Making some changes ~ I think....

Things have been so busy around here. I haven't been doing all I need to do and yet, there seems to be no time for much at all. We have started back to school this week and that is one more thing on my plate. Not looking for sympathy, just wondering when my time management skills are going to kick in. That's assuming I had any to begin with. :-/ I will eventually be moving all of the items I sale to a new blog(or my personal stuff to a new page) as well as a new Facebook page. Trying to streamline a few things and keep things simple. I'm not good at that so it may just complicate things a bit more. Lol. That's me. I tend to make things complicated yet deep down, I really long for them to be simplified. We'll see what happens. Maybe there will be no change whatsoever and this post will have been for nothing!

Headed back to Ethiopia in March! So excited. Working on that. Needing to update and load the new stuff I'm doing. Again, you can click on my Facebook badge and look at the photos that I have made public. This is where the fb page will come in handy :) loading pictures in both places gets a bit time consuming. But I will do both eventually.

I also want to highlight another friends journey to Ethiopia with Because Every Mother Matters in March. Linda is her name and she is such an encouragement. She is selling homemade goats milk soap to help fund her journey. Will you please check her out? Here is her link. I know she would be very blessed by you if you would purchase some of her soap. Read about her journey. Help her out. Get her there so she can love on the two women her family sponsors. You would bless my socks off by doing so!

By the way, Happy New Year! Our new years celebration was a quiet one at home with just the six of us. We played wipeout on the wii (totally got beat), then our annual sports competition. Still got totally beat! I blame it on the 32 hour drive we took in one week. 16 hours one day and 16 about 4 days later. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;) not to mention, I haven't picked up a wii remote in quite sometime and I'm out of practice. :D

Ok, time to work on changes and see if they will be worth it or a waste of time.

May the Lord bring you His best this year as you seek His face and draw closer to him!

STWTHE,
Laurie

Just added tiles 10-19 on the Scrabbel necklace page.  So take a look and see if any of these would like to find a home around your neck  =0)  or check out the  new KID STUFF tab and see the new things going up there.  This is all funding my trip to Ethiopia!!!  That is if I can finish raising my funds.  If you don't want anything but would still like to help, there is a donate button as well. 

Have a glorious day in the LORD.

STWTHE,
Laurie

Love these soft blocks

I just have to share these.  These have been sold but if you decide you want a set, I do have a set that is black, white and hot pink made. Just need to finish up the hem. They are $15 for the set of three plus shipping. Haven't figured that cost yet but will this weekend. .  I can make these in the same colors or if you want a special color set, message me and I'll see what I can do for ya'.  I just love them!!!

 So, fun.  Easy to make.  And they are HUGE!!!!  4 1/2" X  4 1/2" X 4 1/2".  This set is all cotton except for the small red with white dots which is a polyester blend.  The blocks are filled with a polyfil fiber.  All fabrics have been washed.

I'm holding one just so you can see that they are HUGE!!!! :)

 

Anyway, these made my day.  My kids even like them.  Today, wishing I had one toddler home so she could play with them.  A and S, can't wait until God opens that door to bring you girls home!!! 

A Bella Tote was added today over on my purses page.  So, be sure to check that out.  I have three more cut out.  Just need to get them put together. 

STWHE,

Laurie

ETHIOPIA or bust!

Most of you probably won't notice the changes but some may. I'm making a few changes due to my fundraising for my mission trip to Ethiopia with Because Every Mother Matters. I've added a donate button on the side bar for anyone who would like to help me raise the $3000 to go love on some mamas, help build some stuff, restock a clinic and hike up and down a mountain that is apparently pretty steep to go into a remote region of Ethiopia. :) For those who would like something for that donation, I'm still making purses (I have removed the bags and fabric pages) and have a few that I have not put up on here as of yet. I will be posting soon - I hope. What you see is what will be available. I also have a friend who is helping me by doing a Scentsy fundraiser through the month of August. She will not place the order until Aug. 30th. The cool thing about this is, most of the products are 10% off this month. There are a few things that are not and they asterisked, but other than that, it's on sale! So will you go here? This will bless both she and I.

I'm thinking of a few ways to raise the funds to go. So, yes, this is a shameless plea for help. Help in spreading the word. Help financially. For prayer. For ideas. Im open to just about anything!

