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May 2009: Prayers continued to be lifted and donations continued to be made to the Beveni Christmas to Purim Challenge over the last few weeks, with a final amount of $12,993 being raised for the children of the Beveni carepoint! We stand in awe of that, totally amazed and blessed by the generosity of people to these children and their caregivers. Can you imagine their delight in receiving the hope that these gifts will provide for them? Can you imagine God's delight in His big kids as they obey His command to care for His little ones? He must be one proud and happy Papa right now!
There are still children of Beveni waiting for the hope that a relationship with a sponsor brings. If you or anyone you know is interested in learning more about the boys and girls Children’s HopeChest is caring for at Beveni, please contact me by email: bevenicarepoint@comcast.net.
We are so grateful to everyone who prayed for and gave to the Challenge. Every prayer offered, every penny sacrificed, is life to the children. Thank you!
In Him, in faith!
Deb Gangemi, for the Gangemi family and the Beveni Carepoint sponsorship community
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
March 2009 Beveni Challenge update
The Beveni Challenge is coming to its ending goal date this week. As it approaches, we have been reflecting on the blessings and lessons we have learned as a family. There is one that I want to share with you tonight, with the prayer it will bless you.
As many of you know, we are parents to two sons: Anthony, our 14 year old who started the Beveni Challenge with the money that would have been spent on his Christmas presents, and Aidyn, our 13 year old. Both boys came to be our sons through the joy and miracle of adoption.
Aidyn was 4 1/2 years old when he joined our family. He had lived in an orphanage in Karaganda, Kazakhstan called Nyezabutka, which is Russian for Forget Me Not. That name has reverberated through these years as a reminder to never forget the children we left behind.
Aidyn is a hard working kid, always willing to lend a helping hand on tasks that require extra help around our home and business. He is also very frugal: he has been saving every penny he has earned for the last 14 months.
When we first talked about the Beveni Challenge, he knew he wanted to participate in it by giving a donation. We encouraged him to pray about it, and waited patiently for him to let us know how much he wanted to give.
The other night, as I walked through his room, I glanced at his computer screen. He was working on writing a letter to Tom Davis about his gift. Without sharing his entire correspondence, I will tell you the part that made my eyes tear and my heart swell with pride.
He told Tom that it had taken a long time to earn the money, but that he could always earn it again, and that he knew the children of Beveni needed it more then he did.
The next morning, Aidyn asked me if I wanted to know how much he was going to give to the Challenge. You all know I said “Yes”, right?
He answered: “All of it, Mom”.
His earnings of 14 months, totaling $400, is what he desired to give to children who still face the hunger he well remembers from his days as an orphan.
And so one who was once an orphan, who still remembers the pain of hunger, has gifted his entire savings to stop the hunger of other orphans in a far away place in Swaziland.
Every time we care for a child, every time we pour ourselves into their lives, every gesture of love we offer through our bodies as His Body, is an opportunity for that child to know Christ. And that gift goes on, in their own understanding of what it means to love and sacrifice and pour themselves into another child’s life.
I am more than proud of Aidyn. I stand amazed and blessed by his heart of generosity, his grasp of how high and wide is the love of the Father for His children and his willingness to obey the call on his life to care for the widows, orphans and strangers.
This young man named Aidyn is more than my son. He is my brother in Christ, even as he is yours.
When we began this adventure we have called the Beveni Challenge, we felt that God would make it possible for Anthony’s original gift of $200 to multiply to $2000. So far, $1630 has been raised.
If you (or your children!)believe you are called to be part of this Challenge and want to make a gift, please go to https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/hopechest/chcselect/donation.asp, and in the note section, write in Beveni Challenge. You can also mail your gift (with a note indicating it is for the Beveni Challenge)to:
Children's HopeChest
PO Box 8627
Pueblo, CO 81108-8627
As of today, 45 of the 102 children of Beveni are sponsored or in the process of becoming sponsored. If you or anyone you know might be interested in joining the community of sponsors by becoming hope to one of the 57 children waiting, please email me at bevenicarepoint@comcast.net.
I am so grateful for each of you and thank God for your willingness to care about the orphans and vulnerable children in the various ministries represented by the hundreds who will read this message. I pray His amazing blessing of His brand of peace and joy into your hearts.
In Him, with faith,
Deb Gangemi, for the Gangemi Family
As many of you know, we are parents to two sons: Anthony, our 14 year old who started the Beveni Challenge with the money that would have been spent on his Christmas presents, and Aidyn, our 13 year old. Both boys came to be our sons through the joy and miracle of adoption.
