived after a LONG night and day, we went straight from the plane to a private dinner party for the US Ambassador for Burkina. They do LOVE to dance here and it was a beautiful party!

The next day we went straight to the FOG party for the school children. OMG it was so fun and so many people. I think 53 of the school kids were there and there were other people so we had about 100 people. Once again Biba has outdone herself. I will give more details on the party when I get home. Biba even hired a professional photographer so I have LOTS of pictures including one of each of you child rec'ving their gifts. Due to my luggage getting lost and having all your Christmas cards, the children have not rec'd them yet.

The babies at the house are DARLING and doing well. Arianne, the littlest one was so sick with Malaria when she came in (she is 3 weeks old and barely weighs 4 pounds now) is so tiny and doing so much better. Biba has done wonders with the girls. We spent yesterday talking to each girl and their stories are heart breaking. There were alot of tears on both sides. I will share more later.

Yesterday we also visited many of the homes of the school children. IT is unbelievable how the children live. Trust me when I say that you are all a HUGE blessing in their lives. So many people have come to me to ask for help with many things. They bring their kids, invite me to their house etc and their requests are so simple I wish I could say yes to all. Yesterday was a MUSLIM holiday and everyone was killing goats. So we were so lucky to see many goat heads laying around LOL

Today we are visiting Social Welfare, visiting a Hospital. orphanage and school. And then we will go to the house and hang with the girls. They love for us to hold their babies and we love to hold them

Tomorrow we are going to the poorest part of Oua to feed 200 children and meet some more families and also meet some NGO about the livestock gardening program and than I leave to come home tomorrow nite.

I promise more details later but I have to say that they people are beautiful people inside and out and the children are so DARLING!!!!!!!! Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts! We have taken a ton of pictures and I promise to share all as soon as I get home.

Ann

WE HAVE CHILDREN!!!

2008-11-28T05:57:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had an incredible Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving is one I will not soon forget! As we were on our way to our destination, I rec'd a call from Biba saying she had 3 homeless teen moms and their 4 babies in her car going to our FOG house! I am still waiting on the details and will share as soon as I can. I am sure Biba is busy getting everyone settled in.

I am leaving on Dec 5 to go to Burkina and will post updates here while gone as I can. On this short trip I will honored to be a part of a Christmas party for our 63 school kids. I am also suppose to meet with some other NGO's in Burkina to discuss buying and raising livestock and our gardening program. And if that was not enough we are also kicking off our school sponsorship feeding program and we are hoping to bring a little girl who is 9 back to the US on a medical visa!

Please check back, as I promise lots of updates in the next couple of weeks!

Where there is no vision, the people perish!

Ann

OCTOBER 22, 2008 UPDATE

2008-10-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the delay in keeping the blog updated. To say I have been busy is an understatement this last month :)

Biba arrived in the US late August and is on her way back to Burkina today. It was so wonderful to get to spend time face to face and while I know she needs to go back to her family and life in Africa, I will miss her! We did get to spend some time discussing our projects in Burkina which was a blessing. Little AJ, the quad amputee here on a medical visa is also going home this week to his family. He is leaving with 2 new legs and equipment to help him succeed. We will be bringing him back in a year when he will get new legs and also arms! Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

First, we closed out our school sponsorship program with 63 kids sponsored. We only had 4 left so UAHH paid 1/2 their tuition. Their pictures are still on our site under Kids needing sponsors. We are hoping someone will still come forward to sponsor these 4 children. We were blessed my many sponsors buying bikes and rice for their children. Many sponsored more than one! I have the pictures and info ready to be mailed out, they will be mailed out by Friday of this week, so be checking your mail boxes! Once again, their stories were touching and I have been blessed to be a part of this program.

While here, Biba and I discussed our feeding program for the school children. We decided that we will do it 3 times a week and at lunch. They take a huge break in the middle of the day due to heat and the children will have more time during their lunch break instead of before school. We will be feeding them meat and fish along with rice or another grain each day. We had originally thought 5 days a week but by doing 3 we can feed them much needed protein also. We will also be doing a Christmas program this year. All our sponsors will be getting information on this. If you would like to be a part of this program and are not a sponsor please email me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org. I am hoping to personally be in Burkina for the party!! I can't wait to meet all the children!

