9 MORE Things to Get to Know Me Better

Hey Friends!

          Life has been pretty hectic in my neck of the woods! School is pretty much drowning me at the moment, but alas, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light has the date of October 23. So until then, I'm hanging in.

        It's been a while since I've blogged over here, and since I have no real time to write anything of substance, I thought I would throw you s'more interesting facts to get to know me better. Part 1 cane be found here.

Here goes.

1. My favourite childhood book is Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch. It really is the bomb.com (yes, this is the 90s), and in my humble opinion, Robert Munsch can do no wrong! I literally could sit around all day and read children's literature, so maybe it's a good thing I'm going to be a teacher.

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 2. My favourite non-children's book is Sarah's Key by Tantiana De Rosnay. This book is one of my most treasured books.The story ties together the stories of a little girl named Sarah who lived in Paris in 1942 and a woman named Julia who lives in the year 2002. Many of us have heard of what happened in Europe during the time of WW2, but what is not as known is the Vel' d'Hiv roundup which occurred in Paris at the same time. This is an amazing book; I'd recommend it to everyone, especially those who love reading about WW2 fiction (like me). Sarah's Key is also tied with Still Alice (another spectacular book!).

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 3. My sister is legit my bestie. We're almost exactly 3 years apart, but it's like we're twinsies. She's the only one who understands me. I can give her a look or say one word and she knows EXACTLY what I mean...it's freaky!

4. I have a severe Netflix addiction. It is through Netflix that I have got to re-live all my favourite 90s sitcoms (like The Nanny) and discover my obsession for Pretty Little Liars.

5. I've mentioned that I love to knit, right? Here's a knitted quilt that I finished this summer. It took me about 7 months to complete but I did it!

6. My Sister and I recently threw my Mother a Murder Mystery Dinner Party for her birthday. Yeah, we're like the best daughters ever. This was probably the most stressful and fun experience ever. My advice to others: buy a murder mystery kit, don't try and write it yourself! Here was my costume; my name was Gwen Woodhaven.

  
7. I am a PANK (Pretend Aunt, No Kids) to beautiful baby girl named Peyton. Her Mommy is my bestie Bre who blogs over at Meet the Marshalls. Isn't she a doll? I love her tremendously.

8. My family has a strange sense of humour. We play this "unofficial" game of hiding a naked toy baby around our house. When someone finds it, they hid it in a new location. It's even gotten to the point where friends and family come and play the game too! The Baby sometimes comes on holidays with us too. Apparently we have nothing better to do.

9. I GRADUATE this upcoming May! This isn't really a fact...but I'm so excited, so I say it as often as I can!


Tell me something interesting about you?

Never Forsaken.

         I've recently gotten back from spending a week serving at Joy Bible Camp; my home away from home. A couple girlfriends and I went up to be apart of Girl's Camp; a joy I look forward to every single year.

         The girls in attendance were blessed with a remarkable worship team who shared with us God's love for His children. One of the songs particularly struck a chord with me; it is called Not For a Moment (After All).

After all You are constant
After all You are only good
After all You are sovereign
Not for a moment will You forsake me
Not for a moment will You forsake me 

        I think we all tend to feel that at times God has forgotten about us and our needs. Recently I've read a blog post by a friend on her blog In The Clay, she used the passage of Mark 4:35-41 to describe her own struggle with this. At this time Jesus is about to take a boat trip with His disciples. The weather gets bad and His disciples begin to freak out, saying "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" Don't we love to ask God that question? We're in the middle of our own personal storm and it appears as though God is no where to be found. Doesn't He care? But just like those disciples in the boat, Jesus calms our waters and says to us "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

          "...God has said 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'" (Hebrews 13:5). What a beautiful promise our Lord has made to us. Through the thick of the storm He is carrying us. 

He is constant. He is only good. He is sovereign.

I've Been Nominated!

