Giving a Voice

I work at a non-profit private practice called Family Hope House. (www.familyhopehouse.com) Together there are 6 licensed therapists, an office manager, and countless volunteers. We are dedicated to helping any family or individual who needs help from a mental health professional, but we have specialized training in helping children who have been through severe trauma, families with kids in foster care, and families who have adopted their children. We have completed 100s of hours of training to be able to help this population and there are 100s of children and their families who have benefitted from our specialized training.

Last week OHCA gave us notice that there may be some policy changes that could deeply effect our efforts of helping the population that we help. You can read the full policy changes here...

https://www.okhca.org/xPolicyChange.aspx?id=18493&blogid=68505

Basically, this says that any licensed therapist who works at a private practice will not be able to bill SoonerCare (Medicaid, government funded insurance). Which means Family Hope House will not be able to serve the population that we have diligently sought out to serve. Roughly 70% of our clients use SoonerCare as their insurance. In 2015 alone we had nearly 4300 sessions that were billable by SoonerCare. If we lost the ability to bill SoonerCare then 100s of children and their families will lose their therapist that they have grown to trust, and the support they have learned to rely upon.

As devastating as this is for Family Hope House and our clients, unfortunately we are not the only ones who will be effected by this policy change. This will effect 100s of other clinicians and 100s of other children and their families throughout Oklahoma. The worst part, is that a lot of these children who will be effected are in foster care. In order for foster families to gain the support that is necessary, they need professionals who have specialized training in this area. If private practices can no longer bill SoonerCare than it forces these families to seek services from agencies. In my personal experience with working at agencies, I have learned they are not able to help this population as well as someone could in private practice. It is also very common for FHHs clients to have already sought services from 2 or 3 different agencies before they find help from us. We have numerous clients that have told us they will not go back to the agencies for services because they do not believe they can help them the way we have helped. Sadly, it appears that OHCA is counting on people who receive services from private practice to discontinue services altogether so their budget cut will be successful. More information on that topic can be read here...

http://okamft.org/proposed-soonercare-changes/

This policy change would be tragic.

If this infuriates you like it does me, then please act. Here is what you can do...

Inform your churches, your friends, your social media sites. 

You can donate a tax deductible donation to FHH. If this policy change passes then we will be in desperate need of funding. If we receive enough private funding then we will be able to keep our clients and the children will not have yet another loss in their lives.

Click this link to Donate through our Facebook page and PayPal account

https://www.facebook.com/FamilyHopeHouse/app/208195102528120/


FHH will obviously be making numerous budget cuts and it would be a complete blessing if there was a church or an abandoned building that we could move into for free or very cheap so we can continue to provide therapy without worrying about high rental costs.

·      Attend the forums and voice your opinion

o   The Medical Advisory Committee (who will be casting the first vote) will be meeting 1/21/16 at 1:00 p.m. to hear community opinions regarding this change and each individual who signs up upon arrival will be given two minutes to voice their opinion at this meeting

§  This meeting will be held at 4345 N. Lincoln Blvd Oklahoma City, OK

o   The OHCA Board (who will be casting the second vote) will be meeting on 2/11/16 for community members to voice their opinions

§  Follow Family Hope House’s Facebook page for details to be announced

·      Contact your Oklahoma state representative and senator 

Your district’s congressmen can be located at http://www.oklegislature.gov/findmylegislature.aspx  by entering your city and zip code.  Please call or email your senator and representative and let your opinion be heard.

Finally, pray hard. Pray that the voices that our fighting for these children will be heard. Pray specifically for the foster children who will be deeply effected if this policy change occurs. 

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

More posts that you can read on this topic are listed here:

http://www.news9.com/story/30988708/new-policy-could-jeopardize-funding-for-foster-children

http://www.mooretolove.org/family-hope-house-and-the-state-of-oklahoma/

Thanks for reading friends. -Kori

Easter

As I have been pondering what Easter means, and trying to comprehend the sacrifice God did for us, I can't help but think God has an outrageous and crazy way of showing his love.

Reflecting on Easter this year has been a little different because now I am a mom. So, I was trying to imagine what God was thinking when He chose to let His own son, his perfect-without-flaws-son, suffer, be tortured, and get killed in a gruesome way. I cannot imagine EVER letting my son get tortured. Even if I knew the whole world was to be saved, I would not let my sweet boy die for anyone in this world. This world is full of hate, crime, and disgust. My son is full of joy, love, and sweetness. Why would I ever lay his life down for this sinful world?

