Fair Trade Friday - Nightlight

This edition of Fair Trade Friday sends us over the sea to one of my favorite countries...THAILAND!!!

Ahhh, I love Thailand. The people, the food, the culture, the villages. What I don't like about Thailand...the prostitution. It's big and I mean BIG over in Thailand. People will travel all the way to Thailand just for the sake of participating in sex tourism. And in the process lives are destroyed, value is stolen, and God given purpose is not being fulfilled. There are many ministries throughout Thailand that do outreach in the bars and try to give the women working in the bars a better way of life. One of those ministries is one that I have actually considered applying for an internship with. It is called Nightlife Ministry. I will let them speak for themselves in describing their purpose. It is as follows:

- Build trusting relationships through bar visits. Raise awareness about the risks of working in the sex trade and educate women about avaialble resources.

- Provide assistance and intervention through emergency shelter, rehabilitation/counseling, child-care and basic necessities to both national and international victims of trafficking and prostitution.

- Provide economic alternatives and leadership development through employment, job training and life skills training at NightLight Design, Co., Ltd.

- Offer educational opportunities while on the job and support continuing education through scholarship assistance.

- Intervene when children are solicited for prostitution. Work with guardians to protect at risk children.

- Introduce women and children to the love, mercy and healing power of Jesus Christ by giving them opportunities to grow strong in their faith and become influencers who impact their communities.

- Educate the public, including Thai and foreign, religious and secular, on the physical, psychological, legal and economic consequences of prostitution and trafficking. Encourage their involvement in advocacy and follow-up care.

- Equip and train leaders, visionaries and catalysts from around the world with resources and skills to combat trafficking and prostitution in their own communities.

- Set up global networks to assist in the repatriation of trafficking victims.

- Address the demand side of the sex industry through advocacy, outreach, counseling, referral, and intervention.

(This information was pulled from their website here)

Their store is full of all sorts of pretty things. Below are a few of my favorites:

(It's a Christmas ornament. How lovely!)

(These earrings are in their wood collection. I love them.)

(Turquoise...pretty.)

(So classically pretty.)

(I love the color of these earrings.)

(This is a cute little pendant charm. I love the simplicity of it.)

These pretty things and so much more can be found at their store website here.

Sleepless ramblings

It is 2:45 am and I can't sleep. I think that there was a point when I was actually sleeping, but now I am not. I woke up around 1:45 and read this blog, which led to this blog and now my heart is too awake to be able to sleep. So I thought I would share about how God has been leading me to moments of insomnia lately.

I often wake up in the middle of the night as a stirring from the Lord. Sometimes He wakes me up with it on my heart to pray for someone. Other times, I wake in a state of worship because I had been worshipping in my sleep. There are also times when I am just jolted awake with a revelation of Him and how He sees me (He did that a week and a half ago and it was really cool). And then there are the times that I can't get to sleep because God just wants to spend time with me.

There have been many times over the years that I have had these sort of middle of the night experiences. However, a few months ago I realized that I had been missing the intimacy that I used to love so much with my middle of the night God time. I think it was because there are many times that God would wake me in the middle of the night and I would have a bad attitude about it. My response would be "God, can we get this over with so I can go back to sleep." (Yuck, such a stinky attitude). The result of the bad attitude was a loss in that intimacy. God simply did not wake me up much anymore.

As my heart for the deep intimacy has returned, God has responded. The truth is, I really do want God to wake me up with the things on His heart and to be able to pray into them in the middle of the night. It reminds me of the phrase in Song of Solomon 5:2 that says "I slept but my heart was awake". It has become a prayer of mine that my heart would remain awake while I sleep.

I love that God wakes me up because He just does not want to wait till the morning to spend time with me. Or perhaps, it's that He knows that I will not give Him the time that He wants in the morning (ok, I feel challenged and am going to work on that). I can't sleep right now, but I know that God is going to give me everything that I need for tomorrow. That's just the way He works.

I will finish up this post, read my Bible some, journal, and maybe get back to sleep around 4 or so. Remarkably, I will have more energy tomorrow than if I had gone to sleep at 10. God's just good that way. So, here I am Lord. Let's talk. What do you want to share with me these early hours of the day :-)

Starvation and mini earth

I have been thinking a lot lately about the term "I'm starving." It seems that in our society a mere grumble of our stomach will find these words coming from our mouth.

You know, it kinda bothers me. Because really, we are not starving. The very fact that I write this on a computer and that you are reading a computer screen means that we are quite well off. We get hungry, but usually within the day we do something to satisfy that hunger (or at least we have the choice to).

The truth is that we are blessed. Blessed to the point of being spoiled if we allow our blessings to go unrecognized. There are so many people all over the world that know what real starvation is. They know what it means to have real hunger. As for me...I have no reason to ever have the words "I'm starving" come out of my mouth. I might be "hungry" or I might be "fasting" but I am by no means starving as a result of not being able to get food; and that is a reality for hundreds of thousands across the earth.

Count your blessings. If you have a hard time getting started, let me help.

#1: your next meal

#2: the roof over your head

#3: the clothes on your back and in your closet

... and the list goes on and on and on...

