A Partnership Update

I thought it was time for a financial/ICC update...its been a while since I have let you all know how things are going for us. 

Last month I was beginning to get a little anxious about our support coming in and not having flights booked yet. I looked like a crazy person at flights with all air lines. I looked at a number of departure dates. It looks like the cheapest time for us to leave is around August 22. I looked into using our Asia Miles to save on cost. That was a gong show!! I talked to 4 different people and got 4 different answers - each one telling me that they were the one with the correct answer. I finally talked to a 'superior' person with Asia Miles and got yet another answer. But I took her answer to be correct. After all was figured out (kinda) I found out that I can NOT use my miles in August (black out dates). Oh well. I was stuck on booking flights, but Andrew still wanted to wait until we had 70% support raised. So we still dont have flights booked and Im still a little anxious. 

As of today, we are at 59% support in to ICC. We have a couple of supporters whose cheques have not been received by ICC yet. Once they are in, we will be at 64% committed to us via ICC. 

We need to be at 70% before we can leave for Changsha. It is soooo close we can taste it! Of course, we still need to be at 100% eventually. It would be wonderful if we returned from our trip being over our 70% support in to ICC. As soon as we have 70% in we will be booking flights!! 

A 1% partner is equal to $35/month for 2 years ($420/yr, $840/2yrs) 
If we have just 6 more families commit to supporting us this amount we will be there!! It doesnt take much. We also know that there are those friends, family, strangers reading this or being told about this that can support $50/mth or $75/mth and more for our time in China. 

If you have considered partnering with us and havent yet, here are the details on how you can do this:

If you have a credit card, you can go here and fill out the form and submit it. After you submit the form, send an email to ICC at canada@chinaconcern.org and let them know that the support you just sent in is to be designated to the Inkpen's in Changsha. 

if you prefer to use cheques (they dont have automatic debit set up yet), you can make the cheques out to International China Concern. DO NOT WRITE OUR NAMES ON THE CHEQUE!! Instead, attach a note to the cheque(s) stating that the support is to be designated to the Inkpen's in Changsha. 
Send the cheque(s) to:
International China Concern Canada
Unit 7B - 5707 Sidley Street 
Burnaby, BC
V5J 5E6  

Remember, 100% of the money designated to us, comes to us!! 

We do want to thank all of you who have already stepped up and financially partnered with us! Without you, this would not be happening. We know God has placed it the hearts of those He wants to have partner with us. Its up to them to listen to Him. Please pray for those people who God has set aside to partner with us. We know that altho $35/month doesnt seem like a lot, it sure can be to those in financial troubles. But even those in financial troubles can support us. We have supporters from $10/mth to $200/mth. Im only saying this so you dont feel like what you can do is too much or too little. Every little bit helps. Every little bit helps a child in need. 

Here are a couple links on ICC that you can watch at your own time
This is a song that a group called The Steels filmed in Changsha after a visit with the children. 
This is a video on the founding of ICC 
This is a short documentary on ICC  

I encourage you to watch the video on the founding of ICC. It is a bit long (about 20min) but it shows exactly why ICC was founded. It explains the devastation of the Chinese Orphanages. 

Thanks again for following our journey! Please keep us in your prayers for the remainder of our trip as we start to head back to AB next week, that God will continue to raise up partners for our journey, that we will be calm and let God continue to lead us, and that we are free from spiritual attacks. 

I will try to keep you updated as support comes in. In the meantime we hope you are enjoying your summer, wherever you may be!!  

 

7000km & countiing

Just under 7000km DRIVEN and we are in Newfoundland, Canada. What an amazing adventure we have had! We chose to drive across the country so we could (a) show the kids part of Canada and the US they never would otherwise be able to see, (b) stop and see dear friends & (c) see family. The final destination was Newfoundland to see Andrew's family before heading overseas. We will be spending 2 weeks here before driving another 7000km home again. 

We left the evening of June 30 and drove through the night. We were able to see a beautiful sunrise just outside of Brandon, MB

 

We spent July 1 with my family in Winnipeg, MB. We spent time in my Uncle's pool,

 dinner with my grandpa

 and then fireworks with my cousin. 

It was a packed day!!

After we left Winnipeg, we made our way to New Buffalo, Michigan, USA to visit with some special friends. They were brave and let all 6 of us crash at their place for 2 nights. 

We were able to see 4th of July fireworks (which were set off on July 3), 

a 4th of July parade (altho it was toooooo hot that we left 3/4 of the way through the parade), 

and swam in Lake Michigan.

Next stop was New York City!!! The kids were so excited to be able to stop in NYC for a day. It was a long drive from New Buffalo to NYC, but we made it!

Next, we made our way up to Newfoundland. There was a couple of stops along the way, but after NYC it was basically 2 days of driving and one night on the ferry. 

We drove through +38*C (~100*F) almost for the entire trip, then we got off the ferry and it was about +18*C (~65*F). Somewhere in the middle would be perfect!

We are now safe and sound in Newfoundland. We will spend the next 2 weeks here visiting with Andrew's family. We will see everyone we can. We have some fun times planned and we are looking forward to being here and doing a few things, but we also want to spend time just being with family and not really doing anything. 

Im going to keep this update as is, nothing on China...i will do that update in a couple of days when i have more information to pass on. 

Hope you are all doing fantastic!! Feel free to send us a comment or an email and let us know how things are with you. 

As always, thanks for reading!!