Hey Friends,

So...exciting news!!! My new blogging friend Hilary just nominated me for the Liebster award! I "met" Hilary when she first contacted me to guest post on The Queit Place, but she also blogs over at ryhilllove.

* I've been doing some research on this award. And from reading this post specifically, I learned that it is an honoury official, non-official award. Does that make sense? So even though it may not be such an official award, I am, nevertheless, honoured. It's fun to get to know other bloggers!

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The Rules of the Liebster Award

1. Link back to the person who nominated you.

2. List 11 facts about yourself.

3. Answer the 11 questions posted by the person who nominated you.

4. Nominate up to 11 other blogs with 200 followers or less.

5. Ask 11 new questions for the nominees to respond to.

11 Facts About Me

My guilty pleasure isNSYNC and Britney Spears

I'm a knit-o-holic

Besides the fact that she's 3 years older, my sister is pretty much my twin

My favourite movie of all time is My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts

My favourite ice cream flavour is bubble gum (but only if it has REAL bubble gum in it)

My favourite novels are Still Alice and Sarah's Key

 I HATE talking on the phone

I'm in my 5th and final year of university

The first thing I notice about people is their shoes 

I'm obsessed with green tea lemonade from Starbucks

Scarves are my favouite accessory ever

Answer to Previous Questions

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

My middle name is the same as my grandmother's; Emily.

2. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

Definitly not! I'm such a kicker.

3. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE AND WHY?

Yellow. It's so bright and cheery!

4. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

I'm reading 3 books actually. 1) There are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith, 2) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and 3) Looking for Alaska by john Green.

5. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

I can make balloon animals, does that count?

6. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BLOGGING?

I have been bloggging for about a year and a half...and loving every minute of it!

7. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BEGIN BLOGGING?

I was looking for a site for someone like. I coulnd't find one that I could "connect" to, so I started my own.

8. IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD WHERE WOULD YOU GO?

Greece; it's my dream vacation.

9. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER?

Sunflower.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF

My sense of humour (and if I had to pick another...I'd say my smile).

11. WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT?

I'm passionate about working with children. It's something that no matter how much I do it, I love it more and more. 

Nominations

 Amanda from Canadian Christian Gal

Brianna from Tea with Bri

Breanna from Meet the Marshalls

New Questions
1.  How long have you been blogging?
2. Do you have any "blogger inspirations" that you look up to? 
3. What's your favourite television show?
4. Do you have a special talent?
5. What is something you're most proud of in your life?
6. What book are you currently reading?
7. Do you have any hobbies?
8. What's your favourite movie?
9. What are your top 3 favourite websites?
10. What's your favourite beauty product?
11. Where is one place in the world that you would love to go?

Life of a Blogger

1.5 years and 100 posts later and this is what we got.

Thank you for reading my tiny little blog. Whether you're a new friend or one who has read from the start, you're who I write for and I hope to offer you a fraction of the encouragement that I have received from you.

So in honour of my first 100 posts, I've decided to write a little something about the life of a blogger. Enjoy!

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  How you feel when you see someone commented on your post.

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How you feel when you read that comment and you discover that they're actually criticizing you.

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How you feel after you've convinced yourself that their opinion doesn't matter to you.

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How you feel when you discover a spelling mistake after you've published a post.

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How you feel after you look at your blog stats and realize that people are actually reading what you've written.

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How you feel when people refer someone to your blog.

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So to all my readers...

 So there it is...the Life of a Blogger.

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Abraham's Cry

Recently I've started a year-long devotional called Live Second from the I Am Second series (find out more about IAS here). I've never been good at keeping up with devotionals, so far it's taken me 3 weeks to get through 14 days, but I am determined to stick with it.

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        Slowly this book has taken me through the book of Genesis; dwelling mostly on the tale of Abraham. There was one part of this devotional that really caught my heart - it was about Abraham and Sarah's trial with infertility; their yearning for a child.

