Bethany Christian Services Annual Picnic 2010

Held at Camp Manitoqua in Frankfort, IL on August 21st.
The annual Bethany Christian Services picnic for families who have adopted through Bethany were able to enjoy a very fun day!  The weather was a little warm and muggy....which brought out those pesty mosquitoes....but!...we were armed with bug spray!
There were fun activities for the kids of all ages from face painting, bubbles to crafts to pony rides and even a chance to swim in the Camp Manitoqua pool.

Great food of hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and of course nice quenching watermelon!

99 Backpacks!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our recent backpack drive for foster kids.  We were able to fill 99 backpacks to hand out to foster kids through Lydia House.

Culver's Night in Frankfort - Wednesday - June 23 12pm-8pm

Mark your calendars! On Wednesday, June 23 from 12:00 to 8:00 pm, the Culver's Restaurant in Frankfort (20592 S. LaGrange Road) will be donating 10% of the sales during those hours to the Orphan Ministry. All you need to do is stop in for some food or ice cream and mention the His Heart & Hands Orphan Ministry. Thanks in advance for the support - we'll let you know how we did in the next update.

Backpack Drive For Foster Kids August 1-8

We are once again collecting school supplies to fill backpacks for children in foster care the week of August 1 to 8. Basic things like pencils, pens, erasers, folders, notebook paper, crayons, markers, rulers, glue sticks, and colored pencils will be collected. Backpacks are welcomed too! Start watching the sale papers toward the end of July when everything starts to go on sale and place your donations in the box at church.

UPDATE ON THE ADOPTION TAX CREDIT

Give thanks that the Adoption Tax Credit was extended through 2011 in the "Obama-Care" health bill. Jedd Medifind did a great job breaking this down a bit at his blog at Christian Alliance for Orphans. This link should take you straight to it: http://christianallianceblog.org People need to check with their accountant about how this specifically applies to them, but they have now made it a "refundable" instead of a "non-refundable" credit. That could be huge for a lot of people.