Fair Trade Easter Eggs

Back when we lived in Kentucky I made a Resurrection Egg set, and I wrote a lesson plan for young children. I used it twice when we hosted an Easter Egg hunt with our neighbors. But I have used it countless times with my own children. This egg set has been a favorite for each of my children, especially at young ages.

When William was three years old, one of his favorite things to do every day was open these eggs and hear the Easter story. He would ask me to tell him the story over and over again. I would share the lesson several times in a row, until my voice was hoarse and I had to stop! Later on in the day we would do it again.

A few years later, Adelaide was asking to hear the lesson again and again. And now Stafford loves to open the eggs and talk about what we find inside. What a blessing it is to have my children asking over and over to hear the good news of Jesus Christ! This little egg set has been one of the very best teaching tools in our house.

I have a small set that includes only eight eggs. The eggs contain:

• Bread
• A picture of praying hands
• 30 pieces of silver (dimes)
• A nail
• A tiny cross
• Cloth
• A rock
• And the last egg is empty because the tomb was empty on Easter morning!

This year I decided to give our Resurrection Eggs a little update, and I recreated them with fair trade eggs from Mercy House! The items inside are the same, but the eggs are made by the women of Street Hope.

The women of Street Hope once lived on the streets of Mathare Valley in Kenya, but because of the simple job of sewing felt crafts, these women have been able to move off of the street and into their own homes! They have been able to leave survival prostitution now that they have dignified jobs. These courageous women are working their way out of poverty.

It brings me joy to know that my purchase of fair trade eggs helps women to provide for their families. These little felt eggs are sturdy and pretty! They bring a smile to my face, and they remind me to pray for Street Hope and for Mercy House.

Today Mercy House has these felt eggs on sale! They are also selling baskets with pre-filled Easter eggs. Click over to the Mercy House store to shop the Easter collection and snag a good deal on Easter eggs!

*Edited to add: The Easter eggs sold out in a matter of hours! But they will have more next year! Meanwhile, there are still plenty of wonderful fair trade products in the store if you want to support Mercy House and the women they provide with jobs. Mercy House also has a FREE digital Easter Bundle if you want some more ideas for celebrating Easter at home with your children.*

And if you are interested in making and using Resurrection Eggs, you can read my lesson plan here. If you have young children, I highly recommend doing this with them! Little ones love it!

What special things do you do at Easter to share the gospel with your children? I would love to hear your ideas!

Give Mercy

I cried last week when I learned that Mercy House Global had to pause the rescue of pregnant teen moms in Kenya. This ministry is a ministry that I have advocated for and supported for many years now. It broke my heart to read these words from Kristen Welch:

For the first time in a decade of March’s, we have temporarily paused the rescue of new pregnant teens in Kenya so that we can continue to support hundreds. 

I won’t lie: this wrecked me. 

God, we know you’re in control when things seem so out of control. Please rescue us, all. 

Friends, will you join me in praying for new donors, new shoppers, new sponsors, new club members to RISE up.

Due to COVID-19, Mercy House had to close their retail stores in Texas. The proceeds from these fair trade stores helps to support the work of Mercy House, so this has created a loss of revenue for them. And as the economy suffers in the months to come, this also has an impact on Mercy House, and on many other nonprofit organizations, who rely on the generosity of donors.

But even when the economy suffers here in the United States, the needs remain in Kenya. There are still more than 50 young mamas and 50 babies in Kenya who need our continued support. There are grandmothers of the babies in the maternity home who continue to weave rugs and make jewelry for Mercy House to sell. There are artisans in the slums of Kenya who rely on Mercy House to continue provide work for them. There are still more girls who need to be rescued.

My heart breaks for these little ones and their young mamas. My heart breaks for the grandmothers who are working their way out of poverty. They are counting on us to continue to be there for them in the hard days ahead as the Coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country and across the world.

If you are able, will you please join me in helping Mercy House continue their important work? I have started a fundraiser for Mercy House that I will share below. I will also keep a link to this fundraiser in my sidebar throughout the rest of 2020 (and possibly beyond!). I know there are many worthy causes that need our support right now. Perhaps Mercy House is one that you would like to consider supporting in the coming days and months.

Another way you can help Mercy House is by shopping in their online store. They sell beautiful fair trade products! The proceeds from the sales help to fund the maternity home in Kenya. By shopping in the Mercy House store, you help to provide jobs for women in poverty around the world, and you help to support the ministry of Mercy House. This is shopping with a good purpose!

If you do shop in the online store, you can use the code SPEAKUP to save $10 on a purchase of $25 or more. And currently all purchases over $75 get free shipping!

