I’ll Play Kevin Costner

So yesterday was so great.  Before bed last night I checked to see how many kiddos still remained needing sponsorship and it was down to 71.  Thank you!!!  7 kiddos being sponsored is simply amazing.  Now this morning I checked again and we’re back up to 77…hahahahah…so now I’m just not quite sure what happened, but already have an email sent in to try and figure it all out.

If you missed yesterday’s post you can READ IT HERE or just scroll down to the post below.  There are currently 77 kids (which I think is actually less…maybe website malfunction) who are still needing sponsorship.  This mean $38 a month for food, water, basic medical care, educational support and discipleship.  You can see all the kiddos who still need sponsorship by CLICKING HERE and then choosing “unsponsored” in the Status bar at the top.  Please consider sponsoring and/or joining us on our next trip.

In other news I’ve officially decided our summer should be deemed the Pool of Dreams.  I keep saying “If you invite us, we will come.”  And then we do.  We’re all a bunch of fish with the exception of two of our fishes being unable to swim.  Amon laid on this float in his floaty and grasping onto the handles for dear life until he fell asleep…in the pool…still holding onto the float.  It was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen.

 We’re all sorts of tan.  We’ve torn through our first whole bottle of kids’ sunscreen.  We have pealing toes and still laugh when we have goggle lines on our foreheads.  And swimming with friends is our summer jam.  Be careful when you say to us “Come swim any time” or “Come back soon”…because it’s likely you will find our tribe waiting at your pool gate, lunches packed and already sun screened up “any time” or “soon”.

Kids are sleeping like rocks and then still sleeping like rocks far into the morning time.  It’s grand.  I think we’ve found our groove.  Hands down my favorite line this summer came from Hudson as he slipped his swimming trunks off and caught a glimpse of his unclothed, madly tan lined body in the mirror, “Hey it looks like I’m still wearing underwear, but I’m not.”  Insert wild little boy laughter.  Insert wild momma laughter too.

Yes indeed.  Pool of Dreams.  Now I just need my own Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and a corn shaped pool float.  Cheers to you summer!

Happy Tuesday.

78 Kiddos, Trips & A Playground

We leave for Swaziland, Africa in just a few days.  At this point I’m just excited.  Packing all 14 bags with almost 700lbs of supplies was pretty much taking over my mind and pushing my stress limit, but bags have been weighed and packed so excitement is really setting in now.

It’s been a year and half since I’ve been to the Ngungwane carepoint and that’s far too long in my books.  My goal is to go every year.  From here on out I would love to lead a team every single year…maybe even more if we could swing it.  I love the community to community connection Children’s HopeChest aims to accomplish.  I love that these people we get the honor of being with and spending time with are not our charity, but simply our brothers and sisters in Christ.  They are amazing and beautiful and a gift.

Currently there are 53 kiddos who are sponsored…who have special friends as we like to call ourselves…and 78 kids who are unsponsored.  Sponsorship is $38 a month for food, water, basic medical care, educational support and discipleship.  I’ve been praying God would do what only He can do and stir hearts to sponsor the remaining 78 children who need sponsorship.  I keep thinking about how truly He never ceases to amaze me.

Sometimes I get caught up in the current and every now and then think about the future.  What I would love to see is all 78 of these kids sponsored and then trips formed each year of sponsors and non sponsors.  Another goal would be to raise the funds to have a nice playground put in at Ngungwane for the kids to enjoy every day.  This is a $16,250 goal which can feel a tad daunting, but God is really good at what feels daunting to us.  I like how He can orchestrate and bring people together…I like how He pushes our hearts towards love…and I like how He gives us one another as gifts even across oceans.

You can see all the kiddos who still need sponsorship at the Ngungwane carepoint by CLICKING HERE and then choosing “unsponsored” in the Status bar at the top.  Each child is so incredibly precious and created in the image of God.  And then consider joining us on another trip.  Likely in 2016, but if the opportunity and the group came together I’d go back in a heartbeat this year as well.

