Purchasing with Purpose x2

If you've been following me for some time, then you already know about my love and admiration for Noonday Collection.  The idea that I can purchase amazing jewelry that I absolutely adore, knowing that my purchase it is literally changing lives of families on the other side of the world is incredible.  If you don't know much about Noonday and how they came about, I encourage you to go check it out here.  You will be blessed.

(This pic was taken last weekend on my trip with my besties.  We love Noonday y'all. Wish all of this was mine. Or that they lived close enough we could raid each other's collection on a regular basis. )

But the best blessing is that they allow you to host a trunk show to help support the wonderful_scary_expensive_amazing_journey for families who are adopting. Which means instead of receiving hostesses rewards, they will give your credit, in cash, to an adoptive family!!  So awesome.  Well, when our schedules worked out and I finally had a chance to host one (my awesome ambassador Emily is driving FIVE HOURS to come make this happen!),  I knew exactly whose adoption I wanted to support.

Years ago (as in 18 years ago), when Nick and I first moved to Meridian because of the Navy, we didn't know the Lord in a personal relationship yet.  But He began to work in our hearts and we ended up at an incredible church called Northcrest. It was there that Jesus interrupted our lives and rocked our worlds in the best kind of way.  He saved us and called Nick into ministry and our lives have never been the same!

The people of Northcrest will always have a special place in our hearts because it was there that the Lord grew us so much as He was preparing us for ministry.  And there was this adorable teenager that had a smile as big as Texas.  Her name was Jamie and I loved her and her momma from the get go.  Well, she has grown up now. She and her husband serve wholeheartedly there at Northcrest and I've been so blessed keeping up with how the Lord is working in their lives.  They have recently answered the call of adoption for their family and I am beyond excited for what the Lord is doing in their lives!   This child the Lord has created just for them has no idea what kind of fierce love he or she is about to experience.  I can't wait to watch it all unfold.  I asked Jamie if she would share a little of their story with me so I could share it with y'all.

After you read it, if you would like to be a part of bringing their baby home, you can shop the Noonday trunk show I will be hosting for her.  I will have the link at the end of the post!

J.D. and Jamie’s Adoption Story!

This is the first time I’ve written our adoption story. I’ve journaled a little here and there in order to remember the basics, but to be honest, this is the first time I’ve had the guts to sit down and look at the story as a whole. Adoption can intimidating, scary, beautiful, heart-breaking, fulfilling, lonely and lovely all at the same time. I suppose there are a lot of things in life that are that way. Thank you for caring enough about our little story to read this. In that way, you’ve made this less lonely, and I really appreciate that. Here goes!


The day I turned thirty, I begged the Lord for some direction. I had married the most wonderful man several years prior. I had a great job. I belonged to a life-giving church. I had wonderful friends. But
I lacked direction. I always thought by the time I turned thirty I would have a couple of little Ainsworth babes and a clear cut direction from the Lord. But I was listless, and kind of wandering. J.D. and I have a fantastic marriage, but the topic of children was a hard one for us. We were wading through are-we-or-aren’t-we ready territory. 

I can distinctly remember praying whole-heartedly. ”Lord, I just want to be yours, all in. Please give me a direction. A call. I want to answer you, whatever you want for my life, I want to do it.” It was a really simple prayer, but it was true. I look back at it now and almost laugh because I had NO IDEA what God was about to do in my life, J.D.’s life, and our marriage.

Don’t pray prayers you don’t mean. God will rock your world!  While praying that prayer, I waited to see what God what do. The desire to be wherever the Lord wanted me was starting to grow more and more, but I knew He’d show me what He wanted of me when the time was right. Then my friend Kaitlyn mentioned to me that she would be leading a group of people from my church to work in an orphanage in the Philippines.

It was like I woke up from a dream. I knew this was it. Yes, the Philippines is half way around the world. Scary! I don’t even like airplanes! But who cares?! I wasn’t missing it after I had begged for it! Convincing J.D. was a little harder, but ultimately he drove our team to Atlanta and put us on an airplane and there we went. 

