Down the Tracks & Purple Lights

- Outfit #20 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty! -
When I received a large box filled with dresses to borrow from Lauren of Sparrow & Urchin, the first dress I wanted to wear was this one. It is my favorite of the bunch of them that I've posted. It is unique (check out the print up close by zoomin in on the outfit).  It even has a pretty brooch as part of it. Amazing vintage!  It's been about 16 months since I had photos at the tracks and we (Rob and I) had a picnic there with our boys. They really love trains so they seemed to have a good time even though they wished to see an actual train come by. It is really hard to get them to both look at the camera at the same time!

It is always really fun to see the unique ways that people spread awareness against human trafficking. Every day there are those who never heard of slavery existing in our world and neighborhoods. They don't want to think that there is evil right near where they live.

October will be National Domestic Violence Awareness month. This morning I read this article about how a woman in Washington state (named Victoria [Throm]!) is trying to spread awareness against domestic violence and human trafficking by having purple lights shine in her neighborhood's porches and on trees and all over the place so that people will wonder what is going on and that they will ask about the reasons behind the lights. This is the fifth year she has arranged for Purple Light Nights Campaign. It lasts for the entire month and takes places in 23 states and a couple Canadian provinces.

"It’s focused on human sex trafficking,” Throm said of the Genesis Project. "Everything will be free," Throm said, "from the purple glow sticks to refreshments."

Seattle, Washington is one of the worst places for human trafficking and ranked #6 in the world for the exploitation of young boys and girls. Genesis Project helps these victims since many of them are under the age of 18.

I want to find a purple light somewhere and hope you will join me for the month of October to help spread awareness of this growing problem in our world. Be a voice for the oppressed.

My Hurricane Irene Experience

Many of you have read before that I grew up in a flood zone in general. My parents have a river flowing on the back-side of their yard. Thankfully they have a large yard and live on the highest point in their neighborhood, so they only had water in their house once in April of 1984. . until now. 

Rob, the boys, and I live on top of a hill in our neighborhood where we've lived for the past few years. My mom stayed for about four or five days with us so that she could get to and from work during Irene (the problem is that her business area was under water so she only got there on the last day).  My dad wanted to take care of their home and the dogs, so he stuck around thinking it would be like normal for them (on their island as the houses around them flood).

It rained heavy and fast! After a day or two of rain, the waters came up more. Turns out this time we were the ones on an island - so no water surrounding our home. We had a lot of water on one side of our neighborhood a couple feet down and about a mile on the other side it was clear and then went under again. There was only one road that we could travel on which was near a food store, but the highways on both sides were underneath so we wouldn't be able to travel other than on foot.

My hometown was hit badly. The low-lands are shown in the video at the bottom. My friend who lives in that part of town had her home condemned (and thankfully they'll be able to lift the foundation and live there again but temporarily they are in a house located elsewhere).  My parents had 9 feet of water in the basement and my dad got 2 feet out in the middle of the night. The dogs had to do their business on the deck.The houses surrounding both my parents' home and our home were pretty beat up. There were homes nearby that we heard blow-up from gas leaks, one which was early in the morning (as Rob was making coffee) that sounded very odd to us, but we didn't find out until later on. We couldn't even travel over the bridge a mile down to see the conditions of the water because of the gas in the water so cops kept guard.

We were without power for only an hour, but houses a couple feet away were without power for a few days. We didn't have internet for two days, but that's okay. I had a lot of books I ended up reading that week and the weather was gorgeous when the rain stopped so we went on some walks together.

There are many homes that are ruined. My mom talked to a woman at a baby shower a couple weeks ago who is married with two young kids.  They had just bought a new home and it was condemned and they were given nothing from the government or insurance or the state for it. They're left homeless.  Many trees fell on houses since it was so windy. Many cars were completely destroyed.

