Eyes Wide Open

2011-04-11T17:17:00.000-03:00

Somehow I have managed to neglect this blog for several months now.

I guess my one goal right now is to get our house sold and get moved.

Aside from that, there aren't many blog posts or facebook status updates happening around here lately.

You could say that I'm going inward (for now)...I'm sure I'll get my blog groove back some day.

Update on the jewelry:

Earrings for Haiti - have sold none since December

Necklaces for Kenya - have sold none since December

Chosen One Jewelry - have sold a few online since December. At the end of March, I donated 19 pieces of jewelry for the TDH Gala (http://www.tdhcharitygala.com/). I was pleasantly surprised what some of them sold for in the silent auction.

Aside from this action, until this fall/Christmas Craft season (hopefully I can find a few smaller Christmas craft shows when we move) I don't plan on doing too much with selling jewelry while we get moved and settled into our new surroundings (hopefully sooner than later).

Hope all is well with all my peeps out there!

Swing...

2011-01-06T16:28:00.002-04:00

We're back in the full swing of things after the holidays, especially trying to take off those pounds we put on at (and before) Christmas.

Our home schooling began on Monday and BOY, has it been a hard week!! It seems I have a little man who is rather defiant at times. This momma doesn't like to be Military MOM...but it seems this is what the behaviors I've seen warrants! And shucks, I even missed out on going to see Yogi Bear (in 3D)!

Oh well, you do what you 'gotta' do!

Not much new on the jewelry front. I am taking January off completely - not looking at anything to do with jewelry. Maybe in February I'll start to try and create again - depending on the real estate front!

Now that I've listed a few items on Etsy and my facebook profile, I've sold a few things over the holidays.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-01-01T18:53:00.000-04:00

A little late, but better than never :(

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Happy New Year

2011

Lots of new and welcomed changes on the horizon for this new year.

Looking forward to all that the year has to offer.

Thank you to all who supported, prayed for and purchased items from me this year. I hope you all have a wonderful year, filled with much LOVE!

Upcoming Etsy Products

2010-12-07T20:48:00.000-04:00

All glass pendants are 7/8" or 24 mm square.

Each pendant comes with a chain, your choice of an 18" or a 20" sterling silver snake chain (925 stamped), or a black leather chord (19" - 22"), or a black waxed cotton chord, or a pink, turquoise, green or black ribbon. DON'T FORGET TO SPECIFY.

More information about these pendants at the bottom of this post.

Each necklace also ships with an organza gift back.

$10.00 each (+ shipping, approx. $2.00)

PLEASE NOTE: All dollar amounts are in CANADIAN funds.

EMAIL ME for more information: tara(dot)morin473(at)gmail(dot)com

LARGE SQUARE glass pendant (35mm or 1 1/3in square) or

RECTANGLE glass pendant (24mm x 48mm or 0.9in x 1.9in)

with a 20" sterling silver necklace

$13.00 (+ shipping, approx. $2)

Glass Pendant RING (24mm or 0.9in square)

with adjustable band

$7.00 each (+ shipping, approx. $2)

Christmas Set, with matching ring

$15.00 each (+ shipping, approx. $3 - $4)

WOOD/SHELL Necklaces

made on beading wire, with a magnetic clasp

$10 each (+ shipping, approx. $2)

SOLIDARITY Necklaces for KENYA

All $10 each (+ shipping, approx. $2)

ALL sales go to Kenya to provide single women with an income.

Bracelet/Earring Sets

$7.00 each (+ shipping, approx. $2)

$5.00 goes towards our adoption

$2.00 goes to Haiti to buy rice

Over the next few days, I will be posting many new items on Etsy but I'm giving YOU (my faithful readers) the opportunity to purchase directly from me.

Your pendant is made with:

- medium-sized Aanraku bales which are nickel-plated and big enough for you to string ribbon or thicker chains through.

- all pendants come with an 18" sterling silver, 925 stamped (OR, a 20" sterling silver, also 925 stamped can be requested – I only have a few left and they won't be ordered again).

- your pendant will be shipped in a small organza bag

100% of your purchase supports our adoption of a special needs baby girl in Vietnam.

***Special Notes about Pendants***

- Pendants are sealed with a high-gloss finish and are water resistant but NOT WATERPROOF. Remove before swimming, bathing, etc.

- Small parts; not recommended for small children.

- Email me your favourite photo to have designed into a pendant?

Custom orders welcome! Email me for more details: chosenone(dot)blingwithaheart(at)gmail(dot)com

Now selling on ETSY

2010-12-07T19:51:00.002-04:00

Have you heard of it??

Etsy is an ecommerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies.

That's what I've decided to do to try and sell off much of our left over jewelry.

Check out my profile link, here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chosenone2010

So far, I have about 20 pieces posted and plan to post a few more items each day.

Let me know what you think? Any ideas to sell some more jewelry?

Thanks for your continued prayers and support!

Necklaces for KENYA

Longevity Symbol

LOVE symbol

Sample of custom photo orders

The Last Craft Show of the Season

2010-12-07T19:45:00.000-04:00

What a thrill of a day!

Before I was even set up, I had a line up of customers.

It was extremely busy for the first 3 hours (from about 9 - 12 noon), then it died right off.

This is when I got MOST of my sales!

All $294.00 of them.

I was SO excited!!!

$30.00 for HAITI

$254.00 for our ADOPTION

$10.00 for KENYA

That's it for Craft shows and I have A LOT of product left (and I mean A LOT)!

Like I'm talking, I have close to 2000 pieces left (many of which are bottle caps). I have over 300 silver chains, over 100 corded necklaces, around 250 glass pendants, close to 100 bracelets, close to 50 sets (both Christmas, bracelet/earring sets), and then some more.

SO...now I'm trying to find ways to sell them.

Do you have any IDEAS?

Up next...

2010-12-01T16:13:00.000-04:00

Aside from my next (and final) craft show this coming weekend in Grand Falls, I am going to work diligently at taking photos for posting on my blog as well as, posting stock to my Etsy account!

Will post to advise when this is done!

Oh happy days!

Christmas at the Coliseum Results

2010-12-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

Here's a little snapshot, taken from my phone as I prepared to load the van with all the stock for my first BIG show in Moncton.

Here's a few shots of my booth at the big show.

My friendly neighbour, who was so well behaved and friendly!

This was my view from my seat in my booth for much of the weekend!

SO...all in all I had a GREAT weekend. I made just a little less than I originally wanted to, but after my first craft show I had fully expected this outcome.

Here are the totals of money raised:

FRIDAY

HAITI - $61.00

ADOPTION - $269.00

KENYA - $20.00

SATURDAY

HAITI - $102.00

ADOPTION - $398.00

KENYA - $0.00

SUNDAY

HAITI - $15.00

ADOPTION - $267.00

KENYA - $30.00

TOTALS

HAITI - $178.00

ADOPTION - $934.00

KENYA - $50.00

TOTAL SALES: $1162.00

And that's, that!

I'm very pleased with how much I raised this weekend.

As for my well being, I am POOPED right out and have been feeling really groggy!

For the past 3 nights, I've been sleeping between 10-12 hours each night (in comparison to 4-5 hrs each night all last week).

Finally, I'm finally starting to feel a little more like 'myself' (although it's 4pm and I'm still in my jammies)!!!

One more craft show to go this weekend at the Grand Falls Farmer's Market.

And SO this is it!!!

2010-11-25T15:48:00.000-04:00

1746 pieces of jewelry, broaches, magnets, key chains, cell phone tags and more all ready for the BIG show this weekend in Moncton.

My FIRST big show: Christmas at the Coliseum

It's been a very stressful week preparing all that I had to do...but I'm just updating ipods while Jacques packs the van, then we are off!!!

Praying for a successful weekend!

Back into the swing of things...

2010-11-12T08:05:00.000-04:00

After the last craft show, I just HAD to have a time out.

I was so sick, so I took this week off completely from every area of my life. I went to the doctor on Monday to find out I have acute pneumonia (again). It's just horrible. Two full weeks now that I've been sick and I'm still only just starting to get some energy again. Any little amount of exertion makes me winded and tuckers me out!

This week, I declared "NO SCHOOL" week, "MOVIE" week, nothing but relaxing, napping and spending time with my boy.

It seems to have worked, because I am feeling about 95% now which is SO much better than I have felt for the past 2 weeks!

Tomorrow (on Saturday), I am going to work on jewelry making ALL DAY! I had promised myself that after the completion of the market and the Craft Show last weekend, I would work on jewelry in the time I would have spent at the market (about 6 hours). I need to, I have SO much more to make to be ready for the big show in Moncton.

So, I'm back in the swing of things and it feels great!

My first Craft Show...

2010-11-08T14:59:00.000-04:00

It wasn't quite the success (financially speaking) that I had thought and hoped for.

That said, I'm not overly disappointed.

Why, you might ask?

Well, to be honest there are several reasons:

I was sick all week leading up to it and I still wasn't feeling the greatest while at the show, so now I can rest for a few weeks before my next show.
I learned much about how I wanted to set up for my next show.
I met and talked to many people, which is always a highlight.
I spent two days with a great friend, who was there to help out and have now learned that I should probably have some people there with me when I go to Moncton (it's a HUGE help)!

All in all, I can summarize by this awesome quote I had in mind:

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

I'm not willing to give up so easily...it's just not my style!

When I googled this quote, I fould so many more that were so appropriate too:

"If you're doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure." ~Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

"There is no failure except in no longer trying." ~Elbert Hubbard

"Do the one thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. This is your moment. Own it." Oprah

"The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way." Dale Carnegie

That pretty much summarizes how I feel. It was a GREAT experience and can't wait for the next show to apply what I have learned!

W.C. Fields

First Craft Show of the Season

2010-11-05T10:04:00.000-03:00

Coming up at the Grand Falls Shopping Center, located at 180 Madawaska Rd in Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

Saturday, Nov 6 9:30 am - 5:00 pm
Sunday, Nov 7 12 noon - 5:00 pm

This is my FIRST ever Craft Show so I'm a bit nervous, but have complete faith that it will work out just fine! I wish I would have been a little better prepared, but I was sick all week so I'll have to make do with what I have!!!

If you're in the area, stop by my booth to cheer me on, have a little chat and get a little treat!

Grand Falls Farmer's Market

2010-10-30T16:14:00.000-03:00

Today was the last day of the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings for me.

I'm not sad to see them come to an end, ONLY because the temperatures are getting kinda cold around here and there is no heat in the building!!! Aside from that, I LOVED every minute I spent at the market. I've made some great market friends and have made some regular clients, that I will miss seeing from week to week.

