songs of joy

Did you know that I sing?

. . . 

Last month, in a group video chat, I met the lovely Ashley of Pencilled Daydream. It was so cool to hear her heart for this blog link-up of I am a Storyteller.

She really sees that everybody has stories and wants to offer space for them to share them.

Today my story is unconventional because it's far less written and far more musical.

I've been singing for as long as I can remember.

I started playing guitar around grade 8 or so, and I started writing songs songs soon after. I was a pretty emotional little teenager so songs were how I really got out a lot of what I needed to say.

Fast forward to not being a baby teenager, I still love to write songs. 

As I've made blogging a priority over the last 8 months, my song writing has been put a bit on the back burner but I still write a song here and there. Maybe I'll start sharing them here.

Writing love songs is super fun because love is joy personified. right? sure . . . whatever.

I've also had the opportunity to share two songs that I wrote at weddings.

The first was at my brother Greg & his wife Danielle's wedding back in 2010. It was a fun outdoor wedding several hours out of Winnipeg.

sorry for the sideways view. I've never known how to fix it and it's more about sound than looks anyways.

This song is called 3 Steps Forward.

I had the video embedded in but for some reason it's not working so just go to this link okay! Thanks ---> 3 steps forward.

 
My favourite line in the song is:

84 years, a billion hours - if I spend them all with you I'd never tire
You have walked deep into my heart. I can't remember who I was before we started.

And then last year, one of my best friend's Christy got married. Her husband, then fiance, pulled me aside one day and asked me to write a song for their first dance.

whoa.

So I did.
This is it.

I had the video embedded in but for some reason it's not working so just go to this link okay! Thanks ---> Their Song

My favourite line in the song is:

praise God for knitting you together in your mama's womb
praise God for forming you perfectly - perfectly for me


These songs are ones that fill me with joy because they're from such special moments in the history of my family and friends.

And while I'm still wishing and hoping and planning and praying - I've got hope that one day God will lead me into a marriage where I can sing there words to someone. 

stitchfix #1

It only took about a thousand years for this to happen (cue me singing Oh Canada, Canada's national anthem so you remember that I'm Canadian - which complicated EVERYTHING THAT IS COOL! - just kidding - I love my country) but my first stitchfix arrived!


Can I just say . . . there are few things more awkward than taking photos of myself in the mirror. Maybe one day Jesus will grace me with a husband who is understanding and photo savvy, but until that day - I'm stuck with awkward mirror photos on my blackberry - sorry in advance.

So  . . . stitchfix is a very cool service.

1. you sign up to get on the waiting list
2. you finally hear back (they're in beta mode, or just out of beta mode, or whatever that word is - GIVE THEM GRACE OKAY! I didn't mind the wait.)
3. log on
4. fill out surprisingly long survey on style (well, they want to make sure they get it right)
5. choose a shipment week
5b. wait patiently
6. receive shipment
7. open box. 
8. oooooo and aaaaahhhhhh
9. read note from company
10. try on outfits
11. take awkward photos (semi-mandatory for personal mocking enjoyment)
12. keep what you want/ship back what you don't
13. blog about it

note: numbers may vary, details may vary, I might have forgotten something, forgive me please. K thanks.

STITCHFIX!
MIRROR PHOTOS!
AND GO!

I got 5 pieces. I kept 1. If I had my life together I would have blogged and gotten opinions of others before I made the decision but life is life so I didn't.

P.S. You are welcome to be jealous of my beautiful hardwood floors. They're one of my favourite aspects of my apartment. Oh the perks of old buildings!

Oh, and my natural lighting. My living room and dining room are basically the best place to be on a sunny day (well, that or outside I guess).

OKAY ramble party over.

Item one.

Oh. How I loved this dress. I wanted it the most. When I opened my box, this is what I saw - butterfly fabric. And my heart gasped in joy and awe. But when I got home and tried it on, I became sad. Because the fit was off. The neckline kept riding up, which meant the whole dress would ride up. I wanted it to be the one. But alas, it wasn't. I added the belt which helped for photos but not for much else.

The next photo is to show that hipster glasses and long bangs are frustrating. That is all.

Item two.

This second dress. This is the one I kept. I think that if I had been shopping in a store, I might not have grabbed it, and I might even not have bought it, but because it was handed to me and it fit best out of my options (and price range), it was the keeper. I love that it wraps around because that is what I call flattering. Hello kindness.

