I need way more than 800 words to do this thing justice, but I’m setting limits for myself tonight, folks. Limits.

A couple weeks ago I blogged about my new favorite t-shirt and shared five reasons why you need to buy one. And I meant it. No one asked me/paid me to say any of it. I didn’t even get a free t-shirt (and you know what a tightwad I am).

It’s just that cool–the look, the feel, the cause, all of it. Go order one. I’ll wait. (If you ordered one–and I know a bunch of you did–leave a comment telling everyone how glad you are that you did.)

So I blogged about the t-shirt, went out of town, and came back to messages from all kinds of awesome people. The Director of Operations of As Our Own, some people connected with “She Has A Name,” the guy who owns the company that designed the t-shirts.

That t-shirt guy’s name is Kevin, and check this out. He saw on Facebook that we Prayer Doulas were trying to raise enough money to sponsor a week at Harbor House in Haiti. He’s been to Haiti. He loves Haiti. And he gives 10%+ of his t-shirt proceeds to kingdom causes and had a chunk of change he was asking God where to unload.

“How much do you still need?” he asked me. “$186,” I said. “Done,” he said.

Are you stinking kidding me?

A week later, he was eating tacos at our kitchen table. (Tacos are pretty much the only homemade meal you’ll get if you eat dinner at our house. Gabe is ready for something new.) Kevin and his beautiful wife and baby girl had just moved from Columbus to Indy a few days before, and they were back for a couple days (Alyssa has to finish up a dance class she teaches).

His story is amazing and will need its own post someday (after I get his permission). He went to school to be a teacher and God has led him down an entirely different path (same as me). He told us it was a blessing to be able to share his crazy journey-story with believers, because if you don’t believe in God, you’re really not going to understand why in the heck he has done/is doing 95% of what he does. It makes no sense on paper.

We briefly shared our Zoo Quest with him and set his heart at ease. We know crazy. We (well, I, anyway) thrive on it.

Long story short, God crossed our paths in HIS perfect way. We didn’t do a blessed thing. After he left, I just shook my head the rest of the night (and envisioned all the t-shirts I want him to make for us–Cambodia, Prayer Doulas, Love C-bus, De-Clutterers Unite!). God. Is. So. Awesome.

One thing he said threw me for a loop. He mentioned a gal named Karen, and I said, “Yes! She messaged me and thanked me for writing a post about the t-shirts. So, how do you know her?”

“She’s my mother-in-law.”

Um, what? See, Karen and I had become friends on Facebook, and this girl is gorgeous and amazing, and there’s NO WAY she’s a day over 40. “Your WHAT?!”

His mother-in-law. True story. Kevin is maybe 25. His wife is a few years younger. Her mama was young when she had her. Karen is 6 years my senior, drop-dead gorgeous, and a grandma.

And I had lunch with her today.

Talk about a STORY. That’s yet another blog post. She’s got a testimony to beat the band, and she and her family are living a crazy, Jesus-centered, love-your-neighbor-and-reach-out-to-the-world kind of life.

And she’s the one who started the whole She Has A Name thing. She has a heart for those trapped in human trafficking and is doing something about it. She’s the kind of woman you might be tempted to hate because she’s so pretty and amazing. BUT she’s so stinking nice and so real about her struggles with depression and her past and all kinds of other stuff, and you just can’t help but fall in love with her.

And she’s an emotional roller coaster with a level-headed husband like yours truly. Nice.

I forgot to bring Nina something to do while we were at Panera, so she lasted over 90 minutes with a pen and a couple pieces of paper before she had a meltdown. I can’t wait to chat more with Karen, because there’s so much I still want to know. I found out at the last minute that she homeschools. More brain-picking coming up…

Almost at my word count, so 2 things:

1. If you bought a t-shirt, give it some shout-out love.

2. What t-shirts (designs, slogans) should we do to raise money for stuff?

800 words on the NOSE, baby! SWEET!