Fair Trade Friday

As many of you have noticed, I have been posting on my Facebook site about a ministry called Fair Trade Friday. Or maybe you have seen me wearing these gorgeous earrings:

Image courtesy of Fair Trade Friday

The opportunity to become a small part of this organization came to me and I immediately seized it. My little part is simply to blog and share about the wonderful ways that Mercy House Kenya and Fair Trade Friday are empowering women to be able to better their own lives. Just one example of the many women who have been impacted is Pauline.

Image courtesy of Fair Trade Friday

This is a small glimpse of her story:

Pauline was only 15 years old when she became pregnant through force. 

When she moved into Rehema House in Kenya, the maternity home 

funded by Mercy House, she was desperate and hopeless. In just a few 

short years, her life has been transformed through the Gospel. Her son, 

Melvin, is thriving. Recently, Pauline graduated from the residence 

program and moved back home. She attends vocational beauty school 5 

days a week, while Melvin is in school because of sponsorship. Every 

Saturday, she goes into the heart of her slum and teaches more than 20 

mothers how to make beautiful product that is then sent to the USA and 

mailed out in air Trade riday boxes. The women in this community 

outreach make around $50 a month from the product and that’s enough 

to pay for rent, provide food and school fees for their children. rom a 

pregnant teen to a mother/teacher, Pauline’s future is bright and she is a 

beautiful example of what God can do. 

********

You might be asking how you can help those women who are across the world from you. By taking advantage of one if the many options Fair Trade Friday and Mercy House Kenya have available, you will be doing just that, helping.

* Become a member of Fair Trade Friday's monthly club boxes. More information can be found here. There is currently a waiting list, but they are adding more members every month!

Image courtesy of Fair Trade Friday

* You could also purchase a one time box.

* Another way of helping is by joining the Earring of the Month Club. Each month, you will receive a fabulous pair if earrings. (Also currently a wait list, but still sign up!)

* The Mercy Shop has even more beautiful products awaiting your purchase.

Image courtesy of Fair Trade Friday

Please consider partnering with these ministries in order to empower women all over the world!

Not Enough Time

There isn't much time....

                                        to have enough time for talks.
                                        to get enough hugs and kisses.
                                        to get enough snuggle time.
                                        to watch them grow.
                                        to have enough girl time.
                                        to laugh, celebrate, love on and be with them...

before they leave.

My eyes are filling with tears as I write this. One month from yesterday my brother, sister (she's never really been just my sister-in-law), niece and nephews embark on a new chapter in their lives. They are moving to Africa to go help orphans. About 15 months ago, we started to see just how serious everything was when they gave up their own house to save money to go.

As I have watched and helped at their sales and other things, it didn't quite hit me that they were leaving. Then Natalie had a crafting sale Tuesday night to sell off her craft stuff and that's when it really hit me. My sister loves crafting and wouldn't normally want to sell the stuff just because. So it all must be real if she is selling this stuff, right?

I never had a sister growing up. I was blessed with being the middle child with two protective brothers on one side and another two protective brothers on the other. So when Nat came into the family 11 years ago (and oh how I remember meeting her for the first time and going to dinner at Gelsosomo's Pizza) it was like a breath of fresh air for me even though it may not have seemed like it at the time.

A year later they got married and have 4 beautiful kids!

I so admire their hearts for doing all of this. Leaving their friends and family to go live in a country that is totally different from ours to do God's work. It is absolutely wonderful!

But oh how I am going to miss them....

                      my brother who has this amazing brain for ideas - things to build, make, do etc.
                      my sister who is my best friend and someone I look up to.
                      Mia with her girly ways and loving heart.
                      Asher with his love for knights, fighting and battles and his sensitive nature.
                      Eli with his fearless personality and amazing snuggles and love.
                      Ethan with his "I can do anything the big kids can" attitude and the way his little hand
                                      feels tucked into mine.

I don't feel like there's enough time as I try to imprint all of these things into my mind. I am Auntie K to the older two and Uncle K to the younger two. It started with Eli and leaked to Ethan and others. I love it and thing it's adorable. Little things I don't want to forget.

And the tears start again ....

Homeschooling Decision

As most everyone knows, we moved in June from our apartment to a house. With that move, we changed school districts, so Liam was going to have to be in a new school. He was very excited about it and Josh and I were also because we had gotten really burned at our last school. We felt as though the teacher had given up on Liam when we were in the process of figuring out some medical issues with him, which she brought to light.