Though, it's impossible to wear without something underneath though because any sort of cleavage concealer is actually non-existent. did I just say cleavage concealer? yes I did.

This photo conceals cleavage because I carefully draped the fabric awkwardly and took a photo. (do you see that awkward draping - yep me too - don't worry I wore a dress underneath it to church on Sunday).

And this gem of a photo conceals cleavage because BAM hello blackberry.

Item three.

This third piece was (and truly, still is) beautiful. And gosh, apparently I don't know how to uncrinkle a top before I take a photo. Good thing my job is not to be a stylist.

seriously! Just look at that pretty detail. It's so nice and lovely.

. . . and it did not fit. Boo. It was an awkward fit where some areas were too big and some were too small and that's just the sad truth. I tend to gravitate towards longer tops anyways so unless it had been a perfect fit, I probably wouldn't have kept it.

Item four.

This piece was such a bad fit that I wasn't willing to show a photo on the Internet. But it's beautiful. The back had a really pretty button detail (that I my non-stylist self forgot to take a photo of).

 Item five.

Last. Not least. SHIZAMBAM! Look at this beauty. Beautiful. I almost kept it but I think it's too fancy pants for my lifestyle. Oh but it's just so pretty. AND I forgot to take a photo of it on. Whoops.


Soooooo . . . did you make it this far? I didn't think so.

I'm glad if you did.

This was a fun, odd, and surprisingly hard post to write so please give me a pat on the back, write some sort of kind comment okay? If your opinion on affiliate linking is different than mine, feel free to share.

K great.

Tune-y Tuesday (hope came down)

I know there are quite a few blogs taking today to be silent. 

I've hesitated writing about the horrors that have happened because they're horrible. And I would never want to give some sort of pat statement. So I just want to say that my heart is sad, my tears are plenty, and Jesus will one day make things right. As to why that day was not prior to Friday, I can't say why.

Today I want to point to the hope that I have only in Jesus.




So this is how it was 
A silent night like any other,
When Heaven sent the One,
The One we will call our Saviour, 
and redemption began,
In a stable in Bethlehem,

All of the angels lifted up their voices,
and filled the night with Hallelujah's!
God is with us now!
Everyone come and join the Heavenly chorus, 
Our Savior King is here before us!
All to hear the sound
The song creation sang,
When Hope came down

So this was truly God,
Wrapped in a tattered blanket,
Love was finally here,
Sleeping while the world awakened,
and redemption begins,
With a baby in Bethlehem,

All of the angels lifted up their voices,
and filled the night with Hallelujah's!
God is with us now!
Everyone come and join the Heavenly chorus, 
Our Savior King is here before us!
All to hear the sound
The song creation sang,
When Hope came down
So let us sing Redemption Song,
Let us worship Christ the Holy One,
We were lost, but we were found,
When Hope came down,
When Hope came down.

All of the angels lifted up their voices,
and filled the night with Hallelujah's!
God is with us now!
Everyone come and join the Heavenly chorus, 
Our Savior King is here before us!
All to hear the sound
The song creation sang,
When Hope came down

stupid sin

I haven't spoken about fear as much as I used to.

Maybe because I thought, heavy emphasis on me thinking something but not demonstrating it, that I was okay.

I do that with a lot of things. 

Think I'm fine right until I'm crying and lying on the floor in my living room.  Some people cry in the shower, oh wait, I also do that, crap - but less often.

My big cries are when I'm flat on my face in the living room in tears over a hurt, more often in repentance of sin yet again, or when I'm petitioning a prayer for someone. Or they're late at night, curled up in my bed.

I thought I was doing okay at not fearing people.

Right until it took me MONTHS to write an email asking someone to do something super simple.
I'm talking suuuuuuuper simple. This kind of simple shouldn't take months.

Her response, filled with belly laughter and a respounding YES and an apology because she thought she'd already done it- made me burst into laughter.

Really loud laughter that sounded like tears because suddenly I was crying because the grace of God made me aware that yet again my sin was holding me back from authentic relationships.

Fear is sin.
And stupid.

    The fear of man lays a snare,
        but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.
(Proverbs 29:25 ESV)

this past week

I want to share a quick glance into my past week. One of my goals with this new design is to better share my life - especially the stuff that happens away from my typing fingers.

