Kickin' It Off!

Ta-da!!!


Ok, your brain probably didn't jump out of your skull but this is the first outfit. I've been looking forever for a way to wear that shirt! I really like the pattern but I feel it's kinda too busy all out there on its own. So the dress was a good way to mute the crazy. :)


Sorta makes ya wanna donate, don't it?


I baby sat my nephew, Easton, for a couple hours this afternoon and I think he approves of the dress. He indicated his approval by repeatedly trying to put the hem in his mouth, which, everyone knows is the infant version of a thumbs up. 


And as I got to hold Easton and play with him I felt more and more strongly about what I am doing. "Every child should have this," I thought. Every kid should know that they matter deeply. Everyone should get to know that God loves them. 


I am very grateful for all of my nephews and for the AMAZING parents that they have been blessed with. 


 Word on the street is, adoption in our communicant's particular orphanages may be opened to other countries in the near future. This is currently not allowed. So please please please keep it in your thoughts and prayers.


Love,


--Lindsey 

The Day before THE Day

I am so excited!


Today is the day before THE day that I begin wearing this dress. For the whole year. 


Little things seem to keep lining up for this project to work. Until more of these things become certain, I shall have to remain vague and mysterious. ;) But I can't wait to show everyone my very first outfit with this thing. 

In other news in the life of me, my little sister headed back to Lincoln today. She came home for Nick's birthday party this weekend. It's always fun when she comes home but it is super sad to see her leave because, we are way more than sisters. We are BFFs.


Yeah, that's right, I just used that acronym. Welcome back, 1999. 


So, I have the usual deflated feeling that I always get when she leaves, and the Lea-shaped space in my heart is empty once again. :( BUT I am bolstered up with this wonderful mission and the fact that life as usual for me tends to be pretty good. 


Not much else to say for today except to remind y'all that tomorrow is the big day!!! Don't forget! Come back and see!


Stay tuned,


--Lindsey 

Wow, what a day! And, I guess, technically it is now already the next day. We had a fun little birthday party with my side of the family (the FIRST party in our new home).  If I had been thinking, I would've taken some pictures. I'll need to keep my camera more handy these days. 


I frosted Nick's cake with his own likeness, depicting him with some slight muscular exaggerations (a.k.a. I made him look like a body builder.) On each bicep there was a number. 2. 3. because, of course, that is his age. But, because of it's close proximity to the arm pit area Nick said it looked like I'd given him blue underarm hair. Yeah, the numbers were in blue frosting. It was a lot of fun though, and people got a good laugh out of the cake. My sister-in-law, Autumn, who owns a bakery, had also brought a cake. But she was kind enough not to flaunt its Martha Stuart-ish beauty in front of my cake, which would have probably given it low self-esteem. So thanks, Autumn. :D 


Despite his best efforts, my husband enjoyed his birthday and I couldn't be happier about it. I shall rest easy for another year. 


Now it is time for some much anticipated sleep. I don't have any new updates from the orphanages but I did make some changes on the blog page. I'm really excited that it keeps improving every day. Keep the feedback coming! Now please remember to say your prayers tonight and to keep the LBDP in mind. :) 


"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers." Ephesians 1:16


Sweet Dreams,


--Lindsey

Updated

Hello, all! 


So, there was some confusion about how to donate and what not and scatter brained me forgot to post my email address! Ugh. So, now, to simplify things, I have set up a donate button with Paypal. This way, it takes all the headache out for the donors. Also, I have included my email address off to the side, underneath the About the Little Black Dress Mission text. If anybody has any questions or concerns, feel free to send me a message there. Thank you to the people who provided this useful feedback, and sorry for the confusion. :(


Now, I have another update from our secret friend about one of the orphanages in Central Asia. Please take the time to read this. 



Another day at the baby orphanage... another piece of my heart left behind. If I keep this up, pretty soon I'm not going to have any of my heart left!

I wish I had actual pictures to share with you. Sadly, we are  strictly forbidden to take photographs of the children. How I long for you to see their darling faces! How I yearn to open your eyes to what we see there.

I tried very earnestly to chat and converse with the local orphanage workers today. We want them to feel  appreciated in their work. We are only allowed to come twice a week, but these ladies are the ones who really "mother" the children day in and day out. We want them to feel special. When a woman is pampered, she often treats her family better in return. We want that same effect to ripple through this orphanage. The love and respect we show them will hopefully cause them to treat the children with deeper love and care. I was happy to be the "translator" for the day, flitting to and fro helping so-and-so talk to so-and-so. It was an honor to help bridge the communication gap between us volunteers and the workers. Their eyes brighten whenever we speak their language. It's as if all of a sudden we are no longer strangers. We are friends.