        Abraham wanted a child so badly that at one point he actually cried out in agony. “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son?" (Genesis 15:2). God's response to Abraham was to take him outside and to have him look up at the stars, telling him that he will be the father of many nations. God promised, but just because He promised Abraham, doesn't mean He made it happen right away. In fact, when his son Isaac was born, Abraham was over 100 years old; but God always keeps His promises.

       Abraham doubted God's promise, and when it didn't happen right away (his way), he made it happen himself; by having a child with a servant girl. Abraham struggled. And like many of us, we question God's plan and His timing. But do we cry out to the Lord? Do we share our struggles with Him?

"Too often we hide our needs or emotions from God" 

(Live Second, pg.10)

       Our God wants us to cry out to Him; to share our distresses, our discomforts, our struggles and our fears. I think it's important to share these things with our Father, but then we need to be willing to follow through with His timing, even if it goes against our own.

"In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help"

(Psalm 18:6)

I just want to leave you with a quote by Jon Cook (that he posted on the IAS blog).

 "The point of living second isn’t to get what I want; the point is that sometimes I’m called to sacrifice my own greatest desires in hope that a good and loving God has something better in store for me. His timing may not always match up with mine, I may even hate the answers that come, but I can trust in a God who knows me best. What I want may not be what I need but I can be honest with God about how I feel." 

(Jon Cook, source)

What do you think?

Guest Post - The Quiet Place

Hello Fellow Single Gals,

Recently I was contacted by Hillary from The Quiet Place asking if I would consider guest posting for them. I immediately emailed her saying "yes"!!  

Today I am being featured on their blog, so click here and check it out. It's called Finding Comfort in the "Waiting Room". 

I hope y'all can take something away from it.
Blessings on this rainy day. 

Happy Thursday! 

Princess: a Daughter of the King

Let's think what it means to be a princess?

A princess is the daughter of the king.

She's a pretty important person, but her worth does not come from her (meaning how pretty, smart or capeable she is), it comes from her relationship to the king.

As a child of God, you are also a princess. You are a daughter of the King and your worth comes from Him. It's not self-worth that's important, it's what you're worth to God.

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He loved us so much that He has adopted us as His children.

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son."

Ephesians 1:5-6 (NLT)

What a blessing it is to serve a King whose grace allowed us to become part of his family; "...this is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure."

 He knows every single thing about us (Psalm 139); better than we know ourselves. That's love.

The bible tells us several things about who we are in Christ.

We are:
- Justified (Romans 3:22-24)
- Sanctified (Hebrews 10:12-13)
- A new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- God's Masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10)
- Set free from our sinful nature (Romans 8:2,9)
- All spiritual blessings are ours (Ephesians 1:3)

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Hey Friends,

This week I had one of those days where I felt totally hopeless; totally lost and alone. You know what I mean?

         Thankfully I had enough sense to get out of this funk with some Jesus tunes. Driving home from work takes me about an hour, so for that hour I gave myself to the Lord to turn my attitude around. And boy did He ever. On of my favourite hymns is Great is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas Chisolm; so it is this song which I played on repeat for my hour-long ride.

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This song is based on the composer's favourite bible verse; Lamentations 3:22-23.

"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness."

I read the story behind the song here; and would like to share a piece of it with you now:

      "While away from home on a missions trip, Thomas often wrote to one of his good friends, William Runyan, a relatively unknown musician. Several poems were exchanged in these letters. Runyan found one of Williams' poems so moving that he decided to compose a musical score to accompany the lyrics. Great is Thy Faithfulness was published in 1923.
       For several years ,the hymn got very little recognition, until it was discovered by a Moody Bible Institute professor who loved it so much and requested it sung so often at chapel services, that the song became the unofficial theme song of the college.
       It was not until 1945 when George Beverly Shea began to sing Great is Thy Faithfulness at the Billy Graham evangelistic crusades, that the hymn was heard around the world" 

This story is such a testimony to God's compassion and faithfulness during our times of struggle. This song composed in 1925 has truly stood the test of time and has become a timeless worship song for the followers of Christ.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

“I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalm 89:1)

        One of my favourite things about this song is that you don't have to be cured of a severe illness to appreciate the song's beautiful lyrics. You can simply look at creation and know that the God who saves is responsible for creating the whimsical clouds, the leaves falling from the trees and the rays of sunshine falling on your cheek.

