Jumping back in...

A few weeks ago I got to sneak away from everyday life and have a girl's night in Austin.  Me and my best girlfriend got to attend Jamie Ivey's Happy Hour Live! It was so fun and so needed. Once we arrived at our hotel my girlfriend asked if I ever missed being a part of Noonday. We had not spoken of Noonday probably in over a year. It was so random because just a few days prior I had actually got the idea in my head to join back in. I wasn't sure I wanted to because so much of it is reliant on other people hosting shows and finding those hostess is hard to do. I had even told Ryan a few nights before the trip that I was thinking about joining again. So I felt like maybe her randomly bringing it up was a sign from the Lord! Who knows? Then that night at the event filled with tons of ladies, Jamie asked if anyone was a Noonday Ambassador. Yall there wasnt ONE hand raised! I couldn't believe in a group of women with so much in common, no one was representing Noonday. I felt right then and there that I never wanted to not be able to raise my hand again. I wanted to be able to say I'm a part of bringing dignity to men and women in vulnerable communities. I wanted to be able to say YES I am helping make a difference in the women. I wanted to be able to tell my friends that they CAN make a different with their purchase power and I wanted to provide them with that avenue. So right when I got home, I jumped back in! I'm back at being a Noonday Ambassador.




















If you have NO idea what Noonday is, here is the real definition... Noonday Collection a socially responsible business that uses fashion to create meaningful opportunities around the world. When you purchase jewelry from noonday you are providing reliable income for men and women in hard places. They depend on the consistent orders placed by noonday costumers to provide a respectable job for themselves. Noonday doesn't give a handout they provide opportunity. They bridge the gap between US and THEM.
My other answer would be they are a fair trade company that sells jewelry that looks like it is made from Anthropologie. That is what drew me to Noonday over 5 years ago. Cute stuff that makes a difference. Its a no brainer for me!

So if any of this strikes a cord with you I'd love to chat with you. I love to talk to people about stuff that fires me up and fair trade definitely does that! I would share that you can get involved by becoming a customer. You can shop for yourself or gift for family members. Noonday is great for all ages. (My daughters LOVE my Noonday samples!).

 You can host a show and help ME spread the message of Noonday Collection to your people.

Or if you love it SO SO much you can join as an Ambassador and you can share Noonday with your people yourself and get the behind the scenes perks!

 So thats my spill. Noonday Collection rocks and makes a difference.

Grades don't matter.

I have pretty much just been thrown into this elemantary age parenting gig. Well I was 2 years ago, but it still feels total foreign. School, friends, extra curricular activities, and even sibling dynamic are all so overwhelming. Ive been thinking  a lot lately about the latest parenting idea that grades don't matter as much as raising kind kids matter. Well this is a great IDEA but in reality makes parenting very stressful. I care what grades my kids make. I care if they make a lower grade than they usually do, and I care when they aren't really trying on their schoolwork. I care so much about them being kind, too. BUT I can't measure my kids kindness like I can their grades. I can't get a tutor or make them study extra to be kind. I can try to model good behavior, teach it to them during teachable moments, and punish (or redirect 😉) them for bad behavior, but I can't make them be kind to others. and what pressure!

Man, I would LOVE my kids to be getting character counts and all the other outstanding citizen awards and recognition, but guess what? They aren't. And that is hard on this momma. So whats the point of this. My point is that if you're a mom that doesn't get the good principal/teacher phone calls, you aren't alone. If you are the parent that doesn't get to post character counts awards pictures, you aren't alone. If you cringe when you think about checking their behavior notes for the day- you aren't alone. If you desperately just want your kids to make it through the day without getting in reprimanded- you aren't alone. I am here. I am a mom that makes lots of bad parenting mistakes and sometimes isn't very kind. I am a mom that doesn't always use respect when fussing at her kids. I am a mom that shouldn't even get mad when she hears her kids being sassy to each other because I know they have heard me talk the same way. BUT I am also a mom that feels bad about this. I am a mom that wants their kids to do as she says, not always as she does. I am a mom that just wants her kids to be kind to their classmates,  make their teachers lives easier, and have a good day. (Oh, and I wouldn't mind all A's on that report card either 😉)

Ringing in the NEW year!

**I drafted this blog on the new year of 2016. I just read it a year later and thought it was pretty good, so I decided to share it!

Hey everyone! I had a strong urge last night to go back and re-read some of my old blog posts. I am so glad I kept this up for so long because I really enjoy seeing the older posts. Its crazy how much time has passed and how much my life has changed. The main reason I created this blog was to share my life with others! It quickly became a blog about our adoption journey!! I was so happy to be on the path of adoption a precious baby and couldn't wait to see how the story would unfold. Then came baby! Adelyn joined our family in 2013 and life was never the same. The blog slowed down and I ran out of things to update because the adoption process also slowed down. However, when she was close to a year we began the foster care process. I sure wish I would have blogged better about that journey because it was really special. Difficult, but special. So...here we are. Starting 2016 and I have major updates! The first thing I wanted to address is our foster care story!!
A few days before Christmas we became a legal family with our two big kids! Our family had an amazing adoption party and we kissed goodbye the unknown we had the whole year of 2015. We are a forever family and we are so happy to be together!
Backing up a few weeks, we had an big Ethiopian adoption change. We got another email from our agency explaining that new updates would be needed and more money was needed to help cover new costs due to STILL increasing wait times. Ryan and I had pretty much been checked out of the Ethiopian process for awhile, but we still just kept an eye on how things were going. We knew it seemed like a long shot for it to ever actually pan out for the last few years, but we didn't official do anything about it. After this last email, I decided I had a clear and sure answer that we would withdraw our family from the Ethiopian program. We felt confident of this decision and although, we don't know the reason behind starting this process, we do know that we followed a calling and now it was time to let it go.
We felt very strongly that our family was now complete. We have Adelyn, we have our big kids, Anna and Ezra, and we also have another blessing on the way! Our fourth baby to bless our family is due this summer! We are so excited to have our fourth baby and to have this baby bond our family together in a way that only new babies can!