The little baby I talked about in a previous post? I thought he was a boy. But I was wrong. "He" is a she. They often shave the little babies' heads in orphanages, so it's difficult to determine the genders. I gently scooped up my baby love and cuddled her in my lap as we looked at books and toys. I was told she was found on the street.

On. The. Street.

Can you even  imagine?

When it was time to feed the children, we line them all up on benches side by side and put their little bibs on. We can only feed one child at a time (there are way more children then workers), so the children waiting for their turn sit patiently with wide eyes, watching every spoonful the child next to them is getting. One little girl waited so long that she was the very last one to be fed. She is my own daughter's age. Her eyes are big and brown, her hair cut in a short bob, and her smile like the sun. She didn't make  one peep waiting for her turn. As I fed her, my eyes welled up with tears wishing I could be the one to sing her to sleep every night.

All the children sleep in white cribs with white blankets and white pillows in a white room. No sweet kisses or lingering hugs at naptime, just quick placement into their cribs. There are so many babies and so much work to be done, how could the workers gently lullaby each child to sleep individually? It's not possible. They have to clean up lunch, wash the clothes, and everything else in between.

If you can, for just one moment, imagine your child, or your nephew, or your grandchild. Now imagine them as if  they were in this orphanage. Does that break your heart? Every single child in this orphanage is special, worthy of love and care. They are not just another number or statistic. Each one holds a special place in my heart, but more importantly, in Father's heart.

I wish I could post some actual photographs of the children. But instead, I found some pictures online of baby orphanages around the world that are very similar to this one. Sometimes we need something visual to stimulate our minds and help us grasp a concept.

Will you take a few moments to pray? For the children, for the workers, for us. Oh how we need it.

And then ask yourself, "What can I do to help?"

Let Father speak to you as you listen, and don't be afraid of His answer.


Remember, I start wearing the dress on Monday, January 30th.  Please, keep praying for these kids and for me, if you think of it. Pray for our communicant and for awareness, compassion, and generosity to flow through people. 


God bless,


--Lindsey 

The Founder of the Idea

So, yesterday I promised I would look and see if I could find anything about the lady who first started this idea. I was not disappointed. It came up right away in the google search when I typed "wear the same dress for a year". I didn't bother to find the actual article I read because this woman has a whole website set up that I think is even better. Here is the link if you wanna check it out. 


http://theuniformproject.com/#!about


I was totally unaware of this site! But it is really cool. Who knew a good cause could be so fashion forward? 

So that was my inspiration. I hope she doesn't mind that I kind of stole her idea. But I don't think she would. After all, it's for the children. 


"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." --John 14:18


Stay tuned,


--Lindsey

Ah, what a busy day! Nick, my husband, turns 23 tomorrow and I've been flying around like a crazy woman trying to get everything perfect. Nick hates his birthday,  and up until a few years ago his family had a long standing tradition of ruining it. 


But I LOVE his birthday!!! 


It's the day he was BORN!!! 


And it has been one of my greatest joys since we've been together to spoil him rotten every chance I get. (i.e. major holidays, anniversaries, BIRTHDAYS...)
He accepts this treatment because I make him.


And he's the best.


I'm sure everybody thinks that about the person they love, but it really really really is true about him. :D


Okay, I won't make you read anymore of that mushy stuff. Now I am going to talk about on topic subjects.


So today I get a text message from a dear friend of mine who was so pumped about the whole little black dress idea. She had heard of it too. I can't take credit for this. It has been done before. I read it in some magazine a few years back. However, I can't even remember which magazine BUT I am going to do some google searching and see if I can't find the article, or at least something about the girl who first tried this idea. (It worked great for her, btw). 


But yes, this friend of mine was very excited and wants to be involved in some way and when I got her message I just felt so incredibly blessed to have friends that have their hearts so bent towards Christ. She probably doesn't know it but her enthusiasm was very encouraging. 


Because this whole idea sounds a little strange, and all the while I'm wondering if I can really pull it off. 


But I know that this would not rest so heavily on my heart for no reason. And all of God's greatest ideas sounded really odd at first too, to the people He told them to. So I am taking comfort in knowing that I am in great company. 