Chosing to do the Farmer's Market was a grand success, considering my totals:

Total Paid in Market Fees: $332.00

Total Made for HAITI: $580.75

Total Made for KENYA: $115.00

Total Made for ADOPTION: $1101.00

TOTAL money made at the market: $1464.75

How is THAT for awesome!

What's up next for me?

Here's my line up:

Grand Falls - MALL Christmas Craft Show

Nov 6 9:30 am - 5:00 pm

Nov 7 12 noon - 5:00 pm

Moncton - Christmas at the Coliseum

Nov 26 2:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Nov 27 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

Nov 28 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Grand Falls - MARKET Christmas Craft Show

Dec 4 9:30 am - 5:00 pm

(will have to double check the times, but this IS the date)

Hopefully, get some photos of jewelry online for those of you who can not make the craft shows.

Email me at chosenone

Haiti DONATIONS - THANK YOU for your support.

2010-10-09T23:18:00.000-03:00

Without YOU, this would have NEVER been possible!

Considering it's Thanksgiving weekend (here in Canada), I want to give thanks for living with SO many blessings in my life by donating what I have collected so far. As I continue to sell more and collect from those I have not received payment for yet, I will continue to donate money to New Missions (the company I had intended on travelling to Haiti with) to buy rice in Haiti.

Donations #1 - Paid for an extra bag to be shipped with my friends travelling to Haiti.

One of the couples I was supposed to travel with, and the couple I had been taking Creole lessons with continued to travel to Haiti for (I think) 7 or 8 weeks. They left sometime in August and just returned home last week. Before they went, they collected many items to take with them and ended up with too much stuff. I felt it was a great way to use some of the money I had raised and I gave them $100 to pay for the extra bag to take supplies to one of the oorphanages they worked at while they were in Haiti - Wendy's Love in Leoganne, Haiti.

These are photos they shared of the bag they were able to take from the money raised from the earrings sold.

This just makes all my/our hard work and YOUR SUPPORT worth while.

Isn't this little girl just adorable?

This is my friend Bernice, with a bunch of the children.

And this is my friend, Roland.

So up until now, I had been waiting for the BIG donation to happen when I had collected all the money, in hopes that I could reach $1000 to send. Plus, I thought maybe after the Christmas Shows, this may happen. NOW, in a Thanksgiving kinda spirit, I decided to send the money collected up to now on this Thanksgiving weekend.

Of the $842CDN I have collected, I donated $770USD (which is as close to would be very close to $800 as I could get).

Your support in my Haiti project has been just amazing!

THANK YOU for allowing me to coordinate such a successful project and as well feel SUCH joy to send this kind of money for SUCH a worthy and practical way.

Thank You.

Preparation

2010-10-08T09:55:00.000-03:00

The weeks are numbered before the big Turner's Christmas at the Coliseum in November!

Seven weeks - today!

Considering many of my supplies come from China or Hong Kong and sometimes take up to 4-6 weeks to be delivered, I felt a huge push this past week to get everything ordered...and I did.

It's so hard to guess how much stock I will need for this show...so I'm totally 'ball-parking' the number.

Especially considering, Nov 26-28 is this craft show and the following weekend is the craft show in Grand Falls, so I won't have time to make much jewelry the week in between the 2 shows. In some ways (when I look at ALL the money I've spent on supplies) - I am FREAKING out completely. Yet, in other ways I know it will work out!

Every few days, I am creating, creating, creating. In fact, I've narrowed down all the designs I will take with me and how many of each. But it just hit me yesterday, I wasn't factoring in preparing all of my bags for purchases with labels, or preparing the jewelry tags for each necklace, or preparing the extra jewelry displays....sheesh.

OK...so today, I am completely freaking out!!!

Tomorrow, is the regular farmer's market here in Grand Falls which will be finished in a few weeks (leaving me all of November with no Saturday mornings at the market). This should help!

So that's what is new around here...hope all is well with you.

For all my fellow Canadians, hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving weekend! Count your blessings, count them one by one!

Thrilled beyond measure.

2010-10-03T18:48:00.001-03:00

Since my missions trip to Haiti was cancelled a few months ago, I've been trying to figure out WHAT to do with all these OTC (over the counter) medical supplies that were intended to go with us for our trip in December.

Well...this weekend (at our Missions Conference) we met this lovely couple (Allan & Patsy Myshrall who are with Ambassadors for Christ Canada). They travel the world doing good with several of the poorest countries - Peru, DR & lots of time in the Amazon Jungle).

During our visit on Saturday, they told a story about medical supplies that they had purchased for a price per pound (I think something like around $500 for 200 lbs of supplieis). After they purchased, they realized that the in fact had supplies equalling about $15,000 worth of medical supplies! THAT'S when my friend leaned to me and said, 'what about the supplies for Haiti that we have no way of getting there'.

OH MY....I got all excited and thought 'too bad Dianne isn't here'?

AND...this is the home we found for all the supplies.

Monday, Allan & Patsy leave for Iquitos, Peru where they will be ministering to many people in the Amazon Jungle and distributing lots of these supplies. Then, in December they will be taking a trip to the Dominican Republic and distributing the remaining supplies.

Thank you SO much for those who have donated....it was a great success (too bad they couldn't have gone to Haiti, maybe next year) and Patsy and Allan walked away feeling SO blessed!

Success

2010-09-26T07:38:00.001-03:00

I can hardly believe all the success I've been having with jewelry sales.

Thank YOU to all that have been and continue to support our cause!

If you notice, on the right 'side bar' I have a tally of how much we've raised.

To date:

Haiti - $842.40 (plus $100 already given to pay for a bag to be shipped for an orphanage)
Kenya - $165.00
Adoption - $960.00 (I'm in complete SHOCK over this number)

YOU have all been SO supportive, I can hardly believe your generosity. Thank YOU from the bottom of my heart!

My original goal for our adoption fundraising was to raise $5000 in 2 years. Well...I have a feeling that this number is going to be exceeded (and maybe even by the end of the year). With a big craft show and a smaller one, wouldn't it be absolutely CRAZY if we hit that by the end of the year.

Remember this post??? Where I talked about saying 'yes' to God for our adoption without knowing how we could ever afford this journey???

Now look, God's provision is allowing us to do this. I have this strong faith and step by step it's happening! How amazing!

I've been working extra hard (and spending alot of money on all the supplies needed) to make over 1000 pieces to have ready for the craft show the last weekend of November and first weekend of December. I don't even know if 1000 pieces is enough, but it's the biggest risk I'm willing to take!!!  I'm so scared that all this money will be spent and what if we don't sell enough to even cover all the costs so far? I'm praying it all works out. Will you pray for us too?

PLEASE keep in mind, that I will be putting the prices up November 1 by the advise of friends, family AND several customers.

Here's a list of the new prices starting November 1st:

PRICE LIST

SO....get your Christmas orders in soon before the prices go up.

IF you are a returning customer, I will honour the old prices until 2011.

I'll work hard on posting a bunch of photos this week....

After the craft shows, I will be focusing on getting an online market going.

Thanks for all your support!

NECKLACES

Necklace with Small Glass Pendant $14.00

Necklace with Large Glass Pendant $16.00

Shells and Wood $14.00

Separates:

Silver or Black Leather Necklace (with no pendant) $7.00

Black Chord or Ribbon Necklace (with no pendant) $5.00

Pendant ONLY (Small sizes) $7.00

Pendant ONLY (Large sizes) $8.00

EARRINGS

All earrings $5.00

BRACELETS

All Kids $5.00

All Adults $8.00

RINGS

Big Glass Pendant $13.00

Little Glass Pebble $10.00

Wire Works $8.00

CUSTOM WIRE RINGS $10.00

KEYCHAINS

Letters $4.00

Glass Pendant (small) $7.00

Glass Pendant (large) $8.00

Cell Phone Tags $2.00

MAGNETS

bottle caps (each) $3.00

bottle caps (2 for) $5.00

CLEARANCE (prices as marked)

Earrings (1 for) $3.00

Earrings (2 for) $5.00

Earrings (3 for) $6.00

Earrings (5 for) $5.00

Necklaces for sale

2010-09-09T06:55:00.007-03:00

CLICK on the thumbnail of each photo, to view a larger photo in Photobucket.com. I'm trying this out because it saves me a BUNCH of time (leaving me more time to CREATE)!! Leave comment or email me at chosenone.blingwithaheart@gmail.com for more details. Or come by and see me at the market to see them 'live'!!! If you mention this post, receive a FREE pair of earrings with the purchase of anything else!

Be the change...

2010-08-29T14:17:00.127-03:00

...you want to see!

I love this quote and felt is was a good title considering ALL the changes going on in my world these days.

To name a few, I'm just going to list them and tell you about it.

Ready???

Set.....

GO!!!

BLOG MAKEOVER:

As you can see, there are many physical changes in the look of my blog (thanks to Nikki at Blogs for a Cause). This girl is amazing! She has travelled the world doing amazing humanitarian work, all through the proceeds of Blogs for a Cause. She has a gift and a huge heart! Keep up your amazing work Nikki (and sorry for any misunderstanding with the email communication)!!! :)

BLOG BADGE:

Nikki also created for me my very own Blog Badge, can ya tell that I'm ubberly excited!!! I've been trying to figure this one out for sometime now and no luck!!! THANKS Nikki!

Now, YOU can share in my 'at home' missions by posting my blog badge on YOUR blog (and possibly say a few kind words about my mission - this would be good too) to help spread the word!!!

For now, the html code is below. Nikki is working on trying to get it set up so the code will be directly below the badge (for now, this should work). Let me know if you have any issues posting.

BLOG MISSION:

The mission of this blog has changed slightly (like I've said in previous posts). To start, this blog was created to document my journey of travelling on my first mission trip to Haiti in December of this year, 2010. Then my trip got cancelled.

I was lost and confused over my 2nd missions trip being cancelled or not happening.

I opened up to God and asked him "WHERE do you want me to go?", "How do you want to use the talents of mine?", "Show me the direction he wanted me to go (booking another missions trip or what??" and "WHAT I was supposed to be doing to fulfill the purpose He has for me."

Then a strange, and I mean really strange thing happened.

In March, I saw a 6 day old baby in the doctor's office and began crying. Weird thing is, I didn't even know I was crying until the tear hit my hand that was placed in my lap. Then, I didn't even know WHAT I was crying for.

