A month or two ago my sweet friend Brandi invited me to have lunch with an incredible group of women here in Colorado called, Ladies Who Lead.

As I sat at lunch hearing their mission and stories, I thought "I should not have been invited, what am I even doing here?! This is so cool."

I mean these women are legit. They're all passionate, Jesus loving women who are doing major world changing things.

Things like founding their own organizations in empowering the marginalized and formerly enslaved (check out Beautiful & Beloved's shop) and working in Uganda empowering women (especially single mamas and widows) to reach long-term sustainability for their families (Beauty for Ashes Uganda), and a dozen other things.

You know who I also met??

This girl.

Courtney Skiera-Vaughn...the visionary behind a.k.a. HOPE and ChariTea.

Shortly after getting married, she and her husband Chris traveled to Uganda serving the less fortunate. The life-changing experience helped open their eyes to how they could help and decided to partner together to found both organizations.

Their hearts beat deeply with the aim in assisting a specific group of children in the Naguru slums on the outskirts of Kampala. Mostly orphaned and many displaced as refugees, they have been driven from their homes and largely forgotten by the Ugandan government and foreign aid-workers.

These kids have fought to survive civil wars with terrorists, genocide, death, and trafficking, as well as the tough life living on the streets and in the slums. Their mission is to help provide security, meals, education, love, and hope of a better life for them.

There is so much about Courtney that I adore...her mission, vision, her passion.

And knew I had to work with her.

After a few texting conversations about some fun events I have up my sleeve, sweet, {{ sweet }} Chris brought by a crazy generous sampling of the tea that Courtney had sent him over with.

We tried it for the first time at June's Evening to Nourish.

We poured several varieties and ohmygosh...each one is phenomenal.

And gorgeous. I mean, this spiced hibiscus one is PINK!

Smelling this Jasmine Rose tea totally reminds me of all the Blooming Night Jasmine growing in our garden when I lived in California as a little girl.

Isn't it fun how scents just take you back?

I'm saving all these others for Imani's birthday party next month.

Because she wants to have a Tea Party birthday party.

I can't wait to show you all I've collected for it!

We did decide to have a little tea party today though while I took all these pictures.

We just couldn't resist.

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With so many varieties of tea to choose from, not to mention all the health benefits, it's time to take tea to a new level.  Tea is the perfect beverage to take on adventures whether that be a weekend camping trip, a bike-riding excursion, a day surfing, or even to the library for a late night cram session.

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You have an activity?  We have a tea for that.  Show us where you take your tea with #teaontop.

 

Tea has been around for 4000 years, but we believe now is the time tea can help change the world. And you can be a part of that! 100% of the proceedsfrom your purchase goes to a.k.a. HOPE Inc.  Check out Our Cause to read more about how your purchase directly affects children across the world.