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What's this fair trade stuff all about?

July 20, 2015

I can’t tell you how long ago it was that I first started hearing the words “fair trade” nor can I tell you how long since I’ve begun heeding the call. What I can tell you is that “fair trade” is a way to change the world, right from your home, even if you don’t like coffee or chocolate.

See, coffee, tea, and chocolate are the first things in our house to undergo a change to fair trade. These are luxuries, to be honest. We would survive without them (okay, maybe not the coffee), but they are not necessities like water, bread, milk, eggs, etc. We can find them cheap because they often come from places where their natural environments are exploited and lands rich in resources the rest of the world demands are not given their fair share of profits. Or maybe I should say that the people who grow the food are not given their fair share.

Fair trade became personal for me when I realized that my luxuries, my indulgences, could be causing serious harm to someone else. Could I really enjoy my chocolate bar if I knew there was slavery in its supply chain? How does that coffee taste when I learn of how little the farmer who grows the beans actually makes?

I know there are lots of arguments on both sides and I’m sure fair trade isn’t as simple as it sounds.

The good news, though, is there are organizations who are partnering with people around the world to provide jobs which lead to education and hope and a feeling of being worthy of life.

One of those organizations is Fair Trade Friday, an arm of Mercy House Kenya, founded by Kristen Welch. (You might know her as the blogger from We are THAT Family or as the author of Rhinestone Jesus.)

The founding of Mercy House Kenya, a birthing center for women unexpectedly pregnant, is one story, and she tells it in Rhinestone Jesus. Fair Trade Friday, a monthly subscription service that delivers fair trade items to your door, is another story. Here’s where it began:

“I heard it clear, these words in the middle of the night, ‘Provide jobs for women.’ It was years ago and I didn’t know what it meant. We were a couple of years into our hard work in Kenya, rescuing pregnant teens and I didn’t think I could do much more. But I also couldn’t shake those whispered words. Fair Trade Friday is the response to providing jobs for women. Sometimes God asks us to do something we don’t know how to do. But He does and He leads.” — Kristen Welch

You can learn a lot about the Fair Trade Friday Club and see what they’re all about on their website. As part of the Fair Trade Friday blogging team, I received some products to review in exchange for my help in telling you about the organization.

Here’s what I received. (Hydrangeas not included.)

Tea. A change purse/pouch. And a gorgeous picture frame. I put the purse to use right away in my carry-all bag, and I’ve had the tea, which I love. The frame is beautiful–an unexpected fair trade item. Maybe you’re like me and you have a certain idea about the kinds of things that are “fair trade.” This monthly box contains surprises each time. And there’s a club just for earrings, if you’re into jewelry. You can check out all the fair trade products available in The Mercy Shop.

The great thing is that not only are the items fair trade, but they support organizations all over the world, not just in Kenya, where Mercy House is based.

Do you ever wonder if fair trade really makes a difference? It’s a nice story, right? Well-off Americans buy handmade goods from artists around the world and everyone lives happily ever after. But is it true?

This is why I love global communication and becoming involved with organizations where the link between the person making the item and the person buying it is intentionally short.

Welch says this of the difference fair trade makes in the lives of actual women:

Probably one of the most profound moments for was in a mud home in Kenya talking with a woman we were buying paper bead bracelets from for a Fair Trade Friday box. She grabbed my hands and squeezed them tight. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘Tell the women in America that we need them to keep buying what we make. Tell them it is feeding my son and two daughters. Tell them not to forget us.’ I will spend the rest of my life reminding these marginalized women they are not forgotten.

And it’s not just about the money. It’s about so much more.

This quote is from one of the partner organizations of the Fair Trade Friday Club

You can help women not just earn a living and provide for their families but see themselves as worthy and purposeful contributors to society.

Check out what the Fair Trade Friday Club has to offer. And if there aren’t any current openings for the recurring boxes, add your name to the waiting list so you can be notified when it is open.

Images, excluding the one of the products I received, are courtesy of Fair Trade Friday.

Summer Fun Week 6

July 18, 2015

We’re leaving in a few hours, and I totally should be finishing the packing and errands, but I’m going to try to squeeze this in, just like I’ve been trying to squeeze in a few more moments of fun this last week together before the middle of August.

After today, our family of four will be split between two states, first, then two continents, and it will be hard. I’m so thankful we’ve had these many weeks in a row to make memories and be together.

Last night we fit in one more family outing–mini-golf, a first for the kids and a first-in-a-long-time for the grown-ups. Pro tip if you’re taking your family mini-golfing for the first time: take a picture before the ~~madness~~ fun begins and don’t bother keeping score. We lasted two holes with trying to score and then I was frustrated and trying to hurry along because other people were waiting.

