Light Give Heat

Meet Melissa and Joe. They were recently married beside the Nile River in Uganda, Africa. I know, how romantic, right??? They are currently living in Uganda and working with an ganization called Light Gives Heat. To see more pictures, click here.

LGH is a ministry that works empowering Africans through the encouragement of economic sustainability and creative endeavors. Motivating people in the West to “be the change they want to see in the world.”

Suubi is a project part of LGH that works with Ugandan women to create a consistent, weekly incomes in otherwise unemployable areas of their country. Women are paid to make paper-beaded necklaces. Wow are they gorgeous!!!

I have a whole box of them in my home right now, so if any of you are interested in purchasing, please let me know. They are $10, $15 and $20 and 100% of the profit goes back to pay the Ugandan women who made them.

I have just a few of the multicolored beaded necklaces left, so if you want one, speak up soon! I also have men's choker-style and a women's black and white design. They can be worn in a variety of ways, including as a bracelet!

Octu-mom what!?!?!?!

I love Friday nights in our home. I may be wierd, but after working full time all week I am content to just be at home with my kiddos! Tonight, I finished making a blanket for each of the boys. Ben was waiting oh-so-patiently as I was finishing up the last few stitches. But FINALLY HE JUST COULDN'T TAKE IT ANY LONGER!!!!!

Ben: "Mom, what if you cut and sew at the same time. . . like do all the things you do at the same time? Like, what if you could sew, eat AND do the dishes? "

I didn't know how to answer him, so I just giggled and fed into his story a bit to tease his imagination.

Then Ben said something I will never forget,

"Mom, what if you were an octopus?"

I asked him to clarify what he meant (already knowing) and Ben stated,

"You know, be like that mom on TV with all the arms for all of her babies. I mean, she must have LOTS of dishes to do."

Oh Benjamin! there are truly some days where I feel like I need to be an octupus....but why couldn't it be a little bit more of a glamorous animal!?!?!?!?

Spring fever!

This flower brought me joy today. As snow falls here at home, and several more inches coming soon, I remain hopeful that warm weather is on it's way!

Stay positive girls! I hope this brings you some joy today!

Mama loves her superheros

In our home, it's chaulk full of boys. Hence the reason I bought myself my Valentine's gift last year of our sweet dog, Macy...she and I keep the house grounded.

Anyways, Ben had some of his friends over this weekend and had a grand time. Here are some pictures to share. Don't they look fearless?

PICTURE TIME!

My friend, Michelle, tagged me! What a fun game!

Here are the rules:

1. Go to the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.
2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the photo.
4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun

My brother, Aaron and his wife on their wedding day!

Okay your turn! Brandi - Bud and Kim - Modern Day Jane - Katie

Sew Worth It!

Okay you guys, so I've done it.....I have to say that I'm feeling a bit old school and this was something that I said I would never do but, today, I bought my first . . . ..

SEWING MACHINE!!!!

I know, right? You're probably wondering what the big deal is. I have been praying for a long time now about what the Lord would like me to do as a sacrifice to Him. I soon started to get the desire to start sewing again. This makes me a tad nervous since the only "real" sewing experience has been hemming pants and making pillowcases. But okay Lord, it's about You and not me! I will see how this goes. :)

Since becoming a mom loving all the accessories and baby clothing that come with having kids, plus my desire to reach out to third world countries to benefit orphans, I have decided that I will tap into my creative side a little more and try making fun, cute, accessories for babies and toddlers. So, in the next month or so, be watching for things poppin up that you moms could use as great gifts or things for your next blessing!

Okay, so making this public means accountability comes into play, right? Grrr...okay....here I go....I'm making the jump!!!!!

Getting to church on time

Now that our family is fully into juggling work, kids, and getting places on time, I have been reading others' blogs about HOW, exactely, other families manage it. Many people, like the Pipers struggle with similar things we do when it comes to Sunday mornings....getting to church on time AND having an attitude of wanting to be there!

The Responsible Puppet has great tips on how families can achieve both-when it comes to Sunday mornings and we will definately be trying a lot of them.

Take time to watch the posted video. It's well worth it! What are some of your tips to get us out the door those precious mornings??