The orphans, the street children, the beautiful people. I can’t explain how my heart felt when I first laid eyes on little Mikey, who was kept in isolation due to sickness. Or watched my teammate, Micah, pour his clean water into the mouths of street children like they were little baby birds. Or when I was allowed the honor of praying over a newborn baby. The list goes on and on. And every day, J.D. and I Skyped and he saw my face and surroundings, he heard my heart in my voice. I told him about the babies and the people. Being half way around the world from the love of my life was so hard. But so necessary for what God was doing in us as a family. 

When it was time to say goodbye to the Philippines and our orphanage babes, I was crushed. Will they find families for them? What will happen to them? What happens when they age out? Will I ever see them a!gain? Truly, I felt like my heart was being torn.  We arrived home on a Friday night, and I believe it was Sunday when J.D. said to me, “How do we get one of these kids? This is what God wants for us.” At least I’m pretty sure that’s what he said because I was screaming and jumping up and down inside. While I was in the Philippines, God had been working on his heart about orphans as well, and after praying together, we both knew this was IT. This was the way the Lord wanted us to start our family. I want to take this moment to be clear about something. This is our first choice. It’s possible that we could have biological children, but we KNOW that adoption is the call on our family, and we want to obey. Once that was clear to us, I wanted to SING! I wanted to tell EVERYONE! Was this sort of like pregnancy? It was going to be a long one.

That was mid-January. It was May before we had the money to start. Adoption is expensive, y’all. But let me tell you. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God was expensive too, but did He shy away from paying the price? No way. We know that God will never call us to do something He won’t provide for, and so far every single time we have needed to make a payment, He has provided. We have seen miracles where the money for this adoption is concerned. He has used people and avenues that we will be in awe of forever....just another part of the intricate and beautiful story. 
So...we prayed and called many agencies and finally we chose Christian Adoption Services, located in North Carolina. Our social worker, Jenica, has been very kind and helpful. She has helped us complete our dossier and send it to the Philippines. We also had to have a contract home study done by Lifeline Children’s Services. Our social worker there is Mrs. Vicki, and she’s wonderful! We joke and say that she is family, because she literally knows more about us than our family. There are so very many things you have to do to adopt a child....and every bit is absolutely worth it. A few of those things are: many home visits, psychological evals, health evals, adoption classes with testing, books to read, many sets of fingerprints, every question you can think of about every part of your finances/marriage/childhood/family, background checks, and your middle school best friend’s name. (Just kidding about that last one, I think.) Currently, we have completed our dossier and it is in the Philippines. We have no idea how long it will be before we get a referral. It could be a long time. 

There have been moments on this journey that my heart has soared, and there have been moments that my heart has broken. J.D. has been a rock and I’ve been really thankful that God put me with him. I can’t say enough about his gentle spirit. All this waiting can be really hard on a future mama’s heart, and there have been times I’ve been pretty stressed out. Basically, adoption is a big ole unknown, like most things in life. But, I KNOW that the Lord has set us on this path. He has already answered my prayers. We LOVE Him. And we TRUST Him.

Oh my goodness!  Isn't it wonderful and inspiring to see people step out in faith and trust God?  I am so honored to have a small part in helping build their faith in how God is providing for their adoption every step of the way!  Even through something such as jewelry and fashion!  God is so creative!

If you are local to the Meridian area and would like to join me on Saturday, Oct 11th for the trunk show, please email me (honeyholden25@gmail.com) or send me and message on Facebook and I'll give you all of the details.  Jamie will be just getting home from her mission trip to the Philippines so I can only imagine how special this time will be!

If you aren't local but would like to purchase something to help support Jamie and J.D.'s adoption just click here and then choose HOLDEN for the trunk show and they will get the credit.  It is such a great way to get a little Christmas shopping done while you are purchasing with purpose times two! Such a blessing.  Please make your purchases by next Saturday so that they will get the credit.

I'm praying that God does exceedingly above all that I could ever think or ask for on behalf of the Ainsworth family!  He is able!

Ephesians 3:20

Thank y'all so much!  Y'all are the best.