New Kiva Loans!!!

So, I'm not getting around to posting Mommyhood Monday because I"m so thrilled about this post!  I couldn't wait to post it.

Seriously... this makes me SO happy!

Not only has Better Life Bags raised enough in one week alone to give a Kiva loan to someone, but enough of our loan recipients have paid back their loans that we were able to reloan more money to someone else!

If you're new to Better Life Bags and the Blog, check out this post to see what we're all about.

Here are the two newest recipients of Better Life Bag loans:

Sura Ali from South Sudan

How beautiful is she?!

She is currently in the business of selling charcoal and groundnut paste (peanut butter).  The money from your Better Life Bag purchases are going to help her stock more groundnuts to make paste to sell.

Sura is 40 years old and is widowed. She has six children and her children do not go to school. With the extra profits from her loan, she hopes to be able to build a store for charcoal.

And then:
Maria Del Carmen from Bolivia

She is selling bags!!!  I had to loan to her... you understand, right?  A fellow bag maker!

 María del Carmen is married and has young, school-age children. Her main activity is selling sacks (large bags to carry different products). She has regular customers who place orders at the Farmer’s Market as much as in other markets. Her husband is a taxi driver, and he helps her deliver the orders. She has been in this business for five years. She lives in her own house.
She is going to use the money from the loan to buy merchandise to have a variety of products.

And THIS makes me even more happy...

One of my customers, Nikki Rhode, has loaned her second loan with Kiva under the Better Life Bags Team!
Here is the lovely Teolith Pinedo Ramirex from Peru.

Did you know that you can join the Better Life Bag Kiva Team?  And loan your own money to anyone you want!  It warms my heart to see my customers lending, too!

I Heart Faces Photo Contest - Angles

I know you have all seen this photo before, but I thought it'd be a great first entry for this Photo Contest over at I Heart Faces.

The theme is angles and it fit right up my alley because I don't think I ever shoot my camera without tilting it or getting up high or down low.

I love how this shows the book title straight on, but Little Bug is tilted.  And of course, his face just melts my heart.

I'll be back later today for a "Mommyhood Monday" post... let's just say it has something to do with poop.  :)

Photography Blogs

I received this in the mail yesterday.

  

Isn't she beautiful?!  My brother, Tyler, decided to give her to me as a birthday present.  It previously belonged to him.  When he heard my desire for a DSLR camera, he decided to surprise me and send me his for my birthday!

Here are some of the shots I've gotten with it already.

Good news: I have a very cute subject.

Bad news: I have no idea what I'm doing!  

I took about a million shots just to get these few!

So, I went asking around to find out some blogs and tutorials that would help me figure out my camera.

Here's what I was given.

I Heart Faces

A Mom and a Camera 

The Adventures of an American Mum

If you are at all into photography, go check them out!  They have awesome skills and awesome tutorials for people new to DSLR cameras (I don't even know what DSLR stands for)!  

Thanks to Lisa from ElleBows for sending me their links!


What I really wanted one of these cameras for is to achieve the focused subject and blurry background image.  Like this from The Adventures of an American Mum:

Turns out I might need a new lens to achieve that.  Good thing I got some birthday money!

And as if I weren't the luckiest sister to have such an awesome brother, my OTHER brother bought me this to go along with my new camera!

 Oh Amy Butler Fabric... how I love you!
Camera strap found at this etsy shop!

So, there you have it.  LOTS of "Found it Fridays" to check out and keep you busy this weekend!

See you back here on Monday!

(hopefully with lots of pictures I took this weekend)