My parents had to have their entire basement gutted out and they lost all the things that were in there (but that was okay. It needed to be cleaned anyway. . that's the way they viewed it and me too).  The sad part for my dad is that he's been unemployed for a while and does carpentry jobs here and there when people hire him. His new van got destroyed (someone gave him a mini-van since). All the tools that he had in the van were destroyed. That makes it hard for him to work at all now. 

Thankfully Samaritan's Purse has been around to help out many families. We had our state governor visit my hometown to talk to the citizens. Driving through that town has been dreadful. There are piles and piles of garbage/debris on the sides of all the homes (they've been picked up a bunch since, but not completely).  The president visited but I didn't hear his speech other than that he declared New Jersey and disaster area.  If you feel compelled to help out, please donate to Samaritan's Purse.

The first three photos I took. Keep in mind it wasn't too bad by me and these photos were taken near the surface, but down a bit it was very deep!! I couldn't see how it looked though. There were rescue boats coming in and National Guard helping people out. This next shot is my dad's new van that you can see had water up to the dashboard!

I leave you with this video I found that someone made on youtube of my hometown.

You'll notice some homes had water nearly covering their front doors!!

The Love in a Family

- Outfit #19 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty! -

Earlier on in this series I was sent a package of clothes to borrow from Rebecca of Singing in His Name. She let me hold this dress until it got a little cooler outside, and I finally got to wear it! Thanks so much!!

Here is my family!

My hair color is so strange to me and I really hope to dye it one shade soon (since it's three shades naturally - blonde, brown, and red . . making it look more grey which is why I first dyed it when I was 16, but it's been about a year since I dyed my hair at all)

I gave Leto a haircut but started to cut his ear!! It was such a sad and horrible feeling that I did that, but thankfully I nursed it up well and cool Spiderman band-aids made him feel much better.

 Micah has a hard time trying to look my direction when I ask him to for photos. One day he'll get it!

Reason Why I'm Doing This #19:

Make Way Partners had sent me a book called Passport Through Darkness written by their founder.  They also offered me a new free book to give away but I honestly don't know if anyone would be interested in it. If you are, I'll mail my copy to you (I finished reading it last night)!  If a few people are interested then I'll contact Make Way Partners back about the giveaway.

Kimberly Smith writes about how she first came to know about human trafficking while she was living in Europe for a few years (she's from the US). There were children from Africa imprisoned in a home being sold for sex and put into pornography streaming.  In her horror and her compassion for victims of slavery, down the line she ended up going to Sudan where there has been a war for many decades. People are sold into slavery (like live-in slave-maids,  or forced to become wives or sex slaves, etc) and brutally murdered, especially if they are Christians (which many in that country are). The persecution there is quite great and for the many decades there have been Muslims who try to force the people who live there over to their religion and if they refuse they are often tortured and killed. This is a fact of what is going on there (I am not trying to attack anyone, just stating what has been happening there for a very long time and the reason behind it).  Kimberly Smith would try to help save these people out of slavery. In her book she wrote about her struggles of feeling weak, her horrible memories witnessed there, the people she met along the way, her own battles and heartaches of suffering, and the faith she had because of it all.  Many children are left as orphans in Sudan. So many of them end up dying because of hyenas and wild dogs or they end up starving, receiving diseases, or put into slavery. She was willing to risk her life to help the people there.

One story she shared was about a woman who was forced to be a second wife to an Islamic man.  She and her few children had to work non-stop. She eventually had more children through her abuse and wanted to save them all from the terror they were enduring and because she overheard that her daughter would be used in the same way she had been.  In the middle of the night while he was away she escaped with her six children (sending the oldest off ahead before she left). After hours of traveling, her oppressor caught up with her. She hid in a bush hovering over her three children that she had with her including her daughter.  The man burned out her hiding spot (and since it is so dry there, fire spreads faster).    She lost all three of her children that she had with her and was left with burns so bad that she couldn't move her arms. With the help of her remaining children she reached Kimberly Smith who was able to get her help. She received 90% recovery and was given a home and a business. The woman felt so blessed that she would give her money to the people around her to help them and also had Bible studies in her home with the women who knew suffering just as much as she did, knowing that they could go through even more if they were found. That shows great faith.

