Beyond Words

Several years ago while visiting OU with Kristen before she was a student there; I noticed my friend Ann was wearing the prettiest bracelets. She told me they could be found at a small boutique in Norman and that they were made by women in Nepal. I fell in love with them and have been collecting them ever since.

Fast forward four years and the bracelets are everywhere! They have taken the fashion industry by storm and match easily with any outfit or any style. It’s not every day Oklahoma sets a fashion trend, but in this case I’m giving credit where credit is due. (In a reversal of fortunes however, I have to say Kristen was wearing Kendra Scott jewelry at OU years ago and today a pair of Scott’s signature “Danielle” earrings is a virtual unofficial emblem of an OU girl and are everywhere in the Sooner state!) Back to the bracelets. Every time I wear them, people ask me about them so I figured it was time to blog about them.

They are called “Lily and Laura” bracelets and the story behind them is as beautiful as the bracelets themselves.

Laura has always loved to travel, and after earning an art history degree she moved to Nepal. While living there, she discovered the Nepali crocheted bracelets and decided to devote her energy to helping her new friends make them and sell them to support themselves.

“Each bracelet is a little piece of artwork,” says Laura. “Our women artists are passionate about making the bracelets they crochet very special.”

The bracelets aren’t cheap (most boutiques charge around $30 for three) but only the finest glass beads are used in them and each and every bracelet is hand crocheted by Nepali women, bead by bead and in the comfort of their own homes. No two bracelets are alike and they comfortably roll on over any size hand. Best of all, they are produced using a “fair trade” wage structure, allowing the artisans to improve the quality of their lives while providing a Nepal custom the world over. The women are seen as artisans in their communities and are able to help support their families and break the cycle of poverty, abuse, and human trafficking in the region.

Most people wear them in “stacks” and blend a color scheme in doing so. You can wear several of them together, combine them with other bracelets, or perhaps even with a stylish watch. Here are a few samples of some of mine:

The next time you see a bowl full of beaded bracelets in a store, which is usually how they’re displayed, consider buying a few. I promise you’ll grow to love them and the women who made them for you will love the life you are helping provide them.

Keeping it simple today…

No one puts “websites I want to visit” on their Bucket List.

It’s amazing what you can learn about the city you live in by taking a tour of it.  Last night I thoroughly enjoyed a “bat boat” cruise along Town Lake…er Lake Lady Bird…with the Austin Women Travelers group and learned a lot too!

Those of you unfamiliar with Austin may be asking, “bat boat, what the heck is that?”  Well, let me tell you!  Austin, the city proud of “keeping it weird,” is home to the world’s largest urban bat colony.  Under our beloved Congress Street Bridge lives 1.5 million Mexican free tail bats.  Yes, MILLIONS!  Between March and November, every night at dusk they descend out of crevices underneath the bridge en masse.  They’re all female and they’re essentially going out for dinner.  They always fly away from the setting sun and are so lightweight even the slightest wind can push them.  On a really still evening, they look like a giant black cloud.  People line the bridge, nearby restaurant balconies, grassy knolls along the lake, and several commercial boats, which is what we did.  It may sound crazy but it’s actually quite impressive to watch more than a million bats fly into the sky at one time.   We love our bats in Austin.  We have a bat statue not far from the bridge and we love that they eat thousands of pounds of bugs every night.  Mosquitos?  Austin doesn’t have half the problem other cities near water do, thanks to our bats!

I’ve lived in Austin 27 years but this was only the third or fourth time I’ve done the bats.  We had a great tour operator on the boat who informed us that the Frost Bank tower looks like an owl, City Hall is supposedly built to look like an armadillo (I didn’t see it; perhaps he was pulling one on us), and that the city’s tallest building, The Austonian, is jokingly referred to as the world’s largest USB drive.  It does!  And how appropriate for our city, the centre of the Silicon Hills?!  The skyline of Austin changes almost daily, so it was also nice to learn the names of all those building and what they house.  Amazingly, the majority of all new buildings aren’t office space, but condos.  Glorious condos.  Have I mentioned shut the gates yet?!

The “owl” and the “USB port”

I remember taking a tour of my hometown Santa Fe on board the city’s “Chile Line” bus.  It was so informative and fun!  I also remember taking the trolley car tour in San Francisco and opting for the double-decker bus tour of London the day we arrived because it was pouring rain.  We learned so much and saw the whole city in one fell swoop.  These types of tours then allow you to later pick and choose which sites you want to go back to.

They say travel is really the only thing you spend money on that makes you richer.  And even though travel can also be so frustrating, I couldn’t agree more.  Even if it’s right in your backyard.

Happy Friday everyone!

A simple judge of character is how you treat a person who can do absolutely nothing for you.

You may or may not have noticed, but I haven’t been very motivated to write my blog lately.  It’s been a crazy time getting Kristen back to college and getting ready for the start of my school year.   I’ve thought about some good topics but I just haven’t followed through on sharing them with you.  Leave it to God to get me going again.

Just yesterday Smitty asked me if I had ever read the “Peace Prayer of St. Francis.”  I told him it’s always been one of my favorites, hangs next to my bed and on my desk, was sung at our wedding and at Princess Di’s funeral, and that the statues in our backyard are St. Francis.   We talked a little about it all and went about our day.

This morning we go to mass and what’s one of the songs being sung?  Yep, the Peace Prayer.  Not only that, but the entire homily was about humility, which St. Francis was known for; Pope Francis, who took his name in honor of the saint and who is also known for his humble actions; and even Johnny Manziel who we were told didn’t demonstrate God’s humility during yesterday’s A&M game.  It all literally gave me chills and brought me to my knees.

Finding Peace

The first part of the “Prayer of St. Francis” reminds us what we should strive to be while the second part reminds us what not to be.  In short, Father God help me to sow, or give, faith, hope, forgiveness and love to others and not focus so much on my own struggles and injuries.  The secret is doing all of this, we were told in mass, is not just to talk the talk, but to walk the walk.  As St. Francis himself is quoted as saying, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.”  Do your actions always sow love?  Do mine?  Lord, please help make me a channel of your peace.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

Being Humble

Today’s readings were also inspiring.  We were reminded that we are all “poor” in some way and that only through humility do we achieve true heavenly strength.  It’s always important to remember that even rich men need God and scripture encourages us to think of others first and to invite the poor to our tables.  This, as we all know, is not always easy.  Try as we may, we often fail.

In the book of Sirach we are told:  My child, conduct your affairs with humility, and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more, the greater you are, and you will find favor with God. What is too sublime for you, seek not, into things beyond your strength search not.

And Micah 6:8 teaches us:  You have been told what is good and what the Lord requires of you:  Only to do justice and to love goodness and to walk humbly with your God.

As we humbly walked to our car, I noticed a lady carrying a dog.  Smitty and I both thought, “who brings a dog to church?”  Then it dawned on me, no one would be happier to see that then St. Francis, the lover of animals.

How can one not believe in God and that He is working miracles every day after experiencing all of this?  Not me, and hopefully not you.