Please feel free to share this post with anyone and everyone…the more the merrier.  You can check out Children’s HopeChest for all the details.  And this isn’t the last you’ll be hearing of this 🙂  Just 5 short days and Swaziland here we come.

Happy Monday!

Tables & Small Bright Red Chairs

In March of this year I asked you guys to help me raise $610 so we could help purchase some tables and chairs for the sweet kiddos at the Ngungwane carepoint in Swaziland, Africa.  What we did together was purchase a crap ton of awesome Noonday Collection and then we hosted the biggest “thank you” giveaway and you guys made donation after donation after donation.  You can read about it HERE and HERE.

You guys went crazy and ended up donating almost $2900.  I can’t tell you how much this still thrills my heart.  The world is full of kind and generous people.  Again thank you!

This week I received an update on the Ngungwane carepoint and wanted to share some of the pictures Children’s HopeChest passed along to me.  Not only did they get to purchase the tables and chairs, but with your kind donations, we also paid for an entire years worth of school fees for the kids, some learning supplies and they added a big painted chalkboard.

 I wanted you to see we can change the world.  We can make a difference.  We can come along side our brothers and sisters in Christ and help stand in the gap.  We can come together and impact lives even with the purchase of something simple like tables and small bright red chairs.

Thank you again.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Thank you for joining us and giving and being generous and kind!  Opening up that large envelope this week and reading the words and seeing these pictures was easily one of the highlights of my week.

Here’s a great weekend.

Happy Friday friends!

Let’s Do This…Together!

Our family’s hearts have been slightly captivated by Swaziland in southern Africa.  Specifically our carepoint, Ngungwane.  We help sponsor three siblings there and I had the chance to meet two of them and visit with their family at their house last November.  And God willing Josh and I will be going again with a team this year too.

While I was there I so enjoyed meeting and hanging out with all the staff, but Amy and Steve…the staff who work directly with Ngungwane…we’re especially helpful and you could see their great love for all the people and kiddos who work and come to the carepoint each day.  It was a privilege to meet them.  We had the opportunity to discuss big and small goals for Ngungwane too.  One of the smaller goals was to purchase tables and chairs for the building on site.  Ngungwane now has a preschool teacher who comes regularly to the carepoint to teach the smaller kids, but they have no tables or chairs.

I recently contacted Children’s HopeChest and asked for more details on how we could help make this happen.  They got me the additional details we needed.  Good metal tables are going to cost $50 each.  And each sturdy metal based chair is going to cost $12 each.  The wish list Ngungwane requested was 5 tables and 30 chairs.  When you do the math that’s a total of $610.

Our first step towards the tables and chairs was a big Noonday Collection show.  Friends and family and a lot of you guys made purchases and we ended up getting a ton of free stuff.  A ton.  $704 is kind of awesome.  Can you imagine how much fun I had picking out all the items.  It was crazy fun.

So here’s the deal.  I have the biggest Noonday Collection thank you gift giveaway just for you guys.  For every $10 you donate towards the tables & chairs, I’ll add your name to this “Thank you for donating” giveaway.  Every dollar…every single donation made…will go directly to Ngungwane to help purchase the tables and chairs.  If we raise more than needed, well then, hot dog and Ngungwane will just get extra money for additional items they need at the carepoint right now.  Seriously.  We can totally do this.  Think about what $10 can do.  A lot.

We’re going to collect donations for 2 weeks and then one lucky person will be drawn on Thursday, May 8th to receive the best “thanks for donating” package ever which includes all of the following items:

Get ready…cause this is really, really good.

Clementines Laptop Case $42

Lines and Stripes Catch All $142

Patchwork Clutch $38 (in purple)

Beachcomber Scarf $56

Nahuala Rectangle Trays (Set of 3) $36

Blushed Necklace $42

Del Mar Necklace $78

Honeycomb Necklace $38

Golden Trio Necklace (no longer available for purchase)

Annie’s Feathered Earrings $32

Bone Carved Leaf Earrings $30

Modern Angles Earrings $46

Athena Cuff $34

Bloomed Trio Bracelet $28

Galaxy Wrap Bracelet $48

Safari Stack Bracelet, Salmon $14

Are you swooning like I am?  For reals.  I am completely giddy about the fact that we’re going to mail all these items to one person to say “Thanks for being generous.  Thanks for donating.  Thanks for being totally rockin’ cool.”  This is going to bless someone’s socks right off.