Josh and I had tossed around the idea of homeschooling from April or May of this year, but were feeling like the best bet was to try the new school and go from there. Well, needless to say, that didn't work out. When we went to register Liam, we were very unimpressed with the school and felt incredibly uncomfortable with him going there. We were new there and no procedures or handbooks were given out to us. I felt very unprepared for Liam to go there.

I called the bus barn in the next few days to find out which bus Liam would be riding and the timing for drop off and pick up. They called me back and informed me that we are in the walking district and there will be no bus for him. So I asked them what families did if they didn't have transportation for their kids. I was told:

"They walk.".

"Even on bad days when it's raining, cold, snowing etc?"

"Yep.".

My first thought...oh. So in tears, I called Josh and my mom to find out what I could do. You see, I babysit other children out of my home. So I can have anywhere from just my 2 boys in the house to 6 kids in the house - ages ranging from 5 months up to 7 years old. I don't have a vehicle big enough to drive all the kids, nor am I going to try and cart that many kids all the way to the school.

So Josh asked me one question that solved everything.

"Home or school?"

"Home.".

I felt much more comfortable with Liam being home. All of my previous fears about homeschooling were instantly gone because I needed to take care of my son and do whatever was best for my son. So 1 week before public school was suppose start, we chose to homeschool Liam. I have had several talks with Natalie about what she is doing with her kiddos for school (she homeschools my niece and nephews, too!). We found the curriculums that I am using and we have been doing fantastic! We have our days where frustrations are high, but after the first one of those, I found out that I need to have a back up plan for learning. I have packets and other things for Liam to do on his own, while we both cool off.

There are other reasons behind the decision for homeschooling, but that was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

Happy Birthday, Austin!

Our baby is one now!

We had his party, celebrated him, loved on him and enjoyed the company that came. My youngest brother was dearly missed at this celebration because he was still in Japan.

When AJ woke up the morning of his party, he was terrified of balloons. Josh had gone to get him a special 1st birthday balloon and we had to coax him into being ok with it. Now, we can't go anywhere that there is a balloon without him reaching for it and saying the 'B' sound over and over. He loves balloons!

His cupcakes for the party were suppose to be in the shape of a honey pot from Winnie the Pooh. It didn't turn out the way that I had planned in my head, but that's ok. As we sang Happy Birthday to him, he smiled and loved it. The cupcake he wasn't so sure about. Josh tried to cut it up for him, but he just poked it and looked at it.

We got plenty of pictures from that special day - these are just a few :)

 Tears in his eyes because someone took away his balloon :)

 LOVE Balloons!

 Happy Birthday!

 Hmmm...what's this?

 Daddy put some in my mouth!

 Oooo BALLS!!

Happy Birthday, Monkey! We love you!!

Denial

Let's back up now a couple of months to some posts that I have not typed up, but had written:

As our baby turns one in just a few days, which totally doesn't seem possible by the way, I have come to the realization that I am in complete denial.

The invitations for his party were sent out later than I would have normally sent out invitations. Shoot, it took me forever to even buy them! Planning his party .... what planning? Buying him presents ...what's that?

Josh looked at me tonight and said "are we actually going to go buy him gifts this weekend?".

I just smiled and said, "no".

Because then it's real and my baby won't be a baby anymore. I know he will always be MY baby but he's not A baby.

This one is hard...and I'm not ready.

Denial ....

First Science Project EVER

As some of you may know, we decided to homeschool Liam. There will be another post explaining some reasoning behind it later - SO busy lately, that I have not been able to type up posts again. However, today - no, this week - has been extremely fun! Thanks to International Homeschool Spirit Week. I am hoping to blog a little bit about each day later in another post.

Every Tuesday and Thursday are science days! And boy has Liam loved to learn about science. Before we went out and bought different curriculums for me to teach, we talked with my sister-in-law about her recommendations. For science, we fell in love with the curriculum by Apologia. He got to choose which subject he wanted to learn about for the whole year. He immediately, without hesitation, chose Astronomy. I am having so much fun reading about everything as well!

So the second chapter in the book is all about the sun. One of the science projects that they do is melting a chocolate bar with a magnifying glass. We didn't have the greatest weather during the days that we were actually learning about the sun to do the experiment, but I kept the chocolate bar (even though there were many times I almost snitched it to eat myself) in the refrigerator - just in case.

Well today (even though it's a bit chilly) was PERFECT. The sun was shining without clouds, so before we even normally sit down to do school, I called to Liam and asked if he wanted to do a science project. At first, he was grumbling because I had already had him do something school related just an hour or two before that. Then he asked if we could do it outside, which is where he was headed anyway, and I said of course! And then he realized WHICH project we were doing and he was thrilled!