This photo pretty much sums up everything. We had fun by the time the night was over.

The day before, we spent a whole afternoon at a friend’s house in the pool. It was a much-needed distraction from all the stress and packing and such.

And though we don’t frequent the pool, the kids loved their time in the water and fancy themselves little fishies.

I’m not going to go out and get a pool membership, but I’m more likely to take up swimming lessons again. Thankful for friends who invite us into their space.

We spent a lot of the in-between time at home this week while the car was being checked for problems and having problems repaired. This is the part of the summer I’d sooner forget. Car repairs. Yuck. But at least we didn’t have to repeat our visit to the waiting room when we watched PBS for two hours.

Our first fun thing of the week was a visit to the library to see our reading dog friends. We’ve been visiting them at the library for two years and we love the work the therapy dogs do. Basically they hang out and listen and are so gentle that Corban has overcome his fear of dogs. The bonus this week was that one of the local television stations came to film a segment about the program and all three of us were interviewed! It’ll be a few weeks before we see our pretty faces on TV but we’re looking forward to it!

That same day we also donned our cow attire for free food at Chick-fil-a.

I don’t know when the next summer fun update will be, so thanks for reading along and enjoying our summer fun with us! Hope your summer still has its share of fun left!

A book about 3 of my favorite things: Review of Jesus, Bread and Chocolate by John J. Thompson

July 17, 2015

I have my husband to thank for this book. He heard John J. Thompson speak on a podcast he listens to and the topic of his book intrigued both of us. (Thanks to the publisher and the BookLook Blogger Program, we got a free copy in exchange for a review.)

Jesus, Bread and Chocolate: Crafting a Handmade Faith in a Mass-Market World is like taking a deep breath. We live in a world that “values” cheap, quick, substandard and replaceable. Thompson’s book discusses various artisanal movements–small-batch coffee roasters, homemade bread, craft breweries, gardening, Americana music–and applies its principles to our faith, which in a lot of ways has become industrialized for a consumer mindset.

Thompson offers a lot of observations from these various areas of handmade, small batch goods and how they could apply to faith.

It’s a book that has come at the perfect time for our family. We started our first garden this year, and we are increasingly in search of products that oppose the cheaply made, convenient label. After I read the coffee chapter, my morning coffee tasted different, almost bitter. The observations he makes about cultivating a taste for the “real” stuff are life-changing beyond coffee, chocolate, bread and beer.

“I wonder what would happen to the value of our faith if we could rescue it from the process of commodification. If a life spent in pursuit of Christ could be recognized as a radical and selfless, counterintuitive adventure instead of a carefully packaged and lifeless script, would seekers find something worth following?” (p. 131)

See what I mean? There’s a lot to chew on here. (Figuratively and literally.)

If you crave something more meaningful in your faith, in your food, in your life, then get a copy of this book and let it stir something in your soul.

There's a book for that (TV edition): Wolf Hall

July 15, 2015

This is the third post in my series reviewing books that have been adapted for television. Last week’s post is here. You can find all the posts in this series, and my previous series about books adapted for movies, under the category “there’s a book for that.”

I was only a tiny bit *sarcasm* excited about the premiere of Wolf Hall on PBS this spring. Damian Lewis has long been a favorite of ours, and we couldn’t wait to see him as England’s Henry VIII. Mark Rylance, who played Thomas Cromwell, I’d never heard of but I love British period drama and had high expectations for the show. And because it was based on a book, I took to the task of reading it during and after the series aired.

With both the show and the book, I have a lot of mixed feelings.

I felt like I needed a prerequisite British history class before watching the television version, and when I discovered the book had a list of characters in it, I was able to follow along better as I watched. Overall, I enjoyed the PBS series. The actors were inspiring, the drama was engaging, and I felt smarter having watched it.

The book took me about six weeks to read, and at one point, I had to return it to the library because I had gone over the limit of times I could renew it. It was confusing, at times, because the author, Hilary Mantel, uses a sort of omniscient point of view that is rare in literature these days. She almost always refers to Cromwell as “he” even if she has introduced another male character, so I had to train myself to remember that “he” meant Cromwell and not the other named character. Once I adjusted to that, my comprehension increased.

And though I’m not opposed to a lengthy book, this one is more than 500 pages and at times I felt it was dragging. And just about the time I was going to give up on it, there would be an insightful line or piece of dialogue, like a buried gem, and all that work of reading up to that point would feel worth it so I’d keep going. I don’t usually consider reading hard work but reading Wolf Hall wore me out sometimes.

