Semi-Annual Noonday Collection Sample Sale!

This post is for you beautiful ladies! My semi-annual Noonday Collection Sample Sale is officially open. I am selling some of my FAVORITE Noonday treasures at a discounted price. These beauties are about to sell through and be gone forever, so get them while you can! I'll highlight a few of my favorites here, and then you can click the link at the bottom to be taken to the actual sale.

Happy shopping!!

 Del Mar Necklace 

Made in Ecuador 

Perfect pops of color for spring! 

Retail: $78 

Your price: $58

 Luxe Horn Necklace 

Made in Vietnam 

Hand carved and polished water buffalo horn

Beautiful statement necklace that goes with everything you own. 

Retail: $58 

Your price: $42

 Threaded Charm Necklace 

Made in India 

Patina finish on the brass discs and chain

Retail: $52 

Your price: $39

 Arched Arrows Earrings 

Made in Peru 

Gold plated 

It breaks my heart to be letting these beauties go. 

Retail: $60
Your price: $42

 Moondrop Earrings 

Made in India

Perfect for a night on the town

Retail: $38 

Your price: $26 

 Onyx Infinity Earrings 

Made in India 

Sterling silver and green onyx 

I ADORE these. 

Retail: $120 

Your price: $88

 Antiques Cuff 

Made in India 

This beauty comes from our first ever winter capsule collection! 

Retail: $48 

Your price: $36

 Decadent Deco Cuff 

Made in Vietnam

This might be the most perfect bracelet in all the land. 

Beautifully hand carved from water buffalo horn

Retail: $48 

Your price: $34

 La Noche, Midnight 

Made in Guatemala 

Hand-faceted black beads give an edgy spin to our classic La Noche design. 

Retail: $42 

Your price: $32

Film Noir Clutch 

I LOVE THIS BAG! 

Made in India by a group of adults with special needs 

VHS and cassette tape film woven together and finished with a gorgeous trim

Retail: $78

Your price: $56

That is just a sneak peek of all the pieces that are available to you through my sample sale. Just click the link below to get to the sale itself, shop to your heart's content and email me with your selections. These treasures usually go pretty fast, so go and get your shop on! 

TAKE ME TO THE SAMPLE SALE!

SHINE 2015!

This is the week! This is the week! I am leaving for Austin to spend four days with some of my favorite people… Noonday Ambassadors!

Our annual conference, dubbed "Shine" this year, has finally arrived, and I CANNOT WAIT! We are kicking the week off with a Rwanda reunion, and then I get to spend lots and lots of time with my adoption soul sister, Amy, and about 300 other Ambassadors from all around the country.

Eeeeeeek!

These women, oh, these women. They are women who long to see the world change and then do something about it. They fight poverty, slavery and violence. They promote women's rights, adoption and maintaining the family unit. They advocate for justice both here and around the world. They sacrifice, encourage and work HARD.

And I am so honored to be counted among them.

I wish you could see the kind of community that has been forged among these ladies, most of whom have never actually met in person. They pour into each other and lift one another up. They offer advice and counsel, encouragement and love. And they do it without judgment. They share some deep and hard things, both to look for help and to offer it.

Last year, I wrote about my experience in Rwanda with 24 of these fascinating and awe-inspiring women. It was unlike ANYTHING I had ever experienced in my life. And now I get to meet even more of these women, get to know them and their stories. I am PUMPED!

I have always wanted to lead an extraordinary life, and I am so thankful to have this group of women o challenge me and spur me onward toward what God has for me. They give me courage.

Bring it on Austin, we are ready to SHINE in 2015!

Love,
Baylor

P.S. Odds are, I will be BLOWING UP my Instagram feed starting Wednesday night. Feel free to check out what this awesome community is like. @baylorknott Or you can follow our hashtag: #noondayshine2015

Rwanda in Photos: Day 2

Day two in Rwanda was a tough one. We started out at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial. I am working on a separate post about that, but it is slow going, as it is next to impossible to explain what we saw there.

 The Nyamata Memorial is a church. In 1994, an estimated 10, 000 Rwandans came here seeking shelter and protection from the Interhamwe. They believed that they would be safe here, because no one believed that people would commit murder inside a church. Sadly, there were almost no survivors. 

