The Love Ethiopia Bracelets Are In!!!

And they are awesome!! I love them! They are a bit bigger than a had envisioned, but they are wonderful! (And they aren't too big. They don't fall off or anything. And I also have a smaller wrist so that could also be the problem too! lol) I completely love them! I think they are even better than I thought they would be. The color is perfect the lettering is perfect. They actually came super quick, too! I was told to expect them around March 10th and here they are today!! I highly recommend the company if you ever need to order these type of bracelets for yourself. I was able to pick my color and the words I wanted on. They have so many designs to choose from. Wonderful experience working with them. No problems at all! Very smooth transaction. I researched for a while and they really do have the best prices I could find. The company is called Reminder Band.

The bracelets are dark green and say Love Ethiopia. When I think of Ethiopia I think of dark green. I don't know why. Some times I just associate colors with different things and dark green is just what is connected to Ethiopia in my mind. And Love Ethiopia is because I truly love this country. I love the people, the country itself, the beauty. I feel at home in Ethiopia. It is the only place in the world I have ever really truly felt myself. And also another way to look at it is Love, Ethiopia. Both times I have been to Ethiopia, I have felt so much love from the people. The children just love you being there and spending time with them. You can feel the love and respect from the people as they serve you a coffee ceremony which is a very important custom in Ethiopia. This takes a lot of time to prepare and serve and you can feel the love they have for you when they are serving you.

Here is what the bracelets look like:


I have 299 (I ordered 300, but am keeping one for myself! :))


They are all individually wrapped. So when you get yours it will come in it's own wrapper.


Each bracelet can be purchased for a $5 donation to my upcoming mission trip to Ethiopia. You can donate online by clicking on the I Need Africa button on the right side of my blog. This will take you to the online donation form for the One Month Ethiopia trip For Mocha Club (the organization I am going with). Make sure you put my name in the team member box (Sarah Connelly). You will then get your tax deductible receipt by email. All donations to my trip through Mocha Club are tax deductible. You can also give by check. Those instructions are directly below the online button on the right.

Once you make your donation, please email me at madeforethiopia@gmail.com with how many bracelets you have ordered and your shipping address (if you are not local). I will then verify this information when I get a financial update from Mocha Club (I get them frequently. They include the person's name and donation amount.). I will then mail out (or give you) the bracelets.

For everyone to get their tax deductible receipts and for me to know that all the money is getting directly to where it needs to be with has little steps as possible this is the best way to do things. It may seem a little backwards because I have to wait for the financial update to see what has been donated, but at least I know the money is getting to where it needs to be.

If you know anyone who would be interested in these, please spread the word about this! I think a lot of people will like these! They aren't just specific to my trip, but to Ethiopia in general. This way they can cover everyone's love for Ethiopia (missions, adoptions, etc.). Thank you for all your support of my trip! I very much appreciate it. Selling all 299 of these bracelets will be half of what I have left to fund raise. Please spread the word! Thank you!

And The Winner Is...

The $50 Target gift card giveaway has come to an end and there is a winner!! I am very excited about this!! There weren't as many entries as I would have liked, but I am very very very grateful to those who entered. I am now closer to my goal than I was before the giveaway! Praise God for that!!!

The Love Ethiopia bracelets and Love Africa magnets are now officially on sale! Both can be purchased by making a donation to my mission trip to Ethiopia. The Love Ethiopia bracelets are $5 each. These bracelets are the rubber/silicone type bracelets just like the Livestrong ones that many people wear. I have designed them myself. They are dark green and say Love Ethiopia on them. This design came about because when I think of Ethiopia I think of green...dark green to be exact. I don't know why. In my mind I just sometimes associate colors with different things and green is what I associate with Ethiopia. It is just the color that has always come to mind when thinking about Ethiopia. And Love Ethiopia is what I feel for the country, it's people, it's beauty. There is so much love in me for Ethiopia. I have said since my first trip to Ethiopia that my heart must be shaped like Ethiopia because there is no place on earth that I would rather be. And Love Ethiopia also represents Love, Ethiopia. When you are there you can just feel love from the country in return. You are so welcomed by the people, by the children. When someone wants to serve you coffee (Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee) there is a whole ceremony that encompasses this that it really is an honor. It is very time consuming that you feel the love from the people even more.
 
