• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Kristen Welch

We are THAT Family

  • Home
  • About
    • Meet Kristen
    • FAQ
      • Privacy/Disclosure Policy
      • Giveaways, Reviews & Sponsored Posts
  • Blog
  • The Mercy House
    • The Mercy House
    • Shop Mercy
  • Books
    • Raising World Changers in a Changing World
    • Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World
    • Rhinestone Jesus
    • Don’t Make Me Come Up There
  • Podcast
    • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

You are here: Home / Archives for Kristen

Kristen

There’s No Time Like the Present. Give the Gift of Presence This Christmas

December 10, 2019 by Kristen

It was the biggest Christmas poinsettia I’d ever seen.

She held it out, blocking my view, filling the space between us. My arms automatically reached out and our hands touched as I received her gift. And even though I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was smiling. Because I was, too.

It turns out when you show up at the door of a refugee on a regular basis,  your presence is a gift you both get to unwrap because He is also present. We drank strong, hot coffee, and ate the good kind of chocolate wrapped in gold foil. It’s humbling when someone with so little gives you so much. You know it’s costing them more than they have to give.

Somehow, this has become my life. This simple showing up, exchanging stories, overwhelmed by each other’s gifts of time and presence. It’s the kind of present I want to open every day of the year.

The phone rang and she gave me a look to say this is important and answered it in her native language and I could see the concern etched on her face. Is everything okay? I asked once she hung up.

In her best English, she explained her aging parents, and so much of her family, still lived in a refugee camp across the ocean. Life was hard. Her father was ill. She longed to be present with them every day, especially this time of year.

She stood and left them room, leaving a heaviness behind that was hard for me to understand. I will enjoy the holidays with my family. I have the gift of presence.

She returned carrying a box and I drank my last sip of coffee. I knew it was time for business. My refugee friend set it down on the table between us. I looked at the contents inside with expectancy. Hope. And I caught her glancing at me with the same look.

This wasn’t just a box of handmade, beautiful earrings for Fair Trade Friday. No, it was much more that–it was provision for her to put food on the table, pay a bill, provide for tomorrow. It seems unbelievable that in this day and age when we have access to so much, a Fair Trade item can really provide all of that. I knew she would stretch the money to also send a bit to help provide medicine for her father.

It’s the same everywhere I travel, from refugees in the inner city to every woman I meet around the globe– it’s the eleventh hour and time is running out. The margin between what those in poverty have and what they need is thin and they are begging God for someone to show up, to use what they have, to be present.

And we have this crazy, easy opportunity to purchase an affordable last minute Christmas Fair Trade subscription for someone we love this holiday season that will show up in the nick of time. It’s not too late for this last minute gift. Isn’t it high time we give the gift of presence by giving presents that change lives?

When we join Fair Trade Friday, a monthly club that shows up every month, we are showing up in the lives of the poor. We are also filling our lives with meaningful gifts that provide hope and access for women in poverty.

There’s no time like the present.

When I started Mercy House Global a decade ago, I just wanted to help pregnant teens in Kenya. But I quickly learned that when you take a girl out of trafficking, you’ve also taken away her job, so creating dignified work moved up to the top of our list. We create dignified jobs for those teen moms and their families in Kenya and we do so for thousands of other women in more than 30 countries through our monthly subscription clubs at Fair Trade Friday because business is the best way to end poverty.

With just a click of your mouse, you can join a club and send a gift subscription this Christmas at the very last minute –it will not only provide a lovely, trendy, unique gift; it will provide a dignified job just in the nick of time.

