S.H.E.

Buy ‘SHE’ jewelry this Christmas!

SHE is a Christian non-profit-Foundation dedicated to helping Thai women and girls escape the sex industry in Thailand through our jewelry making programme.



Visit our online store at www.shethailand.org for an easy Christmas shopping experience that will change a life. All the money from the sale of the jewelry in our on-line store goes straight back into the programme.

Not only will you receive quality jewelry made from shell, pearls, swarovski crystal and semi precious stones but also……
Free!
Hand made satin jewelry bag.
Hand made saa paper gift card Inc’ ministry details.

Gift delivery and wrapping service.
Hand written personal message service

We hope you enjoy our jewelry as much as our girls enjoyed making it!

SHE is part of the New Life Foundation in Phuket, Thailand.
This is an awesome ministry that I worked with in Thailand! These girls are often underage, forced from their homes (either by kidnapping or their own families) into prostitution in Thailand. People from all over the world hire their services while they vacation with their families and friends on the beautiful islands of Thailand. Mark & Sharon Biddell are the couple who have begun S.H.E. as a money-making alternative, bringing the girls out of the bars through friendship, sharing Christ with them, and offering them healing and new lives. Any way that they can be supported would be awesome! What great gifts for Christmas... order some gorgeous, handmade Thai jewelry and support this awesome cause.

Here's me helping Gae make jewelry! (don't worry, I didn't make any that you will buy) ;)

Here's a blog post from my ministry time there in Phuket:


Aug 12, 2007

Where's the designated driver, here?
Friday night at the Joy Bar-(that's it's name). Halfway along the strip, the brazen girls yell at the passers by and join the frivolities...drinks, games, bright lights... so much fun!


A thick girl with pouty lips grasps our hands and hugs and kisses us for coming back to see her. I pull her aside and she cries in my shoulder.


A slight girl with a black and white dress finishes off the bottle of whiskey. We laugh raucously as a replacement bottle is brought. She dances at the pole and knocks another shot back. Then she collapses in my arms and says, "I have to drink so much because I am so sad on the inside but I have to be happy on the outside." I pass her a tissue and she goes and sits on his lap.


The one with the angular facial features pulls out a game and tells me about her son, pausing only to make eye contact with the old Aussie man at the other bar. The short, fat one comes by and kisses her breast.


Oh, this is such a fun, sexy place... no rules... just fun!But then the slight girl is back to throw up in the sink. She pulls my head close: "why doesn't he want to sleep with me?" Her out of place tears keep falling.


He has been a woman since s/he was little... I can barely have a good conversation because she keeps catching her reflection in the mirror. We laugh as she compares our chest sizes. She thinks I'm fat and that's funny too. It's all funny. Then she whips around, grabs my face in her two large hands and asks earnestly, "am I pretty?"


She's too sick to go on. I chase her unsteady,weaving steps down the road. "Will you be okay? Let me get you a motorbike. No, don't drive. Be safe. You are beautiful. You are special."


So, are we having fun yet?







Come on.

Labor Day

Downtown Louisville & a picnic by the Ohio river :)

Happy

So I've been married for almost 3 months. I'm sure that's not long enough to make any sweeping generalizations or pass on the seasoned wisdom of experience... but I do have some observations.

I was telling Chris that I wish people heard more about good marriages. When we became engaged, the doomsday talk began. I can't count on both hands the number of people who shared their personal experiences and summarized marriage thusly: "it is so hard... be prepared... it's the hardest thing you will ever do." Not to mention the comedic material that features dysfunctional marriages: immature men and insecure, overbearing women.

Now, as a caveat let me say that I do think that this is a separate issue from discussions of (a) gender roles, (b) gender identity, (c) roles in marriage, or (d) portrayals of gender in the media.

There is something acutely distinct about the function of a marriage from a personal, experiential standpoint.

And let me say this: marriage is NOT the hardest thing that we've ever done; marriage is fun and enjoyable; marriage is not any harder or more complicated than "normal" godliness. The characteristics that denote godliness are the same that it takes to be married.

In my marriage, we do not fight... ever. I always wondered: what do married people fight about? If you're a considerate roommate, a good communicator, and a selfless person, marriage is a joy.

LIFE is hard... marriage doesn't compound the stress but provides you with a partner to help you grow and learn and love better.

We stay awake late at night laughing and making jokes... we divide the chores... we go to the gym and out to dinner... we watch TV and do normal life stuff... along with the unconditional love and acceptance as well as the promise of someone always being there.

I don't understand petty squabbles about food or fun or housekeeping.

I do the laundry, he does the dishes. I work a long day and come home to a candle-lit house and him waiting with ice cream. He scratches my back and I rub his. We talk and worry about money... but blame for bad decisions is shared and good ones are enjoyed. We laugh. We talk seriously about life and God. We humbly accept the fact that we both have flaws and are willing to be seen and confronted in those flaws by each other.

We comparmentalize: this is a roommate moment, this is a friend moment, I need a ___ right now, will you be that to me? And being married means adjusting my mood for the moment to accomodate him and be what he needs.

We deeply respect each other. I would never yell at someone in my family - so why would I yell at him? Who you are in life, it would seem, is who you will be as a spouse.

And I will say this: it is hard to be a happily married person.

Nobody wants to hear about people who are married and love it. Nobody wants to hear that it's easy and pleasant and fun. Nobody. Why?

I love and am loved by my Bucky.

Bucky's Birthday

Barnacles restaurant - we went out and got seafood after a visit to the FL Aquarium in TPA!

Two nights before we had a party at the McCarty house in North Port... then we had a nice Youell party with just us two anda tiny cake (and sparkling grape juice) and dinner out at Tina Tapas in Channelside.

Happy 26th, honey!

4th of July

Fun out on the boat with the family and the Elgersma's. I'm really lucky to have a husband that can take such cool pictures.

Married....married... marriedmarriedmarried!

It was an unimaginably wonderful day and I am so very happy.