Y'all, I REALLY REALLY want to go. I didn't have any idea how bad until I was talking about it with my husband and tears came to my eyes at just the prospect of going or not going. It's scary to think about leaving my family for several days and being across the world in a foreign land and yet, my heart longs to go in such a way that I have no words to describe. To see, smell, work, play, laugh, eat alongside these people. To have an opportunity to come back and share all that I have experienced and really get the word out. To impact just one life. Most importantly, to share the love of Jesus with these people. I want to be HIS hands and feet. I want to see the world through His eyes.

With just the purses, I have to sale at least 200 purses. I have sold two. I'm willing to do this but I NEED your help.

BTW, any monies raised above what I need will go straight to BEMM to help in providing the birthing kits, stocking the clinic, buying the ambulance for the village of Mayera. However, they deem necessary to use the money.

Again, thank you for your support.

STWTHE,
Laurie

Send Me!

Ok, so this is not going to be your average fundraising letter.  This is going to be an opportunity for most of you to get a chance to see into my heart and laugh at me a bit.  I may even be called a fraud by some. I pray that is not the case.  I pray it's an opportunity for me to bring awareness to a need in our world. 

Truth be told, I’m excited about an opportunity to go on a trip with a woman that I admire much.  Why?  Because she's a woman whose heart reflects Jesus.  She's a woman of action.  She's a woman who will not allow the impossible to stop her.  She believes in a great BIG God.  To be her friend gives you an opportunity to see Him move in her life and in those she helps.  She's the brainchild, founder and director of Because Every Mother Matters (BEMM - for short).  She's intuitive.  She's authentic. She's passionate.  So, why not go with Steffany Boster to Ethiopia? Especially if it's your first one?  I can tell you it will be something that will be adventurous as well as unforgettable!

If I were you, I would probably be thinking, “Laurie is going on a mission trip?” That’s a completely fair thought. I keep asking myself that too. I’m not the first person people think of when you would think of as someone wanting to go to a place that's even hotter than our current city.  In fact, a couple a years ago, I told Kevin that there was not a chance I would go somewhere where it was even hotter than here.    I'm not the first person you would think of that would give up her comforts of home to go where comfort is not in abundance.  Well, God works miracles in the heart of His people. When He wants to do a work, He will circumcise that heart of yours until it matches up to His.  Be careful what you pray for!  He did it to me.   :)

Yes, I’m a busy mom of four.  We homeschool.  We are becoming more active in our church (we just moved again so that's why I say we are becoming active). A wife of a soldier. Is it a good time to go?  Don't think I can answer that with anything other than a "No."  But I’m not sure if there is ever a “good time” to go on a mission trip.   I could probably come up with a list of reasons why I shouldn’t go, but I keep coming back to the one reason I should – God loves people.  He loves every mama out there.  Did you know that 1 in 11 women die due to pregnancy related causes in Africa?  In addition, this is one step in helping the orphan crisis.  Will it solve it?  Absolutely not!  But it will help in not adding to the 163 million and growing number of orphans in this world.  None of this okay!  None of it is something that I can stand by and be a spectator of anymore.

I’ve been trying to live that in the life I currently have. I mean it’s easy to pray for far off places and far off people, seeing it for your own eyes- well, I know it's another story.  Loving who you live and work with is a bit easier, though still a challenge.  When you see it, when you live it, it's real.  It's easy to be motivated to do something for the person right next door.  Far off places; it's a picture you can detach from. It's easy to say, "It's not my problem."   I’ve been trying to see my life as a mission field, not just this trip. It's been interesting to see the way God has used this new approach to everything from the way I interact with people at the grocery store to the way I treat people in traffic. But now, it’s time to take the things I’ve learned to a new level. To another continent. It's time for me to move outside of my comfort zone.  To become a woman of ACTION!  To really live out my faith and become the hands and feet of Jesus.

I’m going to Ethiopia for 10 days.   Going wasn’t a hard decision. When it comes down to it, Jesus laid out a pretty simple religion for us, didn’t He? Love God, love others, and love ourselves. Nope, deciding to go was easy. Paying for it however, well, that's a challenge.