At Make Way Partners you can read the current news of Kimberly's work on her blog, help the people in Sudan through sponsoring the orphans there, helping with education on Darfur, Sudan and human trafficking to schools and elsewhere, be a part of mission teams to help work there and in Romania (where they also are involved), help provide education to the children in Sudan, and the list goes on! There are people dying every day because of the injustices done to others. Kimberly Smith has created a big family with the love she shares with those she helps. They even call her "Mother Kimberly". That is truly real love, maybe even more than the love I show my own family, for she has led many to transformation and helped bring peace to those suffering.

Modest Fashion Features #36

I'm probably going to do an extra post this week about the floods we had in Northern NJ (and of course they were in other parts of the north-eastern side too).  I have photos from the "event".

I haven't been posting as often or on schedule with my modest features and other entries because of homeschooling my older son.  He is in Kindergarten, so there isn't a lot of time needed for his lessons, but they usually last about three hours and then I do the cleaning and I read while the boys play together, I try to catch up on blogs about 30 minutes a day (which doesn't get through too many), I spend time with the boys, I practice about an hour of ballet in my living room during their nap time and trying to catch up on watching movies during that time too.  Then I prepare dinner, hang out with my husband, and now I have youth group again (they are off during the summers) so that will take up two nights a week for me.  If you don't receive as many comments from me or see as many posts, it is because life takes up more time than the internet (which to me is good).

I am really happy it is starting to get colder outside, because that means it will be MUCH easier for me to find outfits to feature!! I had a really hard time this summer trying to find a good variety of modest outfits to post!

[Click photo for zoomed-in details]

Favorite of the week: Louise!!!

Top Left to right: Joandy, Joelle, Anna

Bottom left to right: Cat, Gayle, Kiki

If you want recognition for your modest outfits just let me know about your blog in a comment or even submit a photo here. Most of the time I pick from my random searches of bloggers or daily reads. To see the daily features and people's submissions, follow this tumblr I run. 

The Stars Have their Eyes on You

- Outfit #18 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty!

-If you'd like me to borrow your clothes to spread awareness against human trafficking and promote modesty, please E-mail me: marvelousthingsphoto@gmail.com

Here's yet another vintage dress borrowed from Lauren of Sparrow & Urchin. Okay, I know the hairstyle is overplayed in the blogging world. I always did my hair like this when it was long though and don't tend to photograph my hair like this for the blog because I like to be unique.  My hair is getting too long to do this style any longer anyway now. Maybe one day I can have it long enough to put it all around my head though.

Reason Why I'm Doing This #18:
The US is filled with sex tourism (though many times men going on business trips outside of the country or inside its borders as well all look for sex to comfort their time on the trip). To serve such men searching out sex, Pimps aka sex traffickers look for a way to make sure they get enough girls to pleasure men in that area. As an example, when there are conventions, pimps will actually take up some fresh young girls and go to that area so they can get lots of business selling them for sex. These girls might be raped-for-profit through sex acts and forced prostitution by their pimps between 10-40 times a night!

Some Law enforcers have been trying to crack down on sex tourism, such as in Cleveland, Ohio where 4 men were arrested  after nearly three years of having men buy sex from 11 year old prostitutes that they trafficked or the investigators in Florida dealing with men bringing people across borders to please the sex tourism.

Websites also attract these men. For three years I had signed petitions against craigslist for the erotic services where young girls were often sold. They have since closed that section off, but backpage is no better. It is because of backpage that a ring of sex traffickers were thankfully caught in Maine, but how many other issues aren't even being tracked through the site causing more of a problem then ever!?

