{for comparison, taken on my trusty point-and-shoot…see the camera strap?}
{purse}
I cannot get enough of these coloorrrrrrrrrssssssss. Super love. Also love the many, many compliments wearing this color gets me from boyfriend.Check yes. I’m just wondering how long I can manage to stay on this path of wonderfulness.
I now own a Canon Rebel T2i camera, and it is truly humbling me. I feel like it’s this huge gift and responsibility I’ve been entrusted with… I have no idea how to best do that. There’s a deep desire within me to be a good steward of this camera. To use it well, for good, to be generous and loving with how I use this gift. But first, I need to learn how to use it.
Well, actually, the strap was nekkie. So to procrastinate learning how to properly work my camera, I decided to make it pretty instead. That is just so me, isn’t it? Doing the least-necessary pretty little thing first. It’s my life M.O. Guess I need to learn how to make dishes and laundry pretty. Then maybe I’ll do them (apartment is a major disaster zone after being sick all week).
Also note: if your name is Stephanie and you’re my sister-in-law, a version of this might be coming your way for Christmas. Just sayin’. Only yours will be better because it won’t be the first one I’ve made 😛
Update: Post edited because I still have a cold and I was up early and apparently can’t function properly. Sheesh.
Gooooooooooooood Monday morning, dears! I hope you’re having a wonderful start to the week. All this sunshine (and time with the boy) has put me in a fantastic mood, and I am so ready for all of the good things I am expecting May to hold. It’s going to be a busy month, but it’s one of my favorites and I am hoping that it will be blessed.
It’s springtime. It’s almost wonderful summer….and it seems so romantic, doesn’t it? The miracle of spring just fills my heart to overflowing with a longing for love.
I have a confession to make: I want to fall in love. I need to fall in love. Better, deeper, for real. God calls me to His love. He calls to me, He whispers to me…He longs to be closer to me. And God’s love for us, His relationship with us, is all mirrored on a small scale in our human relationships.
So let me be honest for a minute. Let me be real: My boyfriend and I haven’t said “I love you” yet. It’s been 9 months, but we’ve made a conscious decision not to say it until…well, until we are ready to abide by all that loving someone means. The Bible has a pretty sobering description of love:
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. ~1 Corin. 13
Yep. Sobering. And I wonder…how can you say to someone, “l love you” unless it involves constantly striving to encompass all of those things? To do so would be to defraud the love of God! God is the only one who can love that perfectly. But the problem still remains for us here on Earth: we are descendents of Adam & Eve. Sinful from the get-go. Having to overcome impatience, meanness, envy, boasting, pride, selfishness, record-keeping, delighting in evil….and the list goes on. Darnet, I thought loving someone was supposed to be easy! 😛
How can I fall in earthly love, until I’ve fallen in Heavenly love? I can’t know how to love the way God intends until I’ve fully immersed myself in His love. So yes, I want to fall in love. I need to fall in love. Better, deeper, for real. To abandon my heart to the God of Love. To the only One who gets it perfect…who gets it right, who will never abandon me. I need to be secure enough in that love, because people I love in this life will disappoint me. Even more so, I will disappoint them. But to love God more and more perfectly (only through His grace) will make me more thoroughly aware of how well I am living in love here on Earth.
And that, my dear friends, is what it’s all about. And it’s so much easier said than done.
Apparently I’m a kill joy. I totally look like I’m about to steal your joy, right? Well, that’s what the boy said when he bought fireworks and I gave him lots of “don’t play with fire” advice.
ANYway, awesome belt-tying skillz brought to you by Sydney. Gotta give the girl credit!
Ok, so this outfit has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Royal Wedding. But the Wedding is tomorrow and I’m excited.
WAIT!!!!!!!!!!! I just realized this outfit does have something to do with the wedding! Hunter Wellies are the wellies of the Queen of England…so says the royal seal on the inside!
Anyway, on that note, I think it’s time I go to bed. See you in the morning, Queen Mother, Prince William, and Kate! Can’t wait to see that gown!
P.S. –> The tornado devastation in the Southern states is heartbreaking. Prayers!
Ok, so I’m obviously way late to the game with this one, but I just realized Bethany Dillon (who was one of my favorites back when I was 15) wed Shane Bernard of Shane & Shane a couple years back. How did I not know this?!
And then I stumbled across this wedding video of theirs, and it is just seriously the sweetest and happiest thing and it made me tear up (I’m such a mush pie). And if you already knew this, just reminisce, remark on how darn cute it is, and then laugh at how I just realized this.
Update: They also have a kid. I’m super-way behind.
{we’re going to dub this the Easter blouse and see how many years in a row I can wear it, haha}
Easter really does make me SUPER happy 😀 Jesus, pretty outfits, my favorite colors, chocolate, and a froufy Easter basket: I’m so there. {Psssst….can you imagine my boyfriend buying this Easter basket where he WORKS? Awwww. He must really like me :-P)
I really love Easter. Reaaaaalllllllllllllly love it.
And I love the fact that my boyfriend gave me an Easter basket that is fit for a six-year-old. And I am totally as excited about it as a six-year-old would be…check yes.
Also, I’m totally excited that JESUS IS ALIVE! I love that fact even more.
Be faithful to enjoy the small things, dears. Be faithful to keeping your eyes open, your heart open, your self open. Keep space within yourself, so that you can be free to admire, to dream, to enjoy—to delight and to be delighted. I’ve been reading a book that said that our opportunity is to delight those around us. Can you imagine: families, workplaces, communities, where the sole purpose of fellowship with each other was to delight one another? How is that possible?! Well, when we delight in the Lord, He fills us to overflowing with joy. He is so faithful to overflow my life with joy when I spend quality time with Him. He allows my heart to be able and willing to delight others when I take delight in Him.
” 3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. 4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart….
23The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; 24 though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.”
Psalm 37
We have a joy that is untouchable, because our joy lies in Heaven. This world cannot take it away. Our struggles cannot overpower our joy.
