where the magic happens

remember MTV cribs? (does that nonsense still happen?) every stupid celebrity would be showing off their tacky-ass mansion, and when it was time to show their bedroom, they would say, "and here's where the magic happens!" and think they were so clever. because of, you know, the sex.

so if that's magic, then i guess harry potter got a degree in the art of "random hookups with scores of strangers who only care about my fame/money/status."

yikes... so i guess day #13 of my menstrual cycle is clearly the "jaded, cynical, snarky" one. noted.

annnnnnyway, have you ever seen our bedroom?

it's so totally my favorite room in the house and has been for years.

my friend debra joy came over to my house for the first time a few months ago and reminded me that she had never seen our bedroom before because i hadnt blogged about it.

well dang. it's the shining star of both my house and my heart, so it's time we changed that.

ok, so maybe i should cut those celebs some slack. being all, "hey, here's our bed, everyone" does make it all too tempting to make sexy times jokes.

-the bed is from ikea and is the MALM in king size with the attaching nightstands.

-the red linens are also from ikea. we've had them on there for years and they had gotten a few holes (we'll chalk it up to raucous lovemaking, mmkay?). well, my heart broke to see IKEA had phased out this design, but good old ebay came through and we got a brand new replacement set.

-the shelves are IKEA too as are the little postcard art print betwixt them and the lamps.

-it was totally jesse's idea to paint the stripe along the side blue walls and i LOVE it so much.

-the painting.

oh, the painting. this story is hilarious and awful. ok, so you see how it matches the room to almost an uncanny degree? well, would you believe that the room was 10)% already like that when we discovered the painting?

we had another print in that place and were perfectly happy with our room when we went out to dinner during the summer of 2007. we were foolish DINKS (double income/no kids) at this point so when we saw the work of some local artists for sale on the restaurant walls, we thought we might get something if we fell in love with one.

well, when we saw the freaking red trees in a couldy sky painting, our jaws dropped. it was PERFECT for our room. i was sitting at our table and sent jesse over to check out the price and info tag on the canvas.

he came back and was like, "eighty dollars! we should totally get that!" i was dumbfounded since big canvases can cost that much BLANK, but whatever. we gave the manager a check and toted that bay home.

it looked so meant-to-be in its new home that we looked up the talented artist and sent him a picture of the painting in our room and raved about how talented he was and how in love we were with the painting.

well, a few days later he writes us back. he had gone to pick up the check and there had been a mistake. the painting wasnt eightY dollars, it was eight HUNDRED!!!!

i almost passed out. even in full blown DINKage we could not afford this by any means. but, oh we were crushed, having spent the past few days utterly in love with "our" painting on our wall. we wrote him back and explained that simply could not afford that and was there anything we could do to possibly work something out so we could keep it?

he wrote back and said he would knock a few hundred off the price and we could pay over 6 months. so in the end the total price would be $580. we could make this work.

even still, we are not art collectors and have much trouble spending money on things that do nothing but look pretty. especially since we love jesus and want to be good stewards of his money and love.

we decided that if we could scrimp to make the painting affordable, we could do the same for our giving. so we decided to double down: every time we made a payment to the painter, we had to give the same amount to someone in need (on top of our monthly tithing).

well, 6 month later we had given away $580 and spent $580 on the painting (making it far and away the most expensive non-appliance or furniture item in our lives). whereas it would have given us guilt every time we looked at it had we just bought it straight out, it's now a reminder of how blessed we are and how much we really can give out of our abundance (even when it might not feel abundant).

and that's the story of how we accidentally bought an $800 painting. 

it's turned out to be win-win situation (and the painting wins too since it gets box seats to all the sensuality that goes on below).

here's the view from the bed:

all the furniture is IKEA malm

the tree stand is ikea (intended for jewelry i think, but i just like it bare)

the art prints are from urban outfitters

and here's the thing that MAKES the room for me:

the gallery lights above the bed!

i am 100% dependent upon reading at night. i havent fallen asleep without a book in my hand in YEARS. i dont know if i even could. growing up i always has a bedSIDE lamp. this meant that i would have to un-drowse myself and reach over to turn off the light (god forbid i was facing the other way) OR it meant falling asleep with the light on a lot of nights.

in college, when we would travel for volleyball, we would stay in hotels and share a room with another player. this meant that if i needed to read to fall asleep after my roommate was asleep, i had to wear my headlamp.