I wish I had a picture to post of the bracelets, but I wasn't allowed to copy the image from the website. But from the preview I saw they look great! They have completed the order early and shipped them yesterday!! They weren't supposed to be shipped until the second week of March. I'm so excited! Once they arrive, I will post a picture for you all to see.

The Love Africa magnets are $6 each. I only have 10 of these and will not be ordering more. These are on a first come first serve basis. If you want one, make sure you order one quickly! Once they are gone they will be gone! You can see what they look like here.

To purchase these items you can make a donation just has you would any donation to my trip. On the right side of my blog you will see the I Need Africa button. That will take you to the online donation form. Make sure you put my name (Sarah Connelly) in the team member's box. Once you fill out the form and click donate you will receive a tax deductible receipt. You can also donate by check and those instructions are given right below the online donation button.

And now the information you all have been waiting for. The winner of the $50 Target gift card! I took the names of all the entries and gave them numbers in order of their donation date. I then went to one of those number generating websites and it randomly picked a number for the winner. I thought this was the fairest way to choose a winner. And the number generator chose number:


And number 2 belongs to: Barb Schellhardt!!

Congrats, Barb!! Send me a Facebook message with your address and I'll mail the gift card out this week.

Thank you to everyone who donated to the gift card giveaway! I appreciate all the donations. Now you can buy the bracelets and magnets. Once I receive them in the mail and verify all donations by the financial updates from the company I will begin shipping them. Thanks! :)

Today is the last day to enter the gift card giveaway!

Today is the last day to enter the $50 Target gift card giveaway! This will not be extended again. To get an entry you just have to make a $15 donation to my upcoming mission trip to Ethiopia. All information on how to enter can be found on the right side of my blog. When donating online make sure you write my name in the team member's spot on the online donation form (Sarah Connelly). All donations are tax deductible. A winner will be picked once I receive the financial update tomorrow and see who qualifies for an entry. Make sure you get your entry in today if you want to be a part of this giveaway. This will not be extended. There will be a winner tomorrow.

Also, tomorrow I will post about how to buy the Love Ethiopia bracelets and the Love Africa magnets. Be on the look out for that post! Lots of good stuff coming up! :) As always, thank you for your support of my trip! I appreciate every single one of you. :)

One more day to enter the giveaway!

The giveaway ends tomorrow! If you want to enter make sure you get in. This will not be extended again. To be entered into the giveaway for the $50 Target gift card you just need to make a $15 donation to my upcoming mission trip to Ethiopia. That's it. For every $15 donation you make you will get one entry. All information on how to make a donation is on the right side of my blog. Remember when giving online to put my name in the team member's slot on the donation page (Sarah Connelly). All donations are tax deductible.

Remember this ends tomorrow so get your entry in now. Also a reminder the bracelets and magnets will go on sale on Sunday. I will post all information regarding those sales on Sunday. Thank you very much for all of your help towards my trip. I very much appreciate it!

Love Africa Magnets and Gift Card Giveway Update

Here is another option for you to purchase. There are Love Africa magnets. You can see what they look like here. I will be selling these for a $6. I have a very limited supply of these magnets. I have only ordered 10 magnets! First come first serve. Once they are gone that is it. Unless I get an overwhelming demand for them I will not be placing another order for them. The sale for these will start on Sunday just like the bracelets. I want the gift card giveaway to end first.

On Sunday I will make a post of how you can purchase both the Love Ethiopia bracelets and the Love Africa magnets. Remember to get your entry into the $50 Target gift card giveaway. You only have until Saturday to enter! A $15 donation gets you one entry into the giveaway. I will be picking the winner on Sunday. There will be a winner. The giveaway will not be extended again. If you want to be in the giveaway, make sure you get your donation in by Saturday. All donations are tax deductible. All donation information is on the right side of my blog. Remember when giving online to put my name in the team member's box (Sarah Connelly).