It’s a win/win.  The craziest, most fun fundraising giveaway…all to help supply 5 tables and 30 chairs to some sweet kiddos in Swaziland, Africa.  No longer sitting on the floor to do their work, but hanging out and learning in their own little chair at their own table.  It’s just a good good thing.

Here’s how to donate:

1)  To donate through Paypal or credit/bank card just use the snazzy little DONATE button in the right side bar all the way at the top

OR

2)  To donate by check GO HERE and let me know how much you would like to donate and I will send you the additional information you need.

Remember, for every $10 you donate, we’ll put your name in this Thank You gift giveaway that many times.  So $10 = 1 Your Name  $20 = 2 Your Name.  And so on and so on.  I kind of think you should just go straight for the $100 donation for your name 10 times 🙂  Come on, you know you want to.  #peerpressure

Maybe you can’t swing $10 right now…no worries.  You know what you can do…Share.  Share this post on Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and Instagram and email it to all your stylish friends and family.  The more we share, the more people see how crazy cool this giveaway is and hopefully that means the more donations we will receive.

There you have it.  The world’s most awesome “Thanks for donating” giveaway ever known to man.  These are sure to be the sweetest tables and chairs ever purchased.

Thank you for reading.  Thank you for donating.  Thank you for sharing.  I cannot wait to see what God has in store.

Happy Thursday!

UPDATE:  To donate using the Donate button you do not have to have a Paypal account.

1.  Click on the Donate button in the right sidebar all the way at the top.

2.  Then find the area on the bottom left side of the donate page that says “Don’t have a paypal account?  Use your credit card or bank account (where available) Continue”  (see picture below)

3.  Click “Continue” and make your donation using your credit or bank card.

Hope this helps and clears up any confusion for anyone.

Last Chance…You Rock!!!

Hey everyone…double post day here…because I totally forgot tomorrow is the final day we can place Noonday orders for our show to help get free goods to help raise the funds for 5 tables and 30 chairs for the kiddos at the Ngungwane care point in Swaziland, Africa. #runonsentence  It’s purposeful shopping at it finest.  A win, win.

Here’s how you can order:

1.  Go to www.rebeccadaniels.noondaycollectioin.com

2.  Fill your cart with lots and lots of goodies.

3.  When you check out choose Rebecca Daniels as your ambassador and put Laura Kelley as your trunk show name.

4.  Finish checking out.

5.  Celebrate with cartwheels and high-5s and fist bumps that you bought awesome items and helped support women and families around the world.

Thank you for being awesome and kind and generous!

Happy Tuesday evening.

2K-Hooray!

Ya’ll are crazy kind!  And I have all these crazy kind friends too.  And I want to hug everyone and give them high-5s and fist bumps.  Last night = so so fun!!!!  The Noonday party was off the charts fun and I laughed so hard and told lots of embarrassing stories and bought the most fab jewelry and computer case EVA!!!!!!!  I’m going with lots of explanation points in todays post.

We brought in a little over $2,000 in sales last night which means we are going to be able to get some pretty awesome free goodies for our tables and chairs fundraiser.  So thrilled.  Buuuuuut, if we get to $2,500 in sales, we get even more goodies.  You guys, we can totally do it.  Think birthday gifts and anniversary gifts and “happy spring” gifts and just because gifts and “treat yo self” gifts.  I’m even adding to my order because I totally forgot about a few gifts I wanted to get.  We can do this.  We can blow these sales through the roof…we can help empower woman and families all over the world and we can raise enough funds for 5 tables and 30 chairs for kiddos all the way across the world in Swaziland, Africa.

We have until Tuesday to get all our orders in.  Here’s how you order:

1.  Go to www.rebeccadaniels.noondaycollection.com

2.  Shop around and put 5 bazillion items in your cart 🙂

3.  When you go to check out select Rebecca Daniels are your ambassador and type in Laura Kelley or Brea Freeman for the trunk show name.

