Back In the US

We have been back in Texas for about a month now. We have loved reconnecting with the family and friends we missed so much. We had an amazing time in Amsterdam working in the red light district and the YWAM base there. The Alabaster Project held several jewelry workshops for the ladies that are no longer in prostitution and we were able to help one of them get on her feet by getting into an apartment. The timing for us to be back here in Texas is perfect! We need to get the word out about the Alabaster Project and how it is helping women who are at risk. We are working on getting things ready to go into local churches and boutiques to see who maybe interested in selling the jewelry. This is crucial we can't help these precious ladies unless people know about our jewelry and buy it :)
Just this morning I was reading an article from CNN about human trafficking and the more I learn the more  I know we will make a difference in these ladies lives that need it so desperatley. In this particular article it talked about a trafficker that was on trial and this is what he had to say to the judge "People are so much easier (to traffic) than drugs," the man replied. "The sentencing is a lot less, and you can just kick them and they'll do what you say."  There is an estimated 10-30 million people that are in slavery to a man like this. We must raise awareness and do something about this! Remember the story about the star fish although there were hundreds of them on the beach by throwing one back in the man was helping that one. Human trafficking is huge and if we can help one we will make a difference in that one ladies life.
On a personal note we are all doing wonderful! Micah is learning more each and everyday. He is such a joy! Ryan is waiting to hear back from HR on a position this fall. The pregnancy is going great; I am 25 weeks along. Our renters are looking to close on a house this month and we should be back in our house July 1st. This will be a stretch financially, so please continue to pray for us. 

Amsterdam!!

After a rough plane ride battling with a stomach bug, we made it to Amsterdam in good spirits. We have been here for almost 2 weeks and have enjoyed every minute of it. This pregnant momma is LOVING all the good food. Boy did I miss familiar tastes :)
We have had 3 jewelry workshops so far. Two of which were for women still involved in prostitution and the other for ladies who are no longer involved in that line of work. No one came to the first 2 workshops, and 3 ladies came to our last workshop. Shannon and I had the opportunity to walk through the red light district and pass out invitations to ladies working. It was eye opening to say the least. There were women from all over the world in the dimly lit doors. Some were older than my mom and I was told have been there for 20-30 years. Others looked tired and malnourished.
I learned a lot that day about how ladies are brought into the red light district here in Amsterdam. Women from Africa are kidnapped and then a voodoo priest puts a hex on them and tells them if they ever try to get out then someone in their family will die. They stay, out of fear for their family members lives.
The dutch women are worked on from a young age to get into prostitution. Between the ages of 12 and 14 what they call "lover boys" start pursuing them. They tell them how beautiful they are and learn all about their family life. They promise them all this money and a great life and before they know it that great life that was promised to them has vanished and they are working the streets of Amsterdam. Many Latin American women come here because they are told they can make great money here. Traffickers get the women here with the women's hopes high in a new life only to find out that the way they make all this money is to prostitute. They have no where to go and eventually get sucked into working the streets as well.
A good portion of these women are not in this trade by choice. Someone has lured them in with promises of a great life and they are left empty and used up. As we walked the streets that night I wondered how these precious ladies must feel. Many have a tough exterior but I know inside they long for the same things you and I do. A prince charming to come a rescue them and to accomplish something in life.
I also wanted to share this eye opening video of how girls in our own country are trafficked. I hope this video causes all of us to pray and ask the Lord how we can reach out to young girls around us who have low self esteems and could potential be lured into the sex trade.

http://vimeo.com/22195408

Ryan, Britt, Micah and our little blueberry

Jewelry Workshops!!

In preparing for our trip we have been organizing beads, chains, hooks and all sorts of jewelry pieces for Amsterdam and our orphanages here in India. We leave tomorrow night at 1am for Amsterdam. Please pray for our flight, that Micah would sleep and that I would not have any complications with being pregnant :).
God is doing so much!!! We are so excited for what we are going to be able to do with helping ladies in the red light district. We will be providing 3 workshops a week. Each workshop we will teach the ladies to make a necklace and an earring design. The first workshop starting out with very easy designs to learn and progress from there. We expect to have 6-10 girls at each workshop all of which need to get out of these horrific situations. We will have the opportunity to work closely with each girl, get to know them and minister to them. WOW, I cannot tell you how exciting this is!!!! God has opened the doors and given us favor to be able to do this work. Please pray for the young ladies we will be meeting, that God would reveal himself to them and do a deep work in them. Only God can make this change in their lives.
We are not sure if we will be able to have internet at the place we are staying. So we will update you when we can.
Bon Voyage.....

Away We Go...

We leave for Amsterdam in 2 weeks and Ryan and I are having mixed feelings. We are so excited to be leaving India but have poured so much of ourselves into the work and people here in India, that it will be a little sad to say goodbye. We have lots of exciting news and updates! We wanted to let everyone how the next couple of months will look like for us.