Do you have a song that pulls you out of a funk? Please share, I would love to know!

Christian Gal vs. the Online World

     Christian gal. Meet online dating.

     Online dating. Meet Christian gal.

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Singles often get "advised" to check out online dating as it is the "new way" of meeting people.
Let me give you some advice. If you are not single, do not advise your single friends to pursue the online dating world, I repeat, DO NOT (but then again, maybe this is just my own personal preference, so take my advice with a grain of salt).

Not only is this slightly offensive, but it gives your friend the feeling that you think they are completely incapable of finding someone in the real world (and if you are a good friend, they don't want to know that you feel this way about them).

I love how Becca from My Life as a Single Christian puts it, so I'm gonna let her paint the picture for you: "a.) half the people online aren't really there. b.) they still want women to pursue them, c.) the prize goes to the woman who pursues the most, so unless you're that super aggressive girl, you're going to lose every time. I know because, well, I lost. Every time." I totally get what she's saying; I've tried it, and I lost.

Online dating can be great.....

For some people.

Maclean's magazine did an article about online dating this past January (you can find the article here). The article quotes that 30-40 million Canadians are on dating sites currently and 25% of ALL Canadians have tried these sites at one time. So my question to you is this: Is this the future of love as we know it?

I'm sure that if you have the personality, the drive, and the "aggression" to actively sift through hundreds of profiles I'm sure that one day you will find "the one". If you are currently in the online dating pool , good luck (and I sincerely mean that)!

How do you feel about online dating? (this post is, of course, my own limited opinion on the subject, so I would LOVE to hear what you're thinking).

Meme, Myself and I

Meme, Myself and I....

See what I did there?

Clever, right? 

Maybe "corny" is a better word....

Aca-ward.

Anywho.... I've just gathered some memes from the wonderful World Wide Web to get you through this week!!!

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That last one just kills me! It's so good.

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I have. If you have any good ones, feel free to send them my way (or comment with the link) - I'd LOVE to see them!

Happy Tuesday Friends! 

#almosthappyhumpday #midweekgiggles

Don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin.

Fridnship: God's Secret Weapon

Today I was showered with an outpouring of love.
My wonderful friends threw me a surprise tea party for my upcoming birthday.

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Let me set the scene for you:

          I was home all morning then my sister came over after she was done work. We were plannign to go on a family dinner in celebration of both of our birthdays that are taking place next week. But suddenly she had this unexplained urge to have ice cream, and seeing how the ice cream we had at my house didn't suffice, she wanted to go into town to get some.

Now usually my sister and I are very "Mary-Kate and Ashley", but today she was just plain weird.

         Over the course of about 1/2 hour I found myself driving my sister to get ice cream at a location that was yet to be determined. My bestie Bre (of Meet the Marshalls) was texting me asking me to meet her at her parent's house to pick up a t-shirt she had of mine from 2 years ago (clearly it was a t-shirt I didn't even know I was missing). So somehow my sister and I ended up at her parent's house to pick up this shirt.

         Breanna ushered us inside, and as I walked through her kitchen into the dining room I saw some of my wonderful friends and a lovely tea party spread.

         I am truly and abundently blessed to have such wonderful friends. Friends that love me so much, that they would spend a month planning a tea party (I don't care what you say - that's true love in my books).

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… 

It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” - C.S. Lewis

So in the end there was no ice cream.
There was no lost t-shirt.
Ther was not dinner with my family.
But there was a gathering of the people I love the most.

{Breanna, Elisa et Moi, 2010}

"There are 'friends' who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother." 

- Proverbs 18:24

Faithful friends are a rare treasure. And I have two!

