Our Bags are Packed!

Last night our team met to sort and pack all of our donations.  We'll gather bright and early at LAX this Saturday to embark on the adventure of a lifetime!  Our team (of nineteen volunteers) is bringing twenty bags filled with stuffed animals, toys, clothes, bathing suits, medications and more.

We recently learned more information about the family that we'll be building a home for next week.  This amazing family has four boys (ages 2, 4, 10 and 12).  One of their precious sons has recently been battling leukemia and it has drawn their family together. We are so honored to build a home for their family and look forward to getting to know them in the coming week.

Great news!!!  Our team is now fully funded.  Thank you for your support, prayers and donations!  This week we will be building a concrete home, preparing meals and feeding the homeless community twice, taking seventy-eight children from a government orphanage to a water park and providing medical care to three other special needs homes.  It's going to be an unforgettable week!  Thank you for being on this journey with us!

Ramsey Adoption Story in Local Paper

Post written by Jenni Ramsey, Outreach Director for All Blessings Intl.

In June of 2007 we felt God leading our family towards international adoption.  We had no idea where the journey would take us or how our lives would be impacted.  We searched for Hailey for six years in three different countries (El Salvador, Taiwan and S. Korea), and her adoption was recently finalized on June 26, 2013.  We believe the Lord led us to El Salvador so that our eyes would be opened to the desperate needs of His children.  Although we experienced a failed adoption in El Salvador, we will continue to lead teams to this beautiful country as long as the Lord leads us.  We are honored to work alongside amazing partners in both El Salvador and Guatemala and love leading orphan outreach trips. 

We're grateful to The OC Register for sharing our adoption story.  Here is the link for the article:

"Adoption Journey Brings Couple a World of Love"

Photos taken by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register

Johnson: Adoption journey brings couple a world of love By BILL JOHNSON / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Life rarely is what you expect it to be. There simply are too many disappointments, unexpected hiccups, zigs when you are set on a zag. For Jenni and Mike Ramsey of Santa Ana, wanting to adopt a little girl was a rather personal, borderline-selfish desire. After all, they had two young boys already. A girl, well, just would be nice, they admit now. It goes back to 2007. Mike's sister had just adopted an orphan in China and it was such a nice thing. Why shouldn't they, the Ramseys asked themselves, do the same? They are, it should be noted here, a deeply religious couple. Mike in those days had worked with orphans in both Bosnia and El Salvador, even helping a family from their Irvine church turn property they own in El Salvador into a functioning orphanage. Yes, they would adopt. "We thought, we have the room to expand our family, so why not?" Jenni recalled. They picked an agency in El Salvador. They raised the $15,000 they figured it would take to make the adoption a reality. They would need every penny of it. There was a vast amount of paperwork to wade through - including an IQ test that would run them $2,000, simply to get qualified by El Salvadoran and U.S. authorities and to be matched with a suitable child. For one year they waited. About 11/2years later, the adoption agency arranged a trip for waiting parents to come to El Salvador. Jenni Ramsey was made a leader of four other people. "It was a life-changing event," she said. "It was heartbreaking to see the conditions at the different orphanages. It was awful. And I realized there that adoption is not culturally accepted there. We got there, and people thought we were crazy for wanting to do it. That's when I figured out our adoption wasn't going to happen." Indeed, the couple soon learned their papers had been shoved to the side in deep limbo, from which they would never emerge. The agency and its adoption program would soon follow, forever shut down. "The most significant thing that happened was we met a woman from a different agency, and she wanted to help us," Jenni Ramsey remembered. "She had a small adoption program, but knew the issues and the country. More importantly, she understood the desperate need to take care of orphans there." The Ramseys went home, but something inside them had been altered. "I'd left part of my heart in El Salvador," Jenni Ramsey said. Three years passed. It finally dawned on the couple that an adoption there would never happen. In 2010, the woman with the small adoption agency helped them to try again, this time in Korea. Yet what they had seen those years ago was too much to ignore, too desperate not to do something. Mike became missions pastor at the Village Church of Irvine where they attend. Jenni became missions director. They would focus on orphans who, according to UNICEF's latest figures, now total 143 million worldwide. In that time they have led teams of volunteers to El Salvador and to Guatemala, delivering basic necessities and medical care to orphanages in both countries. Next month, Jenni will make, with 20 volunteers from Orange County, her seventh trip to El Salvador. In November, she will make her third trip to Guatemala. Three years ago, they started the SoCal Orphan Care Network, an orphan crisis organization of more than 100 adoptive and foster families, attorneys and adoption professionals with a passion for caring for orphans. "That," Mike Ramsey said, "is really the heart of our story. It's about helping the least among us." They, at the same time, did their homework on Korea. It was, they soon learned, everything that El Salvador wasn't. Children actually were being adopted there. They would try again. The process, though, would cost about $35,000. They sent out letters to hundreds of friends. They started a blog, ran raffles for items over the Internet. People responded. Two families who had gone through the same El Salvador nightmare donated half of what they needed. They applied for 15 grants. They received four. Donations poured in. They qualified almost immediately to adopt in Korea. There was a barrage of visits from social workers and others, plus home inspections. The process started two years ago when Mike, a television commercial producer, was 43. Once he turned 45, he would be deemed too old to adopt. "At one point we gave up," Jenni said. "Korea slowed down. I think they wanted to do all adoptions internally." On June 12, 2012, Mike's 44th birthday, the couple received a call. There was a little girl for them. Yet the Koreans wanted the process expedited. "It was music to our ears," Jenni said.  Three months later, they traveled to Seoul to pick up their daughter.  Haesook Hwang was 15 months old. They would name her Hailey, a name they said sounded similar, and to honor her birth mother. Hailey Jane, who is 2 now, came to me with her arms raised when I walked in the door. I picked her up, she tugged at my face and smiled sweetly. Come Monday, a judge will officially change her name, and the young girl will become an American. Mike and Jenni will dress her in her traditional Korean dress for the occasion. When it is official, they will remove it to reveal a red, white and blue dress. The couple and their family and friends will then return home and celebrate.

