Thursday, June 23

Sseko & Noonday

 I got my Noonday order in today and I am so excited!! I have been stalking my mailbox for a week waiting for its arrival. If you haven't heard of Noonday you are totally missing out. But don't worry. I am in the process of getting a BIG party together. Here is a little info on Noonday:


After visiting Uganda in February of 2010 and holding hundreds of children without moms and dads, Joe and Jessica Honegger (the founder) decided to adopt internationally (from Rwanda). Also on that visit, they met up with long time friends who had lived in Uganda for many years trying to create sustainable income opportunities for the Ugandan people. They asked Jessica if she would like to sell the fair-trade locally made goods in Austin, in order to raise money for the costly adoption process. Jessica agreed and the first Noonday Collection trunk show was born! You can read more about her story here.
Word spread quickly about Noonday's envied products and the lives they impact. Other women wanted to style their friends while advocating for women and kids. Soon, the Ambassador program launched and Noonday Collection will soon be found in a home near you!
At Noonday Collection, we believe every child belongs in a family. While the owner is no longer raising money for their Rwandan adoption (though they think more adoptions will come), the vision remains the same. We advocate for the orphan by:
  • Providing jobs that create a pathway out of poverty for women. A stable income means a family is less likely to abandon their child.
  • Help families fundraise for their own adoptions. We give10% of trunk show sales directly to the adoptive family when they host a trunk show.
  • Aside from donating 10% towards qualified adoptive families, Noonday Collection Foundation gives net proceeds towards orphan care and prevention. Watch the video to see one of our main beneficiaries.
  • The dream: Take YOU on a trip to visit artisans and visit orphans in their distress.

Awesome right.... I met the girl who runs Noonday at the T4A conference I went to back in October. She is really awesome and super friendly. I love everything they carry and more than that the cause

One of my favorite things Noonday carries are the Sseko shoes!! I die. They are so great! Here are a couple of the straps they carry...





Cute Right!! Again... I die.
Well today I got my pair in!! I am so in love. I may wear them everyday!! Here is a-little about the Sseko movement....

If you happen to find yourself in Kampala, Uganda, make your way to the Old Taxi Park. From there, grab a taxi van to Matuga. Jump off at the end of the line, and hop on a boda boda to the Cornerstone Leadership Academy. After a (bumpy) ride along a dirt road, you will find yourself in the company of some of the most intelligent and committed young women in Uganda.
These women are graduates of the Cornerstone Leadership Academy and employees of Sseko Designs.
Sseko \say-ko\ Designs was created to help these bright young women continue their education. The Ugandan school system is designed with a nine month gap between secondary school and university. These nine months are intended to allow time for students to earn money for tuition before continuing on to university. However, in an impoverished and male dominated society, many of these young women struggle to find fair work during this time.
Sseko Designs hires recent secondary school graduates for this nine month period to live and work together, while earning money that will go directly towards their university education. These women will not makesandals forever. They will go on to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, writers and teachers that will bring change and unification to a country divided and ravished by a 22 year-long war.
Sseko Designs is a not-just-for-profit enterprise that recognizes the power of business and responsible consumerism to support sustainable economic development, which in turn affects a country's educational, justice, and health care systems. The goal of Sseko Designs is two-fold: provide university tuition for these promising young women through a sustainable monthly income, while also contributing to the overall economic development of Uganda.
Although consumerism makes many empty promises, responsible and proactive consumerism has the ability to change lives. Like the lives of Mercy, Mary and Rebbecca.
Every sandal has a story. This story has only just begun, but with your help, it will be a story of hope, success and change. 
Hear the whole story for yourself. To invite Sseko to your event, inquire here

Again... BEAUTIFUL!! I will have more info on the BIG Noonday/Sseko party next week so stay tuned for that. You will be able to see these at the party and order your very own pair. 
Until then you can read more about Noonday and Sseko by clicking the picture under the "Need Shoes" in my sidebar....


(Yes, those are my feet, I realize I have the feet of a child. They are as wide as they are long and I have stubby toes. Don't judge me ;)...)



Monday, June 20

Busted Up

 While driving to the airport on Saturday I received this text....


I paniced...Why would he need his cell.... I knew something was wrong....

Here is the picture that followed.....