Later that night, I told Jacques about what had happens and explained I had no idea what I was crying for. We talked a bit and I thought 'that, was that'. Then.....God took a grip of our hearts and planted a HUGE seed, a seed that we should possibly consider adopting again. But I had SO many reasons why it wasn't true, that we couldn't be. We played tug-a-war for sometime with the idea, it kinda went like this:

I mean, really? A baby? It can't be. Are you kidding me? A baby? Are you sure you have the right family? I mean, life has resumed to normal and relatively stress free after our first attempt at adopting a 12 year old girl (that sadly ended in a breakdown). And I thought that adopting was not ever going to happen in our family again. I thought this wasn't my mission anymore. What about our home schooling adventure that starts this year? Don't ya think this is going to be too much to accomplish? Ha, a baby! It can't be. There was NO way. Are you sure? What about our ages? We're both approaching 40 and Noah's approaching double digits. Life is comfortable now. A baby? It can't be. What about the financial side of an adoption. We don't have an $30,000 just lying around in a bank account, waiting to be spent on an adoption. How are we going to come up with THAT kinda money? Really, a baby? It just can't be. And what about our upcoming move next year? What happens if these two big events happen at the same time? A baby? It just can't be, God, it can't be.

Guilt (over questioning God and what He is asking us to do), followed by a bunch of scripture and parts of Dangerous Surrender, by Kay Warren came rushing over.

"I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants" Luke 1:38 If you love me, you will obey what I command. John 14:15 "What is a litmus test of your surrender and obedience to God is how you treat the least among us." Kay Warren 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40 "For you to become a seriously disturbed, surrendered person of faith, you will have to be willing to say yes in advance - to give God your answer before you've heard the question." Kay Warren The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. 2 Corinthians 2:9 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. Isaiah 1:19 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, Titus 3:1 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 1 Peter 1:14 If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23 To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

It was like a merry go round, going faster and faster and faster and faster and faster when we finally just came to a screeching halt. Okay, okay....yes, yes, yes....we will, we will adopt.

So YES my dear friends and family, you read correctly. We are adopting! We have begun an international adoption from Vietnam. By the grace of God, we will welcome home a baby girl, under 12 months old with minor correctable special needs (like cleft palate, club feet, premature, low birth rate, etc). It is a very LONG process that could take between 2-3 years, possibly less for a special needs.

An exciting day: mailing our application!

It was an exuberant feeling when we finally stopped fighting the call that God has so clearly asked of us. And we are all very excited. Noah (for the most part) is absolutely thrilled to be adopting a baby sister in a few years, especially after he got to spend some time with my friend's daughter (who is adopted from Vietnam) this summer when their family visited (and we visited theirs). Every now and then he stops me to say 'will she be this small?' while holding his hand up to his waist.

Then once, he actually gave me the list of his demands (so cute!) on whether we 'would' adopt or not!!!

In order, they were:

She will NOT be allowed in his room. (fair enough, I get that)
She will have to pick up all her toys and not leave them lying around the way the cat and dog leave there's around the living room! (LOL, so cute)
He will NOT be changing ANY diapers! (surprised this was not his #1 demand)

So BIG gulp...here we go. We have a couple years living on the BARE minimums to afford the cost of our adoption. We are saving, scrimping and doing as much as we can to save all of our money for our adoption. We are absolutely willing to do what ever it takes to make this happen.

"In what ways are you allowing God to rearrange your schedule, your finances, your affections, so that you can regularly interact with those he loves?” Kay Warren

I 'get' that some people may not get our intentions or desire to adopt, or may just plain out disagree with our decision. You have every right to your own opinions. But please respect that we live by God's rules and not yours. God doesn't always ask us to choose the route that is most popular, or do things that are easy and we want to follow Him, not the crowd. Heck, if we always fit into the status quo and didn't turn heads or had people talking, wouldn't that get boring after a while? Would we really grow or just be stuck in the same boring place in our lives?

“It really isn't any of my business - or your business - what God does in someone else's life. My only business is to follow him" Kay Warren

"Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,” Exodus 23:2

So...with all that said, part of our plan to save money for our adoption was to come out with a new line of jewelry. New pieces that are JUST for fundraising efforts for our adoption.

Let me make one point clear:

All earrings I make (and any that have already been made), will still be sold to raise money for rice in Haiti.
All solidarity necklaces I make, will still be sold to raise money for income for women in Kenya.
And...all new pieces will be sold to raise money for our adoption

Once our adoption is complete, my vision is to continue to use any money raised through the sale of my jewelry in 'pay it forward' ways. A few ideas I have in my head are to help others who are adopting internationally, to help the orphanage that our little girl comes from or helping our agency, etc.

Go BIG, or go home, right?

With these changes, I felt a new name was appropriate as well.

So here it is *drum roll please*................ OK, so a drum roll wasn't 'really' needed, but come on. Have some fun with me, people!!!

NAMES AND CARDS:

I have been 'busting my butt' working on getting lots of new designs to raise money for our adoption. With all these new pieces, the response has been HUGE at our local farmer's market each weekend.

So far, we have raised close to $400 towards our adoption in only 3 weeks!

Once the markets are finished (after Christmas), I am going to start selling them online. Right now, I just don't have time to take photos and upload...plus, we are doing very well at the markets!

CHRISTMAS AT THE COLISEUM:

Feeling confident about the success we're having at the markets, I started looking around at different Christmas craft shows in our area that I could attend to make a few extra sales at.

As I searched, I kept coming back to the Christmas at the Coliseum (in Moncton). This is THE largest craft show in all Atlantic Canada in November. It's the 23rd annual show, with over 400 exhibitors and over 30,000 expected to be in attendance.

When I first talked to Jacques about it, his immediate response was 'Go for it'! Naturally, I was a little scared and thinking I was a little crazy, but many prayers later I have decided to go for it! It is a little bit of a risk, but without risk, how can one grow. Go BIG, or go HOME!!!

So here I am ready to mail my application for the Christmas at the Coliseum - another proud and VERY exciting moment in our house!

CHIP IN:

You'll notice that I've added a "Chip In" on my side bar. To date, I have sold enough jewellery to raise close to $400 (but have not figure out how to 'start' the chip in with an amount, rather than at zero (if you know, can you please let me know).

If you would like to help in any way, please let me know. Any help is MOST appreciated.

So that's ALL my new news....lots going on, huh!

I can breath now.... *breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out*

I have everything organized in our adoption, fundraising, home schooling world - just in time for our home schooling adventure to begin in one week. Now it's time to do some fun Mom and Me activities with my boy this week!!!

Keep an eye on my blog, become a follower (so I know you are reading), send some kind words of encouragement and keep in touch. It'll be a long journey, are you in for the ride with us?

Thanks for all your support...

Many Blessings,

Tara

Are you ready?

2010-08-22T19:03:00.001-03:00

Lots of changes on the way.....

Be prepared!

Blessings,
Tara

Where it all began, and where I'm headed

2010-08-05T06:54:00.000-03:00

So the conception of this, I began document my journey started so many years ago. Working on a mission to help those around me. What I thought was going to be travelling on my first mission trip to Haiti in December 2010, has changed so much since our trip got cancelled after the earthquake.

With this news, I have agreed to continue what I have started. Even if I can't go on a mission trip I can still do mission work, right from home!

This blog will be my mission adventure, even if there is NO travel involved!

SO, here I am! Making jewelry 'on a mission'!!!

I will continue to make and sell jewelry to provide for a 'better good'! I've been at our local farmers market for 4 weeks now and it is going amazing. I have all remaining Saturday's booked until the end of October, come by and see me. Click HERE, to see all the dates I will be at the market.. If you mention this post or my blog, I will give you a FREE pair of earrings with the purchase of any other item at my table!

So here's how it will work:

ALL jewelry made to raise money for RICE for Haiti, will remain being sold with profits going to buy RICE and help in Haiti. This consists of most earrings and several bracelets. I will continue to make earrings to raise money for Haiti.

Earrings $2

Bracelets $5

ALL necklaces made to raise money to provide INCOME for women in Kenya, will remain being sold with all sales being sent to the Kenny family for this project. I will continue to make necklaces for Kenya, until my beads run out!

Solidarity Necklaces $10

There are 5 colour pendant beads for the Kenya collection.

Tan (not shown)
Earth Brown (top left)
Light Green (top right)
Royal Blue (bottom left)
Light Blue (bottom right)

I will get some better photos of these necklaces as soon as I can, to better reflect the colours of these beautiful pendants!

MANY new pieces of jewelry will be sold to help support an international adoption.

Most necklaces $10

Wire work rings $5

Glass pendant rings (top right corner) $10

There are SO many more designs of necklaces and these photos are not the 'best' as I had several requests to get them posted (so I did them quickly). I will be working at taking some better pictures of many of the designs just as soon as I can.

So as you see, the beginning of this blog until now - my focus has changed slightly. In the end, it's all to do a better good for the world in which we live. So has it 'really' changed?

If you're interested in any of the designs, please email me at tara.morin473@gmail.com.

Blog Badge?

2010-08-02T22:21:00.001-03:00

Can anyone direct me to 'fool proof' instructions on how to create a blog badge???

Sale Progress

2010-07-24T18:36:00.001-03:00

So far, the earring BLOWOUT Sale is going amazing. I was at the market today and sold over 40 pairs of earrings, 8 bracelets, 4 rings and 1 kids necklace.

Lots of feedback as to what customers want - VERY excited.

Like I said, I am transitioning away of fundraising for Haiti & Kenya sales, but are still going to be having lots of new stock. Check back from time to time to see what's new.

I will now be at the market the following weekends:

August 21
Sept 4
Sept 11
Sept 18
Sept 25
Oct 2
Oct 9
Oct 16
Oct 23
Oct 30
Dec 4 (Christmas at the Market)

Each week, we will be selling lots of jewelry. Come and see us at the market.

If you quote this email: "I read it on your blog"

Get a FREE pair of earrings,

with the purchase of any piece of jewelry!

BLOWOUT SALE

2010-07-16T08:15:00.001-03:00

on all earrings & bracelets

The time has come and I am going to 'close out'

all our fundraising for both Haiti and Kenya.

We will be at the
Grand Falls Farmer's Market
on

July 24 and July 31.

After this, I will be posting all remaining earrings

(close to 200 pairs)

as a "LOT"

on either etsy or ebay,

for a VERY good price.

If anyone is interested in a LOT price,
please contact me: tara.morin473@gmail.com.

Until then,

ALL earrings - $2 each
ALL bracelets - $5 each

Contact me if you are interested in

purchasing either or both.

Some samples of earrings ($2 each):

Some samples of bracelets ($5 each):

Some samples of Kenya Necklaces ($10 each):

NOTE:

I do not have photos for each type of earring, bracelet or necklace.