Aidyn was 4 1/2 years old when he joined our family. He had lived in an orphanage in Karaganda, Kazakhstan called Nyezabutka, which is Russian for Forget Me Not. That name has reverberated through these years as a reminder to never forget the children we left behind.
Aidyn is a hard working kid, always willing to lend a helping hand on tasks that require extra help around our home and business. He is also very frugal: he has been saving every penny he has earned for the last 14 months.
When we first talked about the Beveni Challenge, he knew he wanted to participate in it by giving a donation. We encouraged him to pray about it, and waited patiently for him to let us know how much he wanted to give.
The other night, as I walked through his room, I glanced at his computer screen. He was working on writing a letter to Tom Davis about his gift. Without sharing his entire correspondence, I will tell you the part that made my eyes tear and my heart swell with pride.
He told Tom that it had taken a long time to earn the money, but that he could always earn it again, and that he knew the children of Beveni needed it more then he did.
The next morning, Aidyn asked me if I wanted to know how much he was going to give to the Challenge. You all know I said “Yes”, right?
He answered: “All of it, Mom”.
His earnings of 14 months, totaling $400, is what he desired to give to children who still face the hunger he well remembers from his days as an orphan.
And so one who was once an orphan, who still remembers the pain of hunger, has gifted his entire savings to stop the hunger of other orphans in a far away place in Swaziland.
Every time we care for a child, every time we pour ourselves into their lives, every gesture of love we offer through our bodies as His Body, is an opportunity for that child to know Christ. And that gift goes on, in their own understanding of what it means to love and sacrifice and pour themselves into another child’s life.
I am more than proud of Aidyn. I stand amazed and blessed by his heart of generosity, his grasp of how high and wide is the love of the Father for His children and his willingness to obey the call on his life to care for the widows, orphans and strangers.
This young man named Aidyn is more than my son. He is my brother in Christ, even as he is yours.
When we began this adventure we have called the Beveni Challenge, we felt that God would make it possible for Anthony’s original gift of $200 to multiply to $2000. So far, $1630 has been raised.
If you (or your children!)believe you are called to be part of this Challenge and want to make a gift, please go to https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/hopechest/chcselect/donation.asp, and in the note section, write in Beveni Challenge. You can also mail your gift (with a note indicating it is for the Beveni Challenge)to:
Children's HopeChest
PO Box 8627
Pueblo, CO 81108-8627
As of today, 45 of the 102 children of Beveni are sponsored or in the process of becoming sponsored. If you or anyone you know might be interested in joining the community of sponsors by becoming hope to one of the 57 children waiting, please email me at bevenicarepoint@comcast.net.
I am so grateful for each of you and thank God for your willingness to care about the orphans and vulnerable children in the various ministries represented by the hundreds who will read this message. I pray His amazing blessing of His brand of peace and joy into your hearts.
In Him, with faith,
Deb Gangemi, for the Gangemi Family
A re-cap of the Beveni Challenge
February 2009: We have a story to tell and a request to make!
Our older son, Anthony, is now 14 years old. His “love language” is the receiving of gifts. He looks forward to his birthday and Christmas with so much joy and anticipation! But this year, three days before Christmas, at the height of his excitement over gifts to be opened, he asked us to return his presents and give the money to Children’s HopeChest for Beveni Carepoint (this carepoint is the gathering place for 102 vulnerable and orphaned children in Swaziland and is the place where many of them get the only meal they eat for the day).
While we didn’t have much money to spend on gifts, any gift would have delighted him. But we also know he was hoping against all hope that we had bought a Nintendo DS for him. With that hope very much alive in him, his request that we return his presents represented an enormous sacrifice on his part.
As we have learned about the abject poverty the children of Beveni live in, and how many basic needs are not met, we began to dream with Anthony about how God could grow his $200 gift into something much larger.
Now we are studying the life of Esther. We’re aware you know the story, but want to share how it has come to galvanize our family to create the “Beveni Carepoint Christmas Sacrifice to Purim Challenge”. Yup, a mouthful to be sure, but also a heart full!
Purim is the festival celebrating Esther, her obedience to act in faith and the result of that obedience. In the spirit of Anthony sacrificing that which he waited an entire year for, and in response to the question Mordecai posed to his cousin Esther: “Who knows but that we have come to our position of royalty (as sons and daughters of the King of Kings) for such a time as this?, the Gangemi family invites you to be part of a BIG adventure, one in which He takes the offerings of many to create something large enough to make a difference for the children.
