Scott On Mission

Considering Adoption?

2010-11-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

While many people have stated that adoption has crossed their minds, often there is a gap between the thinking and the doing. When it comes to planning a family, sometimes we over-analyze the pros and cons, dismissing or delaying the decision to adopt due to a number of reasons or unknowns. Watch this video and see if adoption may be something for you to consider.

Orphan Care and The Big Red Tractor

2010-02-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

Francis Chan wrote this children’s story to illustrate what God ordained the church to be in the world. Since God has called the church to care for orphans, I think “The Big Red Tractor” also applies to the current orphan care movement that is growing within the church.

The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

“Haiti Orphan Rescue Mission” Details Emerge

2010-02-02T12:04:00.001-08:00

“Haiti Orphan Rescue Mission” Details Emerge

Posted using ShareThis

2010-02-01T19:32:00.001-08:00

Wonderful Ministry!

2010-01-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

Both Hands Video from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

National Stakeholder Sessions Tomorrow: Haitian Adoptions Policy & TPS Filing Instructions/Fee Waivers

2010-01-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

I received the following email which is from Homeland Security and wanted to share the information regarding Haitian Adoptions. Instructions for the conference call is on the attached scans. Click on them and they should enlarge.

The email read:

Dear Colleague,

The US Citizenship & Immigration Services Office of Public Engagement will be facilitating two stakeholder sessions tomorrow, January 21, to address issues related to the response of USCIS to the situation in Haiti.

The first session will take place at 11am EST and will focus on the topic of Haitian adoptions policy. With this meeting, you have the option of attending in person at the Tomich Center (111 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington DC) or by teleconference. Further details can be found in the attached invitation.

The second session will take place at 2pm EST and will cover filing instructions for both the Temporary Protected Status form and employment authorization form and guidance on fee waivers. This meeting can only be attended by teleconference and the dialing instructions are included in the invitation.

We welcome your participation and would appreciate if you could share this invitation with any other colleagues or affiliates that may be interested.

Sincere Regards,
US Department of Homeland Security
DHS Center for Faith-Based & Community Initiatives

ONE VERY INSPIRING ADOPTION!

2010-01-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Meet Sveta: Her parents had enough girls in their family already

2010-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

Every 2 minutes, a child is forced into slavery somewhere in the world, robbing them of their childhood forever.

One of the girls we were able to help, Sveta, has grown up to become a veterinarian. But her life started with an unthinkable choice...her parents decided that they had enough girls already and abandoned her to the orphanage.

Read more about Sveta: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2010/01/htad2010.html

Please encourage others to take action against trafficking, and let others know that you are doing something to fight for the millions of children who have lost their childhoods to human trafficking.

For the Fatherless,
Tom
CEO, HopeChest

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to Help Adopted Family in Kemah, Tx.

2010-01-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to the Beach family getting brand new home!

Volunteer opportunities: January 7 - 16, 2010
(Episode to air in March)

The home will be completed in 106 hours by a team of vendors and volunteers lead by Blu Shields Construction, and will be designed to fit the needs of the Beach family. In 23 years of marriage, Larry, 40 and Melissa, 40; have fostered over 85 children that other adoption agencies were not able to place. They have four biological children and nine adopted children. They include Chris (23,), Michael (21), Jose (20), Mikala (18), Paul (14), Faith (13), Hope (9), Justin (8), Jacob (4), Grace (4), Jeremiah (23 months), Mercy (22 months) and Cody (19) currently serving in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. During the last 12 years, they have fostered approximately 85 children, but decided to start adopting after seeing that so many were not being placed in homes.

Due to water damage from Hurricane Ike, the Beach family home is unlivable and they are residing in a travel trailer on their property. Therefore, they have been unable to adopt additional children. But all that is about to change!!

Spokesperson Chiquita Taylor says that an amazing number of people have registered as volunteers and donations are still coming in as the community pulls together. Please visit www.blushieldsextreme.com for more information. For a complete list of construction materials and supplies still needed go to www.blushieldsextreme.com and select the Construction Needs page. If you can help with these specific needs please contact the Construction Team at Construction@wiredin.cc.

To Make a Monetary Donation:
Please visit http://www.blushieldsextreme.com/donations. An account has been set up with PayPal to ensure safe, direct donations.

Extreme Blood Drive
On January 14th the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center will be in the parking lot of the Kemah Visitor's Center at 603 Bradford in Kemah. The Houston Bay Area is up to the challenge of beating any previous blood donation records associated with EM:HE and encourages everyone to come out and give the gift of life. Additional blood drives will be held at the following locations:

* Monday, January 11th City of Dickinson at 4403 Hwy 3 from 8:00am-6:00pm
* Wednesday, January 13th Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership University of Houston - Clear Lake Delta Building 2700 Bay Area Blvd. from 8:00am-6:00pm.

