Ultimate Blog Party 2011 Party Post

Hi and welcome to Water Water Everywhere. Thanks for popping over from the Ultimate Blog Party 2011 hosted by my friends Janice and Susan from 5 Minutes for Mom. My name is Sarah, I'm a mom of two little boys, a veteran blogger, and the wife of a blogger too!

Water Water Everywhere is my personal blog where I write to encourage others that balance is possible, harmony and peace in the family are achievable, and life can and should be lived full of joy and not stress. I want my blog to be a place of calm amid the chaos of motherhood. To that end, I write about my perspective on parenting, faith, handling money wisely, and appreciating the beauty in the world around me through my photography, some travel, and fashion. Check out this short introductory video!



Please do drop me a line and introduce yourself! Do you believe it's possible to live without stress?

I Am Not a Writer

Sometimes when people ask me why I blog, I reply that I just love to write. After all, I've written 1,130 blog posts over the past six years. That's just on THIS blog, I didn't count my photography blog (mostly photos anyway), my corporate blog, my now ancient weight-loss blog, and the various blogs I contribute to.

But is that really writing? In some ways I consider it more like talking, but with links and photos. Fortunately I was raised in a family of English nazis so my sentences and paragraphs are usually structured more correctly than how I talk. Thanks to my parents and grandparents I have a rather impressive vocabulary but I almost never employ it here. Despite my occasional attempts to elevate the language of my posts a third party site evaluator always rates my writing as being at an elementary level, which for some reason annoys me to no end.

In my day job as an engineer I write a lot. I had to take a class on technical writing in college and frankly I found it worthless and having almost nothing to do with the actual technical writing I do all the time. I've written specifications and design memos, engineering reports and product descriptions. Beyond that I've had dozens of research papers and articles published in journals, conference proceedings and industry magazines. I even wrote a whole thesis which can be found somewhere in the cavernous stacks of Paterno Library at Penn State. (It sucks, by the way.)

But when I read Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, as I did last night before bed, I am profoundly humbled. She is a writer with an immeasurable gift for painting vibrant pictures with mere words. When I read a blog post that my very good friend who has spent years as a journalist for the AP sends me to look over before she posts it, I am humbled. She tells me she is sleep deprived from life with her newborn and wants to know if she is making sense. Her use of words evokes such emotion...laughter and sympathy, that I instantly know that she is a writer. Songwriter Andrew Peterson speaks often of his love affair with words and it shows up in the amazing lyrics of his incredible music. I have such awe for great songwriters.

I know I do not have the same mastery of language as these and many others who would I call real writers. But I observe a lot, think a lot, and have an awful lot to say. So to me it doesn't really matter if I'm a writer because I intend to keep right on blogging till I run out of things to say. Which isn't likely to happen anytime soon.

Mom Bloggers Club Launches Campaign for Planned Parenthood

There are few things I believe in so strongly that I say them or write about them knowing it will potentially alienate half the people listening. The sacredness of the lives of unborn children is one of those things.

I have friends that will disagree with me. I have friends who are militantly pro-choice. I even have friends who I love very much and have good relationships with who have had abortions and say they don't regret it. But I will not be shy about my position that ending the life of an innocent, unborn baby is morally wrong and should be illegal. And I certainly won't support an organization who makes most of their money from abortions, even if they do other very positive work for women.

Yes, I'm well aware of all the good work they do to provide birth control and preventative care for women who can't afford it. Trust me, I've done my research. I've seen the commercial featuring the woman who claims Planned Parenthood saved her life when they caught her cervical cancer. It's a total bait and switch though because 40% of Planned Parenthood's revenue comes from abortion. In 2009 alone Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions. They have been exposed time and time again as having a culture that actively promotes abortion, and in a decade where abortions overall are on the decline, Planned Parenthood's abortion rate has steadily climbed while their pre-natal care and adoption referrals have plummeted. They also have a major problem with the law, getting in trouble all over the place for not reporting rapes and hiding the ages of the men that have impregnated the young teens they see. The organization is mired in controversy, which is why they are in the midst of a huge PR crisis in need of damage control.