SO....

If you are interested,
please specify your colour preference
and
your style preference
(example, do you like longer earrings or more simple).

Email me your mailing address and I can send you a quote for shipping.

For most, it is $1.22 or $2.00 (depending on the quantity ordered).

Also,
I will be away from today (Fri July 16 thru to Fri July 23) and NOT have access to a computer.

New Opportunities

2010-06-11T21:31:00.000-03:00

Well life in the mission field has been pretty grim lately...I still have lots of ideas, just not too much is being executed.

I'm excited to announce that I will begin selling the Earrings for Haiti (and then some) at our local farmers market tomorrow morning! So excited!

Now, a while back I told you something that I was really excited about.....I will tell you today!

The new 'fire burning' mentioned in THIS POST, I will finally share.

We met a young missionary family (through our church) living in Kenya. When they delivered their presentation, I was excited to learn that they had recently started a 'Jewelry Ministry'! How cool is THAT!!!

The women in this ministry (or program) - make their own beads out of clay from Kenya, make the necklaces and sell them. The Kenny's (the missionary family) brought (I think) around 250 necklaces with them to sell. If they sell all of these, the money raised will provide 10 women's annual income for the coming year! I bought a few necklaces...but the more exciting news is that they gave us many of the single beads. In return, I have told them I would make the necklaces and sell them for their ministry!

Starting on June 12, I will have a table at our local Farmer's Market to sell both these necklaces and Jewelry for HAITI.

My friend Dianne has been working hard at jewelry making, while I've be working hard at the school. She has created several beautiful pieces, from necklaces, bracelets and even some rings. They are beautiful.

I really looking forward to talking to customers 'face to face'. Over the summer, I have booked 4 Saturdays to sell at the Farmer's Market. I hope this will produce much income for these women in Kenya and much food for families in Haiti!

New fire burning...can't wait to share!

2010-05-20T06:23:00.000-03:00

Remember THIS POST, you know about the not so great news of our trip to Haiti being cancelled.

Well I said (and I quote):

At this point, in terms of making a decision I feel like I am at a fork in my road. Obviously, it's not time for me to decide so I'm excited to see what the year brings. I am going to pray about it and I KNOW that God will lead me in the direction I am supposed to go. I trust this.

Since this post (on April 18), my prayers have been: 'God show me a new path, open up a new road and show me the direction you wish for me to go, help me used all I have learned in a way that will serve you'

GUESS WHAT....God has answered my prayers.

My family and I will be busy on the long weekend (here in Canada), so stay tuned (it may not be until next week)!!!

Progress

2010-05-01T19:46:00.000-03:00

What's up these days?

It feels horrible not visiting this blog so much and writing updates :(

I miss all the excitement I felt at the beginning when our trip first got booked.

Here are some updates:

I'm continuing to take Creole (official language in Haiti) lessons - in hopes that one day I will travel to Haiti and if anything else, to help our instructor out and to learn!
Roland & Bernice are (most likely) going for almost 2 months in September/October time frame, VERY excited for them!
We're preparing for a garage sale with LOTS of donated items to sell with ALL the proceeds going to New Missions - in Haiti to buy rice or help rebuild or help buy medical supplies.
We are continuing to make jewelry - earrings, bracelets and now necklaces to sell (and getting a few orders here and there)...all this money will continue to go to buy rice & beans through New Missions in Haiti

So you see...even though I am no longer going on my trip, I can still do lots to help out! I love doing it!

Not so great news...

2010-04-18T13:45:00.000-03:00

We found out this week that the mission group we were traveling with has cancelled ALL mission trips for 2010. This means that our trip from Dec 4 -11, 2010 has been CANCELLED.

It was really tough to hear initially, considering all the time and effort we have put into our fundraising efforts as well as how excited I was to be going on my first mission trip with such a great friend. This happened on Thursday afternoon....

I had a headache and bible study was on this night. I SO didn't feel like going but SO glad I went, considering what I learned!  The first verse we studied was James 1:2-4 (NIV) and BOY, did it bring so much perspective to how I was feeling. Read:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

or translated from the New Living Translation (which is much easier to understand and how I applied this to me)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

When I left our study meeting, I knew that this was one of these trials the bible speaks of! So, I' going to consider all we've done up to this point a pure joy for my journey to my first misison trip. I have gained so much experience with fundraising and witnessed people helping out when they don't even know me. All of this expience will be so useful for when I DO get to go on my first mission trip. And when I left, I had a pretty positive attitude about what has happened.

That said, Roland & Bernice are looking into other options to travel to Haiti. One of them would be going to work in an orphanage in Port au Prince.   I would LOVE to work in an orphanage and love on a bunch of kiddies, but this option requires much physical work.  If we do travel to an orphanage, Dianne will not be coming with us.  And though I completely understand her reasons, I had my heart set on going WITH a close friend for my first mission trip. So that leaves me with mixed feelings about what I am going to do about travelling.

At this point, in terms of making a decision I feel like I am at a fork in my road. Obviously, it's not time for me to decide so I'm excited to see what the year brings. I am going to pray abou tit and I KNOW that God will lead me in the direction I am supposed to go. I trust this.

Trip or no trip, we have donations and money that we have collected and purchased. At this point, we have a few options to get them to New Missions and to Haiti. I will even pay for shipping to get the supplies there.  But for now, I'm going to hold off on shipping items. I will continue to buy & collect supplies to ship and we will continue to make jewelry to sell and continue to send the money to New Missions for them to buy rice and help them rebuild.

So this is my latest 'planning' news...not excactly what I wanted to share at this point, but it's just the way it is. I'm going to trust that and go with the flow!!!

Trip

A few things to look out for

2010-04-12T21:54:00.000-03:00

With our trip to Orlando (see family blog post HERE), I feel like I have been neglecting this blog. Though I have been neglecting the blog, I have not been neglecting my excitement for my trip to Haiti! Lots of ideas to 'carry out' and not enough time (with working at the school) to carry all my ideas out!

We've been busy making necklaces & bracelets, I've been busy trying to get a blog badge ready and I'm trying to get an ebay account set up so we can start selling our jewelry online.

One step at a time, is what I keep telling myself.

My goal of the week is to get my ebay seller's account set up and running to start selling online! If you have any suggestions with doing this, PLEASE send me your suggestions!

So that's what's been going on here....life couldn't be better!

To Jenny:

2010-04-01T06:00:00.000-03:00

I don't have your email address to say 'THANK YOU' for your suggestion!

A blog BADGE!!!

Keep on the look out for a blog badge that you can post on YOUR blog if you'd like to support my mission!

Thanks so much Jenny for your suggestion - ALL suggestions are SO appreciated.

NOW, if you'd only send me your address so I could thank you with a pair of earrings!!!

Either way, THANK YOU!!!

PS...can anyone lead me in a good direction for help in creating an AMAZING blog badge???

Free pair of earrings for YOU, if.....

2010-03-28T06:30:00.000-03:00

OKAY blogger buddies....I need your help!

The contest/sale didn't work as well as I hoped. In fact, I didn't get ONE sale.

I'm okay with that....but this is where YOU come in.

What do you think I could do to get sales going again???

For every comment/suggestion, I will ship you one FREE pair of earrings.

So, along with your suggestion, please send me your address and your colour preference.

Thanks for your continued support!

CONTEST / SALE

2010-03-21T16:17:00.000-03:00

I'm going to start doing some contests to make my fundraising & supply building FUN!!!

If you have any ideas for fun contests, PLEASE email me.

Today's contest:

The first 5 people to purchase a pair of earrings or bracelet will get 2 pairs FREE (not just 1 but 2 pairs). Make a comment, send me an email to let me know.

I'm going to upload a few of our newer designs for your viewing pleasure.

EARRINGS - $5 ea

BRACELETS - $10 ea

Creole 101

2010-03-13T17:41:00.001-04:00

As part of my trip to Haiti, I am taking Creole (the official language in Haiti) lessons. We started about 4 weeks ago. Every Friday, 4 of us that are going to Haiti get together with our teacher, Renel. He is a young Haitian man going to college in Grand Falls. He has lived here for about 1 year and only speaks French.

Though it's challenging me, it is SO much fun getting together every Friday afternoon with the other's I am traveling with, all for one common goal: to learn to communicate with those we meet in our travels. Plus, Renel is such a nice young man.

As part of my commitment to study, I am going to start listening to video's on YouTube to get used to the conversational piece of Creole. I have decided that I will make a little 'Learn Creole' section on my blog for those of you interested!

Some of my favourite videos found today!

And my MOST challenging one is this one below. I'm going to try to go through this 30 minute story and translate the story (to the best of my ability)!!! I'm sure it will take some time!

Pay Pal button now working

2010-03-04T18:59:00.000-04:00

...for sending me money, please message me to find out the correct amount then you can pay through Pay Pal using your bank account or credit card.

NOTE: you do NOT need to have a Pay Pal account in order to pay through Pay Pal.

9 months to go

2010-03-04T18:54:00.000-04:00

I am so excited...9 months until we travel to Haiti and my dream becomes a reality!

There is SO much to do until then...starting with our earrings! We need to make more earrings to sell. Plus, now we have bracelets and just starting to get into necklaces - with the help of so many wonderful friends!!! We are finally caught up and there is a slow down in the sales - which sadly to say I am thankful for. Now that I am working until the end of the school year, it's proved to be 'quite the adjustment' for time management!!!

Now we're working on our original ideas we had for selling our earrings. I have contacted our Town Manager and he gave me many great ideas! Some of our ideas are setting up a booth/table at our local mall, farmer's market and radio station on a given day to sell the earrings. Some ideas I got from the Town Manager is to contact local business's (specifically Walmart) to set up a table to sell earrings there, or possibly door-to-door campaigning. WOW...he was ever so helpful. He even offered that if we had to get a 'pedlars license' to sell on the street, that he would 'waive the fee' because he believed in our cause!!!

BUT first thing is first, we have to have a BIG supply of them first - which is what we are working on right now. Thanks to all my 'working bees' while I'm at work - namely Dianne, Bernice and Julia (who is making us our necklace 'prototypes'!!!) I really couldn't do it without them!

Other projects we are working on are making sacs for the rice (for distribution) - sewing them and feeding the draw strings, a summer garage sale of donated items where ALL the proceeds go towards projects for our trip (but NOT any of our travel expenses), Noah's special project to sell and the collection of donated medical over the counter supplies.

In all of this, I need to get in to get all of my shots for traveling, etc.