In the coming weeks I will be sharing more ways you can help Mercy House. I will blog more here, and I will share regularly on Instagram and Facebook as well.

Mercy House exists to engage, empower, and disciple women around the globe in Jesus' name. Engage those with resources to say yes to the plight of women in poverty. Empower women and teenage mothers around the world through partnerships and sustainable fair trade product development. Disciple women to be lifelong followers of Jesus Christ.

- Mercy House Global 

All photos are courtesy of Mercy House Global.

Favorite Books of 2019

In 2019 I had a goal of reading 20 books. I ended up reading 24 books! Some of those books were very, very short, but I was grateful for the ability to read as many as I did! Here are some of my favorite books from last year.

Suffering Is Never for Nothing by Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot is someone who faced various hard trials in her life. Through it all she remained faithful to God, trusted in Him, and worked faithfully to simply do the next thing. Suffering Is Never for Nothing is based on a speaking series she gave many years ago. The words in the book were taken directly from the transcript of her speaking series. Elisabeth Elliot shares, as she always did, in her straightforward, no-nonsense way. This is an encouraging book for the believer who is trying to make sense of the very hard suffering in life, and it is also beneficial for the believer who is looking for help as they face everyday challenges.


Hope When It Hurts by Kristen Wetherell and Sarah Walton

This little book is so encouraging and helpful! It is filled with solid truths from Scripture that you can cling to when life hurts. Sarah and Kristen write from personal, painful experience, and they offer rock-solid hope. They consistently point the reader back to Jesus and to the eternal and precious promises we have through Him. Hope When It Hurts is deep and rich. It is beautiful and practical. I recommend it to everyone!


Friendish by Kelly Needham

Friendish is a timely and much-needed look at friendship from a biblical perspective. Kelly Needham has written a book filled with wisdom and truth. She takes the reader straight to Scripture to find guidance for the way we do friendship. With so many bad examples of friendship in the culture around us, it is easy to lose sight of what friendship should be. Friendish will help you to see patterns and pitfalls to avoid, and it will encourage you to grow as a godly friend to others. For anyone wanting to learn how to honor God in their friendships, this book is a must read!

The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo

This is a helpful, practical, and solidly biblical parenting book. Lou Priolo helps the parent to get to the heart of emotions and attitudes in their children and in their own hearts. The Heart of Anger is an excellent book to read, and a very good resource to keep on your bookshelf.


The Complicated Heart by Sarah Mae

In this compelling memoir, Sarah Mae shares her story of growing up with an alcoholic mother. She tells of her pain and struggles as well as her path to healing. This is the story of a mother and daughter that is filled with hurt, abuse, and difficulty. But it is a story that ends with redemption, love, and reconciliation. Before her mother passed away, Sarah promised her that she would tell their story. This book is the fulfillment of that promise. The Complicated Heart is a good book for anyone who is struggling to love and to forgive those who are close to them who have hurt them. And it is a great book for those who need help understanding the depth of pain and suffering that is present in some families.

What good books have you read lately? Are there any books that I should add to my 2020 reading shelf?

Life with Three

Hello friends! I miss chatting with you regularly in this space. My time and energy is completely maxed out on most days, which leaves little strength or mental clarity for writing a blog post at the end of the day. I am still trying to figure out how to blog in this new season of life with three children. I need to remember to come here occasionally just to write a simple post or share a few pictures from daily life. I can probably manage that better than writing a “real” blog post. So today, here are a few pictures and thoughts on life with three!

Life was hard before we had Stafford. And adding another small member to the family has brought many more challenges. But it has also brought so much joy and laughter. We love having a little one in our family! I know we were happy before Stafford came along, but the happiness has been multiplied now by the simple addition of one family member.

Life with a baby, and now a toddler, has been a good and wonderful transition. It is hard, but it is totally worth it! I am so thankful that the Lord blessed us with this little one.

Someday I will be able to blog more often again. Meanwhile, I’m soaking up the time with my children, falling in bed tired at the end of the day, and thanking the Lord for the blessing of this good life.

When Hope Is Scarce

I am pleased to welcome Bethany Rose to Cranberry Tea Time today. Bethany is a fellow Minnesotan, blogger, and spoonie. She has a lovely letter today for those of you who also live with chronic illnesses. In case you aren't familiar with the term "spoonie," those who are in the chronic illness community often refer to each other as "spoonies." It is a name that comes from Christine Miserandino's helpful story called, "The Spoon Theory."