 Nyamata is a peaceful and beautiful place. It has stood, undisturbed, since the horrifying acts of 1994. Once inside the outer gates, you are to keep as quiet as possible, and inside the actual church, there is not talking at all. 

Photography is not permitted within the church, itself. 

 Behind the church, there is, what our guide called, a crypt. It lies beneath the white tiled memorials you see in this photograph. 

We went inside, and what I saw I will probably never be able to describe to you. Shelves and shelves, all the way to the ceiling, lined with human remains. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. 

 Still, there is now a sense of peace that fills the courtyard. 

And it is beautiful place. 

 The back of the church, where you can still see marks in the bricks from the rebel soldiers trying to get inside. 

Stained glass windows that have been broken out. 

This morning was one of the hardest of my life. The massive loss of life, the terror these innocent people must have felt. To think that human beings would do this to one another. It's something I hope I never understand. 

 The beauty of this day came in the restoration we saw first-hand after we left the memorial. We traveled to Bugasera, a community where Africa New Life has a Christian school and community outreach. Seeing these beautiful children in school, learning how to read and write and hearing of the love of Christ right on the heels of our visit to Nyamata was completely overwhelming. I was able to see, with my own eyes, God's restoration at work. He is using the faithful workers of Africa New Life to raise up a generation of Rwandans who live and preach love, not hatred and violence. 

It was an honor to meet these sweet children. 

 To talk with them. 

 To watch them play. 

 To try to play with them. 

(I am not very good at hopscotch/rock soccer!)

To watch them be silly and just be kids. 

 To serve them lunch. 

 And to help clean up when they were finished. 

One of my favorite (and most nerve-wracking) moments is right here. 

I was given the opportunity to share my testimony with these precious children. Given the chance to tell them of Christ's redeeming work in my own life. It had been too long since I had shared my testimony in front of a group (and it was my first time to do so through a translator), and it was so, so, so good. 

And this right here. 

I have no idea why we are laughing. Probably something I mistakenly said. 

But I love this moment. This man and I, we do not know each other. But we both know Jesus, and he helped me share my story with a room full of sweet faces. 

 And then as we were leaving, they called the entire school together to pray. 

And this young man, Isa, got up and prayed in front of the whole school. 

I had been talking to him earlier and did not realize that he was such a strong young man and leader. 

Hearing him pray in Kinyarwandan was absolutely beautiful. 

And as we were leaving, God caught my eye with this little reminder. 

Love, 

Baylor 

P.S. If you missed the first photo entry, just click HERE to get to it. 

Unfailing Love

I love a good adoption conference. Time with women who just totally get it. Women who don't give you crazy eyes for sitting on the floor of a hotel hallway, crying. Women who just hug you because you look like you need it. Women who know what it is like to wait…and wait…and wait.

And I am so excited that in TWO weeks I am getting to go to Unfailing Love right here in Birmingham! I went last year with my doll of a mother-in-law, and this year I am going with my dear, dear friend and fellow adoptive mom, Laura Catherine!

And…

I have a Noonday Collection table for the weekend!

I am so excited to meet over 100 beautiful adoptive and foster moms. To hear their hearts and share mine, too. And I am SO excited to share Noonday with them and show how Noonday can be part of their adoption stories by helping to bring their babies home!

So here's the skinny, you sweet adoptive mommas.

Come stop by my table at the retreat and see all of the Noonday treasures. Shop around and try on some lovelies. You can place an order right then and there. If you do, your name will go into the hat, and at the end of the retreat, I will draw and a name out of the hat and that pretty lady will be the recipient of the rewards for the weekend. That means you will get a gift card to shop online any time you desire. OR, if you are home study approved for your adoption, Noonday will donate that same percentage toward your adoption instead!

Adoption is the heartbeat of Noonday Collection. We actually came into existence BECAUSE of adoption, and the first ever Noonday trunk show was an adoption fundraiser.

And you can have a fundraiser for your adoption, too! All you have to do is partner up with me (if you are here in Birmingham) or your local Ambassador (if you are outside the Birmingham area) to have a trunk show. All of your lovely friends can come and shop with Noonday Collection, and then a percent of your show's total will be donated DIRECTLY toward YOUR adoption! How awesome is that? Please stop by to say hello. I can't wait to meet you.