So off we trooped to the driveway, magnifying glass, chocolate bar and baby in tow. Austin crawled around on the ground while Liam concentrated the sun's energy onto the chocolate bar. Before we started, I was able to remember to grab my camera - so here are some pictures!

 

 Just starting out!

 Trying to concentrate and keep still!

 Working a different angle!

Our end result!

 

We knew that we had done well only because Austin got away from both of us and smashed his fingers into the chocolate before either one of us could stop him! :) Oh well! So this was Liam's first science project EVER! and he LOVED it! 

Crawling :)

He's crawling! Oh, he's crawling!

My baby is fully mobile now and is so quick, too! It went from rolling to crawling in the blink of an eye! It didn't seem to have any in between.

Austin sure did take his time to crawl. But it was so fun to watch him roll, twist, turn and all around finagle himself to exactly where he wanted to go. Not it's all over and just a waiting game until walking - ugh! Not yet!

We love watching him grow, but boy it sure is hard sometimes. You can't turn back time and it certainly doesn't stop.

Bit by Bit

Albeit the moving process has had it's ups and downs, stressful moments as well as hair pulling moments, it is so nice to not be stepping all over each other.

The boys are enjoying their rooms and backyard. Josh and I are enjoying the ability to let our boys have more freedom. We are also enjoying our first home :) Neither one of us has ever had a house, so this is something special for both of us.

We are settling in nicely, bit by bit. Making this our home, bit by bit.

2 on the 2nd

So a couple of families I know do pictures of their kids each month on the corresponding day to how many kids they have. Well back in May, I decided I wanted to do it, too. Unfortunately, I was already past the 2nd of May, so there is not one for May.

But this is June's picture:

These are our boys on the front steps of our new house! :) It also happens to be the first pictures of them here. I couldn't pick just one picture because these were all so cute! We will be officially moving in on June 9th! :)

I Miss Your Blogs

Clearly I took another break from writing as much as I used to. It was not planned at all. I wrote two blog entries and then never typed them up to publish them.

Then so much craziness ensued with birthdays, holidays, moving, Liam finishing first grade, medical issues with me, Liam and Austin and so much more! I have so many things to write about now. My brain is stuffed with all these ideas - I literally wrote a bunch down so I don't forget :) because - I will.

I have again been feeling the pull to write, but have continuously put it off. Again, telling myself I'm not good enough and no one really wants to hear what lil ole me has to say. I'm a nobody in the writing world.

Then:

Josh "By the way, I thought about something that I miss .... from you!"

Me "Oh yeah? What's what?"

Josh "Your blogs! I already have an idea about the things you'll write about. However, it's still nice to
         hear your heart through writings!"

My amazing husband said that to me and not only did it warm my heart, but it inspired me to write more.

Half

Then came this post that I, again, wrote a couple of months ago, but didn't publish.



.5

50%

One half

There are so many things that these can stand for.

The two significant things this stands for with me right now are half way to one year and half way to being a teenager.

I can't believe that 7 1/2 months have gone by already and my baby is half way to being one! He is rolling everywhere, sitting up like a champ, making all sorts of new noises, saying mama and dada, laughing at his brother, smiling at our dog, eating solid foods like a big boy and growing so fast!

He loves green beans and squash! I have been processing my own food - so fun! Those two have been the overall hit with him.

Austin and I have fallen into a pretty nice routine that seems to work for all of us.

Liam will be 7 in less than a month - he's already half way to a teenager - ah! How did that much time go by? It seems like just yesterday he was Austin's age and just beginning to learn things. Now he is over half done with first grade, almost 7 and crazy smart!

I can't blink - before I know it they will be half way to 30, half done with college, half way to their wedding and kids of their own....

Never Too Late To Write

This post is actually something I wrote a couple of months ago, but didn't get the chance to actually publish it.


So much time has gone by. I have found every excuse under the sun not to write:

It started with I got busy.

Moved to I need to sleep while Austin is because I'm tired, so I don't write.

Then, Liam is home on break and I need/want to spend time with him. And Josh is on vacation because of holidays and I need/want to spend time with him.

On to, does it even matter if I write?

And so on to the point that it was easier to come up with a reason not to write then it was to write. It was harder for me to come up with a reason to write.

Until I picked up my notebook yesterday and started thinking about and writing my book again. The love for writing instantly came back and now it's all I can think about.

So now I am just writing to write because the urge is there and my mind can't be quieted.

My Little Helper

I am sitting in the computer chair waiting for Liam to come back. We have been playing a game together while Austin sleeps and Josh is at basketball. We took a break so Liam could get his jammies on.