I am not trying to be a downer or make anyone feel bad. I am simply challenged and sharing my challenge with all who may care to read. There is a reality described here that we too often forget.

Check out this video for a visual of how completely blessed we are ... and appreciate all that you have:

Who is he?

He frees.

He redeems.

His mere presence demands that the enemy must flee.

To speak his name commands the light to drive out darkness.

He has overcome sin and poured out his blood as a loving, atoning sacrifice.

He lifts my head and clothes me with beauty.

He sweeps me off my feet and calls me to walk with him.

He is truth.

He is light.

He is love.

He is my Jesus and I am madly in love with him.

Fall favorites

I love fall, like REALLY love fall. I love summer too and rave about it, but fall is definitely my favorite and here are just a few reasons why:

FOOTBALL (Roll Tide!)

Source

Pumpkin Spice Latte (I love it!!)

Source

The changing leaves and cool crisp weather...ahhh

Source

The fact that as fall comes, I just feel the urge to make something. Creative juices flow.

Source

Speaking of making things: carving a Jack - o - lantern and roasting the seeds (yum!)

Source

Bring on the fall!!!

Fair Trade Friday

This Friday I am going to highlight the website over at Not For Sale.

notforsalecampaign.org

Their website is a wealth of information and stories about modern day slavery. I guess it has been a long time since I have been on their website, because when I visited it today my eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas ... or a Melany at Christmas :-)

I actually can't even touch on everything, because I have not been able to go through everything. So on that note, I am going to point your attention to a few of my favorite products in their store.

- You can help a woman in Uganda continue her education by buying a pair of these:

SOURCE

Sseko sandals $39.00

I love them...and the straps are interchangeable!

- You can buy a bag made by a woman rescued from sex trafficking in India buy purchasing this:

SOURCE

Maroon Floral Handbag: $17.50

or this:

SOURCE

Momento Handbad: $18.00

- You can help women in Swaziland get fair trade wages by purchasing this:

SOURCE

Stretchy Paper Jewelry: $16.00

- or you can make a fashion statement by wearing this:

SOURCE

Not For Sale Dog Tags: $12.00

By the way, I have decided that I really want one of these necklaces :-)

So there are just a few ideas. Visit the website and the "Freedom Store" for more. Have a wonderful Friday and a super weekend!

This Little Piggy

Last week my church (DC Metro Church) had an outreach opportunity sponsored through our women's ministry (DC Sisterhood). The idea was to take purses (both new and gently used) and fill them with toiletry items...you know, all that stuff that us gals love. The purses were then going to be taken to a local shelter and given to the women in the program there.

When I first heard of the service project, I was absolutely thrilled by the idea. Unfortunately, my finances told me that my participation would be very limited or not at all. As the time for the service project came closer, it appeared that I was not going to be able to participate in buying anything. Gift giving is something that I adore so it was a little discouraging ... but then I remembered my little piggy.

The story of the little piggy:

Once upon a time there was a store named Target and there was a girl named Melany.

Melany loved Target.

She loved Target a LOT.

In fact, every time Melany moved to a new city, one of the first things on her agenda was to find the closest and best Target.

One day, a wonderful thing happened.

Target began carrying merchandise from a British brand called Liberty of London.

Oh, how this made Melany happy.

She loved the floral spring prints.

She wanted to buy everything, but alas she has to practice some restrain.

There were a few items that made their way into Melany's life.

The cute little notebook that is still in her purse, the bag that houses her computer and art journal...and the little piggy.

It was this little piggy that would become her best purchase.

The little piggy was a piggy bank and Melany absolutely loved it from the first time she saw it.

But why in the world would she need a piggy bank.

Piggy banks are for children, not grown adults, right?

Then Melany had a wonderful idea (probably from God as the most wonderful ideas turn out to be).

She could get the piggy bank and use it to hold all her change.

Being that she pays for things with cash she accumulated a lot of change.

What if she did not spend that change but saved it.

Then when she felt led, she could empty her piggy bank, cash in the coins, and do something special for someone else.

She would call it a piggy bank blessing.

Back to now:

And there it began. This little piggy bank that I have now emptied twice. The first time was to get a cool camera (and film) for a friend. Go God!!

Now, as this service project found me with a deep desire to participate through the gift of shopping, I felt the need to empty it once again. When these moments come, I never know how much will come out, but like to think that Jesus multiplies the change like He did the loaves and fish :-) I was so pleased to cash in my piggy bank and find that I had $65 to spend for this purse project. Praise God!!! I was able to get a new Nine West purse and lots of really cool stuff, including some stuff from the Body Shop (yeah for Ross and Marshalls).

I share all that to say that my heart was so thrilled beyond belief to see God provide to me the funds to provide some love and encouragement to one of His daughters. I love it! The DC Sisterhood purse project (which, by the way, was called "Be Her Change") was a huge success. While there were 25 purses needed to give one to all the women at the shelter, God moved and 75 purses were put together. Praise God!!! The picture below is not high quality (it was taken in a dark room with my phone), but you get the idea right? Basically...AMAZING!!!

So go get a piggy bank. Target does not carry Liberty of London anymore, but they do still have cute piggy banks...and you don't have to be 5 to own one :-)