my team mates found this hilarious for some reason and thought it worthy or photo ops:

i'm just straight chillin' on the order of the phoenix, what?

good times.

so when we were shopping for our married life, i grabbed these and clung to them like grim death, insisting that we MUST have them within reach about our heads, or else the wedding was off. it actually didnt go like that because the idea is so prime that, duy, m'soulmate instantly got it.

there you have it. do you feel special now that you have seen our bedchambers. it's very "song of solomon" up in there, let me assure you.

bonus question: which side of the bed do i sleep on? (dont let the bottle of lotion sway you either way...that is laylas and she carries it around to lots of locations in the house, moisturizing her hands like a nut. she put it on that side when i took these pictures).

i'll have you know that i am a very firm believer in assigned sides. i have only slept on jesse's side of the bed 3 nights in out life and that was due to medical reasons. when we travel, i dont necessarily stay on the same side, but i do have strong opinions as soon as i walk into the hotel room as to what side is "mine," even if it's on a different side than at home. maybe i am aligning with some constellation or something.

i have a nameless friend who says it varies almost every night which side she and her husband pick. those swingers!!! that is positively torrid!!!

odds and ends

i hate a dangling loose end, and right now i feel like there are about 17 of them tickling my brain, so in the interest of ridding myself of these mental dingleberries, here is a list of things:

1. august vavoom is over and maryann won with a staggering 502 points. that's bananas and works out to the equivalent of running 6 miles...every day...for a month. so yeah. kudos aplenty! (for reference, i came in 14th place).

2. do we want an october vavoom?

3. our ongoing living room transformation is coming along in eye-meltingly splendid fashion. i cant even believe the khaki nightmare we have escaped from and that i ever let me children dwell in such a space.

while i'm not quite ready to let yall see the full monty, here are some sneaky peeks of it in-progress in the background of pics of the kids.

there are striped accent walls and herringbone involved!!!

and also a rug of superior plushness...and a baby girl who is just the gooberiest little love chunk you've ever seen. honestly

4. the lily of france giveaway ended and the winner was susie! congrats and enjoy that $100 visa giftcard, baby. (and just so that you hate her, susie also won the double braided scarf giveaway last year. play on, playa!)

5. the caption contest: well played everyone! here were my favorite few runners up that captured the moment best in my opinion:

Lori8/30/12 10:02 PM

"Layla, I'll give you anything you want. Just tell us what you did with the iPad.

Your mom has Etsy orders piling up, a blog to maintain and our dinner recipe is from Piinterest!"

Katy8/31/12 12:51 AM

"What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

ohawesomelife9/3/12 5:31 PM

In which Layla's been burned too many times by "down low, too slow."

these were all awesome but were just edged out by a caption that had dickens AND ghetto fabulousness:

Whitney8/31/12 11:32 AM

"Oliver, boy you crazy if you thinking I'm giving you any more soup!"

email me, whitney, with what colors you want for your scarf, guuuuurl. 

6. i have been social media'ing this deal like crazy, but in case you missed it, there's a living social deal for a $10 starbucks card for just $5. as a recent convert to the bean myself, this was exciting news and a must-grab deal.

7. my first ever tog + porter box has shipped and is on its way to me! i wrote here about giving T+P a shot after a few stitch fix disappointments. i am SO excited to get the stuff and try it all on and then debrief with my stylist, emily, on skype. and of course to awkwardly photograph myself and share the gooey details with you.

8. i wrote here about how judah learned to swim without us teaching him, but finally caught some video proof of it on labor day. he's quite talented but also hilariously self-doubting and precious. we are okay with him wanting us extra close in open water situations as a 3.25 year old. 

9. check out the guest post by odwalla here. its a quick video talking about healthy lunch options for kids and highlighting odwalla's new juice-box-sized smoothies that are not from concentrate and packed with great stuff. an awesome option for lunchboxes!