It is taking a bit longer than normal for him to get his jammies on. I call back to him and can't hear his response. I am assuming it has to do with him needing just a minute to finish.

I am not entirely present because I am not feeling well. My body aches, throat hurts, head hurts and is fuzzy and I just want to curl up under a warm blanket to sleep. But my oldest has desired to snuggle and play with me. He knows I am not feeling well, so he doesn't ask for anything to challenging.

I call back to him again because he still has not come back to play the game.

"Mom, the dryer is done, so I'm trying to take the dry stuff out and put the wet stuff in and put the dirty stuff in."

My heart melts. All feelings of sickness have gone.

He knows I have been doing laundry today and he wanted to help. He was wanting to switch the loads of laundry for me. We do it together.

Then I pull him onto my lap (despite the aching legs) and finish our game.

I am joining Heather at EO: Just Write

The Itch

I start to feel the itch. I am struggling with whether to push it away or just go with it.

Last week was a crazy week and to begin the week, AJ had gotten his immunizations. And every mom knows that the first day or so after the shots, your baby a lot of times just needs you. This is how Austin was. So I let the laundry, dishes and other household things slide. Plus there were errands outside of the house that needed to be tackled as well. But I pushed those off for awhile as well.

My baby needed me, so I just focused on him.

The week started to go by and I got some things done, but not nearly what I had wanted to get done.

The weekend went by and I knew I had the beginning of this week to catch up some.

But then Austin starts having horrible sleeping times at night. Which, of course, means that I have horrible times sleeping at night too. So I am exhausted and have no energy.

This is where I am at this week. The itch is that there are things that need to get done and I know need to get done. But I am tired, so I curl on the couch to nap with Austin after Liam heads off to school on the bus.

I have to keep reminding myself of the fact that it is not about the things that I do that makes me worthwhile and such, but who I am that makes that so. I don't become less worthwhile one week because I had to focus on my child(ren) and couldn't get some of the housework/errands done and more worthwhile the next week because I can get those things done. It doesn't work that way.

I need to be able to be a good wife, mom and woman. In order to do this, I do need to be rested.



I am following Heather at EO: Just Write

Don't Wait For Tomorrow

I don't have a really good picture of my mother-in-law, otherwise, I would put it here. Why? Because today she has been gone for 1 year.

It was first thing in the morning when I got a phone call from my husband telling me that his mom had passed away early that morning. We had both known that she would probably not live a very long life, but we never expected for her to be taken at 51 years old.

One of the hardest things for me? I was 6 weeks pregnant and Candy never knew that she was going to have another grandchild. You see, we were waiting to tell everyone at Thanksgiving, which happened to be the very next Thursday.

I still to this day get choked up thinking about the fact that I never got to tell her about the pregnancy, talk with her about it, see the excitement on her face when we told her it was a boy, talk with her about how Josh was when he was a baby and see the love that we all knew she had for her children and grandchildren.

I didn't get to know her as well as I would have liked, but then I had only known her for 2 years before she died. Candy was not perfect, of course. She definitely had her flaws. However, now that I am on the other side of the fence, I would rather have her and her flaws than not have her at all.

I tell you all of this for two reasons.

1. Writing is often times how I deal with my grief. Everyone deals with things differently and this just happens to be one way that helps me deal with my pain.

2. There is never enough time to talk to, love on, share things/stories with and enjoy those that you love. So don't wait to do it tomorrow. Don't think you have enough time to get what you need or tell them you love them. Do it now. You never want to be left wondering.

Just remember, even though everyone is not perfect and they have their flaws, I am sure you would much rather have that person and their flaws then to never have them again. It may not have always been easy with my mother-in-law, but she loved her kids, grand kids and she loved me like I was her own daughter.

Pumpkin Muffins

Don't these look delicious?!

I haven't been able to try them yet because they literally just came out of the oven. But I did taste the batter and that was definitely good! :o)

I have been wanting to cook and bake more. So over the weekend, I got a few of my mom's and grandma's recipes. I had also said that I would like to attempt the pies for Thanksgiving this year. Mind you, I have NEVER made a pie before. Cakes, cupcakes, brownies, muffins and other things, yes. But never a pie! So I made one last weekend as a trial run - it was completely devoured! Yay! My husband even had two pieces :o)

So that sparked my confidence a bit to stretch out and try other things. The pumpkin muffins are the first. But I have a lasagna, pumpkin cheesecake and a few other recipes that I am anxious to try! I will let you know how they come!

Pray

I am sure everyone has heard that a lot of how we parent is by what we know, how we were parented and our experiences.