Because the TV series covered the second book, Bring Up the Bodies, I’m interested in reading that, as well, but after finishing Wolf Hall, I just needed a break.

I am not sorry I read and watched this series. It was different from other books and television on my list right now, and both have made me more interested in Tudor England, which is a successful outcome for any book or television series based on historical or current events.

It’s not a breeze by any means, but Wolf Hall is worth the work.

Next in the series: A.D. The Bible Continues (NBC); the book of Acts.

What we give up for life

July 12, 2015

Last year, I hung a fern on my porch. It was my first foray into hanging baskets. I’m a reluctant gardener with a sometimes black thumb. But I love flowers and greenery, so I got a hanging fern for my birthday and I tucked it into the corner and watered it mostly faithfully. And then one day, I discovered it contained a bird’s nest. The fern eventually died and the babies flew away and my porch was empty of plant life.

This year, we planted a garden and potted some herbs, and I desperately wanted another fern, so I got one. And a sweet older couple from church gave me a hanging pansy plant for my birthday. I moved the fern to a different spot on the porch, and hung the pansy in the same spot the fern had occupied last year. I watered faithfully, all the plants, and felt somewhat confident in my attempts to keep things alive.

Then the birds returned.

Read the rest at Putting on the New, where I post on the 12th of each month.

Summer Fun Week 5

July 11, 2015

We started our week off with a bang–literally. Our city has an amazing fireworks display at a local park, complete with real cannon-fire during the 1812 Overture. Our church sets up in a pavilion during the afternoon. We play games, hang out, eat grilled meats and then gather on the park’s grassy lawn for the concert and fireworks display. It’s a fun night, and this year, the kids were able to go with us.

Though it always makes me nostalgic for our hometown fireworks display, there’s nothing like hearing live cannon fire. And I enjoy the chance to hang out with our church family. We even saw Corban’s preschool teacher and had a chance to visit with her.

It’s always a late night, and the exodus from the park is like a scene from an apocalyptic movie, so our group tends to hang out and eat watermelon and other snacks until the masses thin out. A super late night made for a late start to our Monday, but that was okay. We had a few things to get done in the morning and then we decided to take a local hike for part of the afternoon. Hiking is something Phil and I have always loved to do, but we haven’t taken the kids on many hikes recently. There are so many places around here to hike and that are a variety of skill levels.

We picked a starter trail and spent more than an hour exploring a little piece of conserved woods. Inside the preserve, we stumbled onto oak trees that were 150-200 years old. Amazing. We didn’t see much wildlife, other than what we brought with us, but we saw lots of bugs and had some good talks about nature and being out in the woods.

Corban was a bit reluctant at the start: “I didn’t want to go for a hike,” he said. “I wanted to go for a walk.” “Are there wolves and foxes in these woods?” We told him a hike was a walk, just in the woods and that any animals we might see were not interested in him. By the end of it, he had talked himself into liking it. “I love hiking,” he said on repeat.

Me, too, kid. Especially when I see stuff like this:

They are almost too adorable for words. Except when they’re fighting. Which apparently they don’t do in the woods.

Family time is precious to us, and we have to be really intentional about getting it. As our summer together winds down (just a few weeks until Kenya!), we’re still making memories. I think we can safely keep hiking on our approved list of family activities.

The kids and I had a pretty low-key rest of the week. We had one playdate at the park and ate lunch at Chick-fil-a.

And we crashed a storytime at Barnes and Noble where some local actors from the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre came to perform some songs from their show, “Charlotte’s Web.”

The kids love stories like this, and Izzy has been to this theater with her first-grade class. We’re adding a trip there to our list of must-do in the near future. They have a great selection of children’s shows, in addition to shows for grown-ups. I love introducing my kids to the arts. And I’m grateful for places like Barnes & Noble that host events like this.

There’s a big golf tournament in town this week, so some of our entertainment has been watching live coverage of our backyard on the computer and television, and logging our experiences as we drive around town. I’m not a golf fan, but I might be after this week!

One more week of summer fun for us, and then our kids will be with their grandparents and we’ll be gearing up for our trip to Kenya. Thanks for reading along so far!

What are some highlights from your summer so far?

5 things I miss about my hometown

July 10, 2015

I was one of those kids who swore she would never return to her hometown, never miss it, never want to go back. Then I ended up living there for seven years after college, and now that I’m 800 miles away, I do find that I miss it.

Some of our summer fun this year has made me a bit nostalgic for the unique things that make my hometown special. Most of my readers, I think, fit in one of two categories: you either live in or grew up in Dixon, or you’ll probably never find yourself in rural northern Illinois. If you’re part of the first group, feel free to add your own memories! If you’re part of the second group and you do find yourself west of Chicago (yes, there is life on the other side of Chicago!), stop by Dixon, IL for me, okay?