We leave for amsterdam on April 14th and will be there through the month of May. We are so excited to be bringing the alabaster project to The Red Light district in Amsterdam. I wanted to share with you a paragraph a friend of mine had written about an anti trafficking conference she had attended. This is an eye opening account of a girls experience who has now been rescued from the sex trade.

 "You know that Liam Neeson movie where his daughter gets kidnapped? Well, that was the PG version of an unspeakably horrific reality that this woman went through. Trafficked, escaped, re-captured, and sent to a warehouse in the Nevada desert where American women and children (as young at three years old. Read that again. Three years old) were shipped out to places like Amsterdam for sex trafficking (check yourself if you think that just because prostitution is legal, it’s voluntary). Foreign women were shipped into the states and arrived at this warehouse to then be transported all over the states. The things that she told us about that place were so horrible – I was reeling. And I have read some pretty rough accounts of the “breaking in” that usually happens when an individual is taken by a mind-bogglingly violent international organization like this one. But this was new. One of the things she divulged was that the traffickers would have documentation falsified stating that pregnant women were given abortions, and then they would let them have the babies. Undocumented babies that no one knew existed who were then incredibly easy to ship off around the world for sex trafficking.  The assurance that I was waiting to hear: that the warehouse is no longer there – that the police found it, busted, arrested, freed, convicted … it never came."

WOW, doesn't this make you sick to your stomach to know that this is happening in America and all across the world? I want to be apart of making a difference in these womens lives. Rescuing them out of these aweful circumstances. I know that The Alabaster Project is not an answer to end human trafficking but it can be an answer for one girl or hopefully thousands. Please join in praying for us as we leave India and are in Amsterdam.

After Amsterdam....Well, this is where the good news comes in :) Ryan and I are expecting baby #2!!!!! I am 13 weeks now and have had a very healthy pregnancy so far. It has not been easy dealing with nausua and the tiredness but I am feeling much better as the weeks go on. So, where do we go from here? Ryan and I have been praying about what God would have us do. We committed to work with BFO for 1 year and we will keep that commitment. We felt it was best for us to go back to Houston after Amsterdam and continue working for BFO from there. There is so much we can be doing for BFO in the states as well. We have a friend of ours in Dallas who has secured 8 shops that are interested in selling our jewelry and we would like to do the same in Houston. We are also wanting to let chruches and youth groups know how they can help further the awareness of what we are doing with the Alabaster project.

We ask that those of you who are monthly and one time givers would continue to support us as we return back to the states. Ryan has spoke with HR at Klein and plans on returning to teach this next year so we will be in need of your support through the month of August. But, we want you to be reasurred that we will be working just as hard there in the states as we were here in India and I can't wait to be able to give you all the praise reports of how womens lives are being restored!

Sneak Peak...

Of some of our jewelry!!! Please comment and let us know your thoughts of some of our designs.

This has black, silver and grey beads. And here are the earrings that match.

This is our antique aqua necklace.

And the earrings that go with it.

And another one of our necklaces.

These are some of the designs the girls have been working on. Please keep our team in your prayers this week. Ryan and James leave on Wed for Pune to work with one of our orphanages. 6 girls will be joining into the jewelry project this week. Shannon, me and the babies will stay here in Chennai continuing to work with more designs and preparing to bring The Alabaster Project to Amsterdam's red light district. More updates to come as we prepare for Amsterdam.

The Alabaster Project

Last week we began working with 5 girls from one of the orphanages we work with here in Chennai.
We taught them how to make their first jewelry design. Early Monday morning we brought in all the hooks, beads, stones, pliers, cutters and other jewelry making tools to five eager girls. One girl has 2 children, a 3 year old and a 9 month old, both her and her husband grew up in this particular orphanage. Khrata's husband Babu lived on the streets near the train station in Chennai and got involved in gangs before Freddy and Daisy rescued him off the streets. Khrata has a much different story you see the main religion here in Chennai is Hindu they have 300 million gods one of which is a snake. Khrata was born with a birthmark on her leg that looked like a snake and when she was just a few years old people would come and worship her because of this "sign" on her leg. She would sit up and slither like a snake as people came and bowed down to her. She got involved in drugs and soon after Freddy and Daisy rescued her off the streets as well. Freddy and Daisy spent many nights and days praying over her, she would wake up in the middle of the night and slither on the ground and they would pray for her deliverance. After several months she stopped doing this and the birthmark miraculously disappeared. Know Babu and Khrata love the Lord. They and their 2 children live in one room home, one room here in India means one room for the kitchen, living room and bedrooms. Babu works as a chef in a local restaurant. With The Alabaster Project Khrata will be able to contribute to their income.