To be honest with you, I just don’t have $3000 laying about the house.  So, instead of selling my plasma 87 times, I decided to write and ask for something I don’t usually ask for - money. I’d love if you could financially support me on this mission trip. A little, a lot, any would be great. And if you want to know more about BEMM, please email me, message me on Facebook, give me a call or go to www.BEMM.org.

 If you could pray about the trip, that would be awesome!  As much as God loves mission trips, other people don’t. There will be a whole host of obstacles that pop up (as they already have) and entangle themselves around our ankles as we prepare to go love the people of Ethiopia.   Knowing that you are praying would mean a lot to me.

Thanks for reading this and giving me an opportunity to share about BEMM, a program I truly love along with the women behind it.  

STWTHE, 
Laurie

Little did I know is doing a giveaway

I know, one more giveaway post but when you are fundraising for a child who is waiting, well getting your name out there is important. So, I am sharing about Lisa's giveaway over at Little Did I Know. CSN stores has provided a $55 gift certificate to be given to one of her readers. Go check it out and while you are there, check out her coffee store as well as the beautiful necklaces she is making and selling to bring home her newest bundle of joy.

Be blessed today. Seek God's face and allow Him to give you a glimpse of His glory.

STWTHE,
Laurie

P.S. Maybe a new purse will be posted today :)

When God spoke...

This is a title a friend of mine sent me to cover a moment in time that will forever be etched in my memory. Many of you have gone that road. You know, the one where you see the picture and that's it. Knowing that she just takes your breath away. Well, that's what happened to me two weeks ago now. The week of the T4A conference I saw a precious little girl for the first time. She literally took my breath away. That has never happened before outside of giving birth to my kids. Don't get me wrong, I have seen some pretty, even beautiful kids before but this one made me stop breathing. I gasped when I saw her. I showed the picture to my family. Everyone said the same thing,"she's beautiful!". And they are right. I didn't ask for them to pray about her, didn't say anything else about her. Bella shared the next day that she had a dream about her and that we had gone to pick her up because we had adopted her. I just smiled and went about my business of preparing for my weekend. The one I didn't want to go on but God in his faithfulness intervened and made it harder not to go. I saved it to my ip*d, shared her picture. Saved many others as well, so it wasn't like she was the only one. (side note: two of the kids that have been saved to my ip*d and we have been praying for may have forever families! YIPPEEEE!!!!") That Friday night, while in my hotel room, Kevin would email me to tell me the family couldn't stop talking or thinking about her. I just smiled to myself and said the same thing in my head,"I can't stop thinking about her." The next day I would be blubbering like a big ol' baby after hearing Aaron Ivey share Amos Song and Robert Gallinas tell his story. Later learning that my husband prayed for God to open doors and provide financially if we were to move in the direction of brining her home that same Friday night. Let me tell y'all something - THIS IS HUGE!!! We weren't wanting to adopt for another 2 years. We weren't looking to add to our family just yet. Yet, here we are... All we know is she's ours! She's in Russia. She's two years old and she has the biggest blue eyes you have ever seen. This child, this daughter I never knew we had is ours! We are thrilled. Excited. Overjoyed. Full of emotions that are incomprehensible. Love for a child we have never met. Impatient. Exhalting the Father in heaven because he is the only one who can do this. When this happens and we go to Russia to get this blue-eyed beauty, we will know it was because of God and the mountains only He can move! We are not sharing her photo yet as we are not "official" but I will tell you - when God spoke, we listened and we know and now we are moving toward her.

One way we are trying to raise the funds is through donations. I'm making bags and purses (click on the tabs at the top to see styles and fabric slections). We are asking for minimum donations of $10 for sm/children, $25 for medium and $35 for large plus shipping costs ($5 - if it's more than one item, I will discount the shipping if you will leave a comment so I can get in touch with you). If it is overseas, the shipping will be higher and I will let you know before you do the chipin. Prices will be included there as well.

I'm working on a blog badge and so many other things right now. There is just not enough time in the day but I will do whatever it takes to get to her!!! I've made that promise to her and won't stop until I do. She's our daughter!!!

Thank you for being apart of our journey to our daughter. We hope to be sharing more info soon as things progress.

Seeing the World Through His Eyes,
Laurie