BACK AT IT

Hey lovies,

After traveling for 31 hours, I arrived safe and sound from Crimea late last night. (WHERE’S CRIMEA? Don’t lie, I know you’re secretly googling it right now.) To save you some time, it’s located at the south of Ukraine right on the Black Sea. It’s a hidden gem. SERIOUSLY. Gorgeous land, beautiful beaches and it’s seriously cheap. The only problem is very few people speak english. I have soo many stories to tell you and I will over the next month! What I will tell you right now is, GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING BIG! Ah, I want to blab about so many amazing moments but I’ll hold it in.

I hope you are having an insanely, fabulous summer. I’m really excited to make one of these…

(Flower Crown DIY courtesy of honestlywtf)

But first I got to catch up on some work things and prep for Teen girls Camp (wooooooooooooot!) & Nanoose (yaaaaaaaaay!) Life is insane & beautiful and God is good.

so,

so,

sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo,

good.

I hope I can sleep sweetly tonight (booo jetlag).

Love you to the moon & back,

s.s.♥.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

Hello friends!

I apologize in advance for my absence from this blog….it really hurts my heart to be away from it for so much because i actually really am passionate about blogging! In case you don’t know I FLY TO CRIMEA TODAY!!!!!!! Well not exactly…today I fly Victoria to Vancouver to London (then we have a sweet over night lay-over in London, can’t wait to revisit the city that tries to steal my heart) to Kiev to CRIMEA! We’ll arrive in Crimea late Friday night.

In Crimea we’ll be assisting different local Churches with all sorts of ministry from running services to sunday school to VBS to outdoor festivals to canada vs ukraine soccer matches to building two new playgrounds (one will be the only playground in the whole village!). I am beyond excited to be a part of what God is already doing in Crimea. Isn’t it amazing that our God is truly changing lives all over the world. I can’t wait to meet believers over there and just hear their hearts.

PLEASE PRAY FOR US! We’ll be gone June 22nd to July 6th and NEED your prayers!

Also while you’re talking to Poppa can you pray for me? I have an insane month ahead of me, Crimea, Nanoose Teen Camp, speaking at Imadene Teen Girls camp, Emy & Franco’s wedding! (this is all before August 1st) It seems impossible but I serve the God of the impossible. I just need to keep praying Philippians 4:13 over me!

So I’ll try to update in Europe but I’ll be pretty busy, so sorry in advance!

Love you to the moon & back,

s.s.♥.

ps. JL- i miss you already xoxo

TOMATO BASIL SALAD

I is italian. yeeeeeeeeah. so naturally i do not like hockey. i like soccer.

being italian you grow up with a lot of familiarities. like chinotto. (best pop ever). bocconcini….mmmmmm

our connect group had a potluck party where we brought food and wore pretty dresses. we also watched muppet’s treasure island. amazing.

i was in a rush so i brought a classic italian salad. it’s ridiculously easy and absolutely delicious.  

1. Wash and de-seed tomatoes. Chop up and put in bowl.

2. Chop up basil. Throw er in.

3. Add in bocconcini. 

4. Add in olive oil & kosher salt and you’re good to go. i told you it was ridiculously easy. 

over and out,

s.s.♥.

HAT TRICK

fact. I couldn’t really care less about hockey.

fact. I care about people.

fact. so I’ll pretend to care about hockey…(go canucks!!!)

fact. i like hats.

don’t think you can rock a big floppy hat?

fact. you can.

1. H&M- Straw Hat $12.95

2. Urban Outfitters- Straw Panama Hat $29

3. Zara- Hat $25.90

4. Ruche- Decadent Domori Straw Bucket Hat $22.99

5. Urban Outfitters- Full Jersey Turban $29

stay gold,

s.s.♥.

KNOW

Some people have it written all over them. No, not it, Him. Some people have Him written all over them. You know them when you see them. Sometimes you see Him right away. In the way they smile, the way their eyes sparkle when they look at you. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to spot Him. They’re shy at first and then He’s revealed through words as they speak from the depths of their hearts. You see a passion lit and they’re giddy like a five year old trying to hold in a secret. Like a five year old they just can’t hold it in. They shout it from the rooftops. Sometimes screaming, sometimes in quiet whispers but never holding it in, no never holding it in. No person is ever the same except one quality, they are madly in love with Jesus and they know him. (ok, I lied, there are two facts there.) They KNOW Jesus. They walk with him, talk with him and their lives reflect Him.

I wrote awhile back about the band Leeland here. Well Leeland was one of these people. Right from the second he was on stage I could spot Him all over. Joy burst out with every lyric sung and fervent passion revealed with every word spoken.  You could just tell that he had been with Jesus.

I heard a story once (I’m no bible scholar. Please forgive me if I’m totally wrong about this.) that back in the day like waaaaay back… just after Jesus had ascended to Heaven, the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and were going out and spreading the gospel like wild fire. People were joining their movement and it was becoming large! The Jews were noticing and they needed a name to identify the people who belonged to this movement. The best name they could come up with for these people were, Christians which literally meant mini Jesus’ because they walked like Jesus, talked like Jesus and reminded them of Jesus.

These people had Jesus written all over them. They knew Jesus. They reflected Jesus. Sometimes I find myself getting caught up in so many other things and striving to be a great woman of prayer, someone who knows the Bible, a good servant, etc but what’s important is KNOWING Christ. All these other things will fall into place because once you start knowing Jesus you can’t help but acting like him.

Here’s what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-11

 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!  

Infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus…that is what counts. Reflect him.

Oh, Lord, I want to know you.

s.s.♥.