During events like Super Bowls or Olympics, these places become heavily used for sex trafficking. Girls that get picked up off the street by pimps, receive conditioning and brain washing with lots of beatings involved to believe they are only of use if they get their pimps money and they become faithful slaves to their masters.  Thankfully there are more places being built as safe-homes for these victims such as in Texas.

"We have tracked more than 50 instances, in 22 states over three years, of charges filed against those trafficking or attempting to traffic minors on backpage.com. These are only the stories that made it into the news; many more instances likely exist. These cases often involve runaways ensnared by adults seeking to make money by sexually exploiting them. In some cases, minors are pictured in advertisements. In others, adults are pictured but minors are substituted at the ‘point of sale’ in a grossly illegal transaction.” -read more here

I could post link upon link of news for you but there will probably be more to post soon anyway.

Before the Rains Came Flooding In

- Outfit #17 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty!

-If you'd like me to borrow your clothes to spread awareness against human trafficking and promote modesty, please E-mail me: marvelousthingsphoto@gmail.com

Here's another vintage dress borrowed from Lauren of Sparrow & Urchin. Because of Hurricane Irene (which is when I took these photos), I didn't stay outside too long. The trees were blowing around like crazy and a branch fell nearby, so I was outside long enough to get just a few photos. I was more concerned about having trees fall on me than getting the photos taken. I know I am really behind in my blog entries and have been a bit out of it regarding my blog, but I will update you all on what happened during the hurricane and floods here in Northern NJ soon. It was bad, so I'll leave it at that for now. I admit I'm rushing this entry out because I haven't had time to really work on it, and I'm already a day late in posting my outfit entries this week. I apologize!

Dress borrowed from Lauren | Orchid hairclip & anchor necklace from Lila-Jo | Shoes from Modcloth

the wind was blowing my hair around. Sometimes it went in my face.

Reason why I'm doing this #17:
A few times I've talked about the sexual exploitation in women and girls from various places and the slavery involved regarding their circumstances (You'll hear much more about this still to come as well). I want to talk to you about Wellspring Living located in Atlanta. 

A couple years ago I found out that Atlanta, GA is one of the top 3 cities in the country for sex trafficking and one of the top 13 in the world where Every day between 200 to 300 children and teens are on the streets, being sold for sex. 90% of runaway girls become a part of the sex industry (It happens usually within the first 48 hours of them being "missing". . so pray for those girls you see on the missing lists in papers and more. . because they're more than likely on the streets). 1 of every 4 girls in general become sexually abused (maybe one of you reading this has a history of it even), and this can lead some of them to run away so they won't be abused any longer, only to end up picked up by someone who forces them into the sex trade to be abused over and over again until there is no fight left in them, causing them to work the streets around the country for as many years as possible until they are numb and know of no other way than to continue in it.  Wellspring Living provides safe homes for these girls who get rescued or do their best to run away from "the life" in hopes that they won't get killed when caught running there. They provide recovery therapy and education for victims of abuse and for sexually exploited and trafficked girls.  

My sons playing in a puddle

Movie Suggestion Post #51

Movie Ratings are on a scale of 1-5. Anything rated over 3 stars and is in bold, is totally worth seeing! - I rate pretty harshly.



The Inn of Sixth Happiness 1958 (w/ Ingrid Bergman) - 3.25 stars - I had this sitting in my Instant Play que for probably a year (it's 157 minutes long!) and decided to finally see it. I really didn't have any idea what it was about at first. A woman named Gladys Aylward (true story) decided to go to China on her own to become a missionary (after she was told she wasn't qualified for the job many times).  We learn about what life might have been like for her as she first arrived and the challenges she faced while standing firm in her faith to face down fear as a lone single woman in China. It was very interesting and engaging. However, I found out that the real Gladys Aylward in which is was based off of did not appreciate the way they did this movie. I therefore plan on reading about her life in a book soon. content: violence (but nothing truly shown, but you know what is going on), kissing
[screenshot captured by me]