For further information, please call 281-534-8836.

Extreme Food Drive
Also, Interfaith Caring Ministries will be on hand at the Kemah Visitor's Center at 603 Bradford in Kemah collecting non-perishable items for a food drive Jan. 9 - 14 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Items needed: Canned meat, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, cookies, juices, toilet paper, sanitary napkins, toothpaste, size 5 diapers, and baby wipes.

Adopting For Life Conference- Friday & Saturday, February 26-27th 2010

2010-01-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

Adopting For Life Conference- Friday & Saturday, February 26-27th 2010 from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

Disturbed?

2010-01-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

This is a post from Amy which I thought it was so awesome I wanted to share it with you.

I ran across this prayer that Sir Francis Drake wrote...

"Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

We ask you to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push back the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,

Who is Jesus Christ."

AMEN!!!! Here are just a few of my thoughts as I digest this...

Please read the rest of Amy's post at "Loving The Least Of These". You may just agree with Amy and say, "Disturb ME, Oh God!"

LIVING WATER INTERNATIONAL

2009-12-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

Agua Viva from Living Water International on Vimeo.

Mission Backpack Trip to Guatemala Jan. 10-16, 2010

2009-10-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

Orphan Outreach is having a mission backpack trip to Guatemala. The dates are January 10-16, 2010. Click here for more information, but you better hurry! Wish I could go :(

End Poverty Benefit Concert – August 28

2009-08-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Wide Open Air: "Hey everyone today we finalized details with Greatwood Chick-fil-A on our first major HopeMongers celebration event!

Join us on August 28th to celebrate back-to-school AND help kids in need around the world. We’re going to have some amazing musical artists – In the Red, Blake Quimby, and maybe one more special guest! We’re also going to hear from our good friend Tom Davis about his new book Scared: A Novel on the Edge of the World and how we can make a difference today, together.
100% of charitable gifts raised will go directly to helping orphans living in extreme poverty (school supplies, safe water, food, etc.) – many from the same orphanages we’ve visited over the last year with the Red Letters Campaign in Ethiopia, Uganda, and Guatemala.

Refugee Camp in Santiago

2009-07-15T15:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 14 we went to Pana and took a boat to Santiago. Then by taxi we went to visit where the mudslide took place in 2005. Aparently there was a hurricane that drop an enormous amount of rain on the mountain which caused a mudslide. It was terrible as it wiped out a lot of the village. I went by the school and all the windows were broken out, I think they said there were 157 students in the school at the time of the slide and none of them escaped. A lot of people were buried and never recovered, it´s like you´re walking on a cemetery.

This picture is from the refugee camp that is set up to house the victims of the mudslide. It´s amazing they are still living like this 4 years after the slide. The children are precious and are starved for affection. The houses are all make shift out of tin or insulated wall board. No water, no electric!

Internet is expensive and wish I could upload more pictures. I will try to get some uploaded. Check back later for more updates!

How good is my God?

2009-05-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Some of you may not know but I lost my dad in April. It was right about the time I was doing my support letter for my mission trip. I was hoping to get it done and sent out about the time that people were either recovered from sending in their taxes or getting their income tax returns back :) but I didn't get around to it.

I was set up, but in a good way or should I say a GOD way! My wife has been a Premier Designs jewelry lady for about 9 years. In those 9 years she has acquired quite an upline, downline, and sideline. My wife got in to Premier to get us out of credit card debt which she did within 6 months. After our youngest son turned 1 year old, my wife quit her full time job as a ct tech to stay home with our two boys and has been home ever since!

For those of you not in Premier, it is a direct sales jewelry company founded in 1985 by Joan and Andy Horner in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. They created the company as a way to support ministries here and around the globe, as well as provide a home-based business opportunity established on biblical principles, such as integrity and unselfish service. Through our non-traditional approach of putting people first — before profits — Premier Designs has grown into a more than 350-million-dollar — debt-free — corporation with Independent Distributors (we call them Jewelers) in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Premier Designs Jewelers market quality high fashion jewelry to small groups through Home Shows. They are members of the Direct Selling Association, but their emphasis is on serving rather than selling.

From day one, Joan and Andy's four reasons for starting Premier were clearly stated:

They wanted a company that would support ministries around the world and in America.
They wanted to offer an opportunity for mothers to be able to stay home more with their children.
They wanted to minister to single parents and provide a way in which they could be encouraged, increase their self-esteem, and do something worthwhile while supporting their children.
They wanted a company that could provide a way for individuals, especially those in full-time Christian work, to meet their financial needs. At the same time they wanted to provide an opportunity for wives of pastors and church staff members to find a ministry and identity of their own outside the church.