But then it hit me, God must really have an outrageous crazy love for the people of this world. The most known Bible verse in the world explains it all... "For God so LOVED the world, that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." The God of all creation loves you, me, us, so much that he GAVE his only son to this sinful world so that we may choose an everlasting life with Him. That's crazy.

Although I can't comprehend ever giving my own son to save this world. I will forever be thankful that God did. So, dwell in the fact that God loves you, me, the world, so much that he let his own son suffer and die so that we may live.

But, most importantly, dwell in the fact that Jesus defeated death. He did what no other man could ever do. He rose from the dead. Now, that's even crazier than dying for this world.

SBM Commissioning Sunday

Commissioning Sunday is my favorite Sunday of the year at Asbury. It's when 350+ students and leaders march down the aisles of the church and stand before the congregation exclaiming that they are about to embark on a Spring Break Mission adventure. They are stating that they are giving their Spring "Break" to GO and spread the love of Jesus all over the world.

Every year on commissioning Sunday my eyes fill up with tears of joy. It's such an incredible picture of the Body of Christ: some go, some pray, some send, some mobilize, we all have a part to play.

Last year, I was 30 weeks pregnant, so the tears were a little different. As I sat there watching the students and leaders pour their way down the aisle, I found myself crying tears of jealousy and tears of sadness because I was no longer GOing but I was the one that had to stay home and send them out. I was always the goer. Last year was the first year I stayed home on Spring Break since I was in the 10th grade. GOing on those trips are a huge part of who I am in Christ today, and they gave me a sense of purpose.

As the time went on throughout the commissioning service my sadness turned into a great joy as I recognized I was about to go on a lifelong mission as a mom (corny, I know) and gain a new purpose. I became very excited when I thought about being able to share the love of Jesus with my own son. I started dreaming of the places I would get to go with him, the stories that I will get to tell him of my past trips, and the precious moments where I will get to introduce him to the God of all creation.

Commissioning Sunday is tomorrow. This year, I am overjoyed to be able to bring James to church and introduce him to one of my favorite Sundays at Asbury. This time my tears will be from joy, not only because of the 100s of volunteers that are giving so much to go, but because I get to share why we go with my favorite little guy.

Hopefully, I will get to go on those Spring Break mission trips again someday and hopefully James will want to go as well. But now I am filled with great joy thinking about my mission to love my sweet son like Christ does and I am forever grateful for that purpose.

Day 7, 8, 9 and after...

The last 3 days of our trip were full of shopping and traveling. We left LJS (the place we stayed) at 9am on Tuesday morning, shopped in Dar the rest of the day, slept at the Catholic Seminary and had a powerful worship night, flew out of Dar at 11am wednesday morning, and didn't get home to Tulsa until 1am Friday morning. It was long, but an eventful and fun few days of travel.

Reflecting on the trip as I am home, I have realized how much we learned from the Tanzanians. Throughout the week we talked about these several things that we learned just by watching and talking with them: We learned how to be more than hospitable, how to cook like a Tanzanian woman, how to keep babies calm and happy, we learned about respect and obedience towards our parents and our God, and we learned how to let go of anxiety and be relaxed.

This trip was more than I ever expected and every prayer I ever had for this trip was answered. We learned how missionaries live (the good and the hard parts), we learned all about the Tanzanian culture, and we saw how God can use our individual gifts to enrich His kingdom when we let Him. What an incredible experience that all of us will remember and learn from the rest of our lives.

Thank you to all who prayed and gave. We appreciate it more than you will ever know.

Asante Sana!

Enjoy some pics from the trip...

Day 6: June 6- Mount Oooroguru, hanging out with Linda, and Kid’s Club in Tchiweenoo

We had a blast today!

Robert took Fufi, Kori, Megan, Abby, & Frances climbing up a mountain that had one of the most gorgeous views in the world. It was breath-taking, fun, and gorgeous. A young man who was only 23 and was the village chairman was the guide up the mountain. After the hike, Robert took the group to the University of Tanzania where we had freshly made yogurt and sweet bananas.

Linda took Katie, Mollie, Shelby, and Avery back to her home for a relaxing morning. They baked peanut butter cookies, talked a lot with Linda, and shopped at the LJS shopping mall.