Love Ethiopia Bracelets

Starting this Sunday, February 13, 2011, you can buy rubber bracelets to help support my trip. These bracelets are like the Livestrong bracelets that a lot of people wear. I have designed these bracelets myself. They will be dark green and say Love Ethiopia. When I think of Ethiopia I think of the color green. For some reason I associate colors with some things and when I think of Ethiopia my mind just goes right to green....dark green specifically. When trying to come up with what to put on these bracelets I knew Ethiopia I had be on it somewhere. I came up with Love Ethiopia. This has a couple different meanings. First of all, I truly love Ethiopia. I love the people, the country, and being there. I feel at home there. I am more myself in Ethiopia than any other place I have ever been in my life. And I was also thinking Love, Ethiopia. It's like a message from Ethiopia itself. Ethiopia is sending its love right back. I can't tell  you how many hugs I have gotten from children over there or how welcoming people make you feel, or the honor you feel when someone does a coffee ceremony for you.

The bracelets will be sold for $5 each. I will give more information on Sunday as to how to purchase them. For now I just wanted you to be aware that this will be coming up. Once the sale starts it will be on going until they are sold out. I am putting in the order tomorrow for a certain number and believing they will all be sold. If I have to order more I will. The order I place tomorrow will not arrive until March so the first shipment will not be mailed out until the third week of March. So if  you order before then, don't worry you will get your bracelets it will just take a little longer. And of course I will post as soon as they come in. If I sell every single bracelet that I will be ordering, it will be just under half of what I still have left to raise. Please spread the word about these bracelets. The ordering starts this Sunday!!! Post this on your Facebook, Twitter, or Blogs.

Remember the $50 Target gift card giveaway is going on until Saturday. Don't forget to get an entry in! A $15 donation to my trip gets you one entry. All information for that can be found in the post below this. Spread the word about the giveaway as well. Mark your calendars for Sunday!! These bracelets are going to be awesome! And I'm sure will go fast!!

LOVE ETHIOPIA!

Update on the giveaway!

You have 4 more days to enter the giveaway! Saturday is the last day!! It will not be extended again. As it stands now someone will win this gift card!! The question is, will you be the winner?? Remember you have to be in it to win it! Have you entered yet? To enter all you need to do is make a $15 donation to my upcoming mission trip to Ethiopia. Each $15 donation will get you one entry. So, if you donate $30 you will get two entries and so on. I think that is a pretty sweet deal! A $15 donation and you have a chance to win a $50 gift card to Target!!

For all information on how to donate see the right side of my blog. To donate online click on the I Need Africa button. Information to donate by check is right below that button. All donations are tax deductible. Remember when giving online to put my name in the team member's spot, Sarah Connelly. You will get your tax deductible receipt from Mocha Club after you give your donation.

Time is running out to be a part of this giveaway! Like I said, this giveaway will not be extended again. Someone is going to win this gift card! Please share this on your Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. Spread the word about this giveaway. Thank you to all who have entered already to be a part of this giveaway. Also I want to thank you all for your prayers in support of my trip. I appreciate them all so much. Again, please spread the word about this giveaway. Let's see how many more people we can get to participate!

Why Ethiopia?

A friend of mine posted this video on her blog a few weeks ago and I finally had a chance to watch it. I am so glad I did. A family who is adopting through the same agency she is using (my friend and her husband are in process of adopting their daughter from Ethiopia) made this video to show why they chose Ethiopia. I think they captured this perfectly. Not only does this video captures perfectly why they are adopting from Ethiopia, but it also reflects my feelings of why I keep going back. The tears were flowing as I watched this video. I've had people ask me "Why Ethiopia?" so many times. I say "Why not Ethiopia?". And I think this video definitely answers the "why" and shows exactly why I keep going back.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

The Gift Card Giveaway Has Been EXTENDED!!!

I have decided to EXTEND the Target gift card giveaway! You will have one more week to enter the giveaway. Also any donations that were given since the giveaway ended will also be counted. The new deadline for the giveaway is Saturday February 12th. It will be the same to qualify as before. For every $15 donation to my mission trip to Ethiopia you will get one entry into the giveaway. That means if you donate $15 you get one entry, donate $30 you get two entries, and so on.

You can donate online by clicking on the I Need Africa button on the right side of my blog. Make sure you put my name (Sarah Connelly) into the team members spot. Fill out the rest of the form accordingly then click donate. You will receive your tax deductible receipt as an email. You can also give by check. You can find directions for giving by check under the button for donating online.

Please help me get back to Ethiopia! I appreciate your help and donations toward my mission trip. Please also share on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Spread the word! Thank you for your donations, spreading the word, and mostly your prayers.