The challenge:
Beveni is in desperate need of basic infrastructure. They have no electricity, fence, latrines, water system, kitchen or garden. Many of the children cannot attend school because they aren’t able to pay the annual tuition. A significant number of them eat only once a day.
But together, we can make a difference!
$5 can provide 30 meals for a child
$75 pays for a year of school tuition
$600 would provide a water storage tank
Our request:
Specifically, we ask everyone receiving this note to make a one time gift of $5.00 or more to Children’s HopeChest for the Beveni Carepoint by going online to Children's HopeChest (please put Beveni Challenge in the note section) or sending a check (with a note requesting the money be given to the Beveni Challenge)to:
Children’s HopeChest
PO Box 8627
Pueblo, CO 81008-8627
If you are able to give more, please do!
We believe in God’s committed heart for these kids, and in the reality that we are His Body, the one He provides care through. Any gift you are able to extend to these children and their caregivers will be as life to them. Every one of us has the opportunity to be part of making the difference. Every gift given becomes part of something larger than what we can do alone. These gifts will make a lasting difference to all of the children and their caregivers by providing them with basics we take for granted but they can only dream about.
We also ask you to share this challenge with people you know. If you are involved in a church, small group, club, team or business, please consider asking them to partner with us in this challenge.
Please realize that when you share this information, you are giving people the opportunity to participate in the blessing of joy that comes when we care for the orphans and the widows.
We ask that you make your gift to the children by Wednesday, March 11, the last day of Purim. In reading Esther, we learn that Mordecai calls for two days to be celebrated every year, the days of Purim. He gave specific instruction on how to celebrate, and included in those instructions the giving of gifts to the poor. In giving to the children of Beveni, you will be giving to some of the poorest of the poor! In the giving, we participate in the celebration of God providing for His people in a way that is near and dear to His heart.
We are aware that many of you receiving this are already involved in orphan care ministry. We know the needs of orphans your ministry cares for are great. If you prefer to make your gift to that ministry and you don’t mind letting us know, please drop us a line so we can share the news with our son.
We thank each of you, for your hearts that have responded to the heart of the Father to care for His little children. We look forward in great anticipation to see what He accomplishes through His big kids for His little ones, and with joy in the journey!
We welcome any questions you have and we have provided our ministry email address below. You can also find us on Facebook at the Beveni Carepoint group, an online community formed to support the children and their caregivers with prayer. Since its formation in early December, over 300 people have joined, and 37 children have become sponsored.
If you are interested in becoming hope to one of the 65 children waiting for a sponsor, please let us know. We are the volunteer sponsorship coordinators for the children of Beveni, through Children’s HopeChest. We would be honored to help you find “your” child and to begin a relationship that will give hope and a future to a child.
In Him, with faith and joy!
Tom, Deb, Anthony and Aidyn Gangemi
bevenicarepoint@comcast.net
Whatever you do for one of the least of these, that you did for me. Matthew: 25: 40
Our older son, Anthony, is now 14 years old. His “love language” is the receiving of gifts. He looks forward to his birthday and Christmas with so much joy and anticipation! But this year, three days before Christmas, at the height of his excitement over gifts to be opened, he asked us to return his presents and give the money to Children’s HopeChest for Beveni Carepoint (this carepoint is the gathering place for 102 vulnerable and orphaned children in Swaziland and is the place where many of them get the only meal they eat for the day).
While we didn’t have much money to spend on gifts, any gift would have delighted him. But we also know he was hoping against all hope that we had bought a Nintendo DS for him. With that hope very much alive in him, his request that we return his presents represented an enormous sacrifice on his part.
As we have learned about the abject poverty the children of Beveni live in, and how many basic needs are not met, we began to dream with Anthony about how God could grow his $200 gift into something much larger.
Now we are studying the life of Esther. We’re aware you know the story, but want to share how it has come to galvanize our family to create the “Beveni Carepoint Christmas Sacrifice to Purim Challenge”. Yup, a mouthful to be sure, but also a heart full!
Purim is the festival celebrating Esther, her obedience to act in faith and the result of that obedience. In the spirit of Anthony sacrificing that which he waited an entire year for, and in response to the question Mordecai posed to his cousin Esther: “Who knows but that we have come to our position of royalty (as sons and daughters of the King of Kings) for such a time as this?, the Gangemi family invites you to be part of a BIG adventure, one in which He takes the offerings of many to create something large enough to make a difference for the children.
The challenge:
Beveni is in desperate need of basic infrastructure. They have no electricity, fence, latrines, water system, kitchen or garden. Many of the children cannot attend school because they aren’t able to pay the annual tuition. A significant number of them eat only once a day.