Here are five things I miss about my hometown, in no particular order:

1. The Petunia Festival. Yes, petunias. As in the flower. The Petunia Festival is an almost week-long event around the Fourth of July that involves all kinds of community fun: art shows, 5K run, concerts, patriotic events, carnival, parade, fireworks, food. When I was growing up, I always thought it was funny that people who no longer lived in Dixon came back just for this event. Now, I want to be one of those people. So far, it hasn’t worked out with our schedule. But maybe someday.

2. Lowell Park. You guys. We have a park in Dixon that is more like a forest. It’s a huge park with walking trails and a gazillion trees and it borders the river. I think my love of nature was birthed here. I love the mountainous hiking we get to do around here, but so far nothing has quite captured my heart like Lowell Park.

3. The Rock River. And speaking of the natural world, Dixon is divided into the north and south sides by the Rock River. I’m not particularly fond of being in water, but I always love to be near water. On the banks of the Rock River I found my peace, sitting, thinking, dreaming and being lulled by the sound of the water flowing over the dam.

4. Arthur’s Garden Deli. The best restaurant anywhere in the world. Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but this, too, is a must-have when anyone who has been away from Dixon returns. Some people plan their visits around a trip to Arthur’s. Deli sandwiches, homemade soups, loaded baked potatoes. No description does the food justice, but my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

5. Books on First. Now that I fully embrace that I’m a coffee-drinking, book-a-holic, writer, I love the idea of local bookstore/coffee shop. We have some of each where we live now, but nothing like Books on First, which is the quintessential local bookstore. I think if I lived in Dixon again, this would be one of my favorite places to spend time.

Dixonites, what would you add to the list? And those of you who don’t live in your hometown, what do you miss about it?

How to change the story

July 9, 2015

My kids went through a phase where they loved the PBS cartoon Super Why!. We still will watch the occasional episode on Netflix. Wyatt, the main character, and his friends, turn into super readers to solve problems and change the ending to familiar stories–for good reasons.

I’ve long been inspired by this aspect of the cartoon–that they change the story by changing one word.

And while real-life change doesn’t seem that simple, it really isn’t as complicated as we make it.

Sometimes, we can change the story with just one word. Or action. Or decision. For ourselves, and others.

—

I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books as a kid. I loved being able to go back through the book and pick a different outcome through a series of choices. Brilliant book concept. I would constantly try to find the best ending.

Our lives are a little bit like those books. Each choice we make leads to another page, another chapter, another outcome. But unlike those stories, ours are more fluid. Nothing is finished until the final day of our lives. No one’s story has its ending in the midst of living it.

I forget that some days. Especially when life seems especially hard.

It won’t always be this way. The story isn’t over.

Here’s how I know: I see people who are living as if the story is still being written.

—

I have some things to tell you about fair trade products in the weeks to come. Here’s a teaser for that:

I’ll be telling you a lot more about an organization that is changing the story for women around the world. What I love about this image, though, is that it reminds me that I’m a participant in changing the story. When I choose to learn more about what I wear, drink, eat and so on, I can help change the story for someone. My friends at Imagine Goods put symbols on their products that will tell you all about the person who sewed your item. I love that connection across continents.

These great organizations remind me that just because things have been done a particular way for a long time does not mean they have to continue. We can change the story.

I see it in my friends who have adopted children, both domestically and internationally. I see these kids in their families and I wonder how their stories might be different if those families had decided not to adopt. (It is no simple action to say “yes” to a child you didn’t birth.) I see it in families who make room for children who might never become part of their families. They are all changing stories by adding love and grace and faith to the plot.

And in the darkest corners of the world, covert operatives for The Exodus Road are helping to change the story of women and children sold into sex slavery. We can become part of the change in their stories when we declare publicly, “Rescue is coming.” This is not the end of the story.

Whatever actions we take, whether it is swapping out our cheaper products for ones that are ethically made from workers given fair compensation or opening our homes to those without families or funding investigations into trafficking in Southeast Asia, we can change the story.

This is nothing new for humankind.

Jesus changed the story more than 2,000 years ago when he rescued us from death with his life. He has changed my story from one of hopelessness, despair and insecurity to one of hope, joy and acceptance of who I am. He is always on the lookout for a spot in the story to change the plot for the better.

Let’s not believe that no one can change, that the world is a hopeless mess, or that we are destined for destruction.

Let’s find ways to change the story. For ourselves. For others.

