Stunted Growth...

Well, Mamas, it seems that it is harder to make connections and get interviews than I was expecting and this blog has fallen off.  I am not going to delete it yet, but I will not be posting here until or unless I have a list of interviews with mamas to give it a jump start once more. Thank you for reading and if you would like to read my writing, I can be found at The Letter Drawer where I write about faith, motherhood, grace and my path through the missionary life in Costa Rica.
Many thanks!
Caroline

Envibum Mama, Rachel!

When I was pregnant with my daughter and decided to look into cloth diapering I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of options and all the new terminology.  "What is the difference between a doubler and an insert... an AIO (all-in-one) and an AI2 (all-in-two)... a pocket and a fitted... and a pocket fitted!?"  In the midst of researching the answers to all these questions, I came across Envibum cloth diapers.  I was immediately attracted to the beautiful soft-looking minky outter and a one-size diaper without a snap-down rise (which sometimes causes bunching and bulkiness).

I decided to look into Envibum diapers a little more closely and I discovered that for every diaper they sell a $2 proceed goes to a charity!  Ok, so I liked this company even more for that.  Now they have many color options and each has a corresponding charity to which they give.  When I asked Rachel how they chose the charities they work with she said, "It's kind of funny because each one kind of picked itself in that at the same time that we were discussing a color a charity would pop up with the same color scheme!" I think it is so important to give not just out of our abundance but sacrificially as well and it makes me proud to see a small company prioritize in this way.


Envibums are made in the USA and they believe in using unbleached cotton which is the closest to being healthy and natural as possible while still being practical. It is important to them that they strive to make it easy and practical to cloth diaper your child.  I can appreciate that so much!  I eventually got my hands on one of these great diapers and I was immediately in love with the cuteness factor on my little daughter's bum!  I have never had a leak with it, never had the stinkies, love the custom fit I get and it leaves no red marks whatsoever on my baby girls skin!  This is a great diaper.  

So, who is this woman behind the adorable fluffy dipes?  Rachel's official title is Head Master Chief Executive Officer.  A little tongue-in-cheek, I was told, but also a very accurate description of the work and responsibility she takes on as she runs her company.  She works six days a week, some more than others but always more than a full day's work, however she adores that she gets to do it from home so that she can be with her kids.  I asked her about being a mom and she said, "I have 4 wonderful children; two girls and two boys.  My favorite thing about being a mom is the fact that I have an opportunity help 4 lives make their own story in life." Another thing I am always curious about (because it shows us a little glimpse of the things a parent values most in life) is what they would choose to be the ONE thing their kids learn from them and integrate into their lives.  Rachel told me, "I would hope that they would carry with them the love of learning and creating.  I just know that as long as they keep learning and keep creating they're going to be happy people."


Envibum says that it is A Christ Based Company... and that isn't just a matter of semantics.  Rachel will be the first to tell you if you ask her why she does what she does, "Well, God asked me to start Envibum and I've never got permission from God to stop!"  Something I like to ask fellow disciples of Christ is what He's been teaching them and this is where we get personal with Rachel.  Here's what she said (and I love it): 
   "To surrender expectations, surrender what I thought I had planned, and it feels in some ways like a bankruptness to have everything unbuild... to have the realization that everything you expect out of life-- none of it was necessarily from God... the incredible realization that He gets to change it at any time! 
   "I think that we're always thinking that you get a return from everything, as if we have this entitlement to a return on our relationships, time and energy and sometimes God decides to change the story, so you just surrender.  
   "This brings to mind my favorite quote, which is actually from the movie EverAfter.  Danielle in a beautiful gown of yards of fabric says 'I am just a servant in a nice dress' that is my favorite quote because it's so true."

When signing off, Rachel said, "We'd just like you all to rest assured that we are real live moms with piles of laundry and dishes to do so we've simplified cloth diapering and we really take simplicity and practical usage to heart.  I would also love to help encourage other moms to start businesses that are on their heart.   Envibum has never had investors or debt and we started envibum with $70 and a vision, which shows you that anybody can do what God has called them to do."