Orphanage update: We still do not have children. We are STILL waiting for the government to complete their paperwork in order for us to start. We could take children now without the license but we would prefer to wait and do it with the government blessings. We have completed all our paperwork and inspections and have been approved. Anyone who understands Africa can hopefully understand the delay their tomorrow can mean months from now. It has been hard to sit back and wait and our employees are also getting restless. Either way, we have several options in place that we may do while waiting on the paperwork. One being taking in teens with babies who are living on the streets. Biba explained that if you are young and get pregnant you must go to the father and if they won't support you than you are not allowed back in your house until you get "rid" of the baby. So I guess your choice is to live on the street or as Biba told, the young mothers (often times as young as 11 or 12) will wrap their babies up and leave them at the cemetery or put them down a well. That story just makes me so sick. So we will be helping young moms too who chose life by providing them a place to stay, send them to school and help them take care of their babies.

Other Burkina projects: We have been also talking about doing a feeding program for one of the very poorest districts in Burkina. This is a pilot program and we want to help the people take care of themselves. So we will be picking out some families to be a part of a livestock/gardening program. They will raise the animals and tend the garden and from that we hope that they will have some to eat, some to sell (to keep the projects going ) and some to give to help other families start in the program.

We will be looking for land to start our projects. One of the most pressing for me is a Christian school along with dorms for some of the kids. As the children become a Christian many are kicked out of their houses. We want to partner with these children who are making a bold life change and make sure they are taken care of if they do indeed get kicked out of their homes.

I am posting some pictures of the school program when Biba was passing out bikes and rice. These are not all the kids but some. Also there is a picture of the workers at our house. Please pray for them!

Here is a DID YOU KNOW: A brick house (not ones of mud) costs $2500 to build. This is like a luxary for these people. The land costs around $3,000. So to build a nice house in Burkina with land is only $5500.00. Isn't that amazing!

Hopefully the updates will happen more often now that the school program is closed out! Thanks for stopping by!

Where there is no vision, the people perish! Be a part of that vision!

Ann

SEPT 12 UPDATE

2008-09-12T06:08:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

What a fast month! We are busy working on closing out our school sponsorship program. We have 57 children sponsored and only 7 children did not get sponsored. We will be leaving them up on our site as better late than never. You can view their info at: http://untilallhavehomes.org/FOG/sponsorship.html

Thanks for all the WONDERFUL donors who have supported this program both new and old. We have many new kids in the program this year and their stories are heart wrenching! We have also been blessed by some incredible donations. So we will be offering a 5 days a week feeding program for the school kids! YEAH! and also a 3 days a week feeding program to 100 local children in the poorest part of the city. If we can raise the money we hope to increase the days for those kids.

Our director in Burkina will be coming soon to stay in the US for a month. We will be working on several projects during her stay. Our feeding programs, a Christmas party and a self substaining program where we hope to plant gardens, buy livestock and teach some of the people some trades to support themselves. Again this is made possible by another GENEROUS donor :) We also are going to be working on a mission trip for sometime next year.

One of our incredible volunteers is working on collecting items from professional sports players and celebrities to do a big auction on Ebay next year. IF you would like to help with this please contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org

Wendy the girl we are hoping to bring on a medical visa is still waiting. We have a green lite, we are just waiting on the paperwork. We were hoping Biba can bring her when she comes, but we are cutting that close. Thanks to ANOTHER generouse donor, all her airfare and the escorts airfare is PAID!! Can you say WOW!!! to all the incredible ppl who have been so kind to donate and help us with our projects!!!!!

As for the orphanage. still no kids. We are still waiting on ONE person to sign the paper, obviously they are in no hurry. While Biba is here we will be discussing some other possibilites for the orphanage. Maybe becoming more specialized! I promise to post more once we get God's direction on this and have time to sit down and talk!

Thanks for checking in! I am truly blessed by so many people with caring hearts! THANK YOU!!! You all have changed my life by your incredible support!!

The picture today is of 2 boys from a family of 7 (four of the kids are sponsored in our school program) at their house. Their mother is very sick and also has a baby. A wonderful donor is paying for her diagnostic care and treatment. Please pray for her, she is VERY sick and they are very poor!

Where there is no vision, the people perish! Thanks for being a part of that vision!

Ann

AUGUST 24 UPATE

2008-08-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Wendy is a Christian girl in need of a school sponsor. We have also loaded a slideshow of Burkina. It is in black and white, we are working on resize it so it will fit on our server in color and make sure you have your speakers on! http://www.untilallhavehomes.org/FOG/foghome.html

Just a fast update! We have 48 children sponsored for school!! We have 15 left. We only had 10 until yesterday when our AFrican director sent me 5 more. You can see the kids at: http://untilallhavehomes.org/FOG/sponsorship.html. Some of these kids stories are just heartbreaking! I also want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all our sponsors, new and old! What an incredible bunch of ppl you are! Thanks for making a difference in these kids lives! ALSO, THE BAGS OF RICE WE HAVE BEEN BUYING FOR THE LAST 2 YEARS ARE 100 POUNDS NOT 50. That was my fault! So you are getting twice the rice than you thought you were buying.

