What I Wore // Noonday, Wear Love & 147 Million Orphans

Featuring McCall // leemeandthegirls.blogspot.com 

McCall, why do you wear what you wear?

There are so many great, affordable, fashion-friendly items out there that help others. As women, our purchases can have the power to do something good and good is something I like doing, which is why I became a Noonday Ambassador. This gives me a chance to not only fill my wardrobe with treasures from around the world, it also gives me an opportunity to share with others about the many injustices occurring all around us, and how we as women and as Christians are called to do whatever we can to help right these wrongs. The answer may be something as simple as purchasing an item we'd want  to purchase anyway!

Necklace - Noonday Collection // Metal Bracelet - Noonday Collection // Black Bracelet - 147 Million Orphans // Cardigan - TJ Max // Shirt - Wear Love // Jeans - thrifted

What I Wore // Noonday Collection

Featuring McCall // leemeandthegirls.blogspot.com 

McCall, why do you wear what you wear?

There are so many great, affordable, fashion-friendly items out there that help others. As women, our purchases can have the power to do something good and good is something I like doing, which is why I became a Noonday Ambassador. This gives me a chance to not only fill my wardrobe with treasures from around the world, it also gives me an opportunity to share with others about the many injustices occurring all around us, and how we as women and as Christians are called to do whatever we can to help right these wrongs. The answer may be something as simple as purchasing an item we'd want  to purchase anyway!

Scarf - Noonday Collection // Earrings - Noonday Collection // Bracelets - Noonday Collection // Shirt - Old Navy // Jeans - thrifted

Noonday Collection // Guest Post by Wynne

Our passion at Noonday Collection is to connect you with the lives of artisans struggling for a better future while styling you along the way.  Fashion and design are a vehicle for opportunity and change.  You, too, can be a voice for the oppressed!

I was introduced to Noonday Collection & Jessica Honegger (the founder) at the adoption conference that changed my world.  It was in Austin, Texas in October 2010 and that weekend was the weekend the Lord grabbed hold of my husband and he said YES to adopt!  The conference was full of amazing ministries, and Noonday instantly grabbed my attention.  You see, I LOVE accessories.  I’m always drawn to them, but when I saw the beautiful items Noonday was selling, I had to know more.  They were both beautiful & had a story.  I wanted to know that story!  Since that conference, I have become a part of the Noonday family.  Some good friends of mine hosted a trunk show to support our adoption, and it did SO WELL that I got the amazing opportunity to be one of the first gals to become an ambassador.  What that means is I sell these items in peoples homes, but what it really means is that I tell these women's stories!

Noonday Collection sells jewelry, accessories, and home accents made from women (and some men!) from over 10 different countries around the globe.  Ethiopia, Peru, Uganda, Ecuador, Rwanda and India to name a few.  These artisans get paid a fair living wage for their work, and I can honestly say the work they are doing does more than pay the bills!  I have had the opportunity to go visit our artisans in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda and see them at work and visit their homes.  I’ve heard their stories!  The work they are doing is not only helping them provide for their families, but it’s giving them a sense of self worth.  It’s teaching them work ethic & many times connecting them to Jesus!  It’s giving them a community of other women that are going through the same things they do.  They aren’t just making jewelry, they are making a life for themselves and their families!

This is my friend Embemebet.  She lives on Mount Entoto in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia.  Mount Entoto has been said to have healing waters for people living with HIV.  Most of the artisans we work with in Ethiopia live here.

She is just ONE example of how lives are being changed through Noonday.  By purchasing the BEAUTIFUL items these artisans make, you are changing their lives.  You are teaching your friends how to shop responsibly.  You are letting people into the stories.  Since I told you before I am a self proclaimed accessorize-ista, I used to wear mainly items from Target or Forever 21.  NOW when people stop me to tell me they like my earrings, I can tell them proudly that they were made by a group of artisans in Ethiopia.  Y'all, the stories and the conversations that are started from simply wearing fabulous items is out of control.

I invite YOU to be a part of the story.  Shop our website.  Buy your sister or your mom something lovely & give it to them proudly on Christmas knowing that you are making a difference in the world.  

Noonday means a lot to me.  It was the primary way we raised money to bring home our two little ones from Ethiopia.  

I hope you fall in love as much as I have.

noondaycollection.com // Facebook // Twitter // Wynne's blog

Happier giving or spending? Does it have to be a choice?

"What a foolish, frivolous person I must be," she sighed. "I'm wholesomely ashamed to think that a dress... Even if it is a forget-me-not organdy... Should exhilarate me so, when a good conscience and an extra contribution to Foreign Missions couldn't do it."
// Anne of Avonlea

It's just the truth isn't it? No matter how aware or moved we are by the accounts of others in the world who live with less than us, giving to charity is not often as exciting as a new edition to our bursting closets or, as in my case, bursting bookshelves. We have the freedom to be frivolous, even if only from time to time, while most in the world do not. Like Anne, we ought to be ashamed of our selfish hearts, but in our day and age we can be exhilarated by something new for ourselves while at the same time being excited about giving!
For example, with TOMS shoes (by far my favorite shoes, and I am a shoe girl!), for every pair you buy they donate a pair to a child without any shoes, one for one. FashionABLE scarves are gorgeous and comfortable and they provide income for women in Africa. The acacia necklaces I buy from Visiting Orphans (but you can find on various other sites too) also provide income for women in Africa. Then there is Noonday Collection from which you can buy many beautiful bracelets, wonderfully rustic trays, or this (long desired by me) catch-all purse! And it is all providing jobs for women in several different countries on many different continents who would otherwise live in shame and poverty. {I can't wait for you all to hear more about Noonday in a few weeks. A blogging friend and adoptive momma of two is going to be guest posting about them. Stay tuned or Follow my blog so you don't miss it!}
We really have the best of both worlds. I anticipate the day when I can go for chai with my girlfriends, buy a book or see a movie with my family and have THAT provide support and income for fatherless children and widows around the world! Dream big. It CAN happen. :)