Apparent Project Bracelets

As important and amazing and necessary as I believe orphan care is, there's another side to the coin, which is: helping prevent children from becoming orphans in the first place. I venture to say that one of the biggest reasons for orphans in third world countries is simply that families cannot support their children.  One of my favorite organizations is the Apparent Project, which gives parents in Haiti the skills and opportunity to sustain their family.  Sustainable families= fewer orphans!  

As part of the Apparent Project, men and women in Haiti make jewelry using recycled materials, such as cereal boxes.  These brightly colored boxes are cut into strips and rolled into beads, which are then used to make bracelets, necklaces, and earrings.  This does two things for these families: first, it gives them a sustainable living, and second, it gets trash off the streets of Haiti!  

The Apparent Project recently announced that they are offering some of their bracelets as fundraisers. To help raise money for our adoption, we are selling bracelets made by the Apparent Project.  That means that every bracelet sold not only fulfills the function of helping families in Haiti and getting trash off the streets, it also helps us provide a home for orphans.  Guys, I can't even tell you how jazzed I am about this project!  

One of my very favorite parts about this is that with every bracelet, there's a tag, with a picture and the story of the artisan who made that very bracelet.  It makes it personal, seeing exactly who was touched by your purchase.  

The bracelets are all very brightly colored, and no two are the same.  There are many different color combinations, but they're all beautiful, whatever color you choose!  

Pink 

Red

Orange

Yellow

Green

Blue

Purple

Earth Tones

Bright Multi-Color

Subdued Multi-Color

Each bracelet is $10, with $3 shipping for as many bracelets as you'd like to order.  Again, this supports the adoption of our son as well as parents in Haiti.

I accept Paypal at jnrjhanson@msn.com

Thank you so much for your support!

This Mother's Day

It seems fitting to write on our blog today, on Mother's Day, that we are adopting once again.  This time, a beautiful new son will join our family.

Our boy is five years old, and we are so thrilled, knowing he'll be the completion of our family.  I've had this thought in my head for the last two years, a picture of what our family can be.  Our children: two black, two white.  Two adopted, two biological.  Two boys, two girls.  Two from Congo, two from America.  Everyone has someone like them.

We talked about him, and prayed about him, at great length.  And it took over a month before we officially decided that yes, he is our son.  This is not without some fear, understandably.  We're tired.  It's been a long, financially and emotionally difficult two years since we started the adoption process.  But oh, how excited we are to bring home our boy!

Our family is doing really well, almost five months home.  How crazy that seems!  On one hand, I can't believe it's been that long, and on the other... well, was there ever a time Alexis wasn't my girl?

Looking back at our time in Congo and first home, Alexis has come so very, very far.  Her English skills are astounding- I can hardly believe it.  And she is learning so much in school; just this week, she's improved so much!  But more than that, she's happy, and warm, and loving.  She has a sweet heart, and a fantastic sense of humor.  She loves her family fiercely.

Lexi's favorite color is yellow, "because it's so pretty!" and she loves to wear pretty dresses and care for her babies.  She cannot wait to start school in the fall at "Robby's school," where all three of my babies at home are registered for next year.

Like all our kids, Alexis isn't perfect, but I believe she's perfect for us. She went out of her way to show me that I was important today.  Oh, how I love that girl.

Ella and Robby love their sister, as passionately as she loves them.  They play and fight and sing and dance and yell and hug, all within the same five minutes.  There are times that Ella struggles with sharing everything.  It's very different having a sister to share with, instead of a brother.  That's not to say there aren't benefits- as much as Alexis gets to share Ella's toys, Ella gets to share Lexi's!

Robby, on the other hand, is struggling with wanting to share more.  In our family right, Robby has always been the social one, the extrovert.  He loves nothing more than to be around people.  So it's hard for him some days, wishing his brother was home to share a room and toys and clothes with.  More than anyone, Robby desperately wants his brother to come home!

There are days when money is tight and we get stressed, but I feel so incredibly blessed.  We have been given such amazing gifts in these three (soon four!) kids, and I don't know what I ever did to deserve them.

My Abba is good!