superheros and noonday

This is the conversation I had with Camp the other day...

Camp: "Mommy, where are you?"
Me: "I'm in here. Mommy is getting ready for a Trunk Show tonight."
Camp: "A Trunk Show?"
Me: "Yes, there are other mommies and daddies all over the world who do not have food or money. Mommy sells things for them at Trunk Shows so they can take care of their kids."
Camp: "Oh... (long pensive pause)... Mommy? Are you a Superhero?"

How precious is that? He took the time to think about what I said, and in his 3 year old mind he understood that people needed help and in a way I was coming to their rescue. I love that.

The obvious answer to his question is no, I'm not a Superhero. (Although, I do like the sound of it. ) I'm no hero at all, but I am created in the image of the ultimate Superhero, am I not?

It is fascinating to me the things I see in my boys hearts that reflect their Creator. Something about being a rescuer, helper and protector is desirable to them. And I love that. They play games over and over where one is rescuing the other from a dinosaur/meteor/Zurg or just their dad or Golden Retriever who are chasing them around the house. Lately, they have even been praying before each rescue.... praying a sweet, 3 year old prayer that God will give them the strength to complete the task at hand. Love that.

We have a family mission.

About 2 years ago Jake and I spent a lot of time praying, dreaming, thinking and praying much more about what we wanted our family story to be about. What we wanted to live for. This is what we came up with...

"The Box family exists to partner with God in rescuing people from this broken world. "

We want to be a family that reflects God's heart to help the hurting, mend the broken and speaks the gospel to those who desperately need to know their Savior. We want to point people to the one who can really save.

So back to my conversation with Camp...

I love that when I explain my "job" to him, he sees our family mission. Every time I drive to a Trunk Show I pray that God would use me to speak for our artisans. He has given me the job to be their ambassador and I take that seriously. They work tirelessly to created a product... incredible product, that in their own country would not give them a sustainable living. But here... here in the US... as you buy their product, they not only make a living, but they have the opportunity to rise out of poverty and provide for their children what was never dreamed possible... health care, education, and a future.

Our artisans worked so hard on our Spring/Summer Collection this year. If you get a second, check out this look book that highlights them and their fashionable products. Also, if you too would like to be a voice for the voiceless with Noonday Collection, contact me. It's well worth your time.

Well, I have a full day of playing with my two precious superhero's! If you have kids, write a comment and let me know what they are playing these days. I hope you have a great Wednesday!

instafriday: catching up

I figured today would be a great day to get back to my instafridays!
I apologize for the lack of posting I have done the past couple of months.
Morning sickness, and unexplained exhaustion have totally taken the life out of me the last several weeks.
Thankfully, I am 11 weeks now, almost out of my first trimester and starting to feel much better!

So, here are some things we've been up to lately...

We finalized our adoption of E in San Antonio, Tx!
It was such a special day. Everyone in the court, including the judge were so excited for us. There was a great feeling in the room. We were officially able to change his name to Enock Austin Box and he repeatedly said his full name all day. : )

Jake, went on a Men's Retreat so we decided to have friends over for pizza and movie night.
I love that the boys have such good friends.
Sweet Harper was in heaven with all of the boys that night!

Keeping with the movie theme, there was rainy Friday that my sweet husband came home and declared Family Date Night. I love this man. We hoped in the car, took the boys to see The Lorax and grabbed dinner. Camp and E both typically like movies, but they LOVED this one. They were mesmerized the entire time. Love good time with our little family.

We have been meeting with our Core Team for our Church Plant every Tuesday night. We eat dinner together, do some training, dream and pray... we pray a lot. This particular Tuesday we were going to take our first communion together. Unfortunately, no one remembered the bread. So I rummaged through my pantry and our choices were graham crackers or goldfish. We went with the goldfish. Let's just say that we will always remember our first communion together.

I got the opportunity to attend the Tx Style Council conference last weekend. It was a chance to meet 250+ style bloggers and introduce them to Noonday. I have to say that I was so intimidated going into it. Totally felt out of my league, but met some of the best girls. I had a great time getting to know so many different people and got to learn a lot about fashion and blogging while at it.

So... Camp drew his first real picture the other day. He usually only scribbles and you might find a few circles, but this was different. He was drawing with chalk in the backyard while I was cooking. I heard him say "Mommy, come look at the picture I drew you for your birthday!" (Sidenote: My birthday is in October. He is just obsessed with bday's right now.) He told me it was a "moo cow" and I immediately started to tear up when I realized it actually did look like a moo cow (ok, it also kind of resembles a tick, but you know what I mean). This boy has to stop growing up. It's just happening way too fast.

There is a new park near by called "The All Abilities Park". It is amazing. Seriously. Amazing. The park was designed so children with and without disabilities can all play together. I love that. If you know much about me, you know that this hits my heart. I long to intentionally place my kids in environments where they grow up along side special needs children. It is so good and so healthy for all kids involved. Love this park.

Ok, so this is random, but I was walking through Anthropology the other day and loved this. Seriously, just nails in the wall with string wrapped around them. I think I can do this. In our next house, this may show up in our decor.

Well, that's all I've got for today! I look forward to slowly getting out of my blogging slump. I have so many posts running through my head to share with you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your families! It will be rainy here, so I am hoping for a lot of cuddle time with my boys. Thanks for stopping by!

a new adventure

I love my husband. I love that we dream big together and that we share a heart to live lives that make a difference. We have a huge heart for the city that we live in. The church association we are apart of has a vision/mission that every man, woman and child in greater Austin would get the chance to hear the gospel. That really resonates with us. When we think about what we want to give our lives to, we think of that.

So... this summer, we will be moving into the heart of our city to plant a church. This is not on a whim, but actually something God began working on 14 years ago and we are thrilled to get to be a part of it.

So, why plant a church? Why not just stay on staff at the church we are at?

Well, studies show that church planting is one of the most effective ways to get the gospel out and reach a city. Starting new churches that want to be in the community to serve and reach the lost, is effective.

Then why the city?

Research shows that if you want to reach a city, you have to reach the heart of that city. Currently, 76% of central Austin does not believe that Jesus is their savior. Because we want to give our lives to see that change, we are moving to where that 76% lives to become friends with them, serve them, love them and share the gospel with them. What greater thing could we possibly give our lives to?


We are so excited to see what God does with this. Please be praying for us as we get ready to sell our house, have a baby and gather a core team of like minded believers that want to live this adventure with us!