July 5, 2012

Gifts

Hope everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July! What a great holiday, and I don't care what those nay-sayers "I want to move to Canada" people say...I love living here, I love my freedoms, I love that I can blog, I love that I can openly speak of my faith, I love this country.



Matt and I both had to work yesterday, the sad reality of working in a tourist town, but we both managed to be off in time to catch the city fireworks! In the 8 years that Matt and I have known each other this was the first time we have watched fireworks together! How great is that? Check that baby off the To-do-List! It ended up being a pretty great evening and I am so thankful for the surprise fireworks date!

Today I thought I would share another special part of my life. I have talked about care giving for my friend Ali, and I do that the majority of my work week, but I also have another job. I have talked about it before here on this blog, but wanted to share some pictures and the great people behind the job. I work at a store called the World Next Door. The store is a Fair Trade market. Fair Trade products are products that are being produced by those living in developing countries. The products are often made of resources that are in abundance to their environment, often times 'trash' (aluminum cans, steel drums, plastic bags, chip bags, tires and so on) and also materials native to their land (soap stone, zulu grass, banana fibers, onyx, Tagua nuts, organic cotton, bamboo, olive wood and so on). It really has been such a great job and experience. I have learned a ton about other countries, what people in these other countries are struggling with and how important it is to give them a chance to make and produce products that truly give them hope.





The great thing about Fair Trade is that the artists are paid up front and paid a wage that they have set. This way they are assured a fair wage. A wage that will meet their needs and give their families opportunities they would not other wise have.

What is also great about my job is that I hear people share their stories of travel all the time. People come into the store and are reminded or their travel memories. They share their missionary travels, their educational travels... the stories are special and profound.

I have to say I love this job of mine. I have been doing it for quite a while and never seem to loose the zest of passion for the purpose of the store and for the people coming in and experiencing all our store has to offer. I am so thankful for this job and I do treasure it as a gift.

 PJ Pants from India

 Hand woven scarves from Bangladesh

 Bags from all over: India, Guatemala...
 

We have so much jewelery, I love it! 


More PJ pants:




And then there are the people behind the job, aka my bosses. These people are great. They care about me and are invested in me. They have become mentors and friends. There family generously had us over for dinner and a boat ride on the lake. Talk about a perfect night. It truly was! A big thank you for a great view of Cedar Point and a fun evening with the kids!


This is a view from the water of where Matt and I got married! So great! And right next door is the Lighthouse. I loved that wedding day of mine... :)





And Cedar Point. You could hear the screams on the boat. :)













A gift indeed.



2 comments:

  1. The view from your boat ride looks fabulous-- what a fabulous way to spend the day! :)

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  2. Oh thanks for the comment and reading! I really appreciate it! I love your blog and am now following along! :)

    ReplyDelete