Finally!

After 2 more stays in the hospital for my dad, and some major surgery, I finally have my life caught back up. For all those who have been patiently waiting for updates, I apologize. Sometimes even the best intentions are waylaid by life.

To that end, here are to great updates-

We surpassed 4 years sponsored in Ornella's life this week. Four years knowing she will be educated, have medicine, and be feed. Thank you everyone for your part in this.

I also finally uploaded the video to youtube showing the fruits of our efforts. Please check it out here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynhV-FNipcs

Life

I had hoped to begin posting these sooner than this, but sometimes life gets in the way of the the best plans sometimes. A motorcycle accident has put my dad in the hospital which has obviously disrupted much of my life. Hopefully he will be going home within the week.

Anyway, here is letter from one of the children we are raising support for. If you wish to send them a message, put it in the comments and I will send it over.

From Prince

Hello, I greet you. How are you? I would to get a letter from you. I am doing great! Greet your family for me. MY family sends their greetings.

My school is going well. I am in level three. I like my teacher MR. Makilo. MY favorite subject is history. Please pray for me. Next week I have a big exam. I have a lot of studying to do. I will appreciate your prayers.

My favorite color is yellow. It reminds me of my school building.

Every morning I get up at six. I like to exercise before I got to school. I enjoy it. God bless and keep you.

Mandaba Prince.


More letters to come soon.

I am back!

Due to the demands of the business, I have been unable to log on hear the bast 1.5 months. I am now back and chock full of content. During this time I recieved more pictures, a few videos, and some letters from our children. All of which I will share shortly.

The video is the first nut I will try to crack. Bear with me, I am new to this. Orders have been coming in the past 1.5 months. I will update you soon on that front as well.

Till next time (which will be in 1-3 days),

Kurt

More exposure

I am happy to report that the new advertising is generating more visitors than I had hoped. This will definitely help our cause. I am researching more every day about how to increase web traffic. Since this cause is at the core of my heart, I am driven to keep discovering new way to make this happen.

I will have new pictures shortly of Ornella and will post them next week. I will also be posting a new recipe soon, so check back.

New Developments

We will soon be adding two new retail locations which carry 100% of our products. This will take us to four. All are in and around Lancaster County, so if you are planning on visiting, let us know and we can tell you where to shop.

We recieved a fantastic advertising rate from 800padutch.com. We have already seen an increase in traffic to our site just from the first day.

Our partnership with Christianfocusmag.com is working out well. We are already seeing visitors from the site, and our back cover ad will be delivered shortly with this months issue. Please check out what they have to offer, they are wonderful magazine.

Over the hump!

Last week we finally crossed over the three year mark in Ornella's life. Thanks to all who made that possible. We are working will hopefully have some more kids photos for you shortly.

Here are some of the great folks who helped move us closer to Ornella's full childhood sponsorship, and some of the products the ordered.

John of Crawfordsville, Indiana is enjoying some fantastic Josh's Black Bean Salsa as well as a few of our No Sugar added Jams. Thanks John for giving four days of a better life to Ornella.

Brenda also lended a helping hand. Brenda hails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Brenda is soaking up sun and enjoying some of Naomi's Bacon Dressing. Thank you Brenda for the 2 days you have contributed to Ornella's life.

Laurie of Hamilton, New Jersey is getting her vegetable servings with Rachel's Red Beets, and by eating salad topped with Rebecca's Honey Mustard Dressing. Of course she has a sweet tooth as well, so to satisfy that she is enjoying our Jonah's No Sugar Added Blackberry Jam. Ornella says thanks to Laurie for three days.

Thank you once again to everyone who has been instrumental in this journey so far.

5 more days till 3 years!

Thanks to everyones help, we are now only 5 days away from Ornella being sponsored for 3 full years. That is totally awesome.

Two great customers who helped bring us closer are Craig of Lake Zurich, Illinois, and Pamela of Birmingham, Michigan.

Craig is now enjoying some of Emma's Sweet Mustard. This mustard is so tasty on soft pretzels, you will never go back to plain mustard again.

Pamela is enjoying Johny's Apple Butter Spread. Apple butter is great on bread, in cottege cheese, or straight out of the jar.

Also, speaking of Ornella, you will notice two pictures at the beginning of the blog. These are updates from Ornella, I hope you enjoy seeing the difference you are making.

Catching Up!

As I told you, I will be spending the next few days catching up on our world. The biggest part of that being letting you know who are great supporters have been this month, but I also have some pictures to show you as well. This pictures will come either Monday or Tuesday, so now you have something to look forward to.

Our first catchup thanks goes to William of Mauldin, S. Carolina. William is now enjoying Martha's Blueberry Jam. Thanks William.

Also, we want to say thanks to Barbara of Mt. Joy, Pa. Barbara recieved some of Stefanie's No Sugar Added, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

Together, you moved Ornella 9 days closer to being sponsored till adulthood.

A new partner!

I know we have taken a couple weeks off here from updating everyone regarding our progress. We are excited to announce our new partnership with Christian Focus Magazine. Christian Focus Magazine will be helping us promote our project, look for it at a Barnes and Noble near you, or you can subscribe online.

Over the next few days, we will be catching up on all the information we have missed passing on. In the meantime, thanks for your support.

Michigan Helps Out

Tracine from Farmington Hills, Michigan is our latest supporter. Tracine did her part to provide three more days of sponsorship in Ornella's life. Tracine will soon be enjoying some of Shannon's Strawberry Jam, and Wilma's Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing.

We here at Amish Family Recipes and Feed Your Family/ Feed The World just want to say thanks to Tracine for helping out. Together we are changing a life, and changing the world.

Another fantastic customer!

