I have a creative, joyful, beautiful friend named Ali (who has no idea that I totally stole her pic from Facebook.)
She is heading to Haiti on a building mission in March, and is using her heart and talents to raise funds to get her there.
I just grabbed myself one of her darling banners and it is happiness on a string.

My favorite projects involving burlap involve other people cutting it for me.
In my pretend life, I will invent a burlap that isn't messy or scratchy, go on Shark Tank to pitch it, Mark Cuban will give me a million dollars, and crafty people and Joann's employees everywhere will thank me.  Until then, I will let my friends be the burlap crafters.

Circling back to the point of this all... because I love Ali, and Haiti, and missions, if you purchase a banner from her shop Hatched from the Heart, I will send you the file to my newest rainbow heart happiness printable.

Add some love to your space and help send Ali to Haiti.

(Just email me a copy of your Etsy receipt and I will send the file your way.)


So much to say. So much will wait.

December was crazy.
Slab leak, mold, holes in my house, weeks of round the clock mind numbingly noisy fans... 
Add in Christmas, New Years and two birthdays.
Yep.
But we are here.  So far no critters have made their way through the gaping holes in the house, our insurance company is covering the damage, and it is weirdly warm lately, so if you need to have a mid winter slab leak, I suggest planning one in Southern California. 

What does one do when they are overwhelmed?
For me, I need to stop eating my feelings, fielding calls from insurance adjustors, restoration companies, asbestos testers, and think outside of myself.  Mainly because myself is rather complainy and dramatic right now.

My dear friend Lena is bravely walking fifty miles in two days again, to raise money for Acres of Love, a non-profit that provides Forever Homes to orphans in South Africa.
{Click here to hear her heart for the project.  Love her.}
While everything in me hoped to be walking with her this year, I had to drop out.
Sigh.
Until I can walk, I certainly can sit at my computer and make a few prints to help raise money for Lena to reach her $2,000 goal.
Prints that are available in her shop as instant downloads, and 100% of each purchase is donated to Acres of Love.
The Campfire album from Rend Collective Experiment has been playing constantly for the past month. In the car.  In the kitchen.  In my dreams as I sleep.  It is that good.
Lena asked for a print using words from this song.  Perhaps my favorite from the album.

So much truth in those words.
Please watch and listen and let the words encourage your weary heart.

I  am ever so thankful for my countless second chances.  Because I need them every day, every hour, every minute.
{Last year's print is still available as well.}
Visit Lena's shop And Be Glad In It here.
While you are there perhaps grab some other handmade goodness.
Pray for her as she continues training.
Pray for the children who will have a home and a family in part from your support.



The other day in the car Halley asked me if I had heard of St. Baldrick's (I hadn't), and proceeded to tell me about a boy in her class that is shaving his head for kids with cancer, and how nice he was to want to do that.  Then the conversation turned to Jessie and her Joy Jars, which turned to talking about heaven, and what their sister might be doing right then.

Then, how things always seem to work, which I just love, later on that day Jeannett asked me if I would make a printable to help raise money for St. Baldrick's

OF COURSE.  God uses the boy in my daughter's class to stir my heart for something that is right around the corner

Best.

I had an idea in the back of my mind, and that little request was just the little nudge that pushed me into my computer chair, headphones on, Kings Kaleidoscope blasting, rainbow designing.

Vanessa is the brave mama of Brock who has fought cancer.
Her story and his strength ruined me.
Her heart to help fund childhood cancer research inspires me.

On March 24th Vanessa, along with other mamas, is SHAVING HER HEAD.
YES.
All with the common goal of equipping St. Baldrick's in their research efforts to treat and end childhood cancer.

This video...  please, pretty please, watch it to see what St. Baldrick's is up against.
What they hope to do.

I can think of way too many kids who have faced cancer, battled and won, or battled and been called home.
Too many.
I am so thankful for this opportunity to help in some small way.
This happy sign made by Salty Bison, that I scooped up at Queen Bee Market last year (be jealous), greets me as I make toast each morning.  It might be my most favorite thing in our entire kitchen.  The quote is so true.  Sometimes it takes a little rain to make a rainbow. Sometimes it takes storm upon storm upon relentless storm.
I used the quote to make this printable (because lets be honest, I am NOT sharing my sign.  Ever.  It is my precious.)
Half of the sales from this print will go to St. Baldrick's as Vanessa and her team as they bravely march toward their goal.

Join me in prayer and support of these mamas as they fight along side their children and St. Baldrick's to end childhood cancer.


To rainbows after the rain....