DIARY // SIGNING OFF

our conference speaker, joyce rees (who was absolutely incredible) spoke on sabbath living at our women’s breakfast on sunday.

sabbath. rest. i really wish i had my notes in front of me so i could reference them. but what i can remember is sabbath is for resting. sabbath is supposed to be good and fun, anything but work. sabbath is like a holiday (holy day) not a vacation (vacating somewhere). sabbath is a gift not a curse. sabbath can include feasting, ceasing, resting, + rejuvenation. now doesn’t this sound good?

she encouraged us to practice sabbath for a full 24 hour period. she also gave some suggestions for sabbath…enjoy God’s creation (going for nature walks), spending time with God but also spending time with your spouse/family/friends, eating good food, listening to stories, reading, etc …she said sabbath should be a day of NO OBLIGATIONS. that stuck with me.

so james + i are off to saltspring for a sabbatical weekend. we’re very excited to have no obligations, to turn off our phones + have no distractions or demands that would be sucking our attention.

i’m excited to rest in God, to dream, to get lost on an island where i don’t know a soul, to light a fire + cuddle up with my love. ohhhh, it’s going to be fun.

so in a few hours i’ll be signing off. the phone will be turned off + i will be unreachable. yipppeeee.

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

DIY: CAKE TOPPERS

hey future brides, pinterest people, crafters, etc.

i’m going to start showing you some DIYs from my wedding! we were able to save a BUNCH of $$ doing a heck of a lot of DIY. if you plan on doing a lot of DIY for your wedding that is AWESOME! my only advice is, don’t do it if you’re not an organized person! if you aren’t..get a wedding planner. your bridesmaids + friends will be thankful. 

anyways…so the first one i’d like to show you is…

i knew for a long time that i wanted birdies for cake toppers. i didn’t make the cake toppers until a couple days before the wedding. (i know!)  i had a lot of projects on the go that i actually forgot about them. thankfully, it was a super easy project (+ cheap!)

supplies needed: two birds (i found mine from michaels, i believe they were about $5 for both), spray paint (i used gold because it was an accent colour, mine was from walmart), tiny pearl necklace (i used an old pear headband from h&m), fabric for bow + veil, glue gun.

1. spray paint bird desired colour. most birds come multi-colour. if you want to leave them those ugly colours then do so. i picked gold because we spray painted a lot of other things gold. leave them to dry for a few hours.

2. cut out veil + bow tie + glue gun on.

3. glue on pearls

4. doneskies! 

total cost of project- less than $10 !

yep, i told you it was easy. and i think they looked pretty cute. we have them sitting above our bedroom door frame. 

how cute was our cake + cupcakes? cake was made by Rachel Cakes + cupcakes were from Jennie Cakes + they tasted PHENOMENAL! 

over n out,

s.s.♥.

photo cred: AMERIS

DIARY // #LATERGRAMS

i’m hopefully getting the iPhone 5 in one month…yippppeeeeee. i’m deathly terrified i’m gonna break it though. currently i’m using a piece of crap  blackberry..the only plus side is it can take me throwing it down on the ground multiple times a day!

but until the day i hold that little iPhone 5, i will use james’ phone to instagram…so my instagrams are few + far between..here’s what i’ve been up to lately… you can check out my full feed here.

one. official business // two. jing-a-ling urban outfitters // three. morning lattes (mugs, john lewis- wedding present from my brother + sister in law) // four. james + my gangsta nana

xoxo,

s.s.♥.

ACT JUSTLY + LOVE MERCY + WALK HUMBLY

this past week was our second annual adore conference. oh my goodness, did God ever move!

conference week was madness for james + i. as most people know who put on events..it takes a lot out of you..but oh, did God ever pour it back in.

the whole weekend was a blur. it honestly felt like it went by in an hour.

the theme for the conference was from micah 6:8

And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly with your God.

it wasn’t a justice conference. we specifically did not want to label it a justice conference, rather it was a journey. a journey where our community walked together exploring what it really meant to act justly, love mercy & walk humbly.

i remember praying a very scary prayer a few days prior to conference. i prayed that God would break my heart. mother teresa once said, “may God break my heart so completely that the whole world falls in.” well a portion of the world fell in.

one of the speakers was joyce rees. this lady is legit. she spoke on God’s heart for the marginalized…hearts were shattered, wrecked as sinful nature was cut away and Jesus’ heart for the poor was transplanted into ours. we sat at the altar worshiping and listening for God that evening, and oh, how He spoke.

worship was incredible. i’m so proud of our amazing team + my crazy talented husband who led worship on saturday evening.

we had elijah waters speak on sunday, along with leeland leading worship on sunday night. amazeballs.

elijah spoke an amazing message both morning and night, but do yourself a favor and download the sunday evening message!

all in all, God exceeded my expectations at conference (why should i be surprised?)

yes, our hearts went through the ringer at conference, but it’s just making them more like His..and isn’t that the point?

but there was hope. there was Jesus. at the conference i shared a verse for conference that God laid on my heart months ago…

Because of God’s tender mercy,
    the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,
⁷⁹ to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    and to guide us to the path of peace. -luke 1:78

after learning about horrendous things going on in our world, one can start to view the world as dark, grey, awful. but i believe that view is wrong. Jesus came to bring colour to grey situations. He came to bring hope! He came to bring light to the darkness + to guide us to the path of peace.

and oh, how sweet that peace is.

-s.s.♥.