TOGETHER: a Labor of Love

Pamoja 3 Strand Necklace
(Together in Swahili)
$24

TOGETHER.  Depending upon our life experiences this word has the potential to stir up many different thoughts, emotions & beliefs. 

The meaning of this word for me has sojourned the distance from here to Africa...half way around the planet. Along the dusty path of this journey this word "together" has not just changed but has become of far greater worth to me. It is deeply planted into my heart. It has become a huge part of what our family stands for.  

Let me tell you, show you, a bit about the journey.

TOGETHER our family began traveling to Africa.

yr: 2007

We began to discover the very essence of ...

TOGETHER

Soon the word TOGETHER in it's rawest form

spanned the globe.

(my daughter Maddy in 2008)

5 years later, 5 journeys later, and TOGETHER has grown roots even deeper into our hearts then we could have imagined. Together now represents:

LOVE   Compassion      FAITH    Hope

     STRENGTH      Family

ALL PEOPLE

This year, while we were in Arusha, Tanzania, one of our dear friends shared her beautiful handmade jewelry with us. She carefully handcrafted every single bead with precision. This in itself is a labor of love. It takes a substantial amount of time to create one single bead - let alone the amount it takes to have enough made for one necklace. 

You would think with the amount of hours she has spent meticulously laboring to create each bead  she would want a sound return on her investment. She made... she should profit - right? That would be the way here in the States. Yet this precious woman breaks the sales revenue down into percentages for different people she does life TOGETHER with: a Children Home (orphans), HIV Support Group, Maasai Women. She stops herself from just handing out money like band aids by getting everyone that benefits  to contribute something... TOGETHER all are invested. It is BRILLIANT!!! It is beautiful. It is a wonderful example of doing life TOGETHER.

Jacinta - white head wrap, purple top.

Here is this beautiful woman working side by side with the Maasai. This was taken 4-5 years ago. She has been consistently working with the Maasai to help empower the women by teaching them trades and providing opportunities for them to sell their goods.  She is constantly creating more & more TOGETHER. One minute with this precious lady and you can feel instantly you are now walking TOGETHER through life with her from that moment on. 

Can you see it? Just within this post there are SO MANY levels of TOGETHER! It doesn't end here either. It continues. We all make a decision individually to be a part of TOGETHER. I hope you seek out your TOGETHER and truly value it deep within. EMBRACE it.

I have many of the items that have been made by the Maasai women and other women in Arusha, Tanzania in my etsy store. If you would like to help support them TOGETHER with me you can purchase one of their pieces. They are B E A U T I F U L ! 

                  Baraka (Blessings),

     Kimber

De-cluttering for 2012 = Timeless

Now this isn't something that I handcrafted. It is a watch that I purchased years ago. It never fit me quite right though, so it sat in my jewelry box...abandoned & lonely. Being the ebay seller I am and re-evaluating EVERYTHING we have in our home, I decided this little treasure needed a place to feel loved & cherished. So to ebay it went.

I had checked into completed listings to see about what they were going for, and I was a bit disappointed but thought..."Hey - I am not wearing it anyway, something is better than nothing." So I listed it as an auction item. Little did I know there would be a bidding war starting on it two days prior to the end of the auction. This raises the sales price obviously. It was so fun to watch. My dear hub and I had a fun time watching it go up and up. At the end it sold for 2-1/2 times what I had started it at. Zippity-doo-dah!

Why do I post this you may all ask? Well - cleaning house, de-cluttering, and organizing for the New Year may just help you be more prosperous as well. With ebay, etsy, and Craigslist you have a lot of options to sell your unused items...and come out ahead yourself. 

I can make a couple of suggestions to help you decide where is the best fit to sell your goods based on my experience: 

• Etsy is the place to sell vintage wares (decor, kitchen, jewelry and apparel mainly) & all things handcrafted. It is a fun, artistic, creative group that admires all things beautiful. Vintage really moves here.  Everything is a fixed sales price (no auction option) so if you don't know the value you may want to try ebay first. 
• Craigslist is great for LARGE items that are heavy for shipping - or things that you know will go better locally. 
• Ebay is for everything else... items too recent to be considered vintage or don't have an etsy category. Ebay is also great for some vintage & antique, designer clothing, bags, brand name housewares, and man stuff. Yeah - I said MAN STUFF. What I mean by that is equipment, manuals, tools, sporting goods, etc. I realize that is generalizing and possibly offensive to some. In my life these fall under the HUBBY category though. Ebay also has auction option or fixed price (buy it now). It costs more to list as an auction item but as you can see with my watch sometimes it is well worth it. The bonus on my watch was I listed this item with a free listing promotion ebay put on for three days. SCORE! 

Well I hope this inspires you to start de-cluttering, re-evaluting and organizing your home. There are so many incentives to start, I hope one of them gets you going!