ONE WORD 2014 // DANAE
Today get ready to meet the beautiful Danae. I get to see Danae almost everyday as we work together at the church and it is honestly such a blessing. She's incredibly fun, has the best "snort laugh" and has a heart of pure gold. Her she be…!
Hi! My name is Danae and I had the privilege of taking part in the one word brunch that the lovely Laura hosted this February.
2013 was the year of new experiences for me. I, as a 25 year old woman, entered into my first relationship. Let me be clear, saying that I “entered” it is putting it really lightly. What I actually mean is that I jumped blindly, wildly and without any inhibitions headfirst into it. I went in with the mentality of “I am 25, I know what I’m doing… seriously! God! I’ve soo got this”. I left God on the edge of that relationship and I ended up experiencing a lot of pain and hardship as a result of that decision.
I learned so much about myself throughout that time and most of it has been pretty hard to accept and face. As a result of abandonment as a child, I have the mentality that I don’t deserve the best that God has to offer me and that I should be willing to settle for sub par because that’s all that I am ever going to get. I felt the need to quell all that I am as a person in order to fit into whatever mould my significant other wanted me to fit into. I lost who I was during that time and it has been quite the journey over the past few months trying to regain my identity.
I spent some time early on in January praying over what God wanted to say to me about this next year and one verse kept on coming back to me.
“But this I recall and therefore have I hope and expectation: It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His [tender] compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. The Lord is my portion or share, says my living being (my inner self); therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” Lamentation 3:21-21
Hope was my word of year! I decided to look into the original Greek and Hebrew words from which hope derives from in the bible. Tiqvah(Hebrew) literally means a cord or attachment. Tiqvah comes from the root word qavah, which is also commonly translated as hope. This word originally carried the sense of something strengthened by being bound together, such as a rope. This rope or cord endures when tested and stretched. The concept of hope as symbolically represented by these words is the trust placed in an unbreakable promise. Another common Hebrew word translated as hope is yachal. Yachal means to wait expectantly. It is to patiently endure because of the assurance of what is coming. In contrast to the plethora of Hebrew words, there are only two Greek words for hope in the New Testament. Elpis is an expectation or confidence, and its verb form, elpizo, is the act of expecting or trusting.
So this year I am putting my trust in the unbreakable promise that is Jesus Christ, I will wait expectantly for all the amazing things God has in store for me and I have immeasurable hope in the beautiful work that God is doing within me and will continue to do within me!
2014, bring it on!
Such gold right there. Thank you so much for sharing Danae!
If you haven't yet, be sure to check out the other girls' one words- Amy // Nadia // Sarah // Tiffany // Me and here is the original post from our one word brunch!
I'm still taking submissions for one words! So if you would like to share on here about your one word for 2014 email laura@ssheart.com
xo,
s.s.♥.
OH JOY + TARGET
Oh Joy! has arrived to Target and I am SO excited about it. Sadly, not everyone shares the same enthusiasm as I do. (FYI Oh Joy! is a blogger and she recently collaborated with Target and designed all this cute party stuff!)
TWICE, I've received the "crazy" look when I asked about it in our local store. Ok, the first time I was a week early…but they had no idea and didn't seem to know who "Oh Joy" was. Come on people, let's get educated on the blogger scene!!
The second time was on Sunday morning. Sunday was the official launch date of the collection (I made sure this time!!) and I was soooo excited. I was also pumped to be checking out the newest Target in my city. Well, this Target was AH-MAZING. It's the biggest Target I've ever been to and it's soooo beautiful and everything is so crisp and new (ok, I'll stop rejoicing over a store now). But, as incredible as the new store was, it sadly didn't house the Oh Joy collection and again, I received the "crazy" look when I asked about it (this guy was really nice though!)
So for now I'll just dream about what I'd purchase...it's probably safer that way.
1. Scalloped Bowl | 2. Hooray Cake Topper | 3. Gold Confetti Dots | 4. Paper Plates | 5. Trash Bags | 6. Noise Blowers
How insanely cute is everything!!!!?? I need that scalloped bowl in my life. Can't you just envision chips on chips filling it? And those pretty garbage bags? Um, amazing.
Now if only Target online shipped to Canada....
xo,
s.s.♥.
DIY // PARTY CROWNS
I have a thing about shopping. And this thing, it's kind of a deal breaker for me. So if you're planning on going shopping with me, keep this in mind... I like to take my sweet, sweet time.
In and out of Walmart in 5 minutes? Yeah, right buddy. You better believe I'm going to peruse every aisle. Don't you dare rush me. I can't enter Walmart and not check to see if Essie has released new nail polishes! It's the same with most stores I enter into, especially dollar stores. Don't even get me started on dollar stores. I'm always amazed at the selection of products and could never ever spend less than 20 minutes in one. Please tell me I'm not alone in my sss (slow shopper syndrome)!!
Speaking of dollar stores, I hit up the downtown one (once you get over the weird smell, it's actually pretty great) on my lunch break last Thursday and I struck gold. Pure gold people. I found sparkly pipe cleaners, glitter washi tape and a legit garden shovel. Oh and my total was $7 (and there were 3 packs of sparkly pipe cleaners in that order). Yep, pure gold.
With the pipe cleaners, myself and craft guru, Rachel constructed crowns for our friend Cristina's birthday.
They were insanely easy and super cute.
