World Water Day!

Did you know that every 20 seconds a child dies from drinking unclean water? Yes, every twenty seconds.
On average in Ethiopia, women and children walk 4 miles a day carrying 40 pounds of contaminated water to their families.
Could you imagine? Being a teenager, and all my friends who read this, could you image having to walk at least 4 miles everyday just to get this because you have no other option...

 Think if you couldn't go to school because you had walk so far everyday to get your water.

What would you do if you had to drink from this?

This is the village of Dube Bute and the women getting water from their main water point... Yes, Its a mud puddle.

We take so much for granted. Have you ever thought about how many times you have gone to your sink, turned on the water, and drank clean, refreshing water? Did you ever think about that millions of people around the world don't have a sink to get water from. They have to walk for miles to only get contaminated water. People here don't even think about it but, water is so important to have.

Today is World Water Day. I want to thank all of you who have helped me and many others build 27 water wells that has CLEAN water for the village of Dube Bute! We have helped changed so many peoples lives just by giving them clean water. Lets help spread the word!

      

legalized!!

On June 17th 2009, Kingston Leul Thorne was finalized into our family! It just so happens that Team Alexander was in California at that time and got to go to court with us. Kingston is such a HUGE blessing to our family and i don't know what i would do without him.

I just had to post this picture because of how adorable Abey is.

signing the paper!

June 17th 2009

And now, on March 16th 2011 we got legalize another blessing into our family. Yanet Jazzlyn Thorne!

March 16th 2011

In the court room right after signing the papers!

Thank you Lord for giving us these children! They have changed our hearts just as much as we have changed their lives.

soccer players of the season!!

Spring soccer has started and 3 of the 4 younger kids are doing it this year. It is the cutest thing watching all the little kids chase after the ball like a swarm of bees. They have games every Saturday and so far only two of them have had games at the same time. Let's hope they don't all three have games at the same time on the same day!

Caden is by far the fast on his team and yes, the only black kid with a (what he likes to call his) "radical" earring!

Charis is very competitive and does NOT like to lose! They have won both the games they have played in and she gets to play on the team with her best friend.

Kingston is so adorable! He is one of the smallest on his team and is always the one the go after the ball. He is very aggressive and a great team player.

His necklace is going up his nose!

So, you might be wondering where Yanet is. She is still a little uncoordinated and needs some more strength and balance before she can start a sport. She is trying hard and is getting stronger each day. She is the cheerleader for the kids at all the games!

winter camp

This weekend i went up to big bear with a group of about 80 high schoolers! Yes, it was so insane but SO much fun! We all had such a great time getting to know each other and even more importantly got to learn more about God.

We had very intense snowball fights and did some crazy sledding. When we all went sledding the boys made some jumps that they would go off and get around 10 feet in air then land on their head! Yes, I know, they are CrAzY!

I feel that the Lord changed my heart even more on this trip. Just by getting to know others and listening to their stories, taught me to not judge but to love. Not everyone is the same and God makes every person in a special way for a special reason.

I am so thankful for all my greats friends. I love you guys!

Proverbs 18:24
There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.

think about it...

 When at home, i do most of these things daily: go on facebook, use internet, text friends, walk 10 feet to get CLEAN water, watch TV, ride electric scooters, eat three meals... and SO SO much more. But as sit here, even as i write this and am on facebook, i think about the children who are dieing right now from aids, starvation, dehydration, and so much more.

If you were in a room and a piece of tape was splitting the room in half, and on one side was you with your phone, lap top, camera, water bottle and a cheese burger and on the other side of the room was a child that was, hungry, sick, thirsty, unloved, no mom or dad, and about to die. What would you do? Wouldn't you say this is kind of like our world today?

Would you give the child your water bottle and cheese burger? Or would you keep it all to yourself? Would you keep your laptop and camera or would you consider selling it in order to feed this child who is sitting right in front of you dieing of starvation?????

Having you ever thought that that is kind of what your doing right now? I am not trying to put you down or say that you have to sell your computer because you don't, but did you ever think that for every thirty seconds you are on the computer 10 children have died. What if you could watch this happen? What if these children were right in front of you and you had to watch them die? Would you feed them? Would you give them water?

Just because someone is in another country on the other side of the world and you can't see them, that doesn't mean we can let them go days with no food or water. When we go to target to buy something that is 10 dollars, what do you end up doing? Walking out with over 200 dollars worth of stuff that you really didn't even need right?! What if you could put that extra 190 dollars that you just spent on stuff you didn't need, to feed a child that has no food for the day, has no water, can't go to school, and has aids?

YOU... me... US! We CAN change this. We CAN help prevent children dieing everything three seconds from starvation. We can help end poverty. WE CAN!! But we need to start now... no matter if it is starting out with giving 1 dollar or 100 dollars, we CAN make a difference in someones life.

What would you give to a child if you saw it dieing on the streets right in front of you?
Think About It!!!!

t-shirts on sale

In the past, i raised over 4,000 dollars just by selling t-shirts that i hand spray painted. I never in my dreams thought i would raise that much money just by selling the shirts. I knew God had a plan for all the money and would show me where to use it in Ethiopia. All of the money went straight into building a well in Dube Bute, and buying food for an orphanage called Kingdom Vision International.

I have faith that i can raise a little more money to reach my goal on my campaign. My goal is $15,000.00 and so far i have raised $11,261.43. That means i need 3,738.57 more. But i can only do it with your help!

The shirts are now on sale for $8.

They look like this...

I can do whatever colors you'd like.
I can put the heart in whatever country you would like it in.
The sizes run a little big.
I have sizes, small, medium, large, and extra large.

I can also add "hope" on it for an extra $2.

How to order?
1) Go to my Campaign here and add in 8 or 10 dollars depending on  if you want "hope."
2) Write your size, color, and which country you would like your heart in. For example, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda etc.
3) Email me your address at... savannahthorne14@gmail.com

Your shirt will be sent out within two days.

what do people think?

My family isn't the average family! Instead of having two or three kids we have seven and three of them are black. I am more than proud of the way my family is and couldn't ask for anything more but, when we go out in public, what do people think of us?

The first thing everyone notices is the 3 black kids I'm guessing. They stare at my parents then back at the kids and look totally confused. Are they trying to figure out why we have 3 black kids and 4 white kids? Obviously!! I know if i saw a family like ours, i would want to hear the story about the kids. Or,  the fact that we have so many kids probably shocks them too. I mean how many families have 7 kids? Not too many but i am happy to be part of one of them!

 The past month we have been in Australia and have gone to the beach just about everyday. We have come across so many people that just lie on the beach and stare at us. Do i think of it as bad thing? Or does it annoy me? NO! I believe that staring is rude but i try to think of it in a good way. Such as, maybe they are looking at how cute all the kids are, or how well they play together... or just the opposite of that! What ever it is, it doesn't bother me because God created our family the way He wanted it to be and i couldn't ask for anything better!

KINGSTON (aka: LULU)

YANET

CADEN

CHARIS

SAVANNAH

TAYLOR

JARED