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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Why I Do What I Do pt.1

This could end up being a long blog entry.
Soo, I'll break it up into a few parts to keep you reading over the next few weeks.
I was inspired to write this after my friend Jessi Connolly blogged about her calling as she started her business. Check it out at Naptime Diaries.

Why I do what I do: pt.1
I was inspired to start REDEMPTION soap this past January of 2011
How it began? My dear friend Rob Chifokoyo came to visit us for the month of December alllll the way from Zimbabwe, Africa. (Best Christmas ever!!) He shared about his ministry that he an his fiance Lisa Rouse (check her blog at Redeeming Love) has started back home in Zim. Their hearts for their own people melted mine. They are loving on the "forgotten" people of their country. Orphans. Widows. Elderly. Prostitutes. They are unashamed of the Gospel and when I think about their ministry I just picture Jesus smiling. Sometimes crying because of how beautiful their love is. Their team that makes up Dare2Serve is passionate about being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.
 Rob with sweet orphan kids

And like all ministry, it costs money. Nail polish to paint nails with the prostitutes, pizza to hang with the orphans, small gifts to the elderly. We have seen and learned in all of our short years of ministry that it costs. Time, money, or hearts. So Craig and I live, work and do ministry here in NH, how in the world could we help support Dare2Serve? I prayed and prayed and prayed asking God to show me how I could support my brother and sister.

I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I want to contribute to my family financially (more on that in pt 2). I just didn't know where to begin. I needed vision. I needed passion. 


REDEMPTION soap was born in January 2011. It was literally all of a sudden. I learned of a friend who started a cloth diaper store Petite Bottoms in NH. I was like "WOW I should do something like that! I am passionate about health/environmental stuff." And literally my next thought was laundry powder. I had heard of people making it themselves, so I started experimenting. After countless recipes and trying to just get back to the basics, keeping it pure, simple, inexpensive and mission minded. 

The name REDEMPTION soap came a little later. I asked a friend for some ideas. One of which was Mother Earth's Redemption. I didn't like the Mother Earth part for obvs reasons but I couldn't stop thinking about REDEMPTION. I wanted the name to reflect the heart of the business. I wanted REDEMPTION soap to share the gospel and how fitting- redemption made me think of clean, white as snow. Perfect.

So that was the very start of it. The motivation to start a business and the name behind it.

I am eager to share the mission of the business. Where the moneyssss go and why I am crazy enough to keep on doing what I launched on April 1, 2011.

I try to keep each entry a less than 5 min read, so I'll stop here, write the other parts and post them over the next few days. Check out the links attached and show some love/ support to the people/ businesses mentioned!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Worship & Prayer

There is a church in the area that we (Cwtrials) have had the honor of being invited to 3 youth events over the past few months. The first event, Craig was asked to be on a discussion panel for the youth to ask questions on how he hears from God. The second event, we set up the whole Cwtrials demo set, did a lil show and shared the Gospel. The most recent event, Craig was invited to be a guest speaker at their weekend youth retreat. My husband. Preaching. In front of about 100 youth + leaders. (My husband!)

Aside from this church blessing us with these opportunities, their youth lead some amazing worship. Seriously, being in the presence of young people worshiping our Lord puts me in awe of our God. Our house is pretty quiet from outside noise. We don't typically have music or a tv going and whenever I want to worship God I desire some praise music! So this is what I'm working on. To keep the Spirit moving in my heart all throughout the day, filling moments of my day with some songs about our Lord. Because He is SOO good. (A current fav station on Pandora is Jeremy Riddle)


I remember seeing these guys do cool stuff at youth events, speak, etc. and I always wondered what their wife might be like. Where is she? Do they have kids? I'm a little bit relational, can you tell? It has been a priority to me to be at as many events (with Abigail) as I possibly can (every one of them so far!) I want to support my husband. I want to share in the joy of hearing his gift of speaking and talent in riding. I want to be a support to the men and women, young and old who are there. I want to represent Christ.

So let's just get real for a minute. Our associate Pastor spoke on Spiritual Warfare yesterday. This could not have come at a better time. We are experiencing a battle of this in our home, our hearts and family. AMAZING things are happening. Only God can receive credit for the beauty before us of changed hearts. And at the same time, only Satan can get credit for some of the crap in our lives.

Would you pray for us? As a family (not just me + Craig + Abigail, but our siblings and parents, etc.) some pretty serious things are going down. Some things seem like they will never get better, others bring tears to our eyes at the miracle we are witnessing. Maybe shoot us an e-mail of encouragement karissa@cwtrials.com We are preparing for some pretty big things (Cwtrials- will be at Soul Fest, reaching over 10,000 people. Family- we are praying about taking the foster parenting class) and we NEED, we PLEAD with you for your support and prayers.

Check out www.cwtrials.com for more information on the mission of our ministry and to learn how you can pray and support us.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Then There Was One

Update on our little family life for you:
As of a few weeks ago sweet Nathan went back to his Mom full time. They are only 20 mins a way and he has become part of our family, so it isn't the end. Just a new chapter.

It has been an adjustment for us going from saying "our kids", or when people ask if Nathan will be coming with us somewhere, etc. It's been hard on little Abigail too. She doesn't get why her big brother isn't around, or why he isn't in their room when she wakes up.

Honestly, my heart feels like a piece is missing. Don't get me wrong, I am SO glad that his Mom is doing well enough to have him back and we have been sooo busy these past few weeks it's been a good distraction. But right now, this very moment, when my 12 month old nephew slept over and I've been caring for 2 babes today, it just seems right.

People ask us a lot if we plan on having more kids, etc. We would LOVE to have a big blended family! Our heart beat is for foster/adoption. We are just trying to figure out that balance with having a 15 month old daughter, being young and virtually no savings account, student loans to be paid off and living in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment. Don't get me wrong- these are not reasons to NOT foster or adopt right now, we just want to be patient and wise, waiting on our Lord's timing. We don't know if or when we will have more bio/ adoptive/ foster kids, but we have been preparing our hearts since before we married for this calling on our life.

Our "last weekend" with Nathan being in our home, we took care of my sister's 3 kids... 5 kids for 4 days! It was incredible! Incredibly fun, silly, loud, stinky, messy, whiny, dirty, outdoorsy, hard, exhausting, I could go on. But we loved it. Both of us. Craig AND I. God just wired us that way. And then He put us together. XOXO
Here is my fav pic from that Father's Day weekend.
 Did I mention that there was 5 kids all under 5? Ages: 5, 4 1/2, 4, 15 months, 12 months.

* As a side note- I started REDEMPTION soap 3 months ago as a way to support our friends mission work in Zimbabwe, Africa- working with the orphans, widows, prostitutes and other "forgotten" people. I also did it as a way to bring in some money to help pay off my husbands student loans ASAP then use it to help fund raise for our own overseas adoption. Go check out the website, Like it on facebook and follow it on Twitter. Spread the word, share the mission, join us in our journey. I mean, everybody does laundry? (REDEMPTION soap is an all-natural laundry powder on a mission)