So you see...I am convinced that 9 months is going to FLY by like a blink of an eye!

Earring ART (and lots of it)!

2010-03-02T19:29:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, our pastor allowed us to gather in the basement of our church to make earrings. In all we had a turn out of 15 ladies, some of whom had NEVER made jewelry before (what great troopers they were)!!

I am so thankful to my church family and friends who took 3-4 hours out of their busy schedules to help in our mission. In total we made 240 pairs of earrings. AMAZING!!!

THANK YOU so much for your help! It's truly appreciated!

3 countries

2010-02-28T06:40:00.000-04:00

I am SO excited...I just noticed that I have visitors from 3 countries now.

First was CANADA! Of course, because this is where I live!

Second was the USA!! Of course, considering this is our neighbouring country and because I have friends there.

And now third I have a visitor from RUSSIA (Moscow). I am so thrilled and more inspired than ever. So to my blog visitor from Moscow "WELCOME" and 'THANK YOU'!!! Visit as often as you want and feel free to leave comments!

Again, thank you to all of my friends & family who are so supportive and give me so much encouragement to keep plugging forward with this dream!

Shopping for supplies to make 'earring art'

2010-02-28T06:22:00.001-04:00

It's so much fun to shop when you have money to buy what you are looking for, right? Usually, I am not a big shopper for a 'woman' that is! When I want something, I know what I am shopping for, I go out and look for this specific item.

Well last night I had a blast and a half. Not only did I get to go into Michael's (one of my favourite stores on earth, next to Walmart of course) - but I got to go buy tonnes of beads for our earring making session this coming Monday. I had so much fun! I knew that the beads I bought would be made into beautiful earring art, and each time someone purchased a pair of these we would feed 20 people. This is just SO rewarding.

Though sales have slowed slightly, I know there is a big market out there that we haven't touched yet (due to not being able to keep up with the demand). During this week, I am going to start pushing forward with this.

So Monday is our big day. We have permission from our Pastor to use the church basement to get together with a bunch of women with one goal - make lots of earring art!!! So far, I have 10 confirmed women (and 4 or 5 unconfirmed). In total, we could have up to 15 women all contributing to our cause!

Keep posted, because I'll be posting photos of our 'rendez-vous' to make earring art on Monday.

Earring Supplies

2010-02-25T16:16:00.001-04:00

Weeefffwuuuuu....I was getting worried that we were going to run out of supplies for making earrings. But I know for sure we won't now thanks to a few reasons.

Earring sales have slowed slightly which (for now), I am secretly happy about considering I am working pretty much full time for the next couple of months.

Running low on supplies (both beads & earring hooks and posts), but over 900 earring hook & posts came in the mail last week, tonnes of wooden beads came in the mail this week and I'm getting away for the weekend (alone with my honey) and get to go shopping at Michaels Craft Store to buy some more colourful beads!

I'm really excited about this because on Monday afternoon, a bunch of women (possibly up to 12 or 15) are getting together in the basement of our church to make earrings! I'm so happy that we're going to have lots of supplies for them to use!

PLUS, I'm excited that we'll have lots of earrings made next week. This will allow me to start reaching out to some of our local businesses!

Can't wait...but I really shouldn't stay long and chat cuz my honey isn't coming home today (stuck in Toronto cuz of bad weather in his flight path) so I have LOTS of stuff to get ready for our weekend away and alone.

Will get caught up next week over our March Break when I have some more time!

Donated items (so far), Garage Sale planning

2010-02-20T07:46:00.001-04:00

We started off by making a small list of items that we could bring (much of each) to donate, thinking that we'd collect ALL year and fill most of 2 hockey 50 lb duffle bags each.

Well, in all honesty I think we may be close to filling our bags already. With all of the clothes we had donated to begin with (filling , I think 2 X 50 lb bags) and all of the donated/purchased items we will probably have to consider paying for extra 50 lb bags at a price of $125 per bag. We are committed NOT to let this stop us...

Things I have collected or purchased SO far (just by cutting my grocery bill by $20 per week):

* tylenol (acetaminophen) - 2 pkgs of 500 per pkg (on sale for $9 each one week)
PLUS - 4 pkgs of baby asprin - 250 per pkg on sale from $22.99 to $9.99 one week)
* advil (ibuprofen)
* motrin (ibuprofen)
* benadryl (diphenhydramine)
* multi vitamans for children - 8 pkgs of 250 per pkg (on sale for $5 each one week)
* multi vitamans for adults - 4 pkgs of 250 per pkg (on sale for $9.99 each)
* cough medications
* cough syrups
* peroxide - 10 bottles (4 donated, 6 purchased from the Dollar store for $1/each)
* rubbing alcohol - 10 bottles (4 donated, 6 purchased from the Dollar store for $1/each) * cotton balls - 10 bags (purchased from the Dollar store for $1/each)
* tooth brushes - 312 (all donated from our Dentist, Dr. Alain Cyr in Grand Falls)
* tooth paste - 48 tubes (all donated from our Dentist, Dr. Alain Cyr in Grand Falls)
* band aids - 10 boxes (3 donated, 7 purchased from the Dollar store for $1/each)
* maxi pads - 25 pkgs (20 donated, 5 purchsed from the Dollar store for $1/each)

I have filled almost a full rubbermaid of donated items, including a BIG bag of clothes for our sponser daughter - Jully.

If you know of ways to collect any of these items, or see them on sale - can you be so kind and send me an email to let me know. It would be so appreciated!

Summer Garage Sale Planning: Sometime in the summer, we are going to be hosting a garage sale that ALL proceeds will go to our mission (but let me clarify that ALL of our travel expenses are NOT coming out of ANY donated money or proceeds) If you have any items you wish to donate for our garage sale, please contact me tara.morin473@gmail.com.

Busy, busy, busy...

2010-02-20T07:18:00.001-04:00

The same thing I wrote I my family blog, I'll write here too.

Life has been really busy and I'm not liking it too much. There is SO much I want to do for our trip to Haiti and there doesn't seem to be enough time right now. I started working at the school in the Kindergarten class (30 hours a week) from Feb - June. Though I love the kids (most of the days), I am SO tired out at the end of the day that I feel like doing nothing :(

I'm thankful it's only until June because I couldn't handle much more of this. Luckily, once June rolls around I'll be able to focus more of my energies on projects for Haiti.

Noah is getting really involved and he's excited to be starting his own project to raise money for our trip (whether it's for medical supplies or to bring an extra bag of donatables or for food). He's really excited for this project, I hope he keeps his momentum on it. If not, I'll take it over. Not going to share what he project IS yet, until we have a bunch made but just know that I am SUPER proud of my boy for the commitment and compassion he has for underprivlidged people of the world!

March Break is coming up here in New Brunswick, Canada and we're getting ready to have some jewelry making fun in the basement of our church. Between 12-15 women (bless them) are going to get together for 3-4 hrs one afternoon to help me make earrings. If the plans come together, we'll be having a little supper after as well too! I LOVE my church family and am so appreciative of their supportive on this project (among many other things)! I'm hoping to have close to 500 pairs done and ready to ship by the end of March Break (along with some much needed R&R&R - that's rest, relaxation & reading)!!

Our earring project seems to have calmed down a little, so now we can reach out to all the people we intended to reach out to in the first place. I even have a MLA (or shall I say he's in the running) that is a salesmen by profession that is on board in helping me sell the earrings. He suggested I wait to give them to him until I have caught up - leaving me with the impression that he may be selling LOTS for us!!!

Got Pay Pal up and running (finally) after almost a month of it being DOWN. It took too many conversations (6 conversations on phone with reps, telling them the SAME thing) and WAY too many emails (6 emails requesting info that I didn't have, 6 responses telling them that I didn't have the info they requested and the same response I gave them on the phone). NOW, I'm a little 'gun shy' to set up a "PAY" button with pay pal in fear of being locked out of my account like this again. I'll be looking into it today to see what I can do for ease of paying through pay pal! Keep posted on what happens.

That's where we are today....keep spreading the word about earrings and now bracelets for sale! To date we raised (or have shipped and waiting for sale money to be sent back) over $2000 by sale of earrings & bracelets!!!

Unhired HELP!!!

2010-02-13T23:52:00.002-04:00

Julia (our pastor's daughter) came over on Friday night to help make some earrings.

THANK YOU, Julia for showing me different ways!!!

Can't wait to get together again - I had a great time!

Notice the bracelets on the bottom of the photo???

THEY ARE FOR SALE NOW....

we now have bracelets for sale for $10.00.

Check out my facebook photo album to view bracelet desings: CLICK HERE.

We Are the World 25 for Haiti

2010-02-13T20:24:00.000-04:00

The remake of this song for Haiti is absolutely amazing. If you haven't heard it, stop what you're doing and watch this or listen to it. The video is great and the song remake is 'so' 25 years later in music....love, love, love it! It brought tears to my eyes and makes my heart hurt for Haiti.

I just can't wait to go!

Supplies

2010-02-11T16:12:00.002-04:00

YAY...the supplies have arrived to make over 900 pairs of earrings! Now to squeeze in the time to make earrings.... LOL

So far - once all the shipments have been sold and once the money is collected - we have raised 'just over' $1900 to buy rice & beans in Haiti. Each 110 pound sac of rice is $48 (it just went up - again) and feeds about 360 kids.

SO, translated that means that we've raised enough money for about 14,250 meals!!

I just CAN'T believe it!

THANK YOU!

Blessed

2010-02-10T17:53:00.002-04:00

I can't even begin to tell you just how blessed I feel for being a part of this mission trip this year.

Everything is working out so much better than EVER expected.

With the help and donation of so many peoples' time and resources, the blessings just keep on coming!

My great friend Christine has ordered 30+ pairs of earrings to sell for me now. Check out what she did at a house party she had the other night. She made this beautiful display to show case the earrings to sell. Thank you so much for your effort and all of your ideas and most of all your friendship. You are one in a million!!

Then, the other day I got a call from our dentist's office. They informed me that they had some toothbrushes and toothpaste for our mission. Upon arrival, they played into the 'having a few toothbrushes, etc'. When they brought the box out of the office, I almost fell over and tears filled my eyes when I saw the size of the box. In total, over 300 toothbrushes and nearly 50 tubes of toothpaste - WOW!!! THANK YOU so much to my dentist, Dr. Alain Cyr from Grand Falls, NB for your most generous donation!

As well, many continue to help me make earrings to keep up with the orders - Dianne, Bernice, Amy, Brenda, Isabelle, Katia and more to come!!! Thank you SO much for all your help. To date, we have shipped 398 pairs of earrings in 3 weeks! WOW....and I just got a tid-bit that my cousin wants a THIRD shipment (which will bump us over 400)! You ROCK girl...thanks for selling so many for me!!!