SO . . . let's go back and take a look! WOOHOO!

I spent most of my day at work and then drove out to my parent's house in Abbotsford for the night. 

Typically when I go to their house, I usually spend some time looking through the stuff I have around the house. I found a box filled with photographs and found this gem. 

Everybody gets to post cute pictures of their kids - I'm posting a cute picture of myself as a kid. You're welcome.

Okay. I'm SO excited to share about my stitchfix experience and I promise that I will soonish. I'm just finishing up all the formatting and trying to get over how funny it is to post pictures of myself taken on my phone in the mirror! Yep, my stitchfix post will encourage you that anybody can post a fashion post.

Then I went to work for the afternoon. I work in a tea shop and LOVE it. It's currently just part-time so I'm still figuring out how to make life work but in the meantime, it's so fun to have a job that I absolutely adore.

Sunday is a no photo day! Unintentionally.

The morning was filled with church. Lunch was filled with a favourite friend and tasty eats from this place. The afternoon was filled with a clothing swap hosted by this lady. The early evening was filled with a good conversation with another sweet friend. 

Oh baby! My sister had a baby! Well, now she's almost 2 months old.

fun fact: I've been an auntie for almost 14 years! Yep. This baby is niece/nephew number 8 so I've got years and years of love for my sibling's children but this babe is the first local baby! It's so fun to be able to pop in and just spend time with my sister and babe.

I love cuddles with this sweet babe. This photo is one of my very favourites.


 




































Later on I meandered over to my friend Michelle's home. We ate some stir-fry and enjoyed some chats! After we made cookies! SO FUN! We enjoyed tea lattes, lots of sugar cookie dough, and icing!


 

Yet another no photo day! Whoops! I guess I'm definitely still learning how to take photos of everything I do!

Tami and I went for an adventure! 

We went out in the morning across the border and into America! I guess for all of my sweet American readers that you might not understand the wonderful-ness of this, but hear this:

my life does not include Target and Trader Joe's on a local basis.

We drove across the border, went shopping, laughed a lot, and enjoyed good chats. It was a very fun day.

In the evening I had worship practice for Christmas Eve.

NEW DESIGN DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! While I didn't start really advertising it until Wednesday because it took a day to figure out all the kinks, the lovely stuff started showing up late Monday night, fixed itself through Tuesday, and looked the way it does now by Wednesday.

I'm loving the new design. I feel like my blog represents what I want it to now. The words are the same, but the pretty look inspires me to put out better content! 

 

The day also included lunch with this lovely lady at this tasty place.

Followed by a quick stop at the church office to say hi to all my friends who work there.

After that I went over to my sister's place. I knew it was an online-heavy day so I wanted a new space to be on my computer. I enjoyed a couple cuddles with my niece.

Early in the evening, I had a video chat scheduled with Tori. We tried to make it happen back in the summer but schedules kept not colliding. It finally happened! Yay. Tori is wonderful. She's beautiful, kind, graceful, and just plain sweet. I'm excited for our friendship to grow.

After the video chat I went to the Festival of Lights with my friend Jenn. We just met a few weeks ago but just like with Tori, I'm excited for the friendship to continue! She's so fun.


 

 Thursday I woke up with a migraine. Not fun. Typical but not fun.

I chose to ignore it the best I could, watch a bunch of sermons, and enjoy the day as best as I could in the comfort of my apartment.

AND I spent about an hour and a half clearing the spam for a friend's website. It was kind of hilarious. Spammers are awful. awful.

 Coming up today:

1. VIDEO CHAT! Video chats kind of are my favourite. Tomorrow afternoon I get to have a chat with Ashley of 5ohWifey and all her sidebar peeps - and it is going to be fun. Last month's chat was one of my favourite. It was so fruitful and just down-right great!

2. If you've been around here, you know I love kids and I spend a lot of time babysitting of my friends. Remember that babe who I hung out with on Monday, my sweet local niece. Well, we're having our first several-hour babysitting experience. My sister is blessed because I've got almost 14 years of experience loving my siblings kids. You are welcome Kiks.

Little note:

Sponsorship is now available here on a Secondary Heartbeat. I'm new to sponsorship so I'm sure I'll adjust things over the coming days and months but I'm so excited to offer sidebar space. Proceeds will go towards me going to Influence 2013. So sponsor me okay? cooooool beans.