Which is also why they have turned to mom bloggers like me and my friends. Now I've been a "mom blogger" for more than six years and I have an extensive network of high profile blogger friends. In recent years many new blogger associations and PR firms have popped up that work with brands for profit by connecting them with influential bloggers. I am a member of a number of these associations and networks and I regularly get to work with brands as a result of them. One that I have been a member of for a long time is called the Mom Bloggers Club, run by Jennifer James. I have a great deal of respect for Jennifer and the work she has done with Mom Bloggers Club, which is why when I received an email from them asking if I'd be interested in doing an ad campaign in support of Planned Parenthood, my jaw hit the floor.

I spoke to Jennifer privately about my disappointment. She noted that she knows she can never please everyone and she was willing to take the risk on this one. She likened it to her work with  Clorox and Nestle, both companies that have sparked controversy in the blogosphere for various environmental and health related issues.

Well...I feel that if Mom Bloggers Club is going to support Planned Parenthood, I can't support them. So regretfully I will request to have my membership dropped. I am simply writing this post to explain my position and to make my fellow pro-life bloggers aware of the campaign. I would encourage those of you who feel as passionately as I do about the rights of the unborn to also let your voices be heard, on behalf of those who have no voice.

I also recommend reading Abby Johnson's book, unPlanned, about her work as director of a Planned Parenthood clinic for eight years.

Race Day Was a Huge Success

Well all the hard work of my peeps in our 1:17 adoption ministry paid off on Saturday. Our first annual Run 4 The Children was a smashing success, with around 470 registered runners, dozens of awesome sponsors and organizational excellence. My whole group worked hard leading up to the race and the Lord most definitely blessed our day, since it was all for His glory anyway. I don't know the total amount of money raised for adoptions and orphan care yet but it was in the thousands. Since the average cost of an international adoption is somewhere around 30K, that money is vitally needed.



It was great to see so many of my friends that don't attend the Fellowship at Cinco Ranch come to participate in the run. I had friends from other churches in Alliance 14:18 there, supportive friends from Katy, and lots of families that care passionately about adoption. During packet pick-up at Luke's Locker on Friday I heard many different stories of families that had adopted through various avenues in the U.S. and from abroad. I also heard from happy adults that had been adopted themselves. Of course there were also people who just like to run and will sign up for every local race they can find. We heard from many experienced marathoners that our race was extremely professional and well done, not typical for an inaugural event at all. I certainly thought so, although it was my first ever run.

Speaking of which, I did it!! All my hard work and training for the past three months paid off with a finish time of just under 53 minutes. I had to walk part of the last mile but I finished strong and was very happy with my result. Next year I will shave a lot off that time, I promise you. In the meantime I will keep training and I'm looking at doing another 5k race in May. Meeting the goal of running this 4 mile race does not at all mean the end of my running...it's only the beginning!

Fashion Friday: Spring Dresses!

The weather here in Houston has been magnificent for several weeks now and my mind is on breezy spring dresses. I don't wear a ton of dresses and I really should but those that I have are either dark and wintry or much more suited for weddings than errands. So I set off in an online quest to find a few of my favorites, and I thought I'd share them with you.

My search was harder than I thought, because I had specific things in mind. For one thing, a lot of dresses end up being not modest enough for me in the cleavage area. So may have deep V-necks or wrap across the front and when you have curves like I do that means cleavage. I realize that is sexy and feminine and figure flattering but I have a personal conviction to avoid overly cleavage revealing styles, especially in church where I would certainly want to wear my dresses.

Sheath dresses are almost universally flattering and I have a number of them. I was looking for something with more of an A-line, but this one from Kohl's caught my eye. I'm head over heels for ruffles.