I tell you....the more YOU do to help, the more I am inspired to do MORE!

Thank you for all your inspirations!

Earring Stuff....

2010-02-04T06:11:00.002-04:00

Lots of new stuff is going on around here.

I started a 20 week job at the school and it's keeping me busy & tired. When I get home at night, I am pooped right out! I thought that maybe earring sales had slowed down but how wrong I was. My first day of school, we had orders for 75 to be shipped and the second day of school, another 35 pairs to be shipped. Luckily, the third day of school we had none and I managed to make just over 10 pairs with a friend who came to visit!! Thanks Amy!

Dianne and I will be getting together this weekend to make earrings, hopefully we can pump out another 100 pairs to (hopefully) last through next week! To date we have now shipped or sold almost 300 pairs of earrings in 2 weeks....who wudda thunk, huh?

So just a short little note to continue to send my THANK YOU's to all of you who are support our misison. I just can not believe how successful we've been in the first month....and to think, we still have 10 more months before we travel! I can't wait!!!

Many Blessings to all of you!

Un'hired Help!

2010-01-26T17:18:00.039-04:00

The jewelry making business is BOOMING. Not only is the jewelry making project, the WHOLE project is booming!!!

I would have never thought that we would have sold (or have people willing to sell) so many pairs of earrings, for little ol' me! To date, we've made just over 200 pars of earrings. Out of 200 pairs, we've sold or have shipped to people in groups of 10, 15 or 20 pairs to sell, 172 pairs of earrings....WOW.

I am SO thankful for my friends who have pitched in and continue to pitch in to help, encourage, buy & dontate their hard earned money and time!!! THANK YOU for making this project a booming success (so far, and we've only just begun)!!

First off, Dianne has helped in every way possible. I can't even describe the gratitude I have for Dianne in my life! She has donated supplies, driven with me to get supplies, encouraged me, picked me up when I was down, and keeps offering her time to come back to help make more earrings with me twice (making close to 100+ pairs of earrings in total).

Secondly, Brenda - an AMAZING woman with a huge heart! She invited me into her home to make earrings with her girls TWO weekends in a row. The first weekend we pumped out 67 pairs of earrings and now I'm going back this Saturday (that has left me scrabling to find enough supplies) to pump out I'm sure lots more than 67.

Thank you so much for those who have purchased earrings and those of you who have offered/agreed to sell earrings for my cause! I am touched by your generosity of giving yourselves like this!

And then there is one special friend (I won't name names, but if you read you KNOW who you are), who is gathering women from her church to sew sacs for our rice distribution.... WOW, absolutely AMAZING!!! Thank you so much!!!

And then there is ANOTHER special friend (I won't name names, but if you read you KNOW who you are), not only did she buy some earrings - but she also donated $40 extra dollars for the rice and beans....WOW, absolutely AMAZING (again).

I am completely speachless, thankful and utterly overwhelmed with all your generosity....THANK YOU doesn't even come close to describing the JOY and HAPPINESS my heart feels through all of this project. THANK YOU!

Up to this point, I have been photographing and indexing ALL of the earrings. THIS takes double the time as it does to make the earrings and bag them....I just can't keep up. For those of you who wish to buy online, I will keep 20-30 pairs posted on my facebook album but I have to just start pumping out earrings to get them distributed NOW while people are crying for them.

Once I get caught up on earring distribution........my next venture is beaded key chains (to get guys involved to purchase) and bracelets & necklaces (1st - because many have asked for it and 2nd - for those of you who can not wear earrings due to allergic reactions).

So I must get back the production lines to keep up with our demand....STAY TUNED and thanks again for the overwhelming support!

Lots of new earrings made today and posted - Jan 22, 2010

2010-01-22T22:56:00.003-04:00

Check out my facebook photo album to see all the new earrings made today (we made 70 in total)!

If you'd like to purchase 1, 2 or sell 10 for me, advise me, tag your name to each of the pairs you'd like (but I can not guarantee you will receive the exact items) and pay for the few you buy. BUT remember if you're interested in selling 10 pairs for me, you get to keep one FREE pair and you do not have to pay the shipping.

Speak fast because they are selling as fast (actually a little faster) than I am making them!!1

Earring SALES

2010-01-21T20:33:00.002-04:00

I have a DEAL for you.

As most of you have probably read (if you read this blog), we are selling earrings (and I mean TONNES of earrings) to raise money for RICE & BEANS (click here to read) in Haiti at New Missions.

OK...so here goes:

If you agree to sell a minimum 10 pairs of earrings, I will give you 1 pair of earrings FREE (as a thank you for selling them for me) AND your shipping will be FREE.

Here's how it will work:

I'll ship you 11 pairs of earrings, you agree to sell them and spread the word. You keep a free pair of earrings (as a thank you for spreading the word) for yourself or a gift, then send me the money only once you've sold the earrings (before November 15, 2010)
If you can not sell the earrings before Nov 15, 2010, ship them back to me along with any money from the ones you DID sell and I will be FOREVER grateful!

I'm already doing this with 3 others (well, once I have the earrings made).....how about you??? Would you be willing?

If you have any questions, please email me at tara.morin473@gmail.com or leave me a comment. I will contact you for more information.

Thanks for all your support....it's quite overwhelming at this point but VERY encouraging. The more YOU do, the more you inspire ME to do.

#2 EAR RINGS FOR SALE: $5 each (all sales go to food or Haiti)

2010-01-20T23:06:00.004-04:00

Upate Jan 20: Many new designs being posted later today.

Note: All earrings listed here may 'not' be avaiable. Check out my facebook photos (you do not need to be on facebook to do this) for an up-to-date list of what is available. CLICK HERE.

Haiti Earthquake - New Missions

2010-01-20T06:51:00.002-04:00

A must see video about the work New Missions does.

Hear from team members how they served before the earthquake hit. All of this footage was captured between Saturday, January 9 - Friday, January 15, 2010. http://www.newmissions.org/ serving in Haiti since 1983.
video by Bob Scott | stills by Dale Stroud | editing by Craig Duddles

This video has left me speachless, in tears and even more inspired! How about you?

EAR RINGS FOR SALE: $5 each

2010-01-19T06:02:00.010-04:00

Update (Jan 20): Click here for 2nd posting with more earrings designs

Note: All earrings listed here may 'not' be avaiable. Check out my facebook photos (you do not need to be on facebook to do this) for an up-to-date list of what is available. CLICK HERE.

Earrings for sale for $5 each (Canadian Funds)

(plus shipping - regular post for an irregular pkg $1.22 within Canada, those of you in the US contact me)

All sets are hand made and all materials have been donated, which means:

100% of the sales go directly to buying

RICE and BEANS

for

families in HAITI

Email me your address and I'll ship you a pair or 2 today!

tara.morin473@gmail.com.

Upate Jan 20: Many new designs being posted later today.

Meet Jully

2010-01-16T17:21:00.003-04:00

I had been toying with the idea of sponsoring another child through New Missions for the last couple of months. It just never felt like the right time.

Once I committed to going to Haiti, I thought maybe this was the right time...but still, it just didn't happen.

Once we heard the news of the earthquake on Jan 12 - I knew NOW, was the right time.

So I stalked the New Missions 'sponsor a child search', and found a few children I fell in love with, waited a day, then when I went to sponsor them I realized they had both got sponsored. I continued to stalk this page of children available for a few days and Jully's eye's finally spoke to me! So meet our newest sponsor daughter (and I think our last - we are up to 3 sponsor children now, Claudia from Guatemala, Sekalema from Uganda and now Jully from Haiti).

Meet: Jully Mealingha Sufrin

She is in Grade "PK2" and is just adorable! Her her birthday is on Oct 28, 2004 and is just adorable! She is from the Village of Macombre, Haiti, attends school at Brache and is just adorable! I heard that this village is only a few miles from where the New Missions compound is, and where we'll be travelling in December! I can't wait to meet her and squeeze her! Oh and did I mention that she is just adorable?!

But look at her sad little eyes. I can't wait to meet her and see nothing but BIG smiles on her precious little face!

Dianne is so sweet.....she already had a 'baby shower' for Jully. She got a grocery bag FULL of clothes for her already!

I'm going to be writing her a letter this week in hopes to find out more about her and her family........can't wait!

Isn't she just ADORABLE?

We are THRILLED to welcome Jully to our family of sponsor children!

Dangerous Surrender, Kay Warren (what spoke to me)

2010-01-11T17:01:00.000-04:00

I don't even know where to begin. This book is changing my life as we speak. I just finished this book after a week of intense reading, sharing and relating to what Kay speaks of in the book (though through a completely different set of circumstances). I have NO idea why I picked up this book next, considering it's been on my 'to read' shelf (along with another 6-8 books) since August of 2008 - so why NOW??? I have no idea, but I feel God working in my life now, more than ever and I can't even begin to describe how amazing it feels. My heart is on fire for a passion I've had for so long, so I'm saying "YES, YES, YES" and the 'picture will slowly develop itself for me'.

To be honest....I am scared, excited, thrilled, anxious, confident, encouraged, confident and feel more alive, happy, fulfilled, whole, grateful and soulfuly satisfied about SO many aspects of this change in me but I really think this is what Kay Warren is getting at in Dangerous Surrender and essentially what is all about, saying 'YES' to God before you know what the question is. If I could, I would buy a copy for each of my Christian friends and pass them out. Considering I can't do that, because I am on a 'mission' for my trip in December - I highly encourage you to get a copy of this book and read it! If it does, just for ONE person what it has done for me - YIPPY! Hooray!

I did not do an 'in depth' book report/review for you, all I did was highlight the quotes from the book that touched me (and there were a TONNE of them)! My next post, will be 8 videos of Kay Warren speaking about this book....again, I highly encourage you to take the time to watch. It could transform your life!

Here's the links to purchase:

For my Canadian friends: Buy it at Chapters/Indigo Online by clicking.
For my American friends: Buy it at Amazon.com by clicking.

DANGEROUS SURRENDER, KAY WARREN

Chapter 1 Peaking through the Cracks

"Would I surrender to God's call and let my heart engage with a cause I was pretty sure would include buckets of pain and sorrow?

Disturbed:

“If we're not disturbed by the world in which we live, we will be consumed with the trivial, the insignificant and the temporary. We will spend our days pursuing all the wrong goals, living by the wrong measurement of success, evaluating our legacy by the wrong standard."