4.  Finish checking out.

5.  High-5 yourself for not only being awesome, but for now being fashionably awesome and purchasing with a purpose.

That’s it.  Easy as pie.

Last night was incredibly fun and I loved seeing all the items in person.  I was actually a little surprised at what I ended up buying.  Here were my purchases:

Brightly Wound Bracelet in Coral

Galaxy Wrap Bracelet

Navajo Wrap Bracelet

Rubik’s Bracelet, Jade

And Clementine’s Laptop Case

And I plan to wear them all together…minus the laptop case…because that’s how my wrist’s like to roll.

Thank you for caring and being kind and generous and thoughtful and geez, I just like you guys.  Thank you for being straight up awesome!  Have an amazing weekend.

Happy Friday!

Hey, Hey, Hey

We had some wonderful items sent in again for the March craft classes.  Thank you again so much to each of the ladies who sent in such lovely items.

Lil’ Hoots Boutique is an etsy shop that just opened in January and sells a variety of things including wreaths, digital prints, jewelry, chalkboards, and photo props! The shop owners Carrie and Shelby are both moms and middle school Language Arts teachers who love creating and crafting! When they aren’t playing with our sweet little boys or grading papers, they are creating fun home decor and other unique items. They love chevron, chalkboards, burlap, bunting, owls, and color!!! They also love making custom orders!  You can check out their Etsy shop here and their Facebook page here.

Dobee Designs is run by Sara in Australia.  She makes a wide variety of adorable items and sent in bookmarks and earrings for the March classes.  What, what!!!  Sara gives a portion of each purchase to My Refuge House.  My Refuge House is a home, located in Cebu, Philippines, that provides holistic care intended to enable the trafficking survivors educationally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally to stand on their own again.  You can also find Dobee Designs on Facebook here.  As always Sara, you are too kind.

Becca of Ruby Lou Writes sent in fantastic prints for everyone.  Becca not long ago started doing hand lettering and fell in love and enjoys gathering inspiration from all over.  I was so excited when she sent in a package full of prints.  They were fun and beautiful.  You can check her Etsy shop out here.

As always, there were also key fobs, Timbali Crafts and Noonday Collection as well.  Everyone needs a key fob and you know Timbali and Noonday have my heart.

And speaking of Noonday…tonight we’re having a Noonday party at our house from 6-8.  You guys I can’t tell you how big I want this party to be.  I want our house filled with woman…I want internet orders from all over the world.  If you are local please come, bring a friend and shop.  Noonday’s new line is crazy good and here’s the deal:  I really, really, really want to turn our Noonday goodies into 5 tables and 30 chairs for our Ngungwane carepoint in Swaziland, Africa.  You can read my post on it HERE.  When you host a Noonday party the more items people buy, the more credit you get to purchase items for yourself.  What we’re going to do is take those items we get on credit and turn around and share those with you guys while raising funds for tables and chairs for Ngungwane.  So the more you purchase the more items we will get to turn into money for these tables and chairs…$610 to be exact.  And if we raise more, then Ngungwane will just get extra.

If you can’t make the party, you can also purchase online at www.rebeccadaniels.noondaycollection.com  When you check out just select “Rebecca Daniels” as your ambassador, and type in Laura Kelley and/or Brea Freeman for the Trunk Show name.  This way our show will get credit.  We can shop with purpose and not only help support woman and families around the world, but also buy some tables and chairs while were at it.

Not kidding…I’m over the moon excited about tonight.  Awesome goods and food and people and drinks and no children…what, what (insert raise the roof hands).  Bring yourself and a friend.  It’s sure to be fun.  Shoot me a message if you need more details.

Have an awesome day.

Happy Thursday!

Ngungwane {Swaziland, Africa}

I’m laying in bed in Swaziland, Africa.  It was a wonderfully long day and it’s pitch black outside now…closing in on midnight.  The sun rises at like 4:30am here…It wakes me up, I take a look, sit in wonder of Jesus and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.  To say that South Africa and Swaziland are beautiful would be a complete understatement.  Maybe the most beautiful place I’ve been and the people are crazy amazing.