Click to give the gift that gives all year long.

error

1 Comment Filed Under: My Life

A Million Welcomes

December 8, 2019 by Kristen

Baynatna khubz wa milah It’s an Arabic phrase which translates to say 'there is bread and salt between us'. It means that although there is much strife in the world, there is an enduring bond between people who have sat and shared a meal together. I have a Syrian cookbook that sits open on my kitchen counter that shares this phrase as a title. But I have not only witnessed the truth of this saying from the name of a book— No, I am also living it. For the last several months, I’ve ... Read More

2 Comments Filed Under: My Life

A Baby Changed Everything: A Giving Tuesday Invitation

December 2, 2019 by Kristen

I will never forget what the nurse in the maternity ward said to me as she carefully placed my firstborn baby--who was the result of five years of infertility and finally made her appearance a whopping 9 days after her due date -- into my arms. She said, "a baby changes everything." I smiled at her words, but I had no idea what they meant. But she was right. That pink bundle changed my sleeping patterns, schedules, body,  work life and everything in-between. My life has never been the ... Read More

1 Comment Filed Under: MercyHouse

A Black Friday + Cyber Monday Sale that Empowers

November 28, 2019 by Kristen

These are some Mercy House Global’s lowest prices ever! Don’t miss out on this huge sale that empowers. Plus— EVERY order receives a FREE fair trade ornament ($12 value!) *sale begins at 5 AM Black Friday through Cyber Monday or while supplies last ... Read More

Leave a Comment Filed Under: My Life

Ep. 19 | Thanks A Lot

November 25, 2019 by Kristen

“Mom…mom, hey mom!” My son had said my name 7 times in the last two minutes. I held up a finger, signifying he would wait until I paused in an important conversation with my husband. I continued talking and then-- He said my name—one more time. I should have ignored it, but I had lost my train of thought by that point. Exasperated, I turned around and said loudly, “WHAT, honey?” I think my left eye was twitching. He looked half-scared of my tone, half-relieved it was his turn, “I just ... Read More

1 Comment Filed Under: Moving Mountains Podcast

It’s Time for A List

November 19, 2019 by Kristen

It's the time of the year where if I don't write it down, it doesn't get done. Anyone else? I, mean, like yesterday, I actually wrote down on my To Do List, turn laundry over for the load that I've restarted in my washer twice since Sunday because I literally cannot.remember. Two of my kids were in a local community production of Frozen Jr. and my husband and I helped with sets for weeks and I ran the box office. It was so fun and I'm super proud of my kids but they are tired of my Let it Go ... Read More

6 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Ep. 18 | The Best Gift We Give Is Often The Best Gift We Receive

November 15, 2019 by Kristen

We walked down a red dirt road, dodging a thin, hungry-looking dog and a wayward goat eating from a pile of rotten food. We stepped over trash in our path as we passed row after row of small shacks. A couple of little kids dressed in rags played in the dirt with makeshift toys of rocks and sticks, as we walked by. We were surrounded by poverty so thick it overwhelmed every sense. I could hear hungry babies wailing in the distance and no matter which way the wind blew I rcouldn’t escape the smell ... Read More

4 Comments Filed Under: Moving Mountains Podcast

Here’s the Truth: Our Kids Need Jesus More Than They Need Us

November 11, 2019 by Kristen

I heard the tears the minute I picked up the phone,  "Mom?" I empathized. I encouraged. I listened. I cried. I rallied. I prayed. I was there. But do you know what I couldn't do? I couldn't take away the pain. Do you know who I couldn't be? The person my kid needed the most. I have walked with each of my children on different days, in different seasons, as they have faced the frustration and sadness that often comes with growing up--the lonely days, the misunderstandings, the ... Read More

3 Comments Filed Under: My Life

Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

You know the ones …

Subscribe to My Newsletter

Footer

Search

Recent Posts

  • There’s No Time Like the Present. Give the Gift of Presence This Christmas
  • A Million Welcomes
  • A Baby Changed Everything: A Giving Tuesday Invitation
  • A Black Friday + Cyber Monday Sale that Empowers

Categories

Copyright © 2008-2018 Kristen Welch, We are THAT Family · Site by Design by Insight · Family Portrait Artwork by Marry Me in Spring

Copyright © 2019 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in