Babysitting Fundraiser

Tonight our El Salvador team hosted a babysitting fundraiser at The Village Church of Irvine.  We cared for 14 children and had a great time serving together.  We received almost $200 in donations and now have enough funds to build a concrete house.  Praise God!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from our time together...

Our team is still accepting donations.  If you would like to contribute towards our trip costs, mail your tax-deductible gift to All Blessings Intl, 13111 Hewes Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92705.

Bake Sale brings in $420!

Last Sunday our El Salvador team hosted a bake sale at The Village Church of Irvine to raise funds to build a concrete home (which is much sturdier than a wood home).  We raised $420 thanks to the generous donations of our church family.   Thank you to everyone who baked and volunteered!

Emmy Weeks was inspired to do a lemonade stand for orphans 

and spoke to me about it a few months ago.  

Thanks Emmy for using your gifts and resources to bless others!

Our amazing sales team

Stephen Keenan will be staying to serve in El Salvador for one year!

All Day Team Training

Last Saturday our team gathered to share our life stories.  We spent five hours getting to know each other in a deeper way and it was an unforgettable time to bond as a team.  This is our largest team ever with twenty volunteers.  We have yet to gather all twenty at the same time (and probably won't be together completely until we depart from LAX).

Please be praying for our team as we complete our fundraising efforts this week and prepare to travel to El Salvador.  Pray for health, safety and for God's hand to lead our team moment by moment.

Our fearless construction team, led by Ron Bittner (professional builder)

16 members of our team

Stuffed animals still needed!

Great news!  Jordan and Aidan collected almost 300 stuffed animals through their school Ripple Kids project.  Way to go boys!  We are still collecting stuffed animals for hospitalized children in El Salvador.  Donations can be accepted until July 15th, when the team will pack duffel bags with donations.

Thank you for your support!

All Blessings Outreach Director attends Summit 9 in Nashville

Blog post written by Jenni Ramsey

Last month Hailey and I traveled to Nashville to attend Christian Alliance for Orphans' Summit 9.  It was an honor to represent All Blessings Intl. at my third Summit, which exploded in registrations with 2600 participants from 25 nations and 49 states.  Registration actually closed the week before Summit due to maximum capacity.  Clearly God is moving His Church to care for orphans.