But together, we can make a difference!
$5 can provide 30 meals for a child
$75 pays for a year of school tuition
$600 would provide a water storage tank
Our request:
Specifically, we ask everyone receiving this note to make a one time gift of $5.00 or more to Children’s HopeChest for the Beveni Carepoint by going online to Children's HopeChest (please put Beveni Challenge in the note section) or sending a check (with a note requesting the money be given to the Beveni Challenge)to:
Children’s HopeChest
PO Box 8627
Pueblo, CO 81008-8627
If you are able to give more, please do!
We believe in God’s committed heart for these kids, and in the reality that we are His Body, the one He provides care through. Any gift you are able to extend to these children and their caregivers will be as life to them. Every one of us has the opportunity to be part of making the difference. Every gift given becomes part of something larger than what we can do alone. These gifts will make a lasting difference to all of the children and their caregivers by providing them with basics we take for granted but they can only dream about.
We also ask you to share this challenge with people you know. If you are involved in a church, small group, club, team or business, please consider asking them to partner with us in this challenge.
Please realize that when you share this information, you are giving people the opportunity to participate in the blessing of joy that comes when we care for the orphans and the widows.
We ask that you make your gift to the children by Wednesday, March 11, the last day of Purim. In reading Esther, we learn that Mordecai calls for two days to be celebrated every year, the days of Purim. He gave specific instruction on how to celebrate, and included in those instructions the giving of gifts to the poor. In giving to the children of Beveni, you will be giving to some of the poorest of the poor! In the giving, we participate in the celebration of God providing for His people in a way that is near and dear to His heart.
We are aware that many of you receiving this are already involved in orphan care ministry. We know the needs of orphans your ministry cares for are great. If you prefer to make your gift to that ministry and you don’t mind letting us know, please drop us a line so we can share the news with our son.
We thank each of you, for your hearts that have responded to the heart of the Father to care for His little children. We look forward in great anticipation to see what He accomplishes through His big kids for His little ones, and with joy in the journey!
We welcome any questions you have and we have provided our ministry email address below. You can also find us on Facebook at the Beveni Carepoint group, an online community formed to support the children and their caregivers with prayer. Since its formation in early December, over 300 people have joined, and 37 children have become sponsored.
If you are interested in becoming hope to one of the 65 children waiting for a sponsor, please let us know. We are the volunteer sponsorship coordinators for the children of Beveni, through Children’s HopeChest. We would be honored to help you find “your” child and to begin a relationship that will give hope and a future to a child.
In Him, with faith and joy!
Tom, Deb, Anthony and Aidyn Gangemi
bevenicarepoint@comcast.net
Whatever you do for one of the least of these, that you did for me. Matthew: 25: 40
Monday, April 20, 2009
Hope for the Hopeless
My friend Tom Davis is in Ethiopia right now, traveling with a team for Children's HopeChest. I want to share his blog post from today, about the team's visit to two orphanage sites called Hope for the Hopeless.
" We've just returned from visiting two orphanage sites called Hope for the Hopeless. I can't remember the last time I've been overwhelmed with so many things at once - love received from the kids, stories that broke my heart, joy that filled my soul as we danced and sang together".
You can read his entire post and see some pictures here, plus find a link if you want to be part of Hope to them: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2009/04/my-heart-is-full.html
I praise God for the Hope that is reality in Him! And I thank Him that we get to be one small part of being His Body, sharing the Hope that is in us in vital ways to kids like these beautiful children
" We've just returned from visiting two orphanage sites called Hope for the Hopeless. I can't remember the last time I've been overwhelmed with so many things at once - love received from the kids, stories that broke my heart, joy that filled my soul as we danced and sang together".
You can read his entire post and see some pictures here, plus find a link if you want to be part of Hope to them: http://tomdavis.typepad.com/tom_daviss_blog/2009/04/my-heart-is-full.html
I praise God for the Hope that is reality in Him! And I thank Him that we get to be one small part of being His Body, sharing the Hope that is in us in vital ways to kids like these beautiful children
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
And find out what pleases the Lord!
I have been reading the book of Ephesians over the last few days. It isn't the first time I have read through this epistle, but I came upon a verse that hit me as if it I had never seen it before. I have no doubt it will not be an immense "wow" to many reading this. This is my lesson from God today and may not be yours. But at least let me invite you to hear what He is teaching me:
Ephesians 5:10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
Put into context, Paul has just finished telling us in verse 9 that we are children of the light, so we should live as such, in kindness, truth and righteousness. That is joined to verse 10 with an "and": live as children of the light AND learn what pleases God!