As I sat with Khrata on the floor of the office teaching her to make the earrings she sat with her legs crossed and her baby boy in her lap and her face lit up as she finally after sometime got making the loops for the earrings. We have put so much effort toward making this jewelry project work and to finally be with these ladies and hear the giggles of excitement as they learned that day, I have been reminded of the very purpose of this project and how it could potentially effect thousands of ladies lives all over the world. Girls who would otherwise be begging on the streets or involved in prostitution will now have a trade and bring in a decent income to provide for themselves to be independent. 

Here are some of he pictures of the girls. Khrata is in the blue and yellow.

 Please keep this project in your prayers. We have made huge strides forward and have a lot to accomplish before our time in India is up. We had a huge triumph with teaching he ladies a jewelry design but was hoping to have several more earring designs ready for them. Pray for all the supplies to come into make these earrings.

Can you also agree with us in prayer for all the finances for the rest of our time here. We are needing to go on a business trip up to northern India to work with one of our orphanages there and our flights for our visa renewal. If you would like to contribute to our work here in India please visit    http://businessfororphans.com/www.businessfororphans.com/Tolivers.html

Ryan, Britt and Micah

What I'm Learning

I can't believe we have been in India for 3 months now. It has gone by so quickly! Well, I can finally say I am fully enjoying being here and my heart is completely here. A month ago I would not have been able to say that. The month of December was a rough month for me. I was desperatley missing family, friends and familiarity. So I spent lots of time praying and God's avenues in which he spoke to me were not in ways I was expecting. I knew God called us here but I hadn't quite seen our full purpose for being here and I am the type of person if I don't know my purpose I feel lost.
 Everyday we use rickshaw drivers as our means of transportation here in India and one day Micah was not enjoying the fact that we were in a rickshaw and he had to be in my arms. After several minutes of scream crying I spoke to him saying "Micah you have to trust me, the best place for you to be is right here in my arms and if I were to let you go you would be seriously hurt". After saying that I felt the Lord speak to my heart, that in His will is the best place for me to be and I know you don't understand why you are here but I have  a purpose in all of this and to just trust me.
Then, a few days later Micah and I were home alone and I needed to take a shower because we had to be some where. So, I stuck him in the pack and play and pulled it by the bathroom so he could see me and could play safely. Well, he was not happy about it. By the time he was enjoying playing in there I got out and was getting dressed and he started crying again. So, I spoke calmly to him that I was not going to pick him up when he was wining and throwing a fit. I told him when he got a happy heart I would pick him up. At that moment I felt the Lord ask me "Do you have a happy heart"? At that moment of being here in India NO I did not. I felt like I was the complaining Isrealites saying "Why did you bring us here, I hate it"!!!!
I am so glad to say that I am in the middle of His will and truly loving it. I know that we are making a lasting difference in the orphanages we work with and that the jewelry project we are working on will change the direction of many womens lives. I am so grateful for God's patience with me. Another scripture that Lord showed me was the story of the Father who spoke to one son and asked him to do somehitng and he said he say yes father I will do that and he never did. And he went to his other son and asked him to go out and do the same thing and the son said no but then went and did it. I don't want to be the son that does not follow through on their word. I wanted to share this with you all to reasure you that if you are feeling the same way I was that God's will is always the best! I am seriously blown away with how God is using us here and after I got over myself and my selfish wants I finally have the place in my heart to love on the people God called us to minister to. I know God used me the first 2 months we were here, but I feel like I am finally the vessel he can mold and shape and my heart is truly trusting Him.
I want to say a special Thank You to all of you who have been following us. Thank You for supporting us financially and through prayer. Ryan and I's lives are being changed and we will never be the same. Thank You for believing in us!!!

India Christmas

Happy New Year to everyone!! we enjoyed a wonderful Holiday season here in India. Not going to lie some days were very hard missing our normal holiday traditions and family, but we decided God called us here and we are going to enjoy it. We had the oppurtunity to see some of the sights of India and I wanted to share some of them with you.

                                            Here is a camel in Jaipur, India.

A snake charmer on the side of the road. The snakes name was Carlos, hahaha.

Our family in front of the Amber Fort. It was such a wonderful time with family to enjoy the sights of India.

We spent Christmas Eve with one of our orphanages.

 Ryan handing out gifts to the kids and the children excited to rip open their gifts.

A couple of the kids came up to us after opening their gifts and told us they had been praying for the specific gifts they got. One little boy got a remote control car and a little girl said she has been praying for a little barbie for 2 years and God gave her a big barbie with 2 outfits. I think this was one of the best Christmas's of theses children's lives. What an honor to be apart of it!!!

Freddy and Daisy

Ryan and I were talking yesterday about how every year keeps getting better and better and how we would have never thought we would be in India a year ago. I asked Ryan if her really thought this year was better than the last...because it has been hard to be away from family and all the things we are familiar with. He said yes, we are closer to God and what can be better than that.

Thank you for all your prayers!!! We love you guys.