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.

HOPE...

Yesterday I was standing in a hallway at church with Micah. With the weather being so hot, I noticed a window open and a breeze coming in. I had to take Micah over to see if  the weather had finally cooled off. The building I was in overlooked a slum village. Thousands of families live in these little houses with dirt floors and thatched roofs. As I looked down I saw a little boy running out of his house in only a t-shirt . I thanked God in my heart for allowing me to be born in America, as I have done so many times since being here in India. I knew I am lucky to be born in America, but until now never realized just how blessed we truly are. In America the sky truly is the limit. It doesn't matter where you come from or where you have been, if you have a dream inside your heart and the drive to fulfill that dream you can be someone. That is not the case here in India. If you are born into poverty the reality is you will NEVER get out. Imagine living your life feeling like the only thing you can ever be is a maid or a rickshaw driver. We are brought up in America to believe that you can be and do anything you put your mind to.
              BUT, God is doing something...something BIG...He is changing India and He sent US. US who come from a very blessed country only because our fore fathers established our country on God. Many people asked us why we would go to another country and help them...our only answer was we knew God called us here. And now I know and fully understand why God called us here. We have all the resources in the world where we come from and we believe God is Big and doing amazing things here in India. Only God can change a country that is rooted in unbelief and an awful cast system. And he asked us to give up our comfortable homes, our car and not see the ones we love the most for a period of time. So that we can see the people of India through His loving eyes. To bring them hope that they can become anything they want.  Here is a video of a little girl who now has HOPE!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE5b9QdF8ec

Maha is the little girl in this video. Ryan and I met her the day after her and her 2 brothers were rescued off the streets. Maha's parents are drug addicts living on the streets. Freddy and Daisy found them and after a month of watching them from afar, giving them food and getting all the proper paperwork together they brought them into their orphanage. God created this precious girl for a purpose and she is now being loved on and taught about Jesus Christ. What a beautiful story of God's redemption. If it had not been for His love for us we would be lost ourselves.
If you are interested in being a part of what we are doing her in India please let us know! We are currently working on a jewelry project that is not only benefiting orphanages, but women rescued from human trafficking as well. We cannot do this without our wonderful support team!

Love the Toliver's