Homes Of Hope

This weekend a team from Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Los Angeles, myself, and hundreds from around the world came to Ensenada and Tijuana to build 25 houses to celebrate Homes of Hope's 25th anniversary. My team built a house in Ensenada for a single mother named Leonarda, her baby boy Kevin and her cousin Valentina. They were living in a 6 x10 tent. It was built with wooden sticks, a tarp and rocks lining the edges to hold the tarp down in the wind. They had a squatty-potty built outside of their tent that was four poles making a little square, that was wrapped with saran wrap for privacy. They also don't have a shower, these women said they stand on the side of their tent and wash themselves down with water they collected from the rain. Valentina took me inside their little shack and it left me speechless, I just couldn't believe they were living in place like this. Inside they had a pile of old carpet and clothes piled on one another and that is where they slept and ate if they had food. To be honest I think it was worse than the living conditions I saw in Kenya, which is really hard to believe because I had no idea this kind of poverty is just a 3 hour drive from LA. This type of poverty is literally right there the second you cross the boarder.

During the past three days I heard testimony after testimony of people who've lost their babies to exposure because the family had little to no shelter. I heard of a fathers getting bit by an animal leaving them unable to work, so many kids being robbed of their childhood, mothers being raped, families not being able to sleep because of the cold and rain. All of this because they don't have the safety of a house. But there were so many people who shared about Homes of Hope building them a house years and years ago and how their lives have completely changed! This was something I learned in Africa when I was working in the children's cancer ward, and God was reminding me of this again this weekend, and that is that He uses people from all over the world to answer other peoples prayers. He uses other people to bring a little piece of heaven to others just when they need it. My heart is so full of joy that I have the privilege to serve others around the globe and be the feet that brings hope and share God's goodness and love.

"I will always thank the Lord; I will never stop praising him. I will praise him for what he has done: may all who are oppressed listen and be glad! Proclaim with me the Lord's greatness; let us praise his name together! I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me; he freed me from all my fears. The oppressed look to him and are glad; they will never be disappointed. The helpless call to him, and he answers; he saves them from all their troubles." -Psalm 34:1-6

xx

The Crew

This was the little shack that the family was living in

Praying before we build

The first wall we put up

I had to post this because I look identical to my dad with that tool belt and shades!! HAHA

The Pacheco Familiá receiving their new home!

Surround yourself with people you want to be like <3

The crew praying for people as we wait in line to cross back over to America

Vintage + Studs

Summer is right around the corner! Here in LA it's already 95 degrees during the day, so it already feels like summer. And summer weather means it's shorts season! As I've talked about in my last post I've found most of my wardrobe at thrift stores. As usual I can never bring myself to pay full price for something I could find cheaper or could make myself. Below are a pair of Levi cut offs I made myself and you could too!

What You'll Need:
Patience
A pair of mom jeans
Fabric scissors
Studs
Pliers
Washing machine + dryer

The How To:
1. Shop the racks of mom jeans at a thrift store, find your size and try them on and make sure that they fit your waist and bum.

2. When you go home put the pants on and mark with a pencil a little longer than where you want the length to hit on your leg. (Will explain in #5)

3. Cut the pants using fabric scissors along the lines you've marked. 

4. If you choose to stud the pocket you can purchase a bag of studs online for under $10! Putting the studs in is really easy and you can place them in any design you want, be creative! You will also need pliers to lock the backs of the studs. Buy studs here!

5. Wash your shorts and tumble dry! This will fray the bottoms and because of the fray it will shorten the length of the shorts. 

6. Rock your shorts and pair them with a vintage tee and jean jacket!

xx

All articles of clothing are vintage and were found thrifting // Perfume is from Urban Outfitters Pistachio Bruleé and it smells amazing!

You can also add fun pins to a jean jacket for extra flare

The Hunter

I follow a lot of fashion bloggers on Instagram and I love all the cool clothes they have! But what I don't love is that literally everything they wear costs way more than I'm willing to spend. I will only drop a pretty penny if I haven't found what I'm looking for in a thrift store or it's a staple piece. I guess it is cool you can replicate the exact outfit these bloggers are wearing (if you're into that sort of thing) but you can almost always find things in thrift stores similar to what you would find brand new. Sometimes what you come across is even cooler because it is vintage and no one else will have it! Almost everything in my closet is from thrifting and I get bazillion of compliments all the time, it takes lot's of practice and patients to hunt in thrift stores…and lots of allergy medicine if you're allergic to dust bunnies like me, but it's worth it when you find little gems and you spend less than $20.

Be inspired and have fun thrifting my friends! 

xx

Photography // Sarah Grunder Photography
Hat// Forever 21 but I got the western silver band with turquoise I got off another hat I found thrifting
Virgo Necklace// Urban Outfitters
Shirt// H&M
Pants// Acne Studios…that I also found thrifting
Booties// Thrifting…duh! And they were brand new!