The whole group reunited and went to pick up Kristin to go to her kids camp. Before camp, we went to the Bishop’s office to meet the staff.  The staff was very friendly and hospitable in the short time we were.

After, we went to the church where Kristin has her kids camp. There were about 65 kids there from the surrounding neighborhood. We sang “rise and shine”, “hallelu hallelu”, and “father Abraham” with them. After some songs, we performed the story of Noah and the Ark for the children with the pastor as our translator. The kids colored coloring sheets of Noah after our skit. We played group games such as “rafikki(friend), rafikki, simba(lion)”(duck, duck, goose), jump rope, sit down if, and the Swahili version of “ring around the rosy.” The children were precious and we all had so much fun with them.

Before we left, the church gave us all sodas and cookies and we sat down to talk with the pastor. We met a few of the elders of the church and prayed with them. We were all amazed by their hospitality when we were only there for a short time.

We have all grown so much and have been taught a lot on this trip! Thank you for always praying! See y’all soon!

-Tanzania Team

June 4th & 5th

Day 4: June 4- Safari and Massai community

Today we went to Mikumi Park and saw a gorgeous part of Tanzania. Everywhere we looked was pretty scenery and tons of wild animals. Such as, elephants, giraffes, wildabeasts, impalas, hippos, zebras, baboons, a hyena, jackels, beautiful birds, annoying tsitsi flies, wart hogs, and 2 mama lions that were only 15 feet away from our bus!!! It was an amazing experience to say the least.

Another funny part of our day was that all the African tourists wanted to take pictures with us like we were taking of the animals. We were a part of their safari and quite a hit! =]

After the safari we went to a Massai family’s home. They were very hospitable and it was so cool to see the way they live and take care of each other. We were able to buy some spears, bows, and necklaces from them and asked them questions about their tribe and traditions. They were fun to be around!

Thanks for praying!

Tanzania Team

Day 5: June 5- Sunday Church

Hello everyone!!

Today we went to Linda and Robati’s church. We arrived at church at 9:45 and we left at 3:30! The actual service was only three hours.

They were extremely hospitable and served us hot tea and sweet bread as a snack before the service began.

The service consisted of their multiple choirs singing lovely songs to the Lord, communion, auction, and a sermon. We acted as a choir and sang a few worship songs as well as 3 other Tanzanian choirsJ

They served us lunch after and we participated in their auction and bought 4 of their chickens and avocados. We later gave the chickens back to 3 families within the church who only had one parent living and had kids who either had malaria or worms.

After the service was over we mingled with the Tanzanians and communicated as much as we could with them, mostly by laughter and pictures! Katie talked with one of the pastors who was in a car accident and just got his cast off of his leg last week. She taught him how to walk correctly with crutches and some rehab exercises.

The day was relaxing and we are enjoying spreading Christ’s love with everyone here. We are learning so much from them as well! The children are precious!

We miss and love all of you!

Peace and Love,

Abigail King

Last (June 3) night at dinner =]

Last night we had the privilege of eating dinner with Bishop Mameo (the Bishop of all the Lutheran churches in Tanzania), Raymond, & Samuel. It was such an honor and so fun that I though I would post a picture to share (since there is electricity at the moment and the Internet is working =]). More to blog about our great day later!

June 2 & June 3

Day 2: June 2- Morogoro, Tanzania Africa

Jambo!!

We just completed our second day here in the village! The weather has been wonderful, hot but with a cool breeze and lots of sunshine! As a team we had a very productive day with women from all over.

Today is known as the day where the people celebrate the ascending of Christ into Heaven. We hung out with many different women from all different tribes and villages and went into their gardens and picked peas with them! We also taught ourselves, along with the women, how to make fabric, beaded necklaces so that they can make more and sell them. We encouraged them and connected with them in many ways.

After making beads we ate lunch (lots of rice and beans) and had a 2 hour worship service with the women. They taught us songs in Swahili as we sang to them and taught them songs in English! They showed us a lot of hospitality and were glad we came to be with them.

The women taught us a few phrases in Swahili as well, such as “Shikamoo” which is a type of greeting you would say to an older woman and in response they say Marahaba. Also, “Habari gani” asks the question ‘how are you?’ and in response you say, “Nzuri” which means fine or well.

