Katie's Interview with April

Both Hands Project

Dear JT

I just wanted to tell you what happened yesterday. We performed a service project for a woman named April who is a widow. Both Hands Foundation and Lifesong for Orphans helped us organize this project so that we could fund-raise to help save up money for the adoption fees we need to bring you home. Friends and family of our both hands team members sponsored each of us so that we could do this project and raise some funds. Those people did that because they love you, and because they believe in us and what we are doing. Some of the people on our team that worked on April's house yesterday you will know very well soon and I want to tell you what they did yesterday.

Your Uncle Todd was the last to pull out of April's driveway last night. Besides being the project foreman, organizer, and primary sponsor of materials and acquirer of project materials, he redid April's flooring to give her wheelchair more access in her house. Your uncle todd loves you so much his sweat and endurance yesterday not just in the flooring but being a part of every single project we performed, and teaching every single person how to do what they were doing. Your uncle todd was the real hero yesterday and he loves you very much.

Your PopPop was so excited to come and do this project for April and for you. He has been so excited about you since the moment he knew about you. I won't forget the day he called me with excitement in his voice when he realized that your birthmom might already be pregnant with you. And that you might already be conceived, living in her belly and waiting to come home to our family. You see, he already loves you. And yesterday your pop-pop came out and worked from 9 in the morning until after 7 at night to show that love for you. Despite his recent shoulder injury he spent the day cutting wood, drilling, swinging hammers, and in the end he built a wheelchair ramp for April, rebuilt her aged railings, and built a mini ramp in a hole her wheelchair kept falling into. He also helped install a sliding glass screen behind April's sliding glass doors. Your popop loves you very much.

Your Uncle Mohammad came out yesterday with your Pop-pop and he worked all day long with your pop-pop on building the ramps and the railings. He also installed a new fan on April's porch and always seemed to be lending a hand to someone doing something yesterday. Your uncle Mohammad loves you very much.

Your cousin Brage came out yesterday and was there all day sweating, lugging, laughing, and busting his butt. He organized and performed the re-screening of the back porch. Even by the end of the day your big hearted cousin was laughing and working as hard as he could to get things done, and get things done well. Brage also helped with landscaping, carrying heavy things, ripping out the old railings, and seemed to be a little bit of every project we did yesterday. Your cousin Brage loves you very much.

Your buddy Aaron was also among the last to leave. He spent the day helping Brage redo the screening in the back, assisted with the ramp rebuild, and organized the landscaping efforts. Aaron is a 14 year old entrepreneur and even brought all of his equipment to help with weeding and cleaning up the yard. Aaron loves you very much.

Our bff Susan was a big part of this project. Susan has been helping me to organize it from the very beginning. She contacted all the potential widows, helped me track them down, interview them, and select one. She helped me organize the projects, the team, the meetings, and even was responsible for getting the oven donation for April from Habitat for Humanity, picked it up in her truck, and brought her whole family out yesterday to help. She and her family, Katie, Kara, Kip, and CJ, helped with all the projects. Susan also helped with making a screen from a kit for April's window and scrubbing the new used oven donation we got for April. Katie photographed the whole day and helped everyone anytime someone needed help. Kara videotaped and helped with other projects as well. Kip ripped up the old flooring. CJ was a huge help in carrying things out to the project and taking out the old railway. The Thompsons love you very much.

There are few people as excited about you coming to the family as the Watsons. Arlene has been my inspiration, role model, and bff for years now. She and Lauren came down yesterday and busted their butts all day helping with anything anyone asked of them. Arlene as also helped me plan and organize things for the whole project and hosted one of the meetings at her home in Sarasota. Her family was also responsible for a bulk of the sponsorships that came in for the project because of letters they sent their friends and family. Arlene and Lauren helped with landscaping, oven cleaning, bathroom door knob replacement, screen building, rail building, and anything else anyone needed a hand with. The Watsons love you very much.