If you want to know more about Premier's great opportunity just contact my wife or me and we'd be happy to share the information with you.

Anyhow I could talk about the good things Premier is about but I'm going on with the REST OF THE STORY...

As I said, I was set up. I don't know exactly who was in charge of this setup, although I have my suspicions JANIE, but here is how it went down. A jeweler, Janie, had her husband Gilbert call me up and solicit my help to go to a warehouse to help him pick up some baseball equipment. Gilbert came by and picked me up at the house and he said he had to go by and pick up his kids from Janie who was at a Premier training with my wife Sandy. So we stopped by the restaurant where they were holding the training to pick up Gilbert's kids. This is when Kym Jump who is Sandy's "Premier Mom" got up and said while they had me there they wanted to give me something. They presented me with a check for $1105.00 to pay for my mission trip to Guatemala, in honor of my dad who had passed away. Needless to say I was shocked, overwhelmed, and extremely grateful!

I want to publicly thank those who contributed:

Missy Banta, Janie Bautista, Brenda Campbell, Bekki Campise, Becky Crawford, Joanna Dennison, Bob & Margaret Gray, Kym & Jimmy Jump, Lois Mooney, Priscilla Pinkston, Rachel Steffens, Greg & Melissa Terrell, Nicole Ulke, Tracy Waters, Joanne Wilson, and Gina Yates.

Houston Orphan Alliance logo

2009-04-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

Here is the new Houston Orphan Alliance logo. Tell me what you think.
Scott Klamert
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Trip Itenerary

2009-04-22T02:20:00.000-07:00

Total Trip Duration: 9 days / 8 nights

Leave:

Friday, July 10, 2009

Continental Airlines 463

Depart: 9:00am Houston, TX Houston George Bush Intercntl. (IAH) Non-stop

Arrive:10:55am Guatemala City, Guatemala Guatemala City La Aurora (GUA)

Return:

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Return Continental Airlines 459
Depart: 11:50am Guatemala City, Guatemala Guatemala City La Aurora (GUA) Non-stop Arrive:3:43pm Houston, TX Houston George Bush Intercntl. (IAH)

I'm Going On-Mission!

2009-04-04T23:18:00.000-07:00

According to UNICEF there are an estimated 133 million children who are orphaned world wide. (Source: Unicef – May 2008)

You may or may not already know that my wife, Sandy, and I lead the adoption/orphan care ministry “Abba’s Heart” at Sugar Creek Baptist Church where we attend. It is our belief that every child has the right to know God and to experience the blessing of family.

For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to go on a mission trip.

Well I have some very exciting news to share with you, and I pray you will be able to take part in a wonderful ministry opportunity with me. I feel like while everyone is not called to adopt children, I do believe that most people find themselves wanting to help in some way.

God has been working in my life in so many ways, and He has now opened the door for me to be a part of a short-term mission outreach to Guatemala with an organization called Caroline’s Promise.

I will be part of a 20 member team that will stay at The Eagle’s Nest Children’s Home in Solola, Guatemala. We will participate in construction projects around the home and minister to the children who live there. We will then travel to a remote village to participate in their church service and distribute children’s shoes in their community. I will also be going to Guatemala City with Russ Weir (co-founder and president of “Red Letters Campaign”), Bob Mudd (COO of “Children’s HopeChest”) and Lisa Holbrook (executive director of “Caroline’s Promise”) to meet some potential future partners and visit some other orphan communities.

This trip will take place July 10 through July 18, 2009. Your prayers and support are an important part of my mission experience. I know that God has made it possible for me to have this opportunity to go and share His love with others, and I am excited about being on this team. Please be a prayer partner with me as I prepare my heart for this trip. I pray that God will use me to work in the heart and lives of the people I meet. I also hope to grow in my own Christian walk as a result of this trip. Please join me in praying that my team will be an effective witness for Jesus Christ.

I also need your financial support. I must raise $1600 by May 1 to cover the cost of housing, transportation, food and ministry activities. Would you prayerfully consider sponsoring me on this mission trip? All contributions are tax deductible. If you are able to help me, please return the enclosed Donor Support form with your contribution. Checks should be made payable to Caroline’s Promise and mailed to:

Caroline’s Promise
David & Lisa Holbrook
1950 Beeson Road
Kernersville, NC 27284

In the memo of the check write, Guatemala Mission Fund. Please do not put my name anywhere on the check. Instead please on a separate piece of paper, write your name, address, phone number, and that you are sponsoring me, "Scott Klamert", on my mission trip and include it with your gift.

Thank you for your prayers and support in helping me to make this a life-changing experience for me and for the children of Guatemala.

God Bless,
Scott Klamert