Melanie of Mount Juliet, Tennessee is another person making a difference in the world. She will soon be enjoying some of Naomi's Bacon Dressing, and Claudia's Dutch Apple Jam.

If any of you are wondering what Dutch Apple Jam tastes like, just imagine the filling of the best apple pie you have ever tasted scooped out of the pie and put in a jar just for you. Yes, it is that good.

Thanks to Melanie, Ornella is now 8 days closer to being sponsored through adulthood. Together, we are all changing the world.

If you are reading this, and have not had the chance to taste our fantastic Amish made products, click here to buy some today.

Another Thanks!

We want to thank Elizabeth of Brea, California for her latest order in support of Feed Your Family, Feed The World. Elizabeth will soon be enjoying some of our fantastic no sugar jams like Jonah's No Sugar Added Blackberry Jam. These jams are sweetened only with fruit juice, so all the sugars are natural.

Thank you Elizabeth for bringing us closer to Ornella being sponsored until she is an adult.

Thank You

We are fast closing in on 3 full years sponsored in Ornella's life. Thank you to all of you who had a part in this journey so far.

We would like to particularly thank Barbara of Odenton, Maryland our latest supporter. Barbara will soon be enjoying some classic Amish made products including Naomi's Bacon Dressing, and Ruthie's Chow Chow.

At Amish Family Recipes we are proud to be involved with Feed Your Family Feed The World and are so excited about the potential we have to make a difference in the lives of these children.

Please visit Feed Your Family, Feed The World to continue to make a difference.

A call to Action!

If any of you are following the progress we are making, you will be able to see we are starting to gain momentum. However, we could be doing more, and this is where you can help. This does not involve a purchase, just a little time. I posted the project on ideablob.com. If we get enough votes, we can win $10k which will help us further promote the project. Please, if you have the time, go to http://ideablob.com/ideas/1680-FeedYourFamilyFeedtheWorld-com and vote for us.
Thanks.

2.5 years!

We passed the 2.5 year mark last week. Ornella is well on her way to being cared for until she is an adult. Thank you all for your help.

Everyone seems to have loved the last recipe I posted, so here is another. Our best selling product is Apple Butter, so here is something else you can use it for. I hope you enjoy.

Apple Butter Cake
Ingredients
3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. Johnny’s Apple Butter
2 t. baking soda
3/4 c. packed, light brown sugar
1 t. salt
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. sour cream
2/3 c. butter, melted
2 eggs
Directions
Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Beat apple butter, brown sugar, sugar, butter, sour cream and eggs together in a large bowl on low speed until just combined. On low speed, gradually beat in flour mixture until well blended and smooth. Pour into a greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes.

A Sample Recipe!

I wanted to give you a sample of the recipes that we have been putting together. I hope you enjoy it.

Peach Cheesecake

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Filling:
2 eggs
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup Amish Family Recipes’ Priscilla’s Peach Jam, plus 1 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium size bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs with the sugar and butter. Mix well and place in the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform cake pan. Make sure to press against the sides and bottom of the pan. Set crust aside.
Prepare the filling by beating the eggs and cream cheese together. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating until well blended. Add 1/4 cup peach jam and mix until incorporated. Pour mixture into prepared crust and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
Remove cake from oven and top with remaining 1 cup peach jam. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate overnight.

Another Week Forward!

Feed Your Family/ Feed The World

We have moved forward this week, thank you to all that helped with this. Ornella's life is being changed thanks to all your hard work. We are still waiting for a report on the progress over in the CAR from Project Hope and Charity and once we have it we will pass it over to you.

Anyone who wants to help furthur the online awareness of our project, please go to Stumbleupon  and vote in favor of our site.

Thanks again!

2 Years are covered

Well we crossed over this week. Ornella is now officially sponsored for 2 years. We only need 9 more years until she is sponsored through adult hood. Thank you everyone who helped make that possible.

Many of you probably saw the article in the Lancaster newspaper regarding the project. We are in conversation with a few others and hopefully this will help build some more awareness.

We are working a few product additions, right now they are still in the research phase, but I will update you when we have more info.

A little more back story!

A little back story- When I came up with this idea about 2 years ago, my partner and I started working towards it and were hitting many roadblocks. Like I referenced before, there were a couple times when we were tempted to throw in the towel.

It was during one of these points that I went to church like I usually do on the weekend. I almost skipped. They said the week before that they were going to show a video of Bono. One of my concerns with this church in the past was that they had gone commercial, and lost their focus on Christ. I thought, oh this will just be about Bono and all the great work he is doing. All well and good, but why do I need to see it?

So I am going in with a bad attitude about what I am about to be fed, and my overall outlook on life was not great due to the roadblocks we were hitting. I am not proud of this mindset, I am just painting the picture as it was.

Well the video was of the interview of Bono by Bill Hybels. I was humbled and blown away. In one morning God came down and changed my attitude completely, and helped relight the fire under my but to get this off the ground.

This project went from being what I believed to be the right direction for my company to being a passion for me. Shortly after this I tried to find the video online to show a friend. Well I guess a that point there was some wrangling over the fact that their was some concert footage in with the interview. I had forgotten about it. Today I decided to look again and lo and behold, youtube had it.

Here is part one, there are six parts, so just keep following the parts in you tube. It is an awesome interview, and for those that are of the christian persuassion, it really slaps you in the head and says wake up. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Bono Video

Almost A Full Month!

Well we are closing in on the end of our first full month in operation. I had hoped to hit 2 years sponsored by the end of '07. We can close, but missed it by about 70 days. I am still thrilled and overwhelmed by the response so far.

I have created a youtube video to capture some of my feelings about the project. This is my first journey into the world of video production so keep that in mind.

Feed The World Video

Once again, if I missed anyone in the links section, please let me know, I do not want to overlook anyone's help.