Well, I don't like one big thing about how I parent. Often times, when I get frustrated, stressed, tired, etc etc, I yell. I do not in any way, shape or form like yelling. I have really tried to not get frustrated as easily, which helps not yelling. But I still do it.

This stems from my dad. That's what he did when we were growing up - he yelled. And I am not saying he is wrong in how he parented us - he's a wonderful father and I couldn't ask for anyone better!

I am just not ok with yelling. I see what it does to my boy and it crushes him. There are times when I feel like it's the only way to get through to him, but there has to be another way.

Yesterday morning he and I had quite a morning. He was arguing with me, disrespecting me and not listening to me. All from 7 am until we left for the bus at 8! I did not yell, but I raised my voice. I really could have reacted differently to the whole situation.

So Josh got home from work and stayed with the littlest, so I could pick up Liam alone. We took a little bit and I apologized for the way I reacted. He very quickly apologized back for acting the way he did. He knew he was still going to have consequences for his actions, but he also knew that I loved him very much and that had not changed.

So I am trying to find the time to sit down with Liam to ask him to pray for me.

Pray that I stop yelling.

Pray that when I do, because I will I'm sure - I am human, that he will forgive me.

Pray that frustrations will roll off my back.

I know a lot of these things have happened because of Austin getting here. When you have little sleep and are exhausted, things seem larger and worse than they really are. So maybe this is the best time for Liam to be praying for and with me.

He prays every night when he goes to bed that he will listen and respect better, so why shouldn't I pray every night that I will stop yelling?  And...I can get some help by having others pray that too.



I am joining Heather at EO: Just Write

Pumpkin Time!

With my favorite season well underway, it was time for my guys and me to head to the pumpkin patch. Everything that we do as a family annually has even more meaning with the addition of AJ to our lives. We now have 2 boys, 2 kids, 2 loves and 2 lives that are precious to us and add so much joy!

Last year when we went to the pumpkin patch, we went on a hayride out to the field and got to pick our own pumpkins. We really enjoyed that - so did Liam! We weren't sure how well that would work out this year.

The weekend we chose to go couldn't have been better, we had out Indian Summer - so amazing weather! We all got out of the car and I grabbed the camera. Before we did anything, we saw a tractor and trailer getting loaded for the hayride out to the field. We thought we would give it a try, so we all climbed aboard. Austin was snuggled in Daddy's arms and Liam was next to me just chattering away.

When the tractor stopped, we wandered and found the perfect pumpkins - one for Liam and one for Austin. We loaded them onto the trailer and waited for all the others to finish.

We paid for our orange decorations and headed off to have some fun. They have mazes, big wooden trucks and trains and a "haunted bus" to play in.

Lots of pictures were taken, giggles were shared and memories made!

My favorite time of year is truly here!

Oh The Conversations!

The boys are in the back of the car as we are running errands. Liam has fall break, so I get to enjoy my oldest all day! I have missed all the helpful things he does when we run errands; unlock and open the car doors, start the car and many other things. I have also missed the random conversations we have.

Like today!

In between stores, AJ is sleeping during the car ride while Liam and I are listening to music.

"Excuse me!" comes from the backseat.

"I guess!" I say in response - it's a family joke/response :o)

"Don't worry, mom, it doesn't smell."

I have to process this for a second to get that he had just passed gas and was telling me it didn't have an odor. I start laughing.

"When I farted, the button on my pants popped open!"

That's when I lost it and burst out laughing. Liam begins to laugh as well. (I am also giggling as I rewrite this conversation!)

This is where I realize how much I miss these times. And the silly conversations that come with! :o)

What Ifs and Hows

I should be sleeping, but I'm not.

I should be calm, but I'm not.

Tears of exhaustion and frustration are welling up in my eyes and spilling onto my cheeks. My mind is racing with all the what ifs and hows.

My youngest is refusing to sleep for any length of time tonight that would be considered a restful amount. It has been almost 3 hours since I started out bedtime. I finally got him to sleep after quite a battle. I moved him to his bed - no problem. My head hit the pillow and he is awake screaming.

Back in his swing he goes. I am too tired and sore to hold my 20 lb almost 4 month old. He protests and cries, but falls asleep.

But I can't.

All I think about is how I know he needs to not have a nap after 7 pm so he goes to bed easier. But how do you do that when he has been awake since 6 pm and just cries because he's tired. And if he takes a nap he is only out for 30 minutes but that means he is up for another 2-3 hours. I think about how to make a schedule for him. But if I make a schedule, what if he's still too young.

Was it like this with Liam? Am I being too lax on getting more of a routine?

My mind slows and thoughts start to fade. Maybe sleep will come.

I am joining Heather at EO: Just Write