10. when we get around to repainting our hallway (because the dark brown + the confined dimensions make me feel like i am in a working colon; and who needs that!?!), these babies are going to be plastered all over. 

jesus + quality design = bazinga! i'm betting these gorgeous prints from naptime diaries will help even my old brain remember scripture in a fresh new way. and to celebrate the new shop, enter FRESH coupon code at checkout for 30% off your whole order. yippee!

okay! my brain already feels so much more fresh and clean-clean. onward bloggy soldiers!

labor day: ending child slavery

  If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. -- Abraham Lincoln

as a mom and a follower of jesus, i am pumped to be a part of a group of bloggers posting about ending child slavery on labor day. it is insane to me that is going on in 2012--at the exact same time that my kids get naps and snacks and toys and play time and nothing more rigorous than not ingesting acorns, please (layla!). 

let's change this world.

There are an estimated 7,000 children who work in the Ghana fishing industry. Some of
these children are as young as 5 and 6 years old.  All of these children are slaves.

–Mercy Project

Today many in our country will take a day off from our jobs to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers.  No matter if we’re celebrating at home or at the beach, we’re entering into a tradition that has largely been shaped by Labor Unions - organizations that are dedicated to protecting workers’ interests and improving their wages, hours, and working conditions.  

Today as we lounge around or hang out with friends and family, we’re not only celebrating hard work, we’re honoring fair, ethical working practices and the laws that prevent discrimination, abuse, and child labor in our country.  Without these laws in place (and enforced), the most vulnerable members of society suffer.  Who are the most vulnerable? Children.  

Today we’re celebrating the systems in our own country that strive to prevent injustices like child trafficking and child labor, we’re mindful of the many child slaves around the world who are unprotected and the organizations, like Mercy Project, who are working to free them.

As a mother, it’s difficult for me to imagine my children working 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.  I’m unable to wrap my brain around the thought of my children engaged in long, hard days of physical labor, eating one meal a day, and then falling asleep at night on a dirt floor filled with other slave children.  Yet this is the daily reality for kids who have been trafficked into the fishing industry in Ghana, Africa. 

 As with much of Africa, there is a great deal of poverty in Ghana. Unfortunately, this leaves many mothers in an unimaginable position: sell their children to someone who can take better care of them or watch them starve to death. Most of the mothers are told their children will be given food, housing, and an education. Instead, the kids are often taken to Lake Volta where they become child slaves and their mothers never see them again.  

Thankfully, Mercy Project is working to break the cycles of trafficking around Lake Volta by providing alternate, more efficient, sustainable, fishing methods for villagers – ultimately eliminating the need for child slaves.  Because of the work Mercy Project is doing in Ghana, the first group of children will be freed this month from Lake Volta.

We invite you to watch this moving, 10 minute documentary about the issues surrounding child labor and trafficking in Ghana and most importantly the hope Mercy Project is bringing to children and entire communities in Africa.  Mercy Project is the only NGO working on Lake Volta addressing the injustice of child labor and child trafficking at its root - by strengthening the Ghanaian economy and eliminating the structures that cause the demand for trafficked children. 

Whether these ideas of child labor, child trafficking, and modern-day slavery are new to you or you’re aware of these injustices, but need to hear some good news every once in awhile, we invite you to become a part of what Mercy Project is doing in Ghana.  When Mercy Project frees their first group of children this month, we can all celebrate together.

written by:

Learn more and get involved by:

• Watching/sharing Mercy Project’s short documentary.

• Following Mercy Project on Facebook.

• Connecting with Mercy Project via Twitter.

• Spending some time on Mercy Project’s website.

• Sharing about Mercy Project’s work in Ghana with your friends.  [link provided below]

Although child trafficking, child labor, and the unstable economies that result in these injustices are a tragedy, we’re grateful for what Mercy Project is doing to protect the vulnerable and for allowing us to be a part of this story.   While we’re commemorating labor laws and ethical work in our own country today, we invite you to follow along on this journey with Mercy Project to protect and free children in Ghana.

FAQ:

Is Mercy Project a 501c3 non-profit organization?
Yes! We are recognized by the IRS as a non-profit organization, and all donations made to Mercy Project are tax-deductible as per allowed by the law. We send year end tax statements to each donor every January.
Is Mercy Project affiliated with a religious organization?
In short, no. But we were founded because we believe that this is the kind of thing that God wants his people to be doing. We are passionate about connecting people with this incredible chance to help the kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. That being said, we are proud of the fact that many, many of our supporters do not share our religious motivation but believe in us and our passion enough to want to be a part of it. That means a lot to us, and we work very hard to make sure anyone who wants to be involved can find a place.