We have updated our HOW YOU CAN HELP PAGES with lots of fun items and items you can buy to help the children and people in Burkina. We have a wonderful friend of the ministry who is going be designing some custom jewelry to help us fundraise for both FOG and UAHH. You can take a preview peek at her designs: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5208670. Think holidays, birthdays, any occasion or just for fun. We hope to have them soon!

We have been overly blessed this month by so many things, where do I begin! First we rec'd a HUGE donation for our FOG projects! We are still contemplating what to do with this. I know that we are working on a feeding program for our school kids and also are going to expand that into a poor district in the capital. It was the same area we did a small one time feeding effort a couple of months ago. We are going to be feeding 100 children. So 150 children a week are going to be fed 5 days a week!! How incredible is that. We are working out details, and I will be happy to share once they are worked out!

Another incredible donor is wanting to help us fund some self help projects, such as farming, livestock, teaching trades etc. We are in the thought process on this one. Once the school sponsorship program is closed for the year, than we will be working on this too.

If you are interested in helping organize, plan or research any of these projects, we can always use volunteers. WE ask that you be a self worker, a person who can work well behind the scenes and who is a team player! If you are interested please contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org

We are also working on handouts etc that you can approach your church, work, schools with. This should be done very soon. If you are interested in materials to present to help us fundraise and get the word out, please contact me again, at the email above.

As for the orphanage, we are being told that we will have kids soon! We are still praying and know it will be in God's timing! Also Wendy Grace, the little girl below, has care in the US for treatment of her limbs. She will be coming soon and once again a GENEROUS donor has donated her airfare and an escorts! GOD IS SO INCREDIBLE!

Thanks for checking in! Hoping to add lots more soon!

"Where there is no vision, the people perish"

Ann

ONLY 15 MORE CHILDREN LEFT TO BE SPONSORED

2008-08-11T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to put the word out that we have 15 more children left who need families to sponsor them. You can read more about it and see their cute faces on our site at: http://untilallhavehomes.org/FOG/sponsorship.html. It costs $200 a year and the payments can be divided up. You can read more about that program on the page linked. 100% of the donations goes towards the sponsorship. Due to an incredble friend and donor, we are also offering a "Breakfast Club" feeding program for the school kids this year. We are working out the details but hope to offer them breakfast at least 3 days a week along with a Bible study and to also send them home with vitamins. If you would like more info please contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org The little girl above is one still needing sponsored. How can you say NO??!!

We also have some tees left. If you would like to order one please follow this link:http://www.untilallhavehomes.org/Africa_Tees.html. They are not Burkina specfic but Africa specific. So even if you are adopting from another country in Africa, these are an excellent awareness of the plight of people in Africa.

AJ, the little boy we have here from Burkina on a Medical Visa is doing super! He is up and walking and we couldn't be more pleased! His PT even rigged a little something so he could eat with a spoon! PIC ABOVE.

I hope everyone is having a great summer. I hope to have more updates soon!

Ann

JULY 14 UPDATE

2008-07-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone! If this is your first time here, please make sure you scroll on the way thru some of the more recent posts to see some pictures of our projects in Burkina.

Todays princess is "Wendy Grace" who we hope is coming on a medical visa soon! One of our recent visitors saw her in an orphanage and FELL in LOVE with her! Since they have gotten back we have several ppl working on securing her care in the USA. Things are coming together fast and she should be here soon. They are also working on helping a DARLING hearing impaired boy too. I forgot to mention due to a generous fairy Godmother, Wendy Grace has her airfare PLUS her escorts airfare paid!

Not too much to report. We are still waiting on that ONE signature from the higher power in Burkina so we can start being referred children. We have workers we are currently paying and the FOG home is ready to go!

We have started our school sponsorship program. You can see all the children still needing sponsors from our homepage at: www.untilallhavehomes.org. THe link in the upper right hand corner will take you directly to that page. And speaking on UAHH, you will notice we have a new look and you can now access the FOG website from a top tab :) Fami has worked super hard on the sites and getting them launched. We will be launching a Burkina slideshow later this week too on the FOG website. We have over 200 more pictures to add to that soon, so keep checking back.