Also, this was supposed to go with the photos on my first post, with the pictures of the children but I forgot to post it for some reason. It's just a little info our communicant wrote about the images.  


Disabilities orphanage

This orphanage is a home for disabled children. At the moment there are 126 children who are between the age of 5-18. Some of them are severely handicapped without the ability to move, speak, see and hear. Some children have minor problems but are living there because the parents are not able or willing to take care of them at home. The condition of the orphanage has improved over the years but there are still a lot of things which need to be done.

Yep, well that's about it for now. If you haven't seen the pictures, go check them out on my very first post. 

Keep Reading!

  --Lindsey

The Dress

So, I know some of you were curious as to what dress I would be wearing and today is the big reveal! (drum roll, please.) :D Yes, I think this is a very cute dress, and it was on sale at Target for like, $12.00, I think. It is the kind of dress that is easy to dress up or down, depending on the occasion. I hope I love it as much as I think I do, because it's going to be my second skin this year! 


But in more important news, our communicant has written about working in one of the orphanages. Here is the story....




"I volunteered at the baby orphanage today.

My heart is shattered into a million pieces yet once again.

Those children just melt my heart like nothing else on this earth. I want to pick them all up and take them home with me. I want to give them love, nurturing, mothering, stability. I want them all to have a home to call their own. I want them all to wake up in the morning knowing they have a mommy and daddy to take care of them. I want them all to know they are deeply loved and wanted.

The precious angels who stole my heart today will forever be etched in my mind. One little toddler girl had a cleft palate worse than I've ever seen before. Her lip formed into her nose and her teeth grew upwards with the lip, so that they were almost vertical. She had the sweetest smile and the drool that spilled out of her adorable mouth just made me giggle. One little boy had no left arm or left ear, but that didn't get him down. He grabbed for toys and stood his ground when other children tried to take them.  

Now comes the baby.

Sigh.

After we fed the children, we had to help change their clothes and put them to sleep for nap time. One little boy who was about 7 months old or so caught my eye. I picked him up and cradled him in my arms and kissed his little head. He smiled with wide eyes every time I looked down at him and I could feel my heart breaking within me. The local workers asked me to help put him in his crib, and I was delighted to gently place him down to sleep (usually they take the children from us and we can't go inside where the cribs are). He looked up at me with "those eyes"- you know the kind. The kind that scream, "Love me, please!" I just kept telling him how much Father loves him and then I had to walk out the door. Oh my goodness don't even get me started. I'm going to become a huge puddle of tears when this post is over. I can hardly think or speak for the first few hours after I arrive home from the orphanage. I am absolutely positively ruined.

Supposedly adoption will be opening up in this country in a few months. Would you join me in prayer that this can become a reality? "

JAMES 1:27

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." 

Well. I don't think I have anything else to say except to beg for your prayers more than anything else on this situation. 

Stay tuned,

  --Lindsey.

Let the countdown begin!

My name is Lindsey Tabor. A week from today I will be wearing a dress. I will not take off this dress for a full year. Three hundred and sixty five days.


 Why am I doing this?


I'm glad you asked. 
It's a fundraiser. A dress-o-thon, if you will. 


The cause?

These are images captured at an orphanage in Central Asia. For safety reasons it's important we don't say more specifically about where, or about who took the pictures. The political climate is very unstable. Orphanages in this part of the world are not anything like the orphanages in the U.S., or, I'm sure, any more stabilized country. These facilities are poor and badly understaffed. Neglect and sometimes hunger are a part of every day life for these kids. They hardly ever receive affection or interaction from adults. What you see in the images above are children getting something that is far to sparse in their lives--love. 


It is hard, however, to meet people's emotional needs if their physical ones aren't met. Money sent directly to these countries for the orphanages rarely trickles down to its intended recipients. Corrupt officials have a way of siphoning it off here and there until there's nothing left. This is where our secret communicant comes in to help us out. 


If you would like to make a donation please email me and I will tell you where to send it and who to make your checks out to, etc. You don't need to send it to me. Once again, for safety reasons, I can't openly post the mailing address, but I will be happy to give it to you in a private email. 


Keep dropping in to read the blog! Updates on the orphanages and our communicant's experiences there will be here, as well as pictures of the dress, and my daily life in uniform. :)


"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:26-27


Thanks for reading.
  --Lindsey