Directions:
1. Grab two pipe cleaners, twist the ends together and shape into a circle to make the base of the crown.
2. Take five pipe cleaners and cut them in half.
3. Fold the pieces in half and pull the ends out to shape a triangle.
4. Attach triangle onto base of crown by twisting the ends down.
5. Repeat around entire crown.
6. Razzle dazzle everybody you come in contact with. Huzzah!
So cute hey? We made 10 in about 30 minutes while eating doritos and watching pan am. Pure bliss right thurrr.
You can also make tiaras and heart crowns. Find those directions at this sweet tutorial.
Happy Monday!
xo,
s.s.♥.
LUCKY CHARMS
St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner! Do you celebrate it? I've never been one to party it up on this holiday. Don't get me wrong though...I love Ireland. I love P.S. I Love You and Lucky Charms cereal and Irish accents are pretty awesome and I had an awesome time in Dublin a few years ago but I can't say I love celebrating St. Patrick's Day.
BUT I do love making fashion boards with the colours green and gold. So obviously I had to craft a little St. Patrick's Day fashion inspiration for you :)
3. Party Skirt
6. Gold Print
How cute is that bright green Partyskirt? And that Kate Spade necklace from their new capri collection? I die. If celebrating St. Patrick's Day requires wearing something green then I may need to change my stance on it…and start shopping.
Happy Friday! Hope you have the best weekend.
xo,
s.s.♥.
ONE WORD 2014 // TIFFANY
hey everyone! today you'll be hearing from my beautiful friend Tiffany. I've had the pleasure of knowing Tiff for years. She has the most beautiful soul. Her heart for people is so huge and she is a constant inspiration to me! Take it away Tiff...
Hello my name is Tiffany. I am a wife, a worship leader, a nurse, a coffee snob, and I love to encourage smiles! I am two years married to my rock of a husband Roman and it just keeps getting better. I love to worship God by singing, and dabbling on guitar. I love my church of Glad Tidings & Adore and the work that God is doing in the hearts of His people there. Laura is a fantastic friend and inspirational leader one of my fav people so thanks Laura for having me share on your beauty of a blog!
Getting married was the second best decision of my life. Although challenging at times I love it. Our first year had a lot of bumps, think about it, two very different yet similar people, two schedules, two jobs and only one car, 2 opinions, and the list goes on. BUT we are wonderfully in love with each other and we want to walk through our differences and challenges because of this love and the example of true love that God laid down for us.
One benefit of all this is that your hubby is your ultimate accountability person. So as things come out of your mouth, sometimes in an endless stream, they can, stand with you and verbally acknowledge your feelings and then lovingly admit to you the things that you might miss yourself.
Roman, my best friend; has helped me to notice the negative or ungodly things trying to creep into my life, the old ways or habits and the new. He doesn’t point fingers at my weakness and furrow his brow. He sits beside me, hears my story, and walks with me in my struggle. He secures a trust and in it he shares honestly what he is hearing. He doesn’t do it to strike me down, but to love me more. So yeah sometimes I am wrong HA! Hard to swallow but it’s the truth! Thank goodness Roman is who he is or I may not take it like I have.
Ro talked me through a near explosion on a family vacation last summer where I was ready to run and give up. He held me by my arms, stared into my eyes and said “This isn’t who you are!” He speaks up to protect and defend me from myself and others. He validates my feelings and when I cry he wraps His arms around me even if I don’t make sense and he comforts me. Ro is a listener sometimes he speaks and sometimes he doesn’t which can drive you nuts at times but you know his heart! What is even more beautiful about all of this is that when he does these things, I feel God in our relationship. I feel God’s love, His strength and hope holding us up even when we feel we have failed GOD IS WITH US.
I am thankful and blessed.
God is with us. He believes in us that we can get through all things with Him, especially the dirty and hard things. So my one word for 2014 is PURIFY. My prayer to God in January was asking God, as I am, to PURIFY my heart to help me to become more aware of the things trying to creep in and discourage. I asked God to scrape from my mouth any hint of gossip and to say no to fear of what people may think of my decisions. For God knows my heart. I asked God to remove any bitterness from my heart that has been building up from judgment or hurt feelings. God forgives, God forgive me and I will forgive others.
The last two months I have been experiencing God purifying my heart. I won't lie, it isn’t easy and sometimes it really hurts, but end result Eternity with Christ and Him using this life to love, so worth it.
A friend gave me a new concept for the word purify, we used to sing that worship song “Purify my heart.” Beautiful song, but I don’t think as a young’n I really thought about the REFINERS FIRE! Ha! Sometimes it burns and hurts when you are being remolded or sanded ouch! We’re asking God to make, us sinners, like Christ. It’s a big job.
It might be nice to say once I became a Christian that was it, no pain, ta da, but I am even more glad to say that through my walk with Christ I have hit road blocks, messed up sometimes, but God was with me nudging at me, guiding me. At times it was hard because I fought with what I wanted and His plan. I still do! I am so over joyed to have chosen God’s plan and I have seen great reward and blessing in walking with Him, and have myself molded into the woman He sees me to be.
God’s way is always better
all photos by Amy Gary
Thank you for sharing your word with us Tiff!! Love you :)
Check out our one word brunch here and check out the past one word explanations- Laura // Amy // Sarah // Nadia
Hope you have a lovely day!
xo,
s.s.♥.
P.S. Do you have a one word for 2014 too? If so I'd love to feature you. Email me at laura at ssheart dot com or comment below for more details!