Luke 12:48 NLT "Much is required from those to whom much is given."

Micah 6:8 God clearly tells us "to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with (our) God."

The Developing Photograph:

"I had ignored the suffering of millions of people just because it made me uncomfortable or because I didn't know what to do about it."

"For you to become a seriously disturbed, surrendered person of faith, you will have to be willing to say yes in advance - to give God your answer before you've heard the question."

Ordinary People:

Paraphrased from page 27-28: "Great student - average grades, Grand tour pianist - average piano player, Miss America - no budding beauty, average in the looks department. Then she married a superstar who was always on top of everything. On the way to an event where she was speaking at, she began to cry and have a pity party asking God why he had 'made such a dreadful mistake'. Asking '"why didn't you make me better?" Then a song came on the radio called 'Ordinary People' and tears really flowed, but instead of self-pitying tears, they were tears of joy and peace. God chose ME to be an ordinary person! He cold have made me smarter, more talented, more beautiful if he had chosen to - but his hands lovingly shaped me just the way he wanted me to be.

Models of Surrender:

"I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants" Luke 1:38 NLT

Surrender: Will you decide to say yes to God, even before knowing the full implications of what that yes may mean for you?

Chapter 2 The Kingdom of Me

"I had to trust that while I couldn't see where the steps of faith were leading me, I was walking on a firm structure that wouldn't let me fall. That's what it means to follow Jesus - saying yes and trusting that he won't let us fall, even when we can't see exactly where he's leading."

"It really isn't any of my business - or your business - what God does in someone else's life. My only business is to follow him"

"Here's the bottom line: Figuring out God's ways isn't any of my business. Following him is. Following Jesus is to offer to him all that you think you are, all that you really are, all that you think you are not, and all that you really are not - to be used in the way he chooses. It is stepping down from the throne of the Kingdom of Me and joining a new kingdom - the Kingdom of God. It's following him, even when following him makes no sense. I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way."

Surrender: Will you voluntarily surrender the keys to the Kingdom of Me and accept Jesus' dangerous invitation to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow him?

Chapter 3 Gloriously Ruined

"She showed me how to greet Joanna with warmth and kindness, how to kneel down next to her and look in the eye, how to place my arms around her and hug her, how to pray an ask for God's comfort, strength, and help to be given in this terrible situation. She spoke of the hope of heaven - that while this world held pain and sorrow and sickness for Joanna, there is a better world she could be a part of through faith in Jesus, who loves her"

"I wanted nothing more than to fall on the ground and scream and sob - wailing to God on this little girl's behalf. All I could see was a future without the guiding love and support of the parents who had brought her into this world. Where was the daddy who would be her protector? Where was the father who would swing her into the air and listen for her squeals of delight? Where was the father who would stand proudly at her wedding, giving her in marriage? Where was the mommy who would cuddle her in the night and sing her back to sleep when she had a bad dream? Where was the mommy who would teach her how to be a woman? I barely contained my sobs until I got back to our van, where I cried and cried. My friend and colleague Elizabeth and I clung to each other in terrible grief. Being seriously disturbed was becoming a way of life."

"You and I have the opportunity to be Jesus' hands and feet to these brothers and sisters, making them known by our love."

"Seriously Disturbed, Gloriously Ruined Club"

"What is a litmus test of your surrender and obedience to God is how you treat the least among us (see Matthew 25:40)"

"In what ways are you allowing God to rearrange your schedule, your finances, your affections, so that you can regularly interact with those he loves?

Surrender: "Will you let God "ruin" you, forever altering how you relate to others in your life and world?"

Chapter 4 Ready, Set, Stop

"He allowed me to feel the sting of being ignored by some people whom I had assumed would be there for me. My faith was being tested in the crucible of cancer."

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:2-4 MSG

"So be truly glad! There is a wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world." 1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT

"I found peace in knowing that while I cannot control 'how long' I live, I can control 'how' I live. One of my mottoes is "Control the controllables and leave the uncontrollables to God."

"Knowing life's fragility causes me to be more intentional, more passionate, more convinced of the sweetness of this moment, and more convicted than before that I am here for a reason. I don't want to waste a second of the time I have been given."

"He comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others. When other are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4

"Remember: our faith-life shows its true colours when put to the test. Learning through your own suffering that God is good and that he can be trusted will prepare you to face the suffering and evil you encounter in the lives of others."

Surrender: "Will you surrender your demand for God to order your life the way you want it to be ordered?"

Chapter 5 Exposing Evil

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, his very own possession. This is so you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light" 1 Peter 2:9 NKJV

"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23

"Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend them without expecting anything back" Luke 6:35 TNIV

"The greatest weapon we have against evil is doing good in Jesus' name."

Surrender: Will you stop "changing the channel" and living in denial of the evil in our world?

Chapter 6 Mirrors Don't Lie

"Before we initiate God's love to hurting, suffering people, we must surrender our carefully cultivated illusions about the depth of our brokenness."

“Why does it matter if I've faced the evil inside of me? Why can't just start caring and serving others, regardless of what's wrong on the side of mine?"

"We must see ourselves, not as separate from others - better, more educated, more cultured, more sophisticate, more civilized, less sinful, less evil, less prone to violence, less likely to cause harm - but as identical to them in our capacity to do evil. Otherwise we end up serving others from a position of pride, congratulating ourselves for our noble sacrifices rather than coming alongside a fellow stumbler and offering not our wholeness but our brokenness."

"God in his amazing love and mercy enters into those caves of my inmost being, down to the deepest part of me where no other human being can enter, where no one else will ever know me. God enters into that place where there are no excuses, no pretensions, no false fronts, no hiding. There I cannot pretend to be anything other than what I really am and what I am not. There he sees completely the depravity of my heart in a way you will never see."

"God is the only one who can enter deep into the caves of your inmost being and not be terrified or repulsed by what he sees."

"He says to you, "I know it all and I still love you". Because you are known at the deepest level by God - where you filthiest thoughts and most reprehensible deeds are revealed - and because you have been offered forgiveness and liberation through our Saviour, Jesus Christ, you can authentically move toward the maturing knowledge that you're no different from the person living next to you. You need Jesus. I do too. Everyone does. This truth changes everything."

"The new, higher standard he institutes is this: the same yardstick you use to evaluate someone else will be used to evaluate you; therefore, be careful how harshly you point your finger at another struggling human being unless you want that same finger to point back at you."

"You don't have to pretend that you're better than anyone else and would never do what they've done."

Surrender: Will you surrender your denial about the depravity of your soul and your ability to do unspeakable evil?

Chapter 7 The Gift of Presence

"While she was speaking in Bengali, I spoke in English, believing that the God who made her could help her understand, if not my words, but the love with which I spoke them. "I am sorry you hurt! I'm so sorry that you are here, alone and dying in this place. I'm so sorry that your family is not here with you - that they abandoned you to face your last days by yourself. But you are not alone! God is with you! You matter to him, and you matter to me. My arms around you are his arms; as I am wiping your tears away with my fingers, these are his fingers; as I touch your face, know that it is his hands lovingly reminding you of how dear you are to him. He loves you so much he sent his Son, Jesus, so that you could spend eternity with him! And he has sent me to you today to hold you and tell you one more time how special you are to him."

"Of all the gifts that God could give us, he gave the greatest one - he gave himself. Now he expects us to do the same for others."

"When I enter a room or any situation, I bring him with me because he lives inside of me."

“For us as Christ-followers, this is our prime task as well - to make the invisible God visible in a world that doesn't yet recognize him. We are to live incarnationally - God with us, God in us. To do so is at the heart of living our faith."

"When you extend hospitality to Christian brothers and sisters, even when they're strangers, you make faith visible" 3 John 5 MSG

"What comforted me was the presence of family members and friends who were willing to sit with me, sometimes without saying a single word."

"If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you already have within you what it takes to bring relief, hope and comfort to everyone you meet. You have Jesus inside you, and when you offer yourself, you're offering him."

"All of us have the same capacity for evil and the same capacity for goodness as the next person. When we allow evil to control us, we do monstrous, shameful things. When we allow the Spirit of God to control us, we can love sacrificially in ways that seem beyond our ability to do so."

"When members from my church are preparing to go on a short-term international mission trip, they frequently ask, 'What well we do while we're there?' I tell them, 'Perhaps the most important thing you do while there is just show up."

"What I'm suggesting is that in our hurry to do something, it's easy to rush past the people we're visiting. There will always be a need for action, for tangible solutions to complex problems. but as Christ-followers, let's be sure to be with people - to look them in the eye and listen to their story, to spend a few moments entering into their experiences, whether joyful or painful. This is how the invisible God becomes visible."

Surrender: Will you offer to others the greatest gift you possess - God living in you?

Chapter 8 A Deliberate Choice

"How can we pray for you today?"

"Compassion is choosing to share the pain of another. To do so runs counter to our natural inclination to protect ourselves from pain. It requires self-sacrifice and obedience to Jesus - as we do for others what he did for us."

"In suffer with somebody, we take into our own hands to suffer. We choose to do what we do not have to do, or even want to do; we walk, eyes wide open, into the pain of another human being and claim it as our own."

"For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. was in prison, and you visited me" Matthew 25:35-36 NLT

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" Matthew 25:40 TNIV

"Proof of our love for Jesus is found.....in loving and serving the sick, the poor, the weak, and the marginalized"

"I Thirst"

"Choosing to suffer with proves our love for our Savior and at the same time proves to the least, the last, and the lost that there is a Savior who loves them."

"Choosing to suffer with is a powerful witness to being a Christ-follower. He chooses to suffer with me; I can now choose to suffer with a fellow human being for Jesus' sake."

"Are you beginning to understand that compassion is about making a decision?"

"expressing compassion is a deliberate choice"

"We are most like Christ when we choose to offer the gift of our presence and choose to absorb within ourselves the suffering of the least, the last and the lost. Are you looking for Jesus? That's where you'll find him."

Surrender: Will you freely choose to bear pain that is not your own?

Chapter 9 - An Unexpected Bond

"He gets angry at the devastation that sin has caused on our planet"

"It should have come as no surprise, then, that if I was going to love God deeply and passionately, it would automatically lead to a broken heart for me. There's no way to grow in loving him and not grow in having his heart for his world, leading directly into his sufferings. Radical internal changes occur when we become Christ-followers, and the changes will eventually spill over externally into how we live our lives."

"I often felt as though it all depended on my efforts, my work, my compassion. True, I never said that, and I'm not sure I was even conscious of how thoroughly I had given in to a 'savior complex,' but the effects of it were obvious in my life."

"I had to surrender my desire to save the world."