We have lots of fundraisers in the coming future you will want to be a part of. Our current one, the Africa tees, are still for sale. You can also see those from our homepage at UAHH.

Our most pressing projects right now are the school sponsorship program and a feeding program called "The Breakfast Club" for those children. We have an incredible team of volunteers researching and working on getting a food program up and running. We are hoping to have enough to spill over into a smaller very poor village in Burkina to help feed the kids there too! If you are interested in helping in any way with our African projects, we need YOU!!! We are looking for self workers who love being a team player and can work under the radar! If you are interested, you can contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org

Little AJ, the quad amputee who is here in a Medical Visa, is doing great. He is learning to keep and stay up on his legs for longer periods of time! We have an incredible PT who is working hard with him so we can get him back to his family in Burkina soon!

As for adoptions, everyone is still waiting for the person in the "higher power" to also pick and sign off on the agency papers too. I was told that they will only be allowing one or two agencies tops to do adoptions in Burkina. I will post more here as soon as we know something more. I know over a dozen families are waiting to hear what is going to happen.

THanks for stopping by. I promise to update as soon as something happens and we are praying that will be soon!

Where there is no vision, the people will perish!

Ann Grabeman

Lots of pictures and updates on FOG

2008-06-24T13:26:00.001-07:00

Wahoo!! We have had 2 ppl travel in the last couple of weeks to Burkina and I have tons of pictures to share. Margie spent a ton of time on ground and was totally overtaken with the plight of the ppl. I am hoping once things settle down at her house she will send us an update (she brought home 2 kids from Ghana). The other friend was Dan from Kids to Adopt who spent 5 days incountry visiting and meeting with all the officals to get adoptions rolling. He was well rec'd and all their paperwork has been turned in. They are hoping to have their offical paperwork from Burkina blessing them to start adoptions this week! They are very excited about the Burkina program and were well rec'd by all the officals there. You can contact them for more info at: info@kidstoadopt.org. Dan visited several private and public orphanages and said the care and orphanages were incredibly nice and the children very happy and well taken care of. The pictures of some of the kids here are from the public orphanage and are not available for adoption unless you follow the proper country procedures meanging you have to have your dossier in before referral and referrals are handed out by Children Welfare so the children in the pictures are for representation only.

Ok, I am going to post lots of pictures of the orphanage (first 7 pictures) and also the ppl. We supplied Biba with some money in which she fed 150 kids! Sardines, bread and juice. I guess it was an incredible experience. So enjoy the pictures. We have started a private group on yahoo for ppl who are actively volunteering. If you would like to help us with our AFrican project pls let me know @ ann@untilallhavehomes.org. We have plenty of areas in which you could help!

We also have most of the school sponsorship kids (kids that still need sponsors) up and running on our site. You can link to it from our UAHH homepage. We were very blessed to have 31 of our last year sponsorship families sponsor again this year. We also have plenty of tees left if anyone is interested. Pls check below for available sizes and how to order!

"Where there is no vision, the people perish."

Ann

AFRICAN FUNDRAISER TEES ARE HERE!

2008-05-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

THE WOMAN TEES ARE RUNNING 2 SIZES SMALL WE ONLY HAVE MED AND LARGES LET IN WOMENS AND LARGE AND XL IN THE MENS.

We are selling the tee above to raise money for our humantarian projects in Africa. We will have a womans fitted style in size S,M,L,XL AND XXL and a regular man's boxy tee in M,L,XL, and XXL. All the tees are $20.00 that includes shipping. This is a 2 sided shirt with an outline of AFrica on the front and fact about Africa on the back. It is on a brown tee with goldish colors. If you click on the picture you can view a larger version. Please click on the link below to buy a shirt. And please put the size you would like. If you have any questions, please contact ann@untilallhavehomes.org. All proceeds go towards our projects in Africa.

MAY 16TH UPDATE

2008-05-16T06:21:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be time for an update! First, AJ rec'd his new legs last week. He is slowly getting used to having those heavy things strapped to him. Most children find them more of a nuisance in the beginning, but that all changes once they figure out what all they can do with them! Doesn't he look so tall!! He is doing well in his host family is settling into a routine. He should be going home this fall.

I have had several ppl ask about donations. We are still in need of undies for toddlers up to age 5. Vitamins/Tylenol/Motrin for all ages infant to adult, baby lotion, hair products, monthly sponsors and one time monetary donations.