I am a lucky, lucky girl. 

full circle.

           Last August I was asked by my bestie Bre (of Meet the Marshalls) to guest blog on her site. Today I was cleaning out my documents on my computer and came acrossed this post. So...I thought I would dust it off and re-post it for my wonderful singal gal friends.

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I struggled all throughout my early school days (didn’t we all?!). Like many young people, I was bullied – not to the extent where I went home and cried about it every night, but enough for it to slowly eat away at my self worth. So often, I was deceived into thinking that I wasn’t good enough. I constantly believed what others labeled me as: too fat, too tall, too ugly, the list goes on and on. The labels stuck inside my head for so long, that I began to believe them myself.

 

90's Brooke.

Flash ahead several years. For so long I thought of myself in terms of how other people saw me, so when I got to a place where negative labels ceased, I had trouble figuring out who I was. It wasn’t until I learned to discover myself through the eyes of Our Lord that I found (or started to find) who I was designed to be. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still don’t have it all together. Who am I? I’m still trying to figure that out. But I do know who’s I am, and that has made all the difference. As I dove into God’s word and learned more about our Creator, I found myself becoming more and more confident in who I was, because true self-esteem comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2013 Brooke.

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling, there is no flaw in you.”

Song of Solomon 4:7 (NIV)

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            Last year, I was honoured with the position of designing and leading a girl’s empowerment group at a local pregnancy centre. When the position was initially offered to me, I almost declined. How could I teach girls about self-worth and loving themselves, when it’s something I’ve been struggling with for the past 21 years? But I must have had a mini brain lapse, because I said yes. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was terrified. But, in spite of that fear, I took this project to the Lord. I wanted Him to optimize this experience, not only for the girls, but for me as well. And did He ever?! I had three lovely teens (no, you didn’t misread…..there were 3 girls in my group) that signed in to do this 10 week journey with me. We may have been small in numbers, but we were mighty in power. At first I was disappointed that God only sent 3 girls my way, but in the end, it turned into a total blessing.

The Lord made something beautiful come out of those 10 weeks. He took all of the pain and ugliness I endured as a young kid, and turned it into something empowering for those girls. This experience was probably one of the most challenging in my life, but from what I got out of it, and what I hope the girls got out of it, it was definitely well worth it. The Lord is so good, so, so good. 

God makes things come full circle, and for that, I am truly thankful. 

true beauty.

        There is this video thats been trending on facebook these last few days. It's another video by the Dove Real Beauty Campaign. If you haven't seen it take a look now:

    

         Such a powerful video, right? 

       Our perception of beauty is so distorted;  especially our perceptions of ourselves. In fact, only 4% of w men believe themselves to be beautiful. Isn't that sad? I can hontesly admit that I am hard on myself; I am my own worst critic. We try to "compensate" by wearing fancy clothing, doing our hair, wearing make-up to make ourselves more beautiful to the world. But God [luckily] offers to us the importance of inner beauty over external looks.

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" 

Proverbs 31:30

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

1 Peter 3:3-4

We should always take comfort in knowing that we are made in God's image; his perfect image.

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling, there is no flaw in you."

Song of Solomon 4:7

You are more beautiful than you think.
(If you don't believe me - believe God!)

 

"Expert" Advice on Women

So who exactly are these experts?

These guys.

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No, I'm not kidding you.

\Well.....maybe "experts" is a strong term.

Ever heard of the tv show called Duck Dynasty? If not, you're missing out!

       Duck Dynasty is about a family down in West Monroe, Louisiana who made a multi-million dollar company making duck calls. They are hilarious rednecks who love the Lord. 'Nuff said.

And they have some wonderful jewels of wisdom for the gentleman seeking "womanly advice". 

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bahaha! They just kill me!

What am I watching as I write this? Why Season 1 of Duck Dynasty course!

If watching Duck Dynasty is wrong...I don't want to be right!



She gone!