"When we ask the lord's blessing upon our drinking from the cup of wine at the Lord's Table, this means, doesn't it, that all who drink it are sharing together the blessing of Christ's blood? And when we break off the pieces of the bread from the loaf to eat there together, this shows that we are sharing together in the benefits of his body. No matter how many of us there are, we all eat from the same loaf, showing that we are all parts of the one body of Christ." 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 LB

Surrender: Will you let your pain - and the suffering of others you have chosen to bear - draw you into intimate fellowship with Jesus?

Chapter 10 - Linking Arms

"God has commissioned those in his eternal family to be his hands and feet in the world, to be his voice of love, to speak truth, to act justly, to combat evil, and to do good."

"Our mission is to care for the sick, the widows, the orphans - and to heal in Jesus' name."

"With eyes wide open to the inconsistencies, mistakes, and even sins of all of us who are part of Christ's church, I still embrace hi church with my whole heart."

"We don't go it alone. God has given us each other in a forever family called his church so that we do not face life by ourselves."

Surrender: Will you commit to playing your part in the body of Christ, his church, as the hope of the world?

Chapter 11 - Some May Die Today

"Being willing to say, "Whatever it takes" - and mean it - is dangerous."

"For most of us, dying for Jesus' sake is not something we will be asked to do, but in the deepest places in our souls, we must come to the place where we are willing to die if it serves God's purposes."

"It is possible to live a 'safe' life as a Christian - never really developing a rugged faith that is willing to take risks for Jesus' sake - but living in a protective bubble won't change the world."

"Most of us are called to pay a much smaller price, although each point of surrender can at times turn into high drama as we play tug-of-war with God: 'No, God, don't ask me to surrender that. I can't. I don't want to. Please don't ask for that.' Often as we keep praying, as we keep seeking, we know for certain that in order to remain in an intimate conversation with hi, that very thing is what we need to yield. Sometimes we must yield something as ordinary or common as our personal relationships. I have to be honest - surrendering all that we are to God does not always lead to peaceful relationships."

"Rick had always told me that someday God would use me in ways I couldn't imagine, but when it started to happen, the changes created a lot of discomfort for all of us. I was no longer the same person. There were times when my children felt as though they didn't know me anymore."

"These are the people who have changed me forever. They are the ones who have propelled me into moving beyond my comfortable life to embrace a more dangerous one. It's a life not without joy and pleasure - but it's a life that can no longer hope that someone else will answer God's call to care. I'm not the same person I was five years ago; my life truly reads like a 'before' and 'after' story."

"In the process of letting go of the life I knew and was comfortable with, God has made my life a miracle. This young girl and woman who was terrified that she would only ever be ordinary and average has seen God multiply the small 'lunch' yielded to him with trembling hands into bread that feeds others."

"He has made my life a sacramental offering through the wounds I've received in my life"

"Are you willing to become disturbed? Are you willing to become ruined? Are you willing to make a dangerous surrender? Will you expose and oppose evil wherever you find it? Will you join the battle? Will you make the invisible God visible by being his hands and feet in this broken world - by doing good?....Are you willing to risk it all for his sake? Will you say yes to God?"

Surrender: Will you risk your life and all you hold dear fr the sake of God's kingdom?

Dangerous Surrender, video review

2010-01-10T09:57:00.000-04:00

You have to start somewhere....

2010-01-09T05:44:00.002-04:00

Here's how it all began....

My name is Tara and I am a stay at home mom to our 8 year old son.   I work a few odd jobs here and there for some extra money at times, but for the most part my personal mission is to stay home to raise Noah until he's at an age that he doesn't need me to this capacity.

I always knew I wanted to do something more. I first acted upon my desires of wanting to help those less fortunate came when I was only 12 years old. I used my very own $20 and donated to the 'Feed the World' Campaign in 1984 and I still have the 'thank you' letter tucked away to remember this. You know, I didn't tell anyone I had done this.

Then in high school, I worked with children with Downs Syndrome.

Many years passed and I'm sure I had that burning desire, but life got in the way. Early 2007 was when the burning desire came back....it started when Oprah opened her school for little girls in South Africa, then when the first Idol Gives Back came out (the most touching moment was this video of Carrie Underwood singing I'll Stand by You).

Throughout 2007, I met my blogger buddies Angel, Vanessa, Nikki & Wendi online through our blogs and Red Letters Campaign. They were and continue to be inspirational – they are all AMAZING women. I stalked their blogs relentlessly.....learning of all that they did, do and continue to do. If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to visit their blogs (links found below). Then I got in contact with an old high school friend who told me (quoted from his email) “while we were in Cambodia, we met a really great local guy who brought us to one of the orphanages there. i got to play soccer with some of the kids. it was unbelievable. one of the best things i did.” I immediately thought, 'how cool, I'm gonna do that one day'.

Late 2007 to Summer 2008 was when my dreams started to take shape and my desire to "do more now" took shape. These months were particularly hard on me, because my husband and I were apart for 9 months. He had started a job (4 hours from home) and we waited and waited and waited for our house to sell. Life continued to be on hold. Our adoption – on hold. Being together – on hold. Wanting to do more – on hold. Moving – on hold. Life – on hold.

During the first 3 months, it was a pretty low time for me, another time in my life that I think I was very close to a deep depression, in fact I am probably in denial that I was in a deep depression. I missed Jacques so much it hurt. I would cry each Sunday when he would leave and cry each Friday when he arrived home safely. But during this time apart was when I found God. At first, I discovered that there was something 'greater than me'. I mean, I always believed in God but didn't necessarily follow his word, in fact, I didn't or hadn't ever owned a bible. It started off by watching 'The Secret', then rolled into 'A New Earth' but then became this deep fascination with my very first bible that I bought for myself.

I used to lie in bed at night wondering 'WHY me'? Why does all of this have to happen? Why can't I just GO somewhere to help someone? I was stuck in the 'Kingdom of Me' according to Kay Warren from Dangerous Surrender. God hasn't always made my path very easy, but I know now that he was preparing me for something greater than I'd ever know.

June 2008, we finally moved and our family was back together. I was so happy about this, I didn't have a care in the world. NOW, we could move forward with our adoption and my dreams. Life was finally off hold. We began going to a small church that we love. I began in my bible study and met some wonderful people. This is how I met Dianne and our hearts connected. I can't describe how happy and blessed I am to have a friend like her. We have so much in common.

Recently our family tried to adopt a 12 year old girl and when this broke down, so did I. I was an absolute MESS. Actually truth be told, I was well on my way to a deep depression and one phone call away from asking for medication.

After she moved out, we had several different reactions from people around us that left us feeling completely alone and abandoned. Even though I knew that I wasn't really alone, it still felt terribly lonely. But, knowing I had God with me at all times and that he had a much bigger plan for me than even I could recognize brought all the comfort I needed. In one email I received from a great friend, she suggested 'perhaps Jesus needs you to be broken. Maybe he won't fix you the way you think. Maybe the pieces won't glue back the same and it's just gonna take smaller broken-down shards to mold back into an entirely new vessel. Whoa - that's scary stuff! But he'll never let your pieces fall to the ground, he'll hold them in his hands while he works to put it all back together.' Each time my heart ached so much, I held onto her words, re-read them and kept repeating them to myself over and over.

I woke up on Jan 1, 2010 and decided that God would make it all better, I knew he could. It didn't change right away, but I decided that I would hold tight to my faith until I started to feel like a normal person again, away from the depression that was lurking in my back pocket.

January 4, 2010, Jacques returned to work while Noah & I had 2 more days until he returned to school. We got up and jumped right back into our old routine which included reading his devotionals, discussing his little devotional and having a little prayer. Then I got him to go downstairs and I read my adult devotional, continued reading my bible, said my prayers then went to my shelf of 'to read' pile of 7-8 books and tried to choose one. I chose 'Dangerous Surrender' by Kay Warren. I don't know why, but I just did (or so I thought). Once I began to read it, I couldn't put it down. It all started making sense why I chose this one, it was definitely a GOD THING that's for sure.

It was when I read "He allowed me to feel the sting of being ignored by some people whom I had assumed would be there for me. My faith was being tested in the crucible of cancer." that really hit home. I mean, I wasn't faced with cancer but I had been faced with some devastating losses and my faith was indeed being tested through these trials.  What my friend had said weeks before this, about Jesus needing me to be broken so he could fix me differently – WOW - it was all starting to make sense. From that moment on, I began to change.....

Since then, great things have happened. I began to feel happy again, as though a peace came over me all because I had my faith. THAT very week, we went to visit our girl that we were supposed to adopt, had a great visit with much confirmation that we made the right choice, my son's school called to see if I wanted to work in the Kindergarten class (and get paid) plus we got some other great news that we can't share yet.

In December 2009, I had the opportunity of living vicariously through Dianne when she took her first mission trip to Haiti. I learned so much from her and was SO interested in doing all I could for her trip. We ended up raising $500 to buy rice for the school kids. Doing this fund-raising inspired me to do so much more.

Once they returned, Roland (the friend & his wife that Dianne traveled with) booked their trips for Dec 4-11, 2010. Roland emailed me and told me that he had booked my spot for this trip as well. I continued to resist....'but what if I can't find someone to watch Noah?', 'what if I can't afford to go?', 'what if, what if, what if?'.

I continued to read Dangerous Surrender and it began transforming the way I was looking at things. Everything that brought me to this moment in time all began making sense. God's plan and how he educated me through 2007, how he broke me down to make me what he needed me to be and now this, the opportunity to on my first mission trip.

January 8, 2010, Dianne and I went walking. We walked and this day was monumental and a day I will never forget. As we walked, I talked. I finally realized that I needed to say 'yes' in every way possible, to the mission trip and most importantly to God. So I did, this day I SAID 'YES'.

I am SO excited....I feel alive & free, better than I have felt in so long. This reminded me of a quote from Dangerous Surrender, by Kay Warren "What will this day hold? This day is fragile. It is sacred. There will never be another "first day in Africa". OKAY, for her it was her first trip to Africa and for me it will be Haiti, but still, I completely 'get' what she's saying. This is how I feel about this year as I count down to my first mission trip. THIS whole year will be filled with many firsts for me, all having to do with living in my dream and feeling it become reality.

It's been a rough road to bring me to this fork in the bend, but I'm hear and without a doubt thrilled to have walked the path I did to bring me here.   I have describe this feeling like it's as though 'Gods hands were wide open to me and now they have narrowed to the path I'm supposed to be on.'

So this December 4-11, 2010, I will be in Haiti living my dream! This is where it all started!