Update on the orphanage: Well, we are totally done with everything we needed to do. We are waiting on Children Services to do one final inspect and then they will start referring children. This was suppose to happen on Monday. Unfortunately there have been strikes all week due to the rising costs of staples such as rice and medical care in Burkina. They have also cut electric and water and you only get it for several hours a day, they are alternating it amongst the different city sections and no one seems to know why. When they strike the workers who are not protesting do not do out because there are ppl who are protesting who take it to the max and there has to be a high military presence. So if you don't have to go out, you don't. So once this last puzzle pc gets put in place we are golden. I have long ago given up trying to have any control over the situation, it is like being a backseat driver :) So in God's and Africa's time, we will open.

We will be launching our school sponsorship in June. If you currently sponsor a child, you should be hearing from me in the next week. If you are interested, stay tuned for more info. We were hoping to offer a breakfast feeding program too. Rice has gone from 27.50 last year to 555.00 a bag currently! I would be rioting too!

Heather has been working hard on getting our fundraising tees done and you will love them! I will post a couple of examples here, they are not the finished product but you can see the sample. I have added a poll to the upper right hand side of the blog. We would love your opinion on which design you like best. :)

Also, we are in dire need of self motivated volunteers who want to help us with all our Africa projects. I know I put this call out there and I did get some response but then the ppl don't email back, so PLEASE if you are truly interested and want to help, we have a job for you! You can contact me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org.

Thanks for stopping by, keep praying!

Ann

UPDATE APRIL 21

2008-04-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I thought I would post another cute picture of AJ. His prosthetic visit went well. They will be making him 2 pair of prosthetics to take back to Africa, one to grow into! He is finally settling into his host family. The DR want him here 6 months so he can get up and walking and grow a little more before they make his second pair of legs. I promise to post a picture of him with his legs as soon as he gets them! We are excited for him.

On to orphanage stuff! We will be updating our what we need list this week. I have had several ppl ask and we need to update it with our current needs as donations have been coming in. We have several ppl traveling soon that are taking donations for us and we want to take as much as they can carry. We have been preapproved by the Children Services in Burkina to move forward with the orphanage and they gave us a checklist of things we had to have (roof over play area, dining table and chairs (before you laugh, most ppl in Africa don't have this), places for the nannies to sleep etc) As of today, the roof is done, everything is just about in place in the orphanage so we are hoping the powers in charge will be back out in the next week to give it one final inspect and then they will be referring us children. Due to the Hague and the recent accusations of child trafficking in other countries, there are several countries in Africa tightening the reins on all aspects of adoptions, Burkina is one. I think it is great but it sure adds to what all has to be done. Biba is sending picture of the orphanage with furniture (and roof) this week and who knows maybe next week, we can post pictures of kids.

There has been lots of questions about the adoption process in Burkina, and some ppl are just stirring the pot without checking with the Embassy and the Children's Welfare in Burkina. While FOG will not personally be doing adoption, we do want to know that process. Adoptions are allowed as long as they meet the requirements of Burkina and the US Embassy for visa's. So if you are reading things that seem negative, I would urge you to do some calling of your own (or consider the source). As always, the Internet brings out the "best" in people who can hide behind the computer screen.

We are hopeful that we will be also housing some special needs children too in hopes of finding families for them. If you have any questions about adoption, you can check out the State Dept site and read up on the Hague requirements. Also, I know Kids to Adopt is doing a program in Burkina and has checked out all the requirements so they would also be a great source if you have questions.

Ok, enjoy the pictures. Check back soon for more good news! Also, we are really needing dedicated volunteers who are self motivated and team players to help in several areas. We are praying for YOU! If you feel led to help in any way, pls email me at: ann@untilallhavehomes.org

WE WILL BE OFFICIALLY LAUNCHING OUR SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM JUNE 1. IF YOU CURRENTLY SPONSOR A CHILD AND WOULD LIKE TO DO SO ANOTHER YEAR, PLEASE EMAIL ME. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM, STAY TUNED!

"Where there is no vision, the people perish" Please help us reach the people in Burkina by being God's hands and feet!

Ann

April 3 Update

2008-04-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stopping by! Not a whole bunch to update but I do have some! First little AJ should be landing in OHIO within the next 30 minutes. AJ is a quad amputee from Burkina who is coming here for prosthetics from Burkina. I promise to post a picture tomorrow as soon as I can get one downloaded. Shriners will be treating him and he will be here approx 2 months until he goes back to his parents. I know this has been hard on his MOM, can you imagine??!! So pls keep her in your prayers during his absence!

