tidbits of life.

lucky charms and boomer. she has been sleeping in my bed lately. willingly. the end of the world is near, y'all.

morning nature walk. good for the soul.

i kinda like mcd's iced coffee. i've won free breakfast sammiches and smoothies. score! 

yes, i have to set 4 alarms. yes, i am still late sometimes.

bits of autumn.

starting a new scarf this week. the color is so pretty!

over the weekend.

5 activities:
- almost caught my tush on fire. my seat warmers are messed up. when i turned them on, my car started smelling like smoke. eek!
- went to revival. what a great week of getting my toes stepped on and shins kicked by the pastor's awesome sermons.
- watched hard work pay off. my mama has lost 30 pounds! 
- had a dance party in my pajamas while waiting for my coffee in the mcd's drive thru. and people wonder why i'm still single.
- rode along with mama and bubba to perkins. it was just a short trip to pick up some things, but it was fun to talk, laugh, and drink coffee with two people i love.

4 lessons i learned:
- always say thank you, even if the task at hand was menial.
- "a fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back." proverbs 29:11.
- sometimes a moment needs to be quietly enjoyed and etched in our memory without instagramming, tweeting, or facebooking it.
- people often mistake my lack of talking for quietness. in reality, i'm a very observant person. i tend to notice the oddest things. i love people-watching.

3 things i'm thankful for:
- fall when it actually feels like fall.
- my salvation.
- kitty cuddles.

2 things i'm currently diggin':
- the live penguin cam at seaworld in san diego. three words: OH. MY. GOODNESS. right now, there is a guy walking around with a bucket of fish, feeding them. they're eagerly waddling up to him, and it's the most precious thing ever. i'd quit my job for two reasons: (1) to open my own coffee shop. (2) to walk around with a bucket of fishies and feed penguins.
- i can't even think of anything else because i'm too busy looking at adorable penguins waddle around.

1 quote from something i read:

"in the garden, we substituted ourselves for God. on the cross, God substituted himself for us." 

[mark driscoll]

sunday school: lessons from the flood.

tidbits of life.

pumpkin spice cupcake. i'll let you in on a little secret: that's a walmart bakery cuppycake. God bless the walmart bakery.

my newest favorite game app, letterpress.

frost on my car.

totally diggin' t-swift's new album. 22 is my faaavvv.

1 thessalonians 5:16.

fall sighting. this cooler weather is wonderful.

beautiful morning glories. they are becoming one of my favorites. can't wait to plant some in the spring!

frosty clover.

idea from here.

80 degrees. sunroof open. windows down. music blaring. amen.

sometimes after a long day, you just need to let your hair down and cruise with the windows down, music up.

 it feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters and make fun of our exes. tswizzle

fyi: i was not actually instagramming & driving.

oh, geez. not another political post.

this is not a political rant.
this is not a post to bash either candidate.
this is not another political post to sway you on who to vote for president.

this is me, being straight up with you, simply asking you to do one important action: VOTE.
read up on each candidate. decide which one you like best.
at this point, i realize you might not like either.
but that is not a reason to not vote.

every single day, our men and women fight for our freedom; die for our freedom.
choosing not to vote means our troops are fighting and dying in vain.
and that is not okay with me. not at all.

voting is a right as an american citizen.
you get to research and make your very own decision on who YOU cast your ballot for.
if you don’t vote, i feel you have no right to voice your opinion because you didn’t actively try to make a difference.

all i’m asking is to exercise your right to vote.
we live in the land of the free because of the brave.
their sacrifices allow us to live in the greatest country in the world.


and while i’m being honest:
re-electing or electing a man into the white house isn’t what our nation needs.
this country needs to turn back to Jesus, plain and simple.

over the weekend.

 you guys, boomer has been sleeping in my bed. the end is near.

 

hedgeapple // PENGUIN CRACKERS.

found some things my grandma gracie had crocheted. she was so creative. 

it's nice to have these little reminders of her.

5 activities i did over the weekend:
- i finally found out what has been growing on the tree across from our land! i have been wondering what it was for months.
- did some peaceful thinking and talking to the Lord while sitting on the bank of the pond.
- had an extra day off. i have a great boss. :)
- 3 heavenly words: sunday afternoon nap.
- went to the first night of revival at church and left totally convicted. you know it's a good night when you're stomach hurts from laughing so much and your hand hurts from taking so many good notes from the sermon. i heart revival.

4 lessons i learned:
- when you set an alarm on saturday, make sure it's not the sunday alarm. sunday alarms don't go off on saturday.
- life is crazy, messy, hard, and beautiful all at the same time.
- i really like poetry. (not a lesson, but something i discovered)
- i want to be a better friend. not that i think i'm a bad friend; i just want to be better.

3 things i'm thankful for:
- the Word. it's a love letter and a never-ending book of knowledge.
- keepsakes from loved ones.
- the ability to read and write. so often we take those things for granted.

2 things i'm currently diggin':
- this post by leslie at top of the page.
- old school third day songs. so much reminiscing when i listen to their music.

1 quote from something i read:

"for the likes of men, fame is too heavy a burden to bear, 

but for You, God... well it suits You just fine. 

i was made to make You famous."

-mike donehey. 

the girl behind the lens.

she sees the good in the bad and beauty where others see junk.

she exercises for the sole purpose of eating chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream practically every night.

she has a past that she's not proud of, but a future she's certain of.

her mama is her best friend.

if spotting flowers in the most random of places were an olympic sport, she'd win the gold.

she wears hoodies in the summer and drinks iced coffee in the winter.

she loves Jesus with all her heart.
His love humbles, sustains, and comforts her.
He is her one true Love.

she secretly wants to be a female christian rapper.
she also dreams of opening her own coffee shop.

her heart has been through the ringer with guys.
she doesn't trust easily.
and she won't ever, ever settle.

sweet tea runs through her veins.

her life doesn't fit into society's definition of success.
and she's content with the path she's on because she follows Jesus, not worldly expectations.

she second-guesses herself quite often, but when she makes her mind up about something, heaven help us.

she can quote almost every line from transformers or one tree hill.

if drinking coffee and reading a book were a means to make a living, she'd be the CEO of the company.

she hyperventilates at the sight of anything to do with penguins.

her favorite place in the entire world is the pasture of her family's land.
it's in that acreage where she dreams big dreams, photographs nature, dances without inhibition, ponders life, and talks with Jesus.
she's a bonfire on a cool fall night, a blooming flower in the spring, a tall glass of lemonade on an oklahoma summer day.

she is fiercely dedicated to the troops and their selfless sacrifices.


she is amber.
the girl who is shy, but will give her honest, blunt opinion if asked.
the small town oklahoma girl.
the awkward yet awesome girl who thinks her jokes are way more hilarious than they actually are.
the girl who wants to make a difference and inspire others to see beauty in humble places.

He will be found in the beauty of creation.

He will be found in the beauty of creation and within the pages of His Word.

as we seek God, we