That is filled with such a sense of welcoming adventure to me. Because I am a child of the light, I am invited, no, directed to learn what pleases my Lord.
I am not very skilled at digging into word studies, other than to look them up in the concordance and compare other uses of similar words. Thankfully, "pleases" isn't a difficult word to understand. It ranks right up there with "agreeable" and "acceptable". Our God isn't a God who hides these things from our understanding. He wants us to get it, so no hidden idioms here.
I believe that He brought me through Ephesians right after Romans to tie another bit into this growing time for me. I had another moment of reading verses I have memorized, yet perhaps never saw before. In particular, Romans 12:1.
"Therefore I urge you brothers,in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord-this is your spiritual act of worship."
So tonight I share this with you: we are directed to learn what pleases our God, and to offer ourselves, our very lives as our act of worship, thus pleasing Him. What a realization: our lives and the way we live them as we learn what pleases Him, is our act of worship! Astounding!
What please our God? I think Jesus summed it up very succinctly when He told us that the two greatest commandments are these: to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our bodies and all our souls; and to love our neighbor as ourself (and He was plenty clear about who our neighbor is, so no wiggle room for us).
But the commandments don't please the Lord, it is our obedience to Him that pleases Him! Those commandments are words in a book until we take them to heart and live them from a place of obeying Him. A life lived in obedience will reflect consideration of the following:
~to care for the orphans and widows in their distress
~to delight ourselves in the Lord
~to become like little children (humble, trusting, obedient)
~to be transformed to His image, not conformed to this world
And hundreds of other ways.
I am struck by the choice of words in the Bible: Delight, Desire, Learn. These are words of participation, of accepting the invitation to enter into a relational adventure with God. I am so excited about being one of His kids. He is an awesome God, this Father of mine! Not only does He own all the cattle on a thousand hillsides, He also owns my heart.
Ephesians 5:10 and find out what pleases the Lord.
Put into context, Paul has just finished telling us in verse 9 that we are children of the light, so we should live as such, in kindness, truth and righteousness. That is joined to verse 10 with an "and": live as children of the light AND learn what pleases God!
That is filled with such a sense of welcoming adventure to me. Because I am a child of the light, I am invited, no, directed to learn what pleases my Lord.
I am not very skilled at digging into word studies, other than to look them up in the concordance and compare other uses of similar words. Thankfully, "pleases" isn't a difficult word to understand. It ranks right up there with "agreeable" and "acceptable". Our God isn't a God who hides these things from our understanding. He wants us to get it, so no hidden idioms here.
I believe that He brought me through Ephesians right after Romans to tie another bit into this growing time for me. I had another moment of reading verses I have memorized, yet perhaps never saw before. In particular, Romans 12:1.
"Therefore I urge you brothers,in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to the Lord-this is your spiritual act of worship."
So tonight I share this with you: we are directed to learn what pleases our God, and to offer ourselves, our very lives as our act of worship, thus pleasing Him. What a realization: our lives and the way we live them as we learn what pleases Him, is our act of worship! Astounding!
What please our God? I think Jesus summed it up very succinctly when He told us that the two greatest commandments are these: to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our minds, all our bodies and all our souls; and to love our neighbor as ourself (and He was plenty clear about who our neighbor is, so no wiggle room for us).
But the commandments don't please the Lord, it is our obedience to Him that pleases Him! Those commandments are words in a book until we take them to heart and live them from a place of obeying Him. A life lived in obedience will reflect consideration of the following:
~to care for the orphans and widows in their distress
~to delight ourselves in the Lord
~to become like little children (humble, trusting, obedient)
~to be transformed to His image, not conformed to this world
And hundreds of other ways.
I am struck by the choice of words in the Bible: Delight, Desire, Learn. These are words of participation, of accepting the invitation to enter into a relational adventure with God. I am so excited about being one of His kids. He is an awesome God, this Father of mine! Not only does He own all the cattle on a thousand hillsides, He also owns my heart.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Moving over from Typepad!
After a couple of years of blogging on Typepad at http://orphanshope.typepad.com, I have made the move over to Blogger. The money saved will pay for the education of one to two children in Swaziland for a year. Public education there is not free, and so the children who most need it, the ones who are disadvantaged by poverty and by being orphans, are the very ones who cannot afford to attain the education they need to stop the cycle of poverty and disadvantage. If you would like information on how to give hope to a child through a one time gift, please contact me! I would be happy to share the info!
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