Thank you, Rachel, for chatting with us but I'm even more grateful for your work and dedication to what God has called you to do.  I think that you are making a difference with the work of your hands and the investment of your life... you are most definitely a mom who matters!

Rockin' Green Mama, Kim Webb!

Cloth diapers can be tricky.  I have come to love them and have found them to actually be way easier than I ever imagined.  Not to mention they are just about the cutest thing since puppies!  However, when I started to have stink issues they temporarily stopped being quite so cute and I decided it was time to do a little research.  That is when I found Rockin' Green.  I follow a number of mama blogs and almost all of them had reviewed and raved about Rockin' Green detergent so I decided to give it a try and tagged it onto an order we were making from Amazon... boy was that the right decision!  Since then I have come to love this deteregent and we use it on all our laundry wash now, not just cloth diapers.  In fact, it's most impressive performance in my household was given the night my son fell out of bed.  He split his lip badly and after our trip to the emergency room for a gluing of the wound I took his dried bloody jammies and stuck 'em in a wash tub with about 2 1/2 tablespoons of Rockin' Green for a few hours while we all got some sleep.  When I pulled them out, you would never have known they'd been covered in dried-on blood.  I have since used it on pen marks, grass stains, grease, even to clean my toilet once when it was really really bad!

This exemplary product was created by one mama who simply had a problem and was determined to solve it.  Her name is Kim Webb and she is the CEO of Rockin' Green, LLC.  She came across a problem when she began cloth diapering her sons... she says, "Everything broke them out in horrible rashes, and did a poor job of cleaning.  So I set out to create a laundry detergent that would be gentle on the skin, but tough on stains and funk."

So she set out on a mission and is still pursuing it today!  When asked about her job she says, "I spend my days doing product development and marketing.  I am usually the person chatting with customers on Facebook or planning our next big contest or promotion."  As a down to earth mama who invites kids and dogs into the company offices she has a great respect for all mothers and specifically those who do it alone or while a loved one is deployed calling that the "definition of strength!"  When asked where the name came from she laughed and said she wished there was a good story there but it just sort of came to them one night and was a really easy fit for the different formulas of Hard Rock and Soft Rock that they knew they wanted to make (and now Classic Rock... not to mention the new Funk Rock)!

I want you to know that this product is awesome but I want you also to know that the mama behind it is awesome, so I asked her a few personal questions.  Her greatest passion in life is her family (she has two boys a 5 yr. old and a 2 1/2 yr. old) and it sounds like they keep her laughing!  If there was one thing she could impress upon her sons that they would integrate completely into their lives she said it would be to follow their hearts.  "Weather that means doing a job that you love regardless of the pay or the status, or just treating and dealing with people in a way that you know in your heart is genuine."  And finally, I couldn't help myself, I had to ask...
"Which is your personal favorite scent?"
"Smashing Watermelons, Yum!"

Kim Webb is committing her life and work to making the world a greener place by providing us with a laundry detergent that is good for the earth, gentle on skin, smells suuuuper yummy but leaves no residue coating the fibers, and gets even the poopiest diapers clean!  She is a Mama Who Matters and I would like to encourage you to stand behind her and support this company!

Ready, Set, Go!

Hello Dear Mamas!  

I wanted to put together this blog as a resource for those who want to use their own god-given resources to support other mamas who's passion is to make a real difference!  We all know that motherhood is not an easy job in and of itself and making the best environment we are able to for our own family is always a priority.  I hope that this site will help you to do that as well as promote and honor those mamas that are going an extra mile to provide for, or invest in, others and the world around them!

I am currently working on compiling a stack of interviews and stories about some of my favorite mamas and their products or work to share here with all of you.  If you have any suggestions of exemplary mamas who are working to make the world a better place with a product or by investing their lives in a public way, please let me know and I would love to look into them (or YOU if you fit that description)!  I am always looking for new mamas to support.  

So, get ready to meet some AWESOME mamas and discover how their lives might touch yours!