But seriously, I really wanted something I can really move around in, and a short sheath does not fit that bill. This one from Tommy Hilfiger looks a little more comfortable and I love the pink paisley pattern. 

Can you say pink? Apparently I'm on a pink kick at the moment because this asymmetrical draped number caught my eye by Vera Wang for Kohl's. I'm not sure if I could pull it off or not, it looks pretty short, but I may head over to Kohl's and give it a shot. 

The cut of dress I am really looking for is exactly this one from my very favorite retailer, Boden USA. This is called the Riviera dress and looks great for the kind of every day spring wear I'm thinking of. 

So what kind of dresses do you like? Floral or solid? Short or maxi? Sheath or A-line?

Run 4 The Children in Katy, TX

Today's post is sponsored by Run 4 The Children, a four mile race benefiting orphaned children and the families who want to adopt them.  If you're a regular reader here you know I share God's heart for the fatherless. You also know I've been training since January 1st with the Couch to 5K program with the end goal of a four mile run this weekend. This run is organized by and benefits 1:17, a ministry to bring awareness to the global orphan crisis and provide much needed funds to families wanting to adopt.

Run 4 The Children was the brainchild of my friend Dr. Scott Balin. If you live in Katy you may have recently seen the big feature article in Katy Magazine about the running group, Katy Fit, which Scott is the organizer for. So he knows a lot about benefit runs and knows a ton of local runners. As of today we have well over 300 people registered for the run and we are expecting a lot of same day registrations this Saturday morning. We also have an amazing number of incredible business and community sponsors. Some have provided food for after the race and and some have provided coupons and other swag in the very nice bags each runner will get.

The members of 1:17 spent Monday night stuffing 500 of these awesome swag bags. We have a fantastic group of families who have adopted, families in the process of adopting, some preparing to be foster homes and some that just have a heart for orphans and are supportive of all efforts to care for the "least of these." On Saturday we will also have many other volunteers from the Fellowship at Cinco Ranch, the location of the run, on hand to help out. Three other churches have also volunteered to set up water stations along the race route; Living Word Lutheran, Grace Fellowship Methodist, and Grand Lakes Presbyterian. We have totally cool medals for the winners of each age/gender group.

Following the race we are gonna have a fabulous party with a super fun kids zone and a great concert by national recording artists the Wayne Kerr Band. The Wellness Center will have a booth with free massages and the new salon next door to the Wellness Center will be doing free polish changes! I'm looking forward to that. There will also be several vendors there with information about adoption in case you want to know more about our cause.

So online registration for Run 4 the Children is now closed, BUT you can still show up at 7:15am on race day and register there.  You don't have to run the 4 miles either, you can walk AND there will be a well marked short cut that is only 2.6 miles.

Use Foursquare to Get Awesome Deals

Several times this week I have had conversations with people about social media including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. Some of my friends are starting to buy into the concept of Twitter, but I keep hearing over and over again "Why would anyone use Foursquare?"

1. Well for starters, any and all competition is fun. While it's not a big deal to me, it's kind of fun trying to oust someone as the Mayor of your favorite coffee shop. For awhile my friend Kami and I had a friendly battle over the Mayorship of our local Panera Bread. Getting awarded fun badges is kind of cool too, Foursquare can be very creative with these. I happen to find the "Player Please" badge amusing, which you get when you check in to a location with three members of the opposite sex.

2. Seeing where my friends hang out can be cool. I have routinely discovered new restaurants right here in Katy because someone I know checked in there. If I had never heard of it or knew very little about it, I might ask them if it's good and then try it out for myself. I like learning about which gyms my friends belong to and even what churches people I know go to. Not something I might think to ask of someone I don't talk to every day.

