Bead for Life

This is a follow up to my post about the lovely tea I attended last week. As I mentioned before I actually won a prize which was very exciting! What was even more exciting was the gift itself and what it represented.


The beautiful beaded bracelet was a perfect fit and it was made in Uganda, Africa. After I got home I did some research and learned some things about the bracelet and the women who make them. First off, the beads are hand made one by one with recycled newspaper. How cool is that? It must require a lot of patience to hand roll such tiny pieces of paper one at a time.


The process of making these beads and the jewelry interests me because my little girl makes jewelry using beads. I introduced her to beading months ago and she really loves it. She has made pretty pieces and given them as gifts. The time we make jewelry together is our mommy time and she loves to be creative.


The women in Uganda, for the most part are poor and making beaded jewelry is one of the ways they make a living and dig themselves out of poverty. Through beading they put their children through school (school is not free in Uganda) and put food on the table. These women are to be admired, which is why I'm blogging about them. They bead for and with a purpose. 


This whole experience about beading has caused me to create a study around Uganda, Africa for next school year. I brought a nice big map of Africa and laminated it for our African studies but was not sure where to start but now I am focused. 


There are many ways to help support the women in Uganda through purchasing beads as well as beaded jewelry. I hope to host a "party with a purpose" in the very near future. In the meantime I'm spreading the word through blogging and sharing. After all, the jewelry is just gorgeous and there is so much to choose from as well as there is a purpose for wearing it!

This is the beautiful bracelet I won!

Please check out their website by clicking the link below.

www.BeadforLife.org

Let me know what you think and by all means help spread the word!

everyday talk....   

Tea Time anyone!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of going to a ladies tea. It's been more than twenty years since I've been to one. It was lovely to say the least. The food and the fellowship were phenomenal. I enjoyed every aspect of this tea. There had to be three hundred women in that big beautiful room.

At amazes me that there is so much work that goes into putting on something of this magnitude and everything and I mean everything was beautiful. There hand-painted crafts, linen table cloths and napkins, beautiful flowers, beautiful music and the list goes on and on. Why, oh why didn't I bring my camera?

We heard touching stories and testimonies with encouraging words for ladies today! The theme for the tea was "Let your light shine" and truly you could lights shining all around the room, through smiles, laughter, hugs and even a few tears.

As soon as you walked into the room the décor enveloped you. Every table was decorated in a special way. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE tea pots and tea cups, I collect them. I was greeted with such warmth as each lady signed me in, gave me a name card, gave me a program and told me where my table was.

One of the things I most enjoyed was the opportunity to connect with a member of my church that was there. We always see each other at church but rarely do we get a chance to engage each other in conversation. We arrived at the tea at the same time and as it turns out we were seated next to each other. Throughout the afternoon and even after the tea we connected and found out how much we really have in common. It's funny how well you can connect with someone over a simple tea, it was simply delightful!

During the tea we were encouraged to let our lights shine, hence the little candle above. Not only did we get these beautiful little lights but on each light was a persons name and with this we were encouraged to pray for this person daily. Most of these ladies are missionaries located in other countries while others were still in the USA. They are letting their lights shine and in turn we are praying for them.

At this tea there was a gift drawing. Now I hardly ever win when it comes to any type of drawing but this time my number was picked and I won this beaded bracelet. I won! Really I won in more ways than one when I read the story behind these beads. You see these beads were hand-made by women in Uganda, Africa. I had heard a little about these ladies and how they fight poverty but I never saw the beads in person, nor did I know the full story.

When I got home I read through the website, looked at the pictures and realized that this was a very special bracelet. Again each of these beads are hand-made with newspaper. The ladies sell these to help feed their families as well as send their children to school. 

In my house, this bracelet has started a movement. I home school and I'm planning my African study curriculum, now we will start with Uganda. Also I will host a bead party for the ladies in Uganda this spring to help fight poverty. It's a small part but it can make a difference. This will also go along with teaching my children about compassion and making a difference in the lives of others.

I am very excited because this small bracelet from this tea will be a gift that keeps on giving. I had no idea that my life would be so inspired after one afternoon tea.

Here is the link if you want to learn more about this organization:

www.BeadforLife.org

everyday talk....

Flower power!

Hello to all! It's been way too long since I posted last. I think I'm still catching up with life. My little ones found this science project fun and interesting. I loved it because it was very simple and pretty cheap. It's amazing what you can find on YouTube!

So we purchased some white or cream colored roses and some food coloring. I used recycled jars, they always come in handy for science. Can you guess what we did with this stuff? See the pictures below!






Four roses and four jars



 

Add food coloring to each jar
 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gradually the flowers changed the color of the water


The children enjoyed this experiment and looked forward to checking the flowers as they changed colors. By seeing this simple project they understand that flowers drink from the stems in order to stay alive. They also understand specifically that the flowers drink from the bottom of the stem where it is cut. This is why the flower changed the same color as the colored water. Hmm, proves the theory, you are what you drink? 

Everyday talk...