So I hope to see you in two weeks. I hope to hug you and hear all about what God is doing in your life through the powerful work of adoption.

Ohhhh, and there will be some Noonday door prizes being given away throughout the weekend, so hang in there when it gets late!

Love to each and every one of you!
Baylor

Rwanda in Photos: Day 1

So I know what you have been thinking.

WHERE ARE ALL OF HER PICTURES FROM RWANDA? SHOW ME THE GOOD STUFF, ALREADY!

Well, I have good news for you. Over the next few days, I am going to work on organizing all of my photos into separate posts by days. My hope is that this will give you a little taste of what my amazing week in the Land of a Thousand Hills was really like.

So, here we go.

Sunrise on our first morning.
I'll be honest. I woke up not knowing what to expect. And I was definitely not prepared to be swept away by the tidal wave of love that followed. 

 Noonday Collection's founder, Jessica Honegger, with all of our Rwandan seamstresses sharing with us how Noonday started in Rwanda. It is a beautiful story that wraps adoption, economic opportunity and female empowerment into one. 

 She shared with us that she sat in a room with these women three years ago, promising them jobs without knowing whether she could actually deliver. 

And now, three years later, these women all have dignified jobs, they have homes and their children are in school. 

 We gave them  picture of all of the Ambassadors from last year's conference for them to keep in their studio as a reminder that we are on the other side of the world working hard to sell their beautiful pieces. 

 And to reaffirm the Noonday sisterhood, we brought them some gifts from their sister artisans in India. 

And then we had a chance to hear from Charlotte, the co-op president, as she shared what Noonday means for her and how her life has transformed since linking arms with Noonday Collection.
Important side note: Charlotte had her baby while we were in Rwanda!!
A baby girl named Jessica Honegger. 

 Then we were able to go inside the sewing studio, and these blessed women tried to teach us how to sew. They are the most patient of teachers. 

 Our artisans do ALL of their sewing on foot pedal sewing machines. 

Yowza. 

 So Lindsey and I got paired with Charlotte.
You know, the president of the whole co-op. 

Poor Charlotte. 

I won't speak for Lindsey, but I am a terrible seamstress! As in, totally hopeless. 

 I paid really close attention. 

                                     

 But, as you can see, I was not feeling too confident.

 But Charlotte, eternal blessings upon here, was a very patient and thorough teacher, and I loved every minute of learning from her. Watching her explain and teach something that is obviously so near to her heart (and something she has SUCH a talent for) was an incredible experience for me. These women are real. Their lives are real. Their stories are real. Their talent is REAL. And I get to be the one to share that with my little world over here? Are you crazy? This is my JOB? I am honored to work WITH these women. Honored to call them my sisters and my friends.

So after MANY false starts and Charlotte have to jump several times to prevent me from totally breaking her sewing machine,

I eventually, kinda, sorta got the hang of it. 

I am being very generous with myself in saying that. 

 Love this sweet woman!
And now I have a whole new appreciate for what she and all of our Rwandan artisans do for us every single day.

Serapia at her station. 

Talk about a woman who gives good hugs! 

 Grace and Solange (see her in our new fall look book!) helping Emily and Leslie learn how to sew on the foot pedal machines. 

 Beautiful ladies taking a break from trying to teach us. 

Apparently. we are exhausting students. Ha! 

The sewing studio from outside. 

The name of our Rwanda co-op is Umucyo (ooh-moo-cho). 

The name means "Light" in Kinyarwandan. 

And these beautiful women are full of light. 

 So then we were off to the fabric market! 

Talk about being overwhelmed. 

Beautiful market fabrics hanging all over the place. 

 So many to choose from! 

 Oh, and I don't speak Kinyarwandan, so this was all done with pointing. 

My final selections. 

All of these were taken back to Umucyo, where our artisans were going to create some gorgeous new treasures for us. 

Skirts and dresses and make up bags and aprons, oh my! 

Getting measured for my skirt! 

My first ever custom piece of clothing. 

And I LOVE knowing that it was crafted by these precious women. 

If you want to read my impressions about day one in Rwanda, just click HERE. I wrote about it that night when we got back to the Africa New Life guest house. This day stands as one of the the very best in my whole life. 

"If you pour yourself out for the hungry
    and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
    and your gloom be as the noonday."

Isaiah 58:10

Love, 

Baylor