3. The best reason for me to use Foursquare is the Specials! When you check into an area it will show you how many specials are available at that location or even at other places in the vicinity. Here are a few examples that I like:

• Free chips and salsa at Chili's just for checking in. 
• Check in with three other friends and you get any appetizer free at Chili's! 
• Free fountain drink at the refreshment counter of my local Honda dealer for checking in. 
• $10 off any lab test of $49 or more at a local medical lab. That's a great savings!
• $25 off your tax prep at Jackson Hewitt. 
• 25% off your lunch every third check-in at a local wine bar and grill. 
• One free large beverage once a week at Java Joe's. 
• Five free 4x6 prints at our local Ritz Camera for checking in. 
• 20% off a purchase with your first check-in at Radio Shack. 10% each time after that. 20% for the Mayor.

I've also seen flash specials, valid only for one day, at Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles and H&M. With such a ridiculously easy way of scoring deals and freebies, why NOT use it? You can keep your location totally private if you're worried about security. 

So that's why Foursquare works for me. 

Broken

Spring break was decidedly not fun around the Hubbell house. I failed to get Nathan registered for camp in time so I was facing the prospect of hoping he'd entertain himself on my work days. Then Alex came down with the flu, so instead of working on Monday I had to drag both kids to that germ infested pitri dish that is the pediatrician's office. His diagnosis of the flu meant spring break would not include fun outings to the Livestock show or the zoo. Of course it turned out that I got Alex's germs and headed to the doctor the very next day...again with both kids in tow. My being sick meant not only was I not really able to work, I couldn't continue my training runs in this last homestretch before my big race. I hated not being able to run.

The germs were just frustrating, as they have interrupted life in our house for months now. One virus after another. But we soldier on with life and deal with it. Friday afternoon everyone was feeling well enough to head to the playground near our house. Of course I was staring at my phone when Nathan fell off a balance beam and landed on his hand in such a way that he began yelling "Oh NO!" and hyper-ventilating. Not really crying though. He insisted on leaving that minute so we did, and once home I realized his elbow was swelling up something fierce. Off to the urgent care center where x-ray verified a bad break at the base of the humerus bone. Nathan was so brave, never crying, only yielding the occasionally quiet "Ouch" when the x-ray tech moved his arm about. Of course the Tylenol with Codeine helped that too.  He asked a million questions about it, not realizing that a broken bone is not a permanent situation. He wondered how he would accomplish all kinds of things, such as packing his bookbag at school. The nurse practitioner wrapped it in a splint and we will see the ortho doc today to have it casted.

The straw that broke the camel's back for me though, was not Nathan's broken arm. It was an email I received later that night about one of my closest friends from back in Pennsylvania. Dawn has always been someone I wanted to live like, an overflowing fountain of positive energy and a light for the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone around her. She's the one that introduced me to MOPS and to Financial Peace University and her business as a Premier Designs jewelry woman is beyond ordinary success. She also happens to be the elected local Republican committee woman, fiercely passionate about civic duty. All this with three young boys and a husband in the National Guard who has had to spend a lot of time away from home. God blessed me richly with a friend when we moved in next door to Dawn's family in 2004. Last year I learned that she had breast cancer, and I could only pray from afar as she battled it with the grace and beauty she is known for. We all thought she had beaten the cancer at the end of 2010. Then I got the heartbreaking news on Friday that she had been feeling bad and doctors found cancer in her bones and liver.

I'm just going to admit that I pretty much had a total breakdown. I cried myself to sleep Friday night and woke up crying Saturday morning. I went for a run and felt like a huge weight was on my shoulders. I prayed, I thought, I wrestled, I tried to lay it before my God, but I still cried. All day long. I believe that God is sovereign, which means He is in control of everything, good and bad. I can even see pretty clearly why He would choose Dawn for this, because I know that she will ensure that He is glorified by it. I saw it in the very young life of Sarah Chidgey who was taken by cancer just recently but glorified Jesus more than I could even hope to if I live a hundred years. So do I understand why this is God's plan? Maybe in part, yes. But this is the first time in a very very long time when I have not liked His plan at all. I was downright angry about it. Grieved that this world could lose her light much too soon.