Life as We Know It 2010 (w/ Katherine Heigl, Josh Duhamel, Josh Lucas) - 3 stars - A single guy who just likes getting some action from women and a single girl just trying to do her friend a favor are going to go on a date set up by their best friends. They are complete opposites but somehow they both become God-parents to their friends' child Sophie. However due to certain circumstances, they have to raise the child up now together.  This was a sad and funny movie. content: people in bed/on a couch together indicating there has been sex outside of marriage, language, talk about penises, kissing, drunkenness, people high on marijuana (it is seen in a plastic bag, but not shown being smoked)

Welcome to the Rileys 2010 (w/ James Gandolfini, Kristen Stewart, Melissa Leo) - 2.5 stars - I would rate this higher but it was too boring at times and the content brought my rating down. It is about a marriage that seems to be falling apart because of tragedy. When the husband goes on a business trip to New Orleans, he comes across a teen runaway who is stripping and prostituting to survive. He wants to reach out to her. Now the reason why I watched this is because it is such a true story of what happens to many girls who are trafficked. Although this girl's character seems to be the one in control, in reality, girls this young are usually always watched like hawks by pimps (their traffickers).  It was pretty realistic to what I've come to know about it though otherwise (which is always so tragic). content: an affair (people shown in bed), lots of language, talk about vaginas and penises, girl wearing hardly anything (they put tape on her nipples since she was playing a stripping teenager), You see a girl throughout the movie in her underwear and showing her bum's cheeks, girl in bra, etc. . (no nudity shown), bruises and cuts shown to indicate abuse.

Alabama Moon 2009 (w/ John Goodman, Jimmy Bennett, Clint Howard) - 2.25 stars - A young boy is orphaned and was pretty much raised in the woods living off the land. He is sent to a boys' home but doesn't plan on staying very long.  Maybe he'll make some friends along the way! This was a pretty sad movie. It had some nice points, but goodness it wasn't what I expected. content: people dying, seeing a broken leg (looks nasty), some language, people chasing people and talk about shooting people and animals.

The Long, Hot Summer 1958 (w/ Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles) - 3.5 stars - There were some times where I felt a little lost and confused about the storyline for some reason, but really it is about a man who was rumoured to have burned many barns. He arrived at a new town to make a living and notices that the big-man to see for work has his name plastered about the buildings. His arrival starts to change a lot of people (or open them up a bit) and drama is sure to come about! There is a bit of a romantic tale in this as well (and of course we know that there is a real-life marriage that occurred between Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, and this was their first film together. aw). I loved some of the monologues in this! Thanks to Mandi's review of this that inspired me to see it (got the screenshot from her since it's not on instant play anymore like when I had seen the movie last week). content: woman in a slip/lingerie teasing her husband as he chases her about a room, some drinking and smoking, attempts to kill or attack people, bickering, people wanting to control people, kissing, talk about exploring sexually (without actually saying it).

Priest 2011 (w/ Paul Bettany, Karl Urban, Cam Cigandet, Maggie Q, Stephen Moyer) - 2.25 stars - This is based off of a Japanese Manga that I never read about vampires destroying many people and that the only ones who can defeat or stand up to them in order to protect the people from harm are the Priests.  They aren't just your normal priests though, they know how to shoot and do martial arts in the name of God. It was a bit interesting and had some good action, definitely some great steampunk clothing. However, it seemed to be a bit dull in the storyline at times. It wasn't bad, but I think sometimes it was too cheesy! content: violence (shooting, stabbing, lots of gore), fighting, language

Ride the Wild Surf  1964 (w/ Fabian, Barbara Eden, Shelly Fabares, Don Taylor) - 2.25 stars - It was all about finding someone on the beach to fall in love with and guys wanting to make a living surfing waves and winning competitions.  It had it's bad storyline sometimes but I like beach movies haha. content: women in bikinis, people dancing, kissing, people getting hurt surfing

Rio 2011 (w/ voices of Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Tracy Morgan, Rodrigo Santoro, George Lopez) - 2.5 stars - My sons seemed to like it. It was about trying to mate the last two blue macaw birds since they were endangered. It was a little strange to me at times with why they would make this a kids movie and actually rate it G. content: throughout the film they are in Rio, Brazil where women are wearing hardly anything, actual joking of birds looking as if they are mating with each other (while making sexual sounds and actions). . .yeah, I won't be letting my kids see that one again. Thankfully that stuff went over their heads.