Well, the American side of adoptions in Burkina are up and running. Kids to Adopt in WA state will be handling all the adoptions. Since Burkina is Hague we needed a Hague agency. We have been working day and nite the last couple of weeks to get all the details and requirements worked out. So if you are interested in adopting a child from our orphanage in Burkina and would like more info, you can contact them at: info@kidstoadopt.org. Since Burkina is Hague we will not be photolisting the kids BUT we will be posting groups pictures and random pictures of the kids in the orphanage here and on our website. I can't wait to see all those cutie pie faces and I can't wait to go to Africa and kiss each one of their cheeks!

As for the orphanage. Biba, our person in Burkina, has been busy helping a family in Burkina concerning some other matters (nothing to do with us) so her time has been consumed with that for the last 2 weeks. We are now officially moving forward. We only have a couple more details to attend to and we will be up and running. It is hard to be patient from our end, but we know (and keep reminding ourselves) in God's timing not ours!

If you are feeling "led" to Africa, if God is tugging at your heart to do more: we would LOVE for you to join our team. We are just a bunch of moms trying to make a difference in our world, I bet you are "just a mom" too! You may think, wow, I can't do that, or what do I have to offer, but I bet we could find something! We have so much to do and with more hands, voices, feet, we can get so much more done. So if you are interested in helping in any way, even to pray, please email me at: ann@untilallhaveshomes.org and I will get with you ASAP!

Our motto at FOG is in Proverbs,"Where there is no vision, the people will perish." Be a part of the vision, let no one perish!!

Until next time,
Ann Grabeman

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

2008-03-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

This will be a short update but a great one! As of Friday March 21st we are LIVE. After 2 months of waiting we have electric we have it!! :) So this week Biba is going to start putting all the items we have bought in the house and will finish buying the rest of the supplies. She has bios of all the workers she is hiring. The phone is being hooking up this week and the Children Service people are coming out to inspect us. So if things go well, we should have kids within 2 weeks. Be praying. We are putting a clay overhand over the courtyard where the children will be plaing to make it cooler and to offer shade. WE are also needing to raise funds for a car. So stay tuned! More info to follow! I am posting a picture of some of the kids from our School sponsorship program. Some of our families generously bought the children more rice and they rec'd it this past Saturday.

Ann

Vote for Heather!

2008-03-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Heather (one of the board members of Fields of Grace) was Woman of the Year in Cincinnati as part of a contest sponsored by Macy's and Chevrolet. Out of over 200 entries, she made the Top Ten.This is how it works. The person who garners the most votes by March 31st is the winner. You are able to vote 1x per day, everyday till the end of the period. Go to www.cincinnatiwoy.com, view Heather's nomination and vote for her if you feel she is deserving. If you feel someone else on the list warrants your vote, vote for her. We need to honor what these woman are doing in Cincinnati.Heather is very humbled and a little embarrassed about the Top Ten.

Even though she does not feel worthy, we all know she is! What is exciting is the fact that the contest sponsors will donate a certain sum of money to the winner's charity of choice, and for Heather, that is the orphanage project she is a part of called Fields of Grace. The great thing about winning would be that Fields of Grace would benefit. So get out the vote! Try to vote daily!!
Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

AGENCY CHOSEN

2008-03-09T15:05:00.001-07:00

Wow!!! I think we are finally moving forward. There is so much that goes in to opening an orphanage and there is never a dull moment. It is hard to micro-manage everything from the USA but we have an incredible person on the ground in Africa who is doing an incredible job!

We have finally picked a Hague accredited agency to handle the adoptions for us. They are not on the first list but they are approved. We will be using Kids to Adopt in Washington state. We are in the finalizing stages of paperwork (the adopting parents and the programs) to get the ball rolling. As Burkina is a Hague country we have to have a Hague agency. They have hired a special person to be the liason to the parents, Sarah! We personally know Sarah and we are thrilled about this. Sarah is a mom to 13 children and is very friendly, saavy and truthful, did I mention is super smart and funny too??!! This is going to be such a win win program.

So, if you want more info on adopting we can answer general questions here. Sarah is on this group. Please remember that Fields of Grace does not have anything to do with the American side of these adoptions. We have worked with K2A for a couple of years and they are very straigt forward and honest. All the families I have sent them, not one has ever complained, all said the process was as smooth as it gets in International adoptions and many have gone back to adopt again thru them. They are highly accessable to their parents too.

We are still looking for supplies for one of our board members to hand carry over in the next 30 days. Please see the post below of check out our website.

As for the orphanage, we are STILL waiting on electric! They had a major outage in the captial and everyone took turns having electric a couple hours each day!! The part that will remedy this should be here next week (in Africa) so be praying, they are saying tomorrow they will come and finish putting in our electric!! We are ready with everything else so once this is done, we should be ready to roll.

