Jenni's Response to the El Salvador Article Printed in The OC Register

We are grateful to The OC Register for printing a story about Aidan's Silly Bandz outreach project. The article was titled "North Tustin brothers would rather give than receive." 

To read the article, click here: 

http://www.ocregister.com/news/salvador-309547-aidan-jenni.html 

The original article (printed on July 23rd, 2011) contained a number of errors. We are grateful for the immediate response of the OC Register staff, who corrected the errors. The article will be reprinted in The Tustin News this week. I have included some additional information below which was not printed in the article: 

(1) Our background in outreach/humanitarian aide. Mike and I have been honored to serve overseas in relief, development and outreach for over twenty years. Together we have served in over sixty countries. I am blessed to serve as the Missions Director at The Village Church of Irvine. Mike serves as the Elders of Missions at The Village Church and we have both lead many international outreach teams all over the world. Mike first visited El Salvador in 2006 to participate in an orphanage dedication and my work in El Salvador began in 2009. 

(2) Our Adoption Journey. The writer did not include detailed information about our adoption. He only mentioned that our orphan outreach trips started through our desire to adopt in El Salvador. Unfortunately, we withdrew from the El Salvador adoption program last year after experiencing ongoing delays and corruption in our case. It was a heart breaking and devastating decision to withdraw from the program after waiting for over three years. We lost $15,000 when we withdrew from El Salvador and had to begin the process of adoption all over again. Last fall we were accepted to adopt from South Korea, and our family is anxiously waiting to be matched with a baby girl. We are currently raising funds for our adoption in Korea. To read more about our adoption, visit our family adoption blog at: 

www.ramseyfam.com 

While we originally hoped to adopt in El Salvador, we believe that our orphan work in this country was part of our destiny. Our "eyes were opened" to the tremendous needs of El Salvador's orphans through our adoption journey. We are deeply passionate about adoption, which is why I work for an international adoption agency. We strongly believe that adoption or family reunification is the best outcome for every child, and that no child should grow up in an orphanage. Every child deserves a "forever family." We are honored to partner with two Christian ministries in El Salvador, which passionately care for the interests of orphaned children. The families that we serve under truly work "on the front lines of the battlefield in El Salvador" and we are privileged to bring "relief and support" as we serve them through our trips