Just Do It!

- Outfit #16 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty!

-If you'd like me to borrow your clothes to spread awareness against human trafficking and promote modesty, please E-mail me: marvelousthingsphoto@gmail.com

I am really so happy that Jenni of Pixie in Pumps sent me this lovely sailor/nautical styled vintage dress. I think I might have been a little tall for it, but it was still so sweet!! Thanks again!!
Since I was a child, especially back when it was popular, people have asked many times if I crimp my hair. I used to straighten my hair or tried to smooth out the waves, but I like my waves now. I used to always love paintings like The Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse wishing I had hair like that. . and well, I think my hair is nicer now that I've grown up (I'm vain. sorry). This post isn't about hair though, it's about shoes (so I am barefoot in this set).

[not easy to hold a remote and click towards the camera while trying to go on releve' while in a develope')

Reason why I'm doing this #16:Over the years I've kept up to date about the issues of many popular brands like Nike. A few years ago I saw newslinks and newscasts about the conditions and treatment of people around the world who make Nike products. Many of you may have knowledge about Radiohead's music video specifically targeting such an issue.
A few years ago I did watch these. It is great that when things are exposed and we can take action, change can happen. Nike hasn't completely changed but slowly have made improvements. I hope you will watch all nearly 8 minutes of this video!

In Fields with Maids

- Outfit #15 to stand up against modern-day slavery/human trafficking & promote modesty!

-If you'd like me to borrow your clothes to spread awareness against human trafficking and promote modesty, please E-mail me: marvelousthingsphoto@gmail.com

What a splendidly fun vintage dress borrowed from Lauren of Sparrow & Urchin. Seriously, the cut-outs are really unique in this! Thanks again Lauren! I thought she'd like my Princess Leia hairstyle with it since she is a Star Wars fan like me and loves hairstyles too. These photos are some of my favorites and really make me think of freedom.

Reason why I'm doing this #15:

Over the years I've read so many news accounts and books and articles about live-in maids who are mistreated so highly and made as slaves (many beaten, starved, always having their passports taken from them, raped, made prisoners in the homes they are "hired" to clean, etc)! Even a week ago there was this article about a woman from Africa who was offered a job and sent to live in a $3.1 Million dollar home in British Colombia making $200 a month, only to receive nothing when she got there and ordered to clean up after the woman who owned the house for 22 hours a day to make up for the money used to buy her. Neighbors started to take note of the woman and how she lived out of a cotton dress and sandals.  The trafficker is being charged currently.


Also from last month there was this account of a woman rescued who was from Madagascar and forced to be a maid in Lebanon for 15 years with no way of escape. She was originally told she would receive $800 a month as a nurse. When she got there she worked constantly day and night with little to no sleep receiving only $160 a month but she had to pay back the woman who owned the house to pay for her food which was only a quarter of a loaf of bread and some bits of fruit every day. The 80-something other women freed from their maid slavery were often drugged so they could continue to work each day for long periods of time. Former slave-maid women who were found dead had organs missing (like eyes plucked and replaced by doll eyes!!). 


I have many stories I could share like these but it would be too large of a post to share them all, so I thought including the recent ones with links would be good.  This is severely common in our world. Women who come from poverty stricken environments are afraid for their family's survival. They apply for jobs and taken in by false companies who promise them good pay in other countries. They end up having no way of contacting their family or a way to get home. They are "house broken" many times by the slave-owners so that they fear that their children might be killed if they try to escape, or they fear they will be killed as well, and sometimes it happens.