Please check back for more updates soon!! I hope in the next week we will have so much to tell I will have to post everday!!

Ann

March 3 update

2008-03-03T12:52:00.000-08:00

Well, gee, not too much new too post! We have 1/2 of the electric done. There is a waiting list of 2 months so I guess that we got 1/2 done in one is a miracle!! :) We are suppose to have the rest done this week. There was a "peaceful" demonstration in Burkina in the last week about rising prices on food and medicines. Of course like any demonstration, someone had to take it a step further so there was some vandalism. So now the electric company is focusing on that! Please be praying for the ppl of Burkina! They are already without so much and for prices to go that high on essentials is a huge thing for them.

I just saw a list of the worlds most dirty cities put out by Forbes! And guess what, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso rates 15th!! Right below my next favorite city, Moscow Russia. Now that is truly one dirty city!!
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/24/pollution-baku-oil-biz-logistics-cx_tl_0226dirtycities_slide_12.html?thisSpeed=15000

Little AJ should be here next week!! I will be posting his updates here!

We are working out all the details with a Hague agency so that they will be ready to handle the adoptions once we get the children in. There are so many details to work out and we want a family friendly agency who is reliable and honest!

We are going to be posting ways to help very soon. We need to raise $10,000 for a car and we need to have some donations to hand carry over by the end of March. I will post the list here. As for the website, our webdesigner is in the process of moving and is without internet. So NO the site is not done. We will have lots of creative ways to help on there too.

So here is the list! We hope for a HUGE update next week!!Be praying!

List of donations needed to handcarry over.

Crib Mobiles
Small toys appropriate for 0-5yo (no stuffed animals, we need washable items)
Motrin/Tylenol infant to adult
Vitamins (same) including iron drops
CD player and CD's appropriate for children
Children books
Lotions
Eucerin (in the "tub")
Hair spray detangler (child brands are best, love circle of friends brand, pricey!)
Baby hair wash
"PINK" hair lotion
Bows, clips, rubber bands
Summer onesies and pajamas (0-5yo)
Skype headset (one that works the same)
Blankets (lightweight)

You could easily put a note or basket into your childs classroom/daycare/preschool and ask for donations. Most ppl love to help! Please contact Heather@untilallhavehomes.org for more info or if you are planning on donating.

Ok, enough for today!!

Ann

FEB 16TH UPDATE

2008-02-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

Well, not too much to report. We are STILL waiting on the electric people to come and turn on the electricity. They are saying next week. We need that little step done before we can do the rest! The cribs are being handmade to our specifications. I will post a picture soon. They look extremely nice. Biba wanted a SAFE and sturdy crib for the children.

Todays little cutie (and no he is NOT available for adoption and has a wonderful Christian family) is a little boy who is coming on a medical visa soon. Shriners in KY has offered to make him 2 little legs!! Isn't that exciting. He will be coming soon as we have a board member traveling in the next month to visit Burkina and bring him back.

When Maggie travels she will be taking some donations we are working on. Little thing! I am going to post a list here and if you would like to give please feel free. You can mail the items to Until All Have Homes, 1424 Madison Ave, Piqua, OH 45356. Our orphanage will only house 10 to 15 children so please keep that in mind when sending. If you would kindly email me what you are sending so I can keep track and update the list as we get things in. These would fun little things to do as a Sunday school class or even a school class or preschool project.

We are needing:

Clean and in excellent used condition summer and lightweight clothes for 3 months to 5 years old (boys and girls.)

Infant, children and adult (we will pass these out to our staff for their families) vitamins and also iron drops for infants.

Motrin/Tylenol in infant, Jr and adult (same as above)

Small toys for babies and younger children, Please no Mc Donalds toys or stuff animals.

A couple of small CD players with children CD's.

Books appropriate for young children.

That is about all for this week. We are working on getting tees made and will be using them as a fundraiser. Are idea was to approach schools and youth groups and ask them to sell 50 to 100. Heather is busy working on the design, they are going to be awesome.

Once last thing and I am done! We have started a yahoo group for people interesting in learning with us about adoptions in Burkina. If you are interested please use this link: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fieldsofgraceafrica/?yguid=109039923

Thanks!

Ann Grabeman

Lots of info!

