We are THAT Family
My favorite (fair trade) wallet is half price today. It holds my phone too.
You know what’s even better than that? It provided 10 jobs.
TEN. [artist. weaver. block carver. dyer. fabric maker. print maker. bag maker. quality checker. packager. shipper.]
Retails for over $40 bucks.
Coming this weekend to Texas: (and our annual online blowout is July 29th!)
I wrote this post one year ago. Since that time, I've learned a lot more about rest, work and myself and mostly honoring Sabbath. I can't wait to tell you more about it. Today was my first day back to work after taking a one month sabbatical. Our family packed a few bags and our fluffy dog and headed to the mountains. It's the first time in decades that I've forced myself not to work, create or do. And it was hard. But, oh so, good. I learned some lessons and remembered some ... Read More
Tonight at the airport, I kissed my 19 year old daughter goodbye. She got on a flight alone that will carry her 9000 miles away from home. My dear friend, Ally, who worked for Mercy House Global before she moved overseas, will meet her in Thailand. Together, they will explore how to use art to empower women with dignified jobs. As my husband and I drove back home, I thought about my first solo flight to Kenya ten years ago. I had no idea how that trip would change everything. Everything. ... Read More
We eat the same meal at home on Monday nights for dinner. We aren’t in a rut. It’s not gourmet and there aren’t any secret ingredients. We are being intentional. Most of the world doesn’t have the luxury of having a pantry and refrigerator full of food with dozens of options. Meat is for the wealthy and fruit is a delicacy. What better way to remind our kids how much we have than through their bellies? We eat rice and beans every Monday and pick a country to pray for, so we can ... Read More
Hope. There's just nothing like it. After She Is Priceless, I'm feeling a lot of it. Thank you for showing up. We have rescued six girls in Kenya this month. Six pregnant teen girls who are experiencing a new hope today. We are celebrating by flash selling these adorable zipper pouches with their hand stitched rainbow by my artisan friends in Ukraine for only $10! Want more hope? I, mean, if the May Fair Trade Friday doesn't give it to you, you actually might be hopeless. ... Read More
I was sitting alone, trying to stay awake, in an airport in the middle of the night waiting to fly from one African country to the next. Sleeping sitting up wasn't going well. The airport was nearly empty and the only noise was the old TV monitor above my head. The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants was playing in a different language. As I stared at the screen and yawned, four friends shopped together. I pieced together the plot and remembered these girls found a seemingly ordinary pair of jeans ... Read More
I've taken my kids to countries in Africa for the past decade. Waking to the Muslim call to prayer that broke the early morning silence in the city became a normal part of our trips. Our ears were filled with foreign languages and our mouths with unique foods and fives times a day, many in the city would stop, roll down their shop doors and roll out their mats and they would stop to pray. On one of those first trips, when my youngest was only four years old, we walked past a group of ... Read More
I've been in a funk since I got home from Kenya. It's okay. You don't have to fix me (something I tell my husband often). It's not a new thing--the jet lag, the clashing of the first world with the third, the way the burden of Mercy House Global seems to multiply every year. Even after countless trips, I struggle with the tension between my selfishness and the sacrifice obedience demands. I wrestle with what I have, with what others don't and how even after all I've witnessed, I still long ... Read More