We had a lot of fun being with the women and learned so much about their caring hearts. As a team we are looking forward to the rest of week!!

Thank you all for keeping us in your prayers!! We are all having so much fun and doing well!

With much love,

Shelby Boaz

Day 3: June 3- Tanzania, Africa

Habari gani!?! Nzuri!

Today we visited the village of Lukangaza. We cooked, hung out with a lot of kids, sang lots of songs, and some of the children even knew English!

At the beginning of our day we picked some crops to cook for the lunch that the women were serving us. The different types included a Kasaba leaf, which is a leaf of sweet milk from a tree, corn that we shucked, cow-peas that we de-skinned, and another leaf from a little bush. After picking Abby, Megan, & Avery got to de-shell a coconut, which was super hard!! The women loved it that we were so willing to learn and help even though we couldn’t understand a word they were saying!

Next we headed to the church where the kids were learning English for some domestic and wild animals! We sang some English songs and they sang some Swahili songs AND English! Crazy, huh? They tried teaching us a song, but that didn’t go to smoothly. We also did a skit for them, Noah’s Ark, which Robert translated for us. They seemed to like it, or maybe they were just laughing because we used animal plates for the animals or that a girl was playing a boy’s part!

As the day went on, we ate lunch in Pastor Nuru’s house, played some outdoor games with the children, sang some more songs, watched a Swahili skit played out by young boys, and colored some coloring sheets. At the end it was sad leaving the kids, and they just kept saying bye to us and once we drove off they chased after the van.

Today was an amazing day just as the rest of them have been!! Thank you for the prayers, and we are all well and having a great time!

Lots of love,

Avery Hufft

Day 1- Morogoro, Tanzania, Africa

After a long couple of days of little sleep, long flights, being stuck in an elevator, running through the Chicago airport to catch our flight, a newbie flight attendant, crying babies on multiple flights, raining inside the airplane, a stripping man on the London tram, greenbus tour that made great nap time, getting our own rows on the final flight to Dar es Salaam, and waking up to a beautiful sunrise over Mount Kilimanjaro…WE MADE IT!!!

We went through customs, exchanged some money and hopped on a car and a van and began the three-hour journey to our home for the week! Our ride was filled with beautiful views and a lot of waving to the local people!

After lunch and getting settled into our rooms, Kristen took us for a walk to a local catholic orphanage. We saw two monkeys on the way! At the orphanage we played with kids from newborn age through 15! Some of the kids do not have parents, but most are waiting for their parents to come back and get them when they are able to support them. We all had such a fun time loving on the kids!

Thanks for praying! We are having a great time!!

Love,

Megan Crum

Today is the day!

We leave today at 2pm and get to Tanzania Wednesday morning at 7:45am their time (Tues. at 11:45pm your time)

I think we are beyond excited and ready for God to use us in huge ways. We are going to be visiting orphanages, playing with children, and helping women make beaded bracelets for them to sell.

We are thankful for this opportunity and ready to go!

Leaving in 14 days

It has been a year since I asked the missions coordinator if we could go on a mission trip to Tanzania with Asbury. It has been a year full of prayer, fund-raising, excitement, anxiety, shots, medicine, expectations, senior business, and anticipation for this trip! God is good.

We leave in 14 days.

My prayer for this trip is that our eyes are opened wider, our skin becomes tougher, our hearts become softer, our minds are filled with knowledge from the Lord, our lives are changed for the better, and that God is glorified in all that we do.

Last night in the sermon, 1 Thessalonians 4:3 was mentioned, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified." That's my ultimate prayer for this trip. That we will die to ourselves and become sanctified. That God will be lifted high in the lives of the leaders and the college girls. That we will "Seek first His kingdom" like Jesus says to do in Matthew 6:33.

We leave in 14 days.

I am excited =]

He provides

In 2008 I was approached by a few moms at church and they asked if I would lead their soon to be 10th grade girl's small group. I hesitantly thought about it because I was already committed to another small group and I was not sure how I could do 2. But, after some thought I thankfully said yes and began a relationship with girls who have blessed my life.

Shortly after meeting for a couple months I decided to go on a mission trip to Kenya, Africa for 5 weeks. Although I missed the girls, I had an incredible time and knew those 5 weeks were not the last of me going to Africa. But, little did I know it would affect our small group in such a big way...