Bethany will be speaking at the Diamonds 2020 conference this weekend. If you have a chronic illness, you will want to check this out! It is online, and it is free! Details can be found at the end of the post.

Photo by Guillaume Galtier on Unsplash

Dear spoonie,

Does your pain overwhelm you? Do the days seem endless? Do you wonder if you will ever find a way out? Is hope scarce?

Hope.

What a strange word, especially for those of us who wonder if the pain will ever ease.

A sweet girl told me the other day that during the worst days of her illness friends and acquaintances would frequently tell her, “I’m so sorry-I hope you feel better soon.”

The problem with telling us to “feel better soon” is that we both know it’s insincere. It often feels as if those who say this that don’t really care whether we feel better soon or not. That hurts. And as chronic illness warriors, we become finely attuned to the meaning behind common phrases like these.

With chronic illness, healing isn’t certain, and it probably won’t happen in the near future. It feels so empty when we hear, “I hope you feel better soon.”

Hope.

It’s so easy to lose hope when your day-to-day existence is filled with pain or exhaustion.

And it’s not just healing that we lose hope in. It’s also easy to lose hope in the goodness of God, and start to believe that life is just a series of tragedies.

Dear one, what can you do when you lose hope?

Throughout my illness, I have lost hope many times. And I have learned something which transformed the way I think about hopelessness.

When we are in a dark place, the solution is not to notice the darkness, to calculate how many more hours we must exist until dawn sprinkles sunshine on our faces again. Instead, when we are surrounded by darkness, we look up. For the night sky is peppered with stars.

I remember a dear friend messaging me, asking me, “When will this feeling end?”

I told her, “It will take time, but you will come out.

Take it one breath at a time.

Pause, and look at the night sky. It is vast, and it is wild, and it is not joyful. It has seen a thousand wrongs in the same moment as it saw a thousand rights. Look out your window. That ancient sky? Somewhere behind it is a Maker who will one day rip the sky apart to come and right every wrong.

You’re not alone.”

No matter what your illness is, God has not abandoned you. He will one day right the wrongs of this broken world. And if you simply look around, look up, into the sky, you will find small reminders of His enduring love.

Yet you wonder-how can I? My symptoms prevent me. Yes friend, sometimes our symptoms make finding reminders of God’s love harder. But that which is harder won is the more precious.

Perhaps you are a spoonie with light sensitivity. You can’t watch the sunrise, but you can close your eyes and go out into a garden or park. Inhale the scents. It’s winter now where I live in Minnesota, cold, frozen, lonely. You may think that winter doesn’t have a scent, but your nose will change your mind. Breathe deeply. What do you smell?

The first thing I notice in the winter air is the crispness. Then I smell underneath it the everlasting scent of the earth, quiet and strong, despite being stuck in winter’s icy clasp. I smell the earth, and I remember that God will bring spring again.

Dear spoonie, if we only hope for healing, we miss all the beauty God has given to us to relieve the bitter cold of winter. Yet if we choose to look up, we can find the little blessings which make a hard season of life bearable.

For we do not only hope for the relieving of our pain. Our primary source of hope is God.

“We put our hope in the Lord.
    He is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord,
    for our hope is in you alone.”
Psalm 33:20-22

He will not disappoint us. He may not take away our pain, but He will help us to bear it. And when we begin to doubt that He really is here with us, if we only look around, we will see a thousand evidences that His love for us is still as strong as it was the day Jesus bore both our sins and our sorrows on the Cross.

And though our pain seems to last forever, soon, it will pass away.

So dear spoonie, when we begin to lose hope let us look to God. Let us be in awe of Him. Let us find the little blessings He gives us each day. But most of all, let us cling fast to the knowledge that He is guarding us. He is keeping us. He is with us!

Dear spoonie, when hope is scarce, look up.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” 1 Peter 1:3-6

Bethany’s name means “bright city on a hill.” This is her mission in life, to illuminate the beautiful things and shine God’s light where there was darkness. Bethany leads The Wilting Rose Project, a ministry of encouragement and truth for young women who feel their struggles make them worthless. She writes fairytales heavily inspired by her love of the forest, where she spends many of her mornings soaking in the uniquely Minnesotan beauty. Her blog includes more personal documentation of her battle the last few years with Lyme disease and Toxic Mold illness and her journey of healing.

What is Diamonds 2020? Diamonds 2020 is a free online conference for chronically ill Christians.

When is Diamonds 2020? January 23rd-25th, 2020

Who is speaking at Diamonds 2020? 16 awesome chronically ill warriors.

What does Diamonds 2020 cost? Nothing!

Where is Diamonds 2020? You can register for free at this link.