Matt came out yesterday because he loves you so much. He is so excited to meet you and has been excited about Both Hands since he found out. Matt is an awesome friend and I can't wait for him to teach you things and join us on mission trips in the future. Matt was also responsible for a bulk of the sponsorships that came in and he busted his butt, as usual yesterday. Matt is a superhard worker and we saw him doing everything from tearing down rails, pulling weeds, raking, carrying things, helping with screening, and anything anyone asked for help with. Matt taught me long ago that nothing says love like Pancho Villa, and Matthias loves you very much.

Laura and Jeremy came out yesterday despite being in the middle of exam week and helped out with a number of things. They ripped out the old screening on the porch, helped start the rescreening, and helped install a new fan on the back porch. They also helped out with the new flag installation - hooa or something - and were a huge help with a number of other tasks. Laura and Jeremy love you very much.

Your daddy and I worked on all of the projects and have been working on this project behind the scenes for months. Your dad also came very close to an electrocution yesterday, but thank the Lord that didn't quite happen despite playing with live high power cables before they were shut off. Lesson for you, baby boy, don't play with electricity. I hope that our actions will always show you, but I also want to tell you that we love you very much.

Completed Tasks

I can't believe how much we got done!

We replaced a fan outside that didn't work.

 

We replaced her old flag with a new one

We fixed her flooring problems

We weeded her plants

We replaced her oven that didnt work with a newer working one!

We built a screen for her bedroom window

We fixed her glass sliders and installed a new screen slider

We re-screened her porch so animals would stop coming in

You see these wood bricks next to the hole with bushes? Her wheelchair would sometimes fall in there when she was trying to get out. We built a mini ramp so that wouldn't happen anymore.

There was a dropoff outside her door that she couldn't get over, and sometimes fell in so we built a wheelchair ramp here. We also rebuilt her aged railings.

April was overwhelmed with emotion by what happened on Saturday. She couldn't believe how much we did and how hard everyone worked. She said this will change her life.

working on organizing pictures and video from yesterday... and im overwhelmed.. so many people came out to help April and JT yesterday and i am overwhelmed. more later...

2 days until project

Basket

I made a little basket for April today. Just some girly stuffs and some oven mitts for her new oven. :) Oh and of course some kitty treats for her kitties.

5 days until project

6 days until project day :)

8 days left!

9 days left!!

11 days left!

12 Day Countdown!

I pledge allegience!

The last time I was visiting at April's house I noticed that in her front yard was a flag pole with an American flag on it. The flag was tattered, ripped, and faded. I knew right away I wanted to get her a new one. So yesterday we got her this new flag above that I am excited to raise at her house once the project is over. I hope that she likes it and that the current one doesn't have any sentimental value to her.

Replace that Oven!

Great News Today!

Our team member, Susan, got a hold of the East Pasco Habitat for Humanity Restore in Dade City today. She spoke with the manager, Tony Bryant. Tony has offered to donate an oven to April Marr for the project.

The last time we visited we learned that her oven hasn't worked in years, nor did three of her four stove top coils. She had just mentioned it wondering it if it were a quick fix for us. Our team member, Todd, spoke with some people and found that the parts were obsolete, and if we special ordered them he would not be able to take them as returns, and they still may not fix the problem. So we went about looking for a new oven for April.

I just called her to let her know that we will be able to replace the oven rather than fixing it and she is so excited. She said that really if we only fixed her glass slider that doesn't slide she'd be happy, but she is so excited about us helping her. I can't wait to go spend the day with her.

My brother and our team member, Todd owner of The Skylighters, has figured out the logistics and located the parts for all the other projects we will do. We only have one more thing to figure out before the service day. The flooring. I have spoken with a friend from Tampa Tile Center, and am hoping he will find another idea for us.

If you know anyone with knowledge on flooring please shoot me an email. :)

Meet April

Here are some things that you might want to know about our widow April Marr

• April has the following types of pets: squirrels, cats (a colony of them), coi fish
• April has three children, including a set of twins
• April's favorite color is green
• April's favorite plant is ivy
• April was born in New Jersey
• April's daughter is a nurse who works in the hospital in zephyrhills
• April used to love to ride horses when she was able
• April built a coi pond out of an old hot tub in her screened lanai
• April rescued two baby squirrels after the hurricanes of 2001 when they fell from their nest and were starving
• April also had a pet possum and an owl at one time

Another Project

Visiting April

Yesterday Bryan and I had the pleasure of visiting with April to prep for our project. My neice Sarai (also on our team) came along, as did our foreman (my brother Todd). We walked around the house and took a couple pictures and took notes and measurements. We are very excited to be back in October and get these projects done.