I knew church would be hard on Sunday morning, but the Fellowship is my family and worship is my refuge. You should know that I do NOT like to show negative emotions. I can't stand to cry in front of people. But I was feeling weak and helpless. Broken. Angry. God spoke to me through the worship set yesterday, loudly. We sang Blessed Be Your Name, a song I don't remember ever singing at our current church but we sang all the time at our old church and even my kids sing it with me in the car. The lyrics, from Job 1:21, are ones that I have chosen as a life theme.

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." 

I know this truth and I will continue to praise the Lord even when I'm not feeling it. All I need is to be reminded of His incredible mercy towards me, which I was in the song To Know Your Name, which is essentially pulled from John 3:16. God's redemptive plan is so much bigger than my circumstances or Dawn's circumstances. He spoke right to the analytical part of soul that cannot ignore the magnitude of Christ's work on the cross no matter how upset or angry I get. Then we sang one of my new favorites, Stronger, and the floodgates burst open. Tears came pouring down my cheeks and I couldn't even sing but I knew that if our God is stronger than sin and death, He is also stronger than cancer. When I am feeling utterly weak and helpless it doesn't matter because my God is stronger.

So I'm better now. Not overjoyed, but better. Please pray for my sweet friend Dawn right now.

My Workout Wardrobe

Earlier this week I was driving through my neighborhood when I spotted a woman jogging who was fairly well endowed and in obvious need of a far more supportive bra. My first thought was "Ouch" followed quickly by wondering if she had any idea the lasting damage she was doing to her own body. I tweeted these thoughts which led to a follow-up question about what kind of running bra I recommend. Finding a good running bra was one of the first things I did, along with getting good shoes, when I started my Couch to 5k training program. The foundation of any workout wardrobe for women is a good supportive bra, and this is the one I use.

This Wacoal bra is designed for larger cup sizes and zips up the front. It is extremely shock resistant and has special high tech fabric for wicking sweat away. I seriously LOVE that it zips up the front making it so much easier to get in and out of than most sports bras that go over your head. I have one of these in black and one in white. 

Yes, it's a little spendy but totally worth it. When it comes to the rest of my clothes I go cheap. I like to run in mesh capris like these at Target for only $14.99. 

I cannot tell you how much I love my running t-shirts from Target as well. I lucked out and found this C9 t-shirts with moisture wicking fabric for only $5 each in purple and green. It's the same as this one online but I can only find it in white now. 

Now for my regular yoga practice I have an entirely different wardrobe. I still need a good support bra, but it does not have to be as impact resistant as the one shown above, so I like this one because it's soft and doesn't dig into my skin as I'm going through various poses. The key to a good yoga top for me is that it needs to stay in it's proper place when I'm hanging upside down. That means no t-shirts. I personally have a pile of these Old Navy long and lean tank tops in various colors.   

But if I were looking for something a bit more stylish and had the budget, I would totally love this
Double Aum Side Racerback Tank for my yoga classes. 

So tell me what YOU like to wear for your workouts? 

Photography Thursday: Father/Daughter Dance

Now that the various photos from this event have been ordered, printed and delivered I think it's safe to share my thoughts and favorites from the evening. For the second year in a row on Valentine's weekend my church hosted a "Princess of My Heart" dance for dads and their little girls of all ages. I was happy to be asked to photograph the night, especially since I don't have a daughter to dress up and send off to such things. I guess the idea of the night was for fathers to demonstrate to their daughters how a gentleman should treat a lady. There were carriage rides and dancing and plenty of sweets to be had. It was fun seeing the very little ones dressed up in their princess clothes and I admit that I got a little misty when the dads were all dancing to Steven Curtis Chapman's Cinderella. So here are just a few of my favorite shots of the night.

So what do you think of an event like this, ever been to one or sent your daughter to one?