When I got back the girls asked if we could go to Africa as a small group. I told them it would be awesome if we could get to do that someday (thinking, "yeah right, how will we pull that off? It would cost 20 grand to do that!") and then said, "Maybe when you graduate we can look into it."

Anyways, a year and half went by and we started thinking and talking about it again. We realized how much money it would take for us to go and how much we would have to rely on the Lord to provide. So, the girls, their parents, my co-leader, and I, fearfully said, "we trust you Lord, send us to Tanzania so we can be your hands and feet."

We knew we were committed, but we also knew we had a lot of work to do. We had to put our thinking caps on- we thought of multiple ways we could raise money... We sold t-shirts, hosted a "Wild Game Dinner", raked hundreds of bags of leaves, cleaned an office, wrote letters to ones that we felt would support us, and we prayed. We waited and prayed and trusted.

As this process of raising money to go to Tanzania went along there were times of fear, joy, hard work, untrusting hearts, trusting hearts, and stretched lives. There were times when we weren't sure if we were going to get full support and there were times when we were so blessed by all the generous hearts around us- And then, it happened. More than enough money was given to this team to go love on the people of Tanzania, Africa!

God is good. He is faithful. God deserves all glory and honor for this trip and the process to get there. He is and will be working in the lives of our team, the lives of the people who gave to this trip, and the lives of the Tanzanians. He is Jehovah Jireh and will always provide.

Thank you to all who gave and thank you Jesus for allowing us to be your hands and feet in Tanzania.

The girls going to Tanzania are: Megan Crum, Abby King, Avery Hufft, Shelby Boaz, Mollie Stansbury, Katie Wise, Frances Brower, Ruthie Brower, and myself. We are beyond excited and pray that the Lord will open our eyes, help us listen, and use us to His desire.

*P.S. Another incredible aspect of God's provision is that He has also provided more generous people who gave money for the first 5 girls on that list above, plus Kristin Fitzgerald, Ruthie & myself to go to Guatemala on the youth group mission trip over Spring Break. He is good.

Cheque Leque

We are having such a wonderful time! It has been so fun seeing Jon and Emily and getting to see how incredible they are with the people of Mogote. The Lord is doing huge things in this ministry, in Honduras, and in our hearts.
As a team, we have laughed, prayed, cried, built a house, loved on kids, made a lot of crafts in kindergarten, fed a village, sorted clothing to give, and seen Jesus in many many ways. We are blessed to be here and are so exctied for the next few days! Thanks for praying... You would be very impressed with this team team, I definitely am.

Honduras here we come!

January 11-18 I will be leading a team of 8 from the "Casual Twenties" community at Asbury to go see/help Jon and Emily Odom with Hope for Honduras Ministries.

We will be building a house, teaching in the school, leading a women's class, helping with the food and clothes program around the village and doing some prayer walks around the communities.

The team members are: Robert Neely, Emily Sharp, Rustin Heflin, Cavett Binion, Lyndsey Campbell, Krissa Cummins, Melissa Martin, and myself.

Please be in prayer that we will grow closer as a team, give encouragement to the Odoms and the Joneses (other missionaries at Hope for Honduras), and be a light to all around us. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Click on "Jon & Emily Odom" on the side of my blog to read more about what God is doing through them in Honduras.

Asante Sana!

"Thank you very much"

Thank you for all your prayers, concerns, and encouragement throughout this entire trip. Here are some more fun highlights of my time here in Kenya...

The Kindergarten Class

The Second Graders

Emily and I ran in a "Fun Run" (4K) and watched all the incredible Kenyan marathoners, including the Olympic Gold medalists run their race. (FYI: We did not run in our skirts... haha)

We showed the movie, "Cars" on a projector and the children were in awe and thought we were magic because we made "talking cars show up on the wall." My favorite quote of the night was, Brian Chibet saying, "Auntie Kori, that movie was saweeet!" (Not typical lingo from a Kenyan) I laughed for awhile about that one!

Stefany, Mary, Sharon, and Tabitha getting ready to perform a song at church. Adorable. :)

There are many more stories and pictures of my trip, and when I get home I plan to post an album. But, for now you can look on Emily's blog at and another mini missionaries blog where there are excellent pictures and videos. Their blogs are listed on the side of my blog. 

See you soon!