Here is her broken fan that we will be replacing.

We plan to build a new ramp on the other side of where her wheelchair is here. She struggles to fit the wheelchair through this path and we will do what we can do make it easier for her to get out of the house.

These bricks are often falling from underneath her wheels. We hope to find a way to keep that from happening to help prevent a fall.

This is her path to the front door from the kitchen between the carpet. The original installer used metal pieces that aren't meant to curve like this, so the pieces are broken into pieces and come up at each curve. These metal pieces trip up her wheelchair and have sliced her foot on a couple occasions. It is not wide enough for her wheelchair and so the pieces keep getting pulled up.

These are the separations that keep coming up.

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We have a list of other items, such as replacing screening, weeding, fixing doors, sliders, windows etc. Also her oven does not work and only 2 out of the 4 burners on the top work so we will see what we can do to help with that.

Mailing Party 1

We had a great party on Saturday evening at the Watson's House. Thanks so much for them to host it! We definitely had some fun as you can see below and were able to mail out a number of letters for sponsors!

the crew (minus bry taking pics & kayla who was late)

beyootiful cousins :)

chase was still digesting sambussa :)

our pastor has bigger guns than your pastor :P

sambussa finally settled :)

matthias sending a letter to his favorite priest ;)

beyootiful 10 fingered boray who we love :P

Reminders for Saturday Meeting

• bring an appetizer to share
• bring a list of ~35 addresses to mail your letters to
• if you want a custom letter - send it to me before tonight to print
• if you hate fun you may not want to show up .... just sayin
• you may want to brush up on adoption trivia ;)

Don't forget we are meeting in Sarasota at the Watson house at 5pm for envelope stuffing :)

Tweetin Lee Both Hands Video

thought i would share the video we watched on kickoff night :)

Another Both Hands Project Completed

http://adoptionmission-possible.blogspot.com/2010/08/both-hands-project-success.html

Our Both Hands Letter

Lifesong sent us a template for this letter and we have rewritten it with out information to be sent out for sponsorships to our team. If you feel called to help financially there is a button on this blog for donations that will go into our Lifesong account to sponsor this project.

Meet Bryan & Kim Young…

“You may be wondering why we have chosen to start our family with adoption. Well, primarily, we’ve felt since very early in our relationship that we were being called to give a family to a child without one. Partially because we have been blessed with such loving parents, our hearts break for babies and children who live in orphanages and do not know the devotion and love of a mother and father. This passion for orphans has driven us to start the adoption process and also to choose the country with the most need for parents. While it hasn’t always been the easiest choice, we know in our heart of hearts that this is the path the Lord has for us and we feel honored to be part of such a journey.  Though the tragedies in this world have left children without parents it is God’s desire for people to take these children in and give them a home. We want to be part of that.”

Baby JT…

We are adopting a little boy from Ethiopia, and will be matched with a specific child in 2011, then travel to Ethiopia to bring him home (he’ll be under 12 months old)!  As a family, we’ve been excitedly praying for him, and we’ve already named our son – John Todd Young!

The name John comes from John Rowe, Kim’s late grandfather who fought for our freedom in World War II & Korea. Words spoken by him have directly and indirectly formed Kim’s values and compassion for those with less. Todd is a Young family name. It was Bryan’s father’s middle name, Bryan’s middle name, and will soon be John’s middle name.

Meet April…

April is a wonderful woman who has been through a lot over the last few years. After marrying and having three children (including a set of twins), the family moved to Crystal Springs, FL. April’s husband was not very nice to her and he left her shortly before he passed away. Since then April has been dealing with declining health as Polio has put her into a wheelchair and diabetes has wreaked havoc on her health. Since the loss of her husband and the decline of her own health, April has been unable to be active in taking care of her home and there is a ton of work to do! We plan on adding a cement block in front of her house to give her wheelchair access, as well as fix a piece of the floor that keeps getting stuck in her wheelchair and has also injured her. There are a number of other tasks that we are excited to help April with. She is overwhelmed at the support and help our team is offering and also very excited to be a part of our adoption process.