Ten Big Fears I Faced Head-On...And the Positive Results

I discovered years ago that one of the best ways to grow, mature, and improve your character is to force yourself into uncomfortable situations. Our tendency as humans is to run the other direction when faced with something we fear. That's what Seth Godin refers to as "lizard brain"...it's a physiological response that has helped us survive as a species. But there are huge benefits to ignoring that voice in your head that says "you will be rejected and laughed at." There can be tremendous results when you feel the butterflies in your stomach and train them to fly in formation.

Here are just a few examples of things I did that scared me to death but had really awesome outcomes and helped me grow as a human being.

1. Calling a guy I barely knew to ask him to the prom. I went to a tiny school and was a late bloomer. I had to look outside of my senior class if I was going to have a date. I became casual friends with a freshman in college who was brought in to help choreograph the HS musical I was in. I had to ask our drama teacher for his phone number, call him up out of the clear blue and ask him to go with me. He happily agreed and we had a nice time. We later ended up living in the same dorm at college and I discovered he was gay. Explains why he didn't kiss me goodnight, I guess.

2. Applying to an Ivy League college. Like I said, late bloomer. Never would have guessed I was Ivy League material, but when my SAT's came back I was encouraged to give it a shot. I labored over countless essays, got recommendations from teachers, and endured challenging interviews with the various college admissions people. I got in and they even gave me grant money and all but begged me to attend, but I decided I liked Penn State and their honors program better. Still it was a major confidence boost.

3. Cold calling a potential customer. I had an engineering degree and sales was the farthest thing from my mind when I started job-hunting, but because I was married and limited geographically my job options were limited. So I took a job in technical sales and my boss coached me. The whole thing was a new experience, visiting customers and encouraging them to buy more, but the hardest was calling someone who had never heard of my company or purchased our products. One such call resulted in a massive sale and again, really boosted my confidence.

4. Speaking in front of a crowd. I remember clearly the very first time I had to do this at a breakfast of nearly one hundred male engineers. I practiced and practiced and practiced in my hotel room. I probably shook like a leaf through the whole thing, but afterwards I had one rep after another come up and tell me what a great job I had done. They were probably just being nice, but I liked it enough to do it again, and again, on higher and higher profile platforms. Now public speaking is one of my favorite things to do and a highly valuable skill that few people really have.

5. Joining my church's praise team. I love music and I love to sing but singing in front of other people still scares the heck out of me. Somehow someone convinced me to join our smallish church's praise team on vocals. I still got nervous every Sunday but once the Associate Pastor said to me how much he enjoyed my work on praise team...because of my smile. He could tell how much I enjoyed worship and it inspired him. Mission accomplished.

6. Childbirth. I know this is kind of a given but doesn't childbirth scare every woman? Well maybe not, but the whole labor and delivery thing freaked me out. I think the positive results here are pretty obvious.

7. Defending myself in federal court. I got sued by my former employer for starting a competing company, more or less. (That's the extremely short explanation.) Just weeks after having my first baby, filled with stress and postpartum hormones, I had to sit up in that chair next to a judge and defend myself with incredible calm and skillfully as I had practiced with my attorneys. I was verbally attacked under cross-examination and even had to admit that I had once lied to my boss under duress. My partners and I won that case and seven years later are still operating a multi-million dollar business.

8. Starting my own photography business. No matter how talented or skilled you are, it's hard the first time you ask someone to pay you for your work. But it's worth it!

That's me...crow pose.

9. Learning challenging yoga balances like crow and handstand. Balancing on your hands or head is a nerve-wracking thing, and it took months of practice to get crow (knees on elbows, as in the photo here) but it's so fun once you can do it.

10. Running in a four mile race. This hasn't happened yet but takes place in two weeks and I have trained hard for the past three months. I went from huffing and puffing my way through a minute long jog to comfortably running for half an hour. I cannot wait to cross that finish line.



Now I want to hear YOUR story. Tell me one fear you've faced and how it worked out.

Has Technology Mastered You?

