Noonday

I have practiced restraint like never (ok, maybe an exaggeration!) before!  Friends, I have news!  I am an Ambassador with Noonday!!  Ambassador - as in to represent, to advocate on behalf of, to bring attention to.  Here's the story.

Noonday Collection, a women's and home accessory company, began as a way for the founder, Jessica Honneger and her husband to fund their adoption of their son, Jack, from Rwanda.  In 2011, they opened the opportunity to Ambassadors to represent the artisans from around the globe.  From the Noonday website: 

"Together with the Noonday ambassadors across the country, we offer you the opportunity to use your purchasing power to create change in the world {while looking really good along the way}. Your fashion sense can now restore dignity to abandoned women in Ethiopia, empower communities in Ecuador, and create business opportunities for Ugandans." 

Why, you ask?  Well, because I couldn't not.  

Here's a run down of my life:

Ages 10-25: so self centered I couldn't see out.

Ages 25-30: career/operation-find-a-husband focused.  a different kind of self centered, but just as small of world outlook.

Ages 30-34: new motherhood.  ZERO self-centered-ness, but maybe the smallest world outlook season.  I did not see beyond the walls of our living room...much less outside of our home or community.

Now: the blinders fell off.  

It seems without any intentional work on my own, I cannot help but SEE!  The books that catch my eye, the news stories I can't help but watch again and again, the things that keep me up at night...for the first time ever they are on a global scale.

Noonday was an answer to 'now what?!' for me.  My number one job is still 'Momma' and will be for a LONG time.  This is something I can do, to make a world impact on poverty, and still keep the main thing the main thing!  I'll be hosting Trunk Shows in your homes to present beautiful jewelry and accessories and the artisans who make it, to you and your friends so that YOU, too, can make an impact.  Conscious spending.  Buying with purpose.  Using your dollars to free instead of keep in bondage.

Here's the fun part!  

Shop!!  Here is my personal Noonday collection webpage.  Browse, read the stories of these amazing artisans and the purpose behind it all.  Read what's going on with The International Justice Mission and how Noonday is partnering with them.

Schedule a trunk show!  I have 40 of these amazing pieces all shined up and ready to bring to your kitchen table.  Invite some friends over, provide some drinks and snacks, and I'll bring the dress up pretties!  There are hostess benefits and even ways to host a party on behalf of a friend who is trying to adopt a child to help with their funding.  Anyone who schedules a trunk show with me by September 1 will be entered to win a $30 voucher!

    

    

Email me at erin4noonday@gmail.com, contact me through facebook, or call me to schedule a party!  Help me at fulfill the Noonday mission of creating economic opportunity for the vulnerable!

-erin

Jack

Guys.  This child.

just a little breakfast.  while wearing a hard hat.  pouring OJ into cereal.  then eating it.

A two year old boy is a blessed thing.  There are have been glimpses before this moment in parenting that boys are just different than girls, but a two year old boy brings something new to the table.

He's loud.  And gross.  And tough.  And brave.  And likes hitting things.  And stinks.

That's about it.  Sure, he's cute and sweet and my baby, but mostly he's the aforementioned.

When I lose him (daily), I can usually find him either in the garage 'workin' (scratching things with a screwdriver) or in the yard hitting things with a stick.

When we are out *anywhere* he asks EVERYone what their name is.  Except he does it like so:

points his chubby finger at them
makes a loud noise so they *inevitably* pay attention to him
shouts in a deep, mean man voice 'Name?!'

He can say the whole sentence, "what's your name?".  He could/has at home even gone so far as "Hi, I'm Jack, what's your name?" and shake hands!  (Yes, we practice, daily.)  But does he??  Nope.  "Name?!?!"  This has caused me to quietly rename all of Edmond.  When the pointed at person walks off, Jack does not register that the exchange has ended.  He'll just keep asking.  So, I make up names.  Sorry, Edmond.  

He's like a politician....workin' the room.  Recently at church, Dan picked him up from his Sunday school class then carried him the short length of the hall around the corner to the door outside.  By the time they got to the car Dan was chuckling.  No fewer than 6 adults and much older kids had told Jack (by name) goodbye or to have a great day or just a 'what's up jack'.  Six people...none of whom Dan knew or who work in the children's ministry.  He probably had asked them their name.

Older kids like to play with him.  Younger kids are scared of him.

He is OBSESSED with movies.  The watching, the touching of the disc.  The character dolls in stores.  It's a problem.

He weighs as much as the girls.

that bowl of nectarines was for the table.  he dumped them ON TOP of his meal then ate the whole plate.

He wakes up at 6:03am.

He loves diapers and hates toilets.

He's perfect.

When I pray for him, I pray that we parent him as to keep his rugged, rough around the edges, growly boyishness...but refine him to be kind and generous and caring.  That sounds way sweeter than the actual prayer: 'Lord, don't let me beat it out of him.'

I luf him.

-Momma

Home.

Remember me?  I won't even make excuses or promises...nice to see you again!

We moved!!  And it was a PROCESS!!  We started looking for a home in September of 2013.  We looked at 5 homes, made offers on 3, was in contract on one and nothing came of any of them.  We had highs, we had lows, we had moments of 'Forget it, renting is awesome!'.  Then we found home.  It's always fun to see in hindsight how God is preparing you for something.  I *still* cannot see it in real time.  I am impatient and grumpy and too fast by nature.  But in hindsight, it becomes crystal clear.

I may someday tell you about our home.  I may post some transformations and DIY/marriage growth projects.  Not today...today, here are my reflections on 'home'.

Home is where the heart is.

Pssh.

Home is wherever I am with you.

Bleh.

Now, before you translate that with a Jim Gaffigan voice to hear me say, "Dan and the kids mean nothing to her, she just needs a cozy dwelling." or "She's so materialistic that possessions mean more to her than people and relationships."  Please pause.  Breathe.  If the five of us lived together in a van down by the river, I'd have all I ever needed.  But, to me, it would not be home.

All of my thirty-four years when I have said the word 'home' I have been referring to my parents house in Laverne, America.  Home.

Where it smells like home.

Where I have memories of the layers of paint colors on the wall and the carpets on the floor.

Where my body knows, to the millisecond, how long I have before the garage screen door will assault the back of my heel.

Where I had sleep overs with my life long friends.

Where I suffered the terrible throws of heart break.

Where I know which spots in the hall creak under foot.

Where I know how long it takes the hot water to get hot...and how long it will stay hot.

Where I learned all my best athletic skills in the driveway or yard (ha!).

Where my brother and I learned to crawl into the attic to plug the cable back in that summer my parents had had enough of our TV watching.

Where Darin and I had our CHiPs police headquarters and parked our 'cycles. (He ALWAYS got to be Ponch...and I was John.)

Where I prayed with my best, best girls before walking down the aisle.

Where I walked down the 'aisle'.

These are the things that, to me, make a structure a home.  I know that this sentiment is not universal...those that moved multiple times during childhood or those without happy memories of home.  But, for me, this is it.

And that's what we I was searching for.  These things weren't as important to Dan.  He wanted a good investment, a close drive to work, a safe neighborhood....and if we needed/wanted to move in three years, cool.  Not me.  I hope for our kids to have memories of this place like I do of my childhood home.  So, you see, the only requirement for all these things to be possible for ANY structure to be a home...is time.  It's not the size, or the yard, or the crown molding.  It's weathering life with your people under the same roof...for many, many years.

God willing, we have found our home.

Bonus random pic...not at our house...because, well, i MEAN.