I lost two bags.  I kind of thought I would because when I arrived at the Nashville airport on Friday they rerouted me, so I kind of expected some lost baggage.  Two bags full to the brim of supplies, but today they showed up.  Just in time for tomorrow.

People have asked me about this trip…what’s it for?  Who are you with?  What are you doing?  So here’s the quick down low.  Jesus put a passion for Swaziland in Josh Kelley’s heart in 2009.  It was quite wonderous to see because I had never even heard of Swaziland at that point.  Josh headed off to Swaziland with Children’s HopeChest and AIM in 2009 not knowing a soul, but he knew God wanted him on that trip.  A bit of time passed and we introduced our then church we were attending to Children’s HopeChest and the “community to community” partnership they help facilitate.  A care point is essentially a plot of land where local kids meet everyday to receive food, discipleship, love, and medical care.  You can read all about the details HERE.

We launched the carepoint Ngungwane in 2011 and began trying to get sponsorship for each of the profiled kiddos at the carepoint. Since then we’ve funded the fencing of the carepoint’s land, a bathroom, provided school shoes and built a solar powered well.  The one thing we could never get off the ground was a trip.  I’ve been trying to make my way to Swaziland to visit all the kids and the care point for over two years and every time I thought it might happen God shut a door, but not this year.  And I’m so very thankful.

So what am I doing?  It’s kind of crazy in the most best way ever.  I’m hanging out with kids all day.  I’m meeting families and the ladies in their community.  I’m getting to know them and I have the honor and sheer pleasure to love on them and let them love on me back.  I’m learning ways I can help come along side them.

Today I met a sweet go-go who is making her own necklaces to sell.  They are gorgeous.  I bought a ton and all my lady friends will be receiving one.  I might even be mailing one on over to Jessica, Noonday‘s founder, as well.  (insert a wink and a nod)

Today we did a cabbage distribution.  They have gardens they work and maintain and these gardens produce some serious crops…like the biggest cabbages I’ve ever seen.  Today each of the kids at Ngungwane received two cabbages to take home. It was incredible.

We blew lots of bubbles and painted fingernails…boys too if they wanted 🙂  I got my serious fingernail painting skillz on.

We took polaroid pictures of every child at the carepoint for them to keep…plus all the go-go’s pictures too.  Everyone loved them.  It was hilarious to look around and see a 100+ Swazis…men, woman and children…shaking their polaroid pictures while they developed.  It was definitely a highlight from the day.

We got to see first hand how the care point runs.  It was nice to finally be here…to see in person all the hard work which goes into this “community to community” partnership.  And to meet all the people who work so hard to make sure all these incredible kids have some of their needs met daily.

And we also did a home visit today.  AIM & CHC let their swazi staff decide whose homes we will be visiting based on need.  With each home visit we take a gift to thank the family for allowing us to come to their home…a huge bag of beans, a huge bag of corn and several other food and necessity items.  Today as we visited with the family I thought the oldest granddaughter looked a tad familiar, but thought there was no way out of all the kids that we would be visiting our 3 sponsor kids who are siblings and our pictures of them at home are almost 3 years old so I couldn’t be sure.  We met with the kids and their grandmother and prayed over them.  As we loaded into the van, I asked one of the Swazi staff about the children’s names and sure enough, it was indeed our sibling set of 3.  We were able to meet one of their cousins as well.  I felt like it was one of those moments ordained by God.

I’m learning more and more everyday I’m here.  What He has planned I do not know, but I know He’s moving.  Jesus is teaching me new things.  These children and people are to be revered.  They are absolutely fierce and beautiful and hard working and joyful and yet, I have so many questions for Jesus.  So many.

I will never understand child headed households and children with no parents and diseases, but what I do understand is one day heaven will be on Earth and God will make all things new and He will set things right.  Until then, He has commanded us to love.  He has commanded us to love Him and to love others.  So I’m going to do my best and let God guide my heart in the direction He’s leading.

Happy Monday from Swaziland.