Charity:Water event

If you've never heard of the Twestival before (I hadn't until last week) it's a charity festival being hosted by Twitter communities. http://twestival.com/

Click on the link above to see how you can be a part of this.

Twestival. 185 cities for charity: water.This Thursday, Feb. 12th, the Twitter community will gather to fundraise for charity: water.

What is Twitter? A real-time short messaging service where friends can connect about what they're doing.What is Twestival? A face-to-face gathering of the virtual Twitter community for charity.
Since charity: water started two and a half years ago, we've constantly been impressed not only by our supporters' ability to raise money for water solutions but also by their ability to take the message and independently run with it. We've seen people jump out of perfectly good airplanes to skydive for clean water. We've seen others sail across oceans and climb mountains. We continue to be in awe of seven-year-olds who raise $22,000 and tax-accountants in small Manhattan offices who raise $300,000 and travel to Liberia to visit their 50+ wells. All that said, this year the Twestival takes the cake.

This Thursday, February 12th, charity: water will participate in our first ever global event organized entirely by volunteers. Hundreds of volunteers around the world have used Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging service where friends can connect in real-time, to mobilize people in over 185 cities to plan simultaneous global events in a massive project called Twestival. People connected via Twitter are getting together offline and in person to meet, talk water and raise funds for charity: water. In only four short weeks, the Twestival has garnered global media attention and enlisted tens of thousands of supporters.

Here's how you can help.

1. First, see if there's an event in your city by visiting twestival.com. Like always, 100% of the money raised through each event will directly fund sustainable water projects for communities in need. charity: water representatives will be speaking at the 1,000+ person Twestival events in NYC (newyork.twestival.com) and Los Angeles (givewaterla.org)

2. No Twestival nearby? You can still give $20 towards the cause on charitywater.org/twestival. We'll drill another well live from Africa in April, connecting Twestival supporters to what they helped make possible.

3. Help us spread the word - Write about it, blog about it, tweet about it or just email your friends.The phenomenal Twestival organizers led by Amanda Rose are hoping to raise $1 million. If they're successful, they'll help us give 50,000 people clean drinking water for 20 years. We can't wait to let you know how it turns out.

Meet the charity: water staff, we're now on twitter.

@scottharrison founder

@beckystraw water projects manager

@carriesanders strategic partnerships

@nickyyates communications/volunteer coordinator

@vikalexeeva design & branding

@evanslusher operations

@phillipcrosby events coordinator

@robinisajones accountant

@cschomaker web developer

@eibrooks communications assistant

10 Random Facts about me....

I have so enjoyed reading others' "Random 25 Things" online....so I decided to post mine...I just did 10 and mixed them up a little.

1. Red meat...never eat it....in fact, i only eat boneless skinless chicken breasts. I'm borderlining becoming a vegitarian. Not for all the "ethical" reasons you hear about, but just due to the taste and texture of a lot of meats I eat.

2. I would love a sewing machine.......soon!

3. My dream "fantasy" job is to be a National Geographic photographer. I can't think of anything more enjoyable than travelling to exotic places and meeting people from all different cultures and photographing them in their enviornment. Beautiful!

4. My "dream" realistic job is heading up a non-profit, benefiting orphans. Perhaps having a baby home one day. Anyone want to come and love and rock babies for a vacation !!?!?

5. If we could afford it, I would love to have at least 5 kids...not from my belly! I love watcing shows about large families. I know it will happen on day...and probably not the way I expect it to!

6. I do not enjoy scrapbooking...but love looking at others'!

7. I have had a DQ Blizzard thrown at my car by careless high school boys-I 'chased' them down and to make a long story short, their car ended with their car engulfed in flames. I think they learned their lesson. I did feel very sad for them though....and would have loved to be a fly on the wall listening on how they told their parents that evening....

8. If I could be stranded on an island and have only one food for the rest of my life, it would be cereal. Any kind. Bring it to me.

9. I have appeared on The Price Is Right...not as a contestant, but as a screaming audience member.

10. One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in Africa are pink beaches from a distance...that were a result of it being covered in Flamingos!