I've been thinking and reading a lot lately about how the idea of the Christian life is to live completely surrendered to God, and how you can't serve two masters. The scripture speaks specifically about trying to serve God and money, but this also relates to anything that has you mastered. If you spend more time and attention thinking about something other than God? Yeah...it's an idol.

My son took this shot.

In my case technology is an addiction. I've admitted this before, especially when it comes to Twitter. It can be a problem for sure, when I'm spending so much time staring at my laptop or my phone that my family thinks I'm ignoring them. One habit I'm trying to break is always having my phone out when I'm at a restaurant with my family. It drives my husband nuts, and with good reason. He has every right to expect my full attention when we are out somewhere together.

So when I lost my brand new iPhone last Monday night, I got a bit upset, but I immediately knew it was a loud message about the importance I placed on it. I try to be aware of my character flaws and the things that get in the way of my relationships. Self-awareness is a big part of living life intentionally. So I prayed about it and tried not to freak out. I got it back the next day, but not without putting my regularly scheduled plans aside.

Then Friday night I was tinkering with my blog domain and suddenly encountered an error. The blog still existed, but refused to show up at the normal address, waterwatereverywhere.net. I searched and searched for help, I tweeted and begged for help, but nothing would work. I've worked hard on this blog and it's important that all the incoming links and RSS feeds still work, so the address is key. I found one potential solution, but it was basically like leaving someone at Google a message and hoping they'd get around to fixing it sooner than later. I'm not good at waiting. I got pretty anxious when it still wasn't working the next morning. (Keep in mind, I have extremely little anxiety in my life, so any worry at all bothers me.)

I knew, once again, that I was trying to control my blog and not surrendering it to the Lord. It was suddenly apparent to me how important I had made it. So I resolved to work on keeping technology in its proper place in my life and keeping the right perspective on everything. That means prioritizing my family above my social network. I know this obvious, but for some of us who have made blogging and social media a passion and even a business, it can be hard.

Obviously I found a reasonable solution to fix the blog address problem. I'll still be blogging and tweeting but hopefully I can more mindful about my screen time.

More Meaningful Bling

A few weeks ago I wrote a post for All Things Chic about a beautiful bracelet I have that benefits parents in the process of adopting. I am fiercely pro-life, pro-adoption and supportive of organizations that work to support orphans and children living in severe poverty. So when I can spend my money on one of my little addictions, jewelry, and it benefits more than just me? Win-win!

So my friend Kristen from We Are THAT Family has started a non-profit maternity house in Kenya that will house and support pregnant girls with no place to go and no resources. Many of these girls have been forced into prostitution and would otherwise be seeking backstreet abortions. Kristen and her husband are going way way way out on a limb in faith to do this and one of the many ways she is supporting the Mercy House is by making and selling gorgeous jewelry, some of it fashioned out of paper beads like those made in Kenya.

So I got to hang out with Kristen on Monday and bought a bunch of her jewelry, AND her adorable new book, Don't Make Me Come Up There! Check out these fabulous hand-crafted accessories. Lots more are available on her Etsy site.

I'm all about meaningful bling and I encourage you to check out her shop online. 

Photography Thursday: Rodeo Style!

March in Texas is when the Houston Rodeo is full effect. We have Go Texan Day, when the trailriders ride into the city from all over, Texan Independence Day, and of course three weeks of the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show, apparently the biggest rodeo in the country. I had no idea how seriously Texans take their wild west heritage until I moved here almost three years ago. So today I thought I'd simply share some of my favorite photos that convey the sentiment of this month. These are all from the past couple of years.

Ending her trailride in the city

Crusty Old Cowboy

Texas Proud!

My Little Buckaroo

Texas Flags EVERYWHERE

Ready for the Rodeo Parade

Little Cowgirls

Hatchlings at the Livestock Show

Mutton Bustin'!

Newborn piglet at the Birthing Center in the Livestock Show

If you like this, you may also enjoy my post on the Top Ten Things I Love About Texas.