Our Both Hands Fundraiser Project…

A small Ethiopian boy living in an orphanage halfway around the world. A widow living in Pasco County who just needs a little help. A group of people excited to lend a hand.

What could these three things possibly have in common? All three are coming together to play key roles in an exciting fundraising opportunity taking place all day on October 30, 2010. This fundraiser will help us adopt a child from Ethiopia while we spend a day fixing up April’s house. We are asking our family and friends to sponsor us while we work on April’s home, and the money that is donated will be used to bring a child home to his forever family. Think of it like a charity golf outing; but instead of us golfing to raise money, we are going to support a widow in need. I want to give you an opportunity to participate in this awesome project, if it feels right. If not, no big deal. But, truth be told, I hope you find this as irresistible as we do. Both Hands through its partnership with Lifesong for Orphans is an organization that is dedicated to comforting widows and helping orphans. Lifesong makes it possible for your contribution to be tax deductible.

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return!  (Matt 6:20)

In Christ,

Bryan & Kim Young

How Can You Help?

My request is simple and straightforward. We are not all called to adopt, but we can all play a part in this wonderful process. Would you consider taking part in the joy of adoption by helping is raise the money to bring JT  home?

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and consider my invitation! There are two ways that you can help…

Prayer – Please pray for blessings over this adoption: pray for JT, that God would prepare his heart to be adopted and provide food and clean water to his birth mom during the pregnancy; and for wisdom, clarity, and understanding for Bryan and Kim as they raise this child to know God. Please also pray for continued blessings for April, and for the ministries of the Both Hands Foundation and Lifesong for Orphans.

Financial – Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to reduce the remaining adoption expenses as we work with our team to better the life of this widow, April.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” James 1:27

For more information on Both Hands and Lifesong for Orphans please visit www.lifesongfororphans.org & www.bothhandsfoundation.org. 

Kickoff Meeting

Don't Miss the kickoff meeting at our house August 21 5pm!

Mrs Marr

Saturday we met with Mrs Marr. She is a widow with polio and diabetes who is wheelchair bound. We have a lovely time with her explaining to her about Both Hands and how we might be able to help her. I absolutely adore her. I hope that we can create a relationship with her extending past Both Hands. We are waiting to hear back from Mrs Soucy to schedule her meeting. I will let you know more as it comes up.

Journey to Find our Widow Part 1

At Both Hand's recommendation I have reached out to Meals on Wheels. I have contacted MOW in Pasco, Hillsborough, and Manatee and have only heard back from East Pasco. The woman there (Cindy) will be sending a note out with meals this week to contact me if they are interested. Perhaps by the end of the week we will have a widow to love on. I will keep you updated.

New Team Member

After a fun weekend in sarasota with our buds we can add to our team: Matt, Kylie, Chase, Kayla & confirmed Ryan Parker. :)

New Team Member

I am excited to announce a new team member today. My friend, Anise, is joining up with our team. I spoke with her today and am excited to welcome her to our crew. :)

New Team Member

Great news. A wonderful friend of our family, Mohammad, has joined our team. We are so excited to have him with us. :)

Our Both Hands Fundraiser Project…

A small Ethiopian boy living in an orphanage halfway around the world. A widow living in the Tampa Bay Area who just needs a little help. A group of people excited to lend a hand.

What could these three things possibly have in common? All three are coming together to play key roles in an exciting fundraising opportunity taking place all day on October 30, 2010. This fundraiser will help our good friends, Bryan and Kim Young, adopt a child from Ethiopia while we spend a day fixing up a widow's house. As their friends, we’re invested in helping them in all sorts of ways, the money that is donated will be used to bring a child home to his forever family. Think of it like a charity golf outing; but instead of us golfing to raise money, we are going to support a widow in need. Both Hands through its partnership with Lifesong for Orphans is an organization that is dedicated to comforting widows and helping orphans. Lifesong makes it possible for the contributions to be tax deductible.

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20)