2008-02-05T16:43:00.000-08:00

OK, we have lots to update! First welcome!! We have moved all our information for our Africa project to this blog instead of our UAHH blog! Here is our new website for Fields of Grace: http://www.untilallhavehomes.org/FOG/foghome.html. For right now it is a part of our Until All Have Homes website and can be accessed easily from our homepage. This blog can be accessed from the HP of FOG, do I have you confused??!! :) We also have a note on the homepage how to add a link to our FOG website to your blog of website, if you have any questions.

Now to the good stuff!! Well, things are moving. I never knew how many things went into opening up an orphanage! And being a small team, well, it is time consuming to say the least. Biba (whose picture you can see on our FOG website) is hard working getting things done to get the orphanage open. She is buying supplies, hiring ppl, building a roof over the courtyard as she was concerned that the kids would get too hot in the sun, getting our utilities on etc. I wish I could help her but I am here in the US pulling my hair out! And to make things even more exciting, she does this on a scooter!!!! So are next big push is going to be fundraising $6,000 to buy her a car! She does so much for us and could do so much more so much faster if she had a set of four wheels instead of 2!! So if you would like to donate you can go to our website on FOG and there is a tab on the homepage that links to paypal. WE will have it added to our how you can help page once we get that up and running.

The website has been a work in progress and it is not done. WE will have several ways you can help or donate hopefully by the end of this week!! IF you can't wait to donate, well, just send a check to us now and we will be more than happy to put it to good use. Speaking of donations, we came within $650 of our Jan goal!! We have so many expenses right now but one of the more pressing is we need monthly donors. Any amount will work and a commitment to a year of pledges would help us greatly! How about making your own pizza's instead of going to Pizza Hut and pledging the differece to us?? I know in our house that would be about $80.00 a month! One of our families is even asking ppl to donate to us instead of giving birthday gifts to her adopted son!

ON a couple of other notes, and I won't go into much detail now, but we are looking in to doing adoptions in Burkina for the kids in our orphanage only! Burkina has some stricter requirements than other Africa countries. But that is OK!! Burkina is also Hague and we are working out the details with a Hague almost approved agency here in the US to handle our adoptions. So while we would love to offer adoptions a little cheaper in order to do them we have to have an agency. UAHH will not be doing the adoptions but FOG in Africa will be helping on that end. They even have a new and wonderful person who will be working for the agency who will be processing the families. You will LOVE HER!!!

We will be starting a general yahoo group for families interested in more info on what we are doing on an interactive scale!! So that is about all for now!! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned. WE hope to keep everyone update here on all our Africa projects!!

On one last note, Margie, one of our board of directors will be traveling soon to bring Ammiel here to the USA on a medical visa. We are going to have her carry some smaller items over with her. We have been blessed with a laptop but still need some smaller items. We are looking for crib mobiles, books, smaller toys, a CD player and some children's CD's. We also need infant and children vitamins and iron drops and Tylenol or motrin for both kids and adults. If you are intersted please email Heather at heather@untilallhavehomes.org Heather is also working on some fundraisers and we will post them here as we get the details worked out!!

Ok, have a great nite and see you soon!

Ann Grabeman

January 2008

2008-02-03T11:55:00.001-08:00

The picture is our new orphanage, Fields of Grace, in Burkina Faso Africa. Our African director, Biba, not only acquired a brand new house for us, she even had them rebuild a couple of rooms to meet our specifications. (We are waiting on them to landscape it.) As of Jan 15 we have wired money to Africa to start buying the furnishings. We hope to start out with around 7 kids and slowly build to around 15 or whatever we feel the house will hold. Once social services inspect our home (scheduled for Jan 21) they will issue our license to be an approved NGO in Burkina. We hope to have children in the house within the next 2 weeks. We will be adding pictures here as things start to take shape. We are still needing monthly sponsors, please see our how you can help link for more info! We also have a couple of young ladies who will be going over this summer to help out. Thanks for checking in, we will be updating several times a week as we take off on this big adventure stepping out in faith to give hope to the children on Burkina. At this time I would like to thank some people who have been faithful and instrumental in getting this done. First Heather, a wonderful friend and mom to 11 children, who has spent hours raising funds and planning fundraisers. Do you ever sleep? To Sarah, you are the queen and such a great friend. Thanks for all the logos and never complaining as we ask for changes. To Fami, who is always a constant support and who is the brain behind the operation. Whatever task I ask she fulfills it beyond my expectations. To all the incredible people who have prayed and donated to the orphanage, who understand and feel the passion in helping children who have nothing, THANK YOU!! And to Biba and her team in Africa, what a woman of God who does the work of 20 people with no pay and no car and who has made me long for a closer walk with God. My life is richer because of all of you!