Like any mommy my hurt sunk and I hurt because I wasn't there. Beckham and I have a sweet bond. He is like a magnet on my hip and he will be 3 in July. We are two little peas in a pod. So knowing that he is busted up and I am 300 miles away made me really sad. But he was in good hands.  His daddy is a wonderful protector and I knew he would make him feel safe. 

Here are the pictures that soon followed my instruction to go to the ER NOW!!! 



My poor Shugee!! He looks so sad. 

Basically what happened was he was throwing a ball back and forth with a friend of ours in the pool in our neighborhood. Beckham was standing in the shallow 1 foot baby pool and our friend in the big pool. Beckham threw the ball and lost his footing. He fell forward catching his chin on the edge of the pool. OUCH!!!!! As a result his chin busted wide open leaving fat and other sick stuff handing out and blood gushing every where. Are you grossed out yet? HA! 

They went to the ER and got all glued up! They wanted to stitch him but because his skin is so soft there and he is only 2 and would probably mess with it stitches probably wouldn't work. The Glue has held up great. 

He is gonna have a mean scar on his chin now. :( 



Summer Splash 2011

I flew to Dallas this past friday with my little sister to attend the Summer Splash girls weekend at Milestone Church in Keller TX. We met up with my cousins for some shopping and a great word from the fabulous Lisa Bevere.

 Milestone put on a great Girls Weekend. I loved it all.

Flying Out

A part of their little conference that stood out to me was there adopt a mom benefit. Basically from what I could tell Milestone challenged the women in their church to adopt a mom by donating basic needs for single mothers or families in need. They had this whole display set up of the gifts that were donated. It was so great to see the outcome of everyones generosity. These mommies are going to be really blessed. 


At the after party they had a live Jazz band. It was a great ambiance. It was fun to stand around with everyone and enjoy the pretty evening. 



I was so excited that my little sister wanted to go with me. We had a good time hanging out. It was good bonding.  

Wednesday, June 15

Chin Up.


Yesterday we were supposed to leave for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We were supposed to meet our little lady tomorrow for the first time. We were supposed to hold her and kiss her and go to court to become her guardians this week. This was the week where things were to become official and she would officially be ours. This week has not been that way. This week is not going to be that week that I hold my sweet daughter and smell her hair and feel her skin. This is a hard week. It is hard to keep your chin up when you have invested so much of your self into someone or something for 10 months just to be handed more disappointment and more frustration, more changes and more delays. But in this darkness of unknowns and disappointment, I have decided....
to keep
MY CHIN UP!

I know my God is good and I know my God is sovereign. I know he is working on the other side of this.  He is pulling out things that I cannot see but I can feel and experience. I know that God is for this adoption. He has called us to care for the orphans (James 1:27) and be fathers and mothers to the fatherless and motherless. This is his heart. This is his character and I know he didn't bring us here to forsake us or abandon us in this. He is here with us in this and he is carrying me and I will choose to lift my CHIN UP. 

I am so thankful for the friends God has brought me. I have a particular friend who cries with me, pleads with me, begs with and believes with me. She is my Aaron and holds my arms up when I cannot. And I am forever grateful to have her in my life. She has held me up when I am down and feel to weak to do this on my own. She has more faith than anyone I know. Friend you know who you are and I love you dearly! Thank you for always believing with me and walking this journey with me. 

 

Graduation Day

All I can say about South Texas is IT IS SO HOT!!!! I thought I was melting from the thick humidity and heat! Ugh. I could never ever live there. Thank goodness for hotel pools. We swam that day before graduation. Her graduation ceremony was at 6 PM OUTSIDE!!! It was good though. We were at least sitting where the sun was behind us.








Bech Trip Part 5

The last day at the beach was so fun and relaxing! I can't wait to go back. Better yet I can't wait to take the boys to a white sand beach somewhere. We definitely enjoyed our little trip. 

I asked Parker to clean up all of his sand toys and this is how he cleaned them up. Since he was a baby he has lined everything up in a perfect organized row. He is so much like his dad it is hilarious. 

We ended our last day at this yummy little Italian restaraunt. It was better then most I have had in NYC! YUM!

The next day we drove into Harlengin and got ready for my sister-in-law's graduation party. Their church was nice enough to let us use there fellowship hall and already had the tables and chairs set up for us. All we needed to do was decorate. We wanted to keep it simple but girlie and fun. Here is what we came up with.



Here is a pic of Phillip and I at the celebration. We had a good time meeting all of Jessica's family and friends and celebrating her accomplishment of graduating high school.