There's a book for that (TV edition): Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death

July 8, 2015

This is the second post in my series reviewing books that have been adapted for television. Last week’s post is here. You can find all the posts in this series, and my previous series about books adapted for movies, under the category “there’s a book for that.”

During the annual Downton Abbey airing on PBS at the beginning of the year, my husband and I latched on to a new series, Grantchester. It’s about an English vicar in the 1950s who becomes involved in solving crimes with the local inspector, George Keating. I’ve described the TV version as “hot vicar solves mysteries.”

The book is like Father Brown (G.K. Chesterton) meets Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) with the theology of C.S. Lewis thrown in. I loved it. The TV show gripped me from the start, and the book upon which some of the series was based, Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death, was equally entertaining. It’s a collection of six stories but not all from this book were adapted for the show. Nor were the events exactly the way Runcie wrote them.

Still, I gleaned a greater understanding of Sidney’s character and appreciated more references to how his faith as a clergyman affected his life and involvement in these mysteries. I will seek out the next two books in this series to keep me company while waiting for the next series of Grantchester to arrive on screen.

If you like mysteries, crime drama and hard questions about morality and theology, give this collection a try.

Next up: Another PBS offering, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Our garden is growing–and I can only take credit for one thing

July 6, 2015

The squealing, screaming cries coming from outside sound like they could be either excitement or terror. As one shriek follows another, I head to the side of the house to find my kids crouched down next to the garden, pointing and yelling.

Our plants have produced visible fruit. The pepper plants are sprouting peppers, the tomato plants are drooping with tomatoes, and the cucumber vine is winding its way through the entire garden. Every day, it seems, there is a new and exciting discovery in the garden.

Not to mention weeds.

Initially, weeding was kind of a simple process. We took a hoe to the dirt between the plants and attacked at the root, turning over the dirt and tossing out the weeds. It was relatively quick and painless.

Now that we’ve had an abundance of rain, the garden is a mass of greenery. I went out to weed recently and discovered how useless my previous methods would be. One stalk of tomato plants had to be carefully lifted off the ground and tucked inside the cage before I could even think about weeding. Many of the weeds were hidden underneath the healthy plant growth. I had to hand pick the weeds lest I damage the good growth.

The cucumber vines had wound themselves around each other, the tomato plants and some weeds. We carefully unwound them while pulling out the weeds in its path. This cucumber plant is going to need more attention, I think, though it is obviously thriving.

The pepper plants will soon be teeming with peppers, and the jalapeno plant already had to be tethered to a stick after a rainstorm knocked it over and nearly killed it. The broken stem has repaired itself but I anchored it again, and tied another leaning pepper plant to a stick as well.

Those were my contributions. Honestly, I can’t take much credit for this garden. We have had rain and sunshine. Someone else started the plants from seed and we planted them. My husband did the initial clearing of the space.

We weed. We water when necessary. We watch them grow. And soon we will reap a harvest.

—

Jesus talked a lot about plants and farming and growth, and some things haven’t clicked with me until now.

That whole “vine and branches” thing sort of makes sense when you can see the obvious difference between the main plant stem and the branches hanging off of it. The jalapeno plant cracked at the base of the plant. None of the branches were damaged. But if I hadn’t tried to fix the break, the plant itself would have died and our jalapenos wouldn’t continue to grow.

“Apart from me, you can do nothing,” Jesus says, and I’m starting to believe him. If I’m not connected to the main artery of growth, I will shrivel and fade and not reach my full potential.

And there’s other stories in the Bible, about those who plant and those who water and the One who makes things grow. About good soil and rocky soil and the choking weeds that inhibit growth.

So I’m wondering if there are more lessons in this garden for me.

Does the growth I’m seeing in my life hide the weeds that are still popping up? (And can I ever lead a weedless existence?) Do I need to look a little deeper to see the weeds?

Have I tried to hack away at the weeds, damaging good fruit and vines along the way, when instead I’ve needed to carefully tend to the unwanted growth, pulling it out by hand?

Can I really take credit for any kind of growth in my life? And can I bring it about in anyone else’s life?

Here’s what I think I can do: I can prepare the ground. I can shelter and tend and nurture the life in my care. I can water when the ground is dry and cracked. I can pick out the weeds that try to steal the energy needed for growth. I can offer support to the cracked and broken when weakness is evident and death is near.

Here’s what I can’t do: I can’t actually make anything or anyone grow. I can’t do it. It’s not in my power.

And that’s totally freeing because it’s not up to me.

Jesus says something else about us bearing much fruit, not that we have to be the ones who produce it. But if we cultivate the right conditions in our lives, fruit will grow and we’ll be amazed.

Like my son running out to the garden shrieking with delight, we’ll point and holler: Look! Look at what God has done!

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