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As most of us are about to dive deep into the potentially treacherous and terrifying black hole that is Christmas shopping, I’ve put together a list of some of my very favorite online shops that donate a portion of their profits to wonderful causes all over the world. These businesses all have super cute items that I love.  Happy shopping!

Beautiful & Beloved: “[their] vision is to make a simple path for you to support individuals freed from slavery who are now empowered to earn a living in a safe, clean and just way.”  I bought this fab Beautiful & Beloved necklace at The Influence Conference:

fashionABLE:  “The fashionABLE mission is to create sustainable business for Africans so they aren’t dependent upon charity, but instead earn the dignity of a job. We offer opportunity to everyone, with a primary focus on empowering women.”  fashionABLE sells beautiful scarves and leather products (iPad sleeves, wallets, clutches)–all made in Ethiopia!

She Does Justice: I met Megan Burns of She Does Justice at The Influence Conference during the dinner for adoptive mamas.  She started a handmade shop to raise money when her family was fundraising for their adoption, and it was so successful that she’s continued it.  Each month, she donates a portion of the proceeds to a different charity.  The shop has adorable items for both adults and children (oh, the headbands–LOVE!); I bought this top at Influence, and it’s so cozy and soft. (the necklace I’m wearing is by Sassy Lemonade, and the coffee sleeve was made by my friend, Hannah)

Better Life Bags: Rebecca, the founder of Better Life Bags, is such a sweet girl!  I love the mission behind the company: “My family and I moved on purpose to a low income area of Detroit  in 2010.  Because the unemployment rate here is 20%, we have an awesome opportunity for BLB to give back to the community that we operate out of! We hire women, who otherwise cannot get jobs, to work for BLB.  We rent them a sewing machine and tools while teaching them a skill set that allows them to become a primary or secondary provider in their families.”

Finally, if you have (or a friend/family member has) a heart for Africa, the shirts Jon and I are selling to raise funds for our adoption have a powerful message.  Shipping is on us!

 

Jesus liked to hang with people. He wanted to spend time with them, to eat dinner with them and hear what they had to say.

Jesus said “if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14:9) and if Jesus’ life is our example, then relationships are a very important thing to God.

God not only wants us to spend time with Him, He also wants us to spend time with each other.

“Community” can seem like an overused word these days (along with its cousin, the phrase “doing life together”), but it is so, so crucially important to our emotional, mental, and spiritual health.

Don’t stop meeting together with other believers, which some people have gotten into the habit of doing. Instead, encourage each other… Hebrews 10:25

This scripture is often used as an argument for church membership, but I think it goes beyond that. It’s super easy to join a church, show up for services, sit on the back row, and sneak out without having spoken a word to anyone. This often feels like the safer choice–especially when you’re hurting–but it is so dangerous, friends.

If either should fall, one can pick up the other. But how miserable are those who fall and don’t have a companion to help them up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

Making friends can be super overwhelming and scary–especially the older we get. I’ve learned during the past year that it takes work, and it takes putting yourself out there and getting a little awkward (which I’m alarmingly good at).

Sometimes (maybe most of the time) we have to be brave and make the first move–invite people over for dinnner, ask that nice girl you met briefly at church or work if she wants to meet for lunch or go to yoga together. Do the inviting, reach out.

Finding and maintaining the community of friends who will be your people takes work. But we were created to live in community, in fellowship with one another, and there is such joy and freedom to be found there.

You guys. This weekend was kind of nuts.

Friday and Saturday were super busy (with good things!).

Saturday there was a meet up of local Influence Network girls; one of my conference roommates, Lillie, hosted it at her house.  It was awesome!! I have been longing for community lately, and spending a couple of hours with some kindred spirits was just what my heart needed.

I’m going out of town for work this week, so I had plans to spend Sunday afternoon preparing some great things to post on the blog while I’m gone.

Alas, a change of plans was forced upon me.  We returned home from church and brunch to a minor flood–our washing machine was gushing water (I know. crazy), and our kitchen and guest room were drenched (our guest room backs up to our laundry room).

The rest of the day and evening was taken up by some lovely disaster restoration gentleman, who kindly ripped up our floors, removed our dishwasher and refrigerator, and filled our home with fans and dehumidifiers.

My relaxing afternoon of writing sadly did not happen. But hey, how often do you get the opportunity to clean the sides of your stove and the floor underneath your refrigerator?

How was your weekend?

Y’all… could we please talk about Stitch Fix for a minute, and how amazing it is?  I met several of the Stitch Fix stylists at Influence, and they are just the sweetest, most delightful girls, who have a genuine desire to help the rest of us bust out of our fashion ruts (am I the only one who buys the same things over and over?).

How would you like to have a personal stylist who learns your style, your preferences, looks through your Pinterest style board, and then picks out and boxes up 5 items she thinks you’ll love?  And what if this delectable box of goodness is then delivered to your front door, so you can try everything on in your cozy bedroom, away from harsh dressing room lighting and pushy salespeople, with 3 days to decide what you want to keep?  (You can send back what you don’t want in a postage-paid package that they provide.)

Um, YES PLEASE!!!!  I received my first fix last week and discovered for myself that Stitch Fix really is just as amazing as it sounds.  In my box was a faux leather moto jacket, a multi-colored sweater, a plaid shirt, burgundy skinny pants, and a black and white striped top.  Jon and I headed to downtown Grapevine one night to do a photo shoot with some of my Stitch Fix goodies… I didn’t wear the pants or the black and white top at the shoot, and I forgot to photograph them separately.  Oops.

I paired the sweater with a mustard tank & sage green lace top, as well as with a coral dress I recently bought on sale ($12!) on piperlime.com.  I think this is one of those sweaters that initially seems like it will go with nothing, but actually goes with lots. (I kept it.)

The fabulous necklace is from Beautiful & Beloved.

I paired the plaid shirt with my mustard cardigan, as well as with the leather jacket that was included in my fix and a couple of necklaces from LuLu’s.

I love mixing edgy and feminine pieces, like the leather jacket with my pink tulle dress.

It all sounds amazing, right?! Ready to sign up for your first fix? (Remember, there is no obligation to buy anything–you can send it all back if you want to.)  Click here to get started!

Disclaimer: Stitch Fix kindly offers a discount to bloggers whose readers schedule a fix via their affiliate link.