It is difficult to describe how it felt to worship, connect and even cry alongside believers from around the world who share my passion for orphans, foster care, missions and adoption.   Every speaker and breakout session was moving.  The session on deinstitutionalization examined the ramifications of institutionalized care and passionately discussed how to find permanent solutions for children without families.  I listened to a panel of multi-ethnic adoptive families and laughed and grieved as they shared the joys and challenges they face in daily life.  I was especially moved as I listen to Emily Richards, the daughter of Stephen Curtis Chapman, speak on the theology of adoption, God's father heart for his children and the "forever family" that we are adopted into when we become believers.

The above photo was taken for a Summit photo contest on "hopes and dreams" for orphans.

There were many unexpected surprises during the trip.  On the first day of Summit I received an email from our former adoption agency notifying us that our adoption paperwork had been returned to them by El Salvador.  They wanted to know if they should shred it.  This email stirred up painful emotions that had been hidden in the depths of my soul.  As I listened to David Platt, author of "Radical" (the book that all of my outreach team members are required to read), speak in the closing session, I was shocked by his heartbreaking journey of a failed adoption.  David and his wife tried for many years to adopt a baby girl in Nepal, but their dream died when Nepal closed for adoption.  They later adopted a baby in China and started a ministry in Nepal as a result of their passion for the country of their broken dreams.  I couldn't believe the parallels in our stories!

As David shared about their failed adoption, the floodgates opened and I began to weep uncontrollably.  I wept as though I was grieving a stillborn birth or a miscarriage.  I wept for the injustice that we experienced with our first agency and for a country that struggles to create family plans for abandoned children.  I had no idea that I needed to grieve so deeply and it was truly healing for my soul.  As I gazed at Hailey through my tears,  I was reminded of God's redemption.  He truly does work all things together for good.  If He had not led us to adopt in El Salvador, we would not have been led to Hailey.  We also may not have become aware of the desperation in orphanages in El Salvador and may not be leading trips today.  It was so special to be sitting next to Larry and Tammie May, dear friends who adopted in El Salvador and have supported our adoption journey, as I wept.  Larry served with me in El Salvador last year and their family has become part of our family.   I loved introducing Hailey to "Uncle Larry" and "Aunt Tammie". We are forever family.

Throughout the week I loved spending time with other former El Salvador and Guatemala team members and numerous families who have adopted through All Blessings.  Hailey and I stayed at the home of Phil (Larry's brother) and Amy May, who served with me in Guatemala in 2011.  The Mays adopted their beautiful daughter, Sophie, in Guatemala four years ago.  It was so precious to watch Sophie and Hailey play together.  The Mays will be serving on our team again this November and have become very dear friends.  Thanks "Uncle Phil" for babysitting Hailey!

Lisa Bussard and her daughter served on our 2011 Guatemala team as well and hope to return this year.  The Bussards played a significant role in collecting jeans and raising funds for uniforms for the children at Casa Bernabe orphanage.  Lisa and Amy took me on a tour of Nashville after Summit and I fell in love with the city.  I was also struck by the Southern hospitality and hope to bring our family back one day.

I enjoyed another "girls' night out" with an amazing group of adoptive moms during Summit.  Heidi Weimer (pictured below in the middle) has a powerful adoption story and founded "We Have Room" with her husband.  I loved spending time with Heidi and Tabitha Lovell, the travel agent for our  outreach trips. Tabitha has been a tremendous blessing handling all of our international flights and she is currently in the process of adopting in Congo.  I loved spending time with such inspiring women!

Jon and Christella Hudson recruited a team of twelve to serve with me in El Salvador last May.  The Hudsons also adopted their son, Freddy, through All Blessings in Korea.  They drove all the way from Kentucky so that we could spend time together and I even experienced Tennessee's famous, "Cracker Barrel" restaurant.  Aren't these kids adorable?

One of the highlights for me in leading orphan outreach teams has been the incredible people that I have met along the journey.  Every trip has been life changing and every team member has become like family.  I am so thankful to All Blessings for the opportunity to lead teams to experience the father heart of God for abandoned and orphan children.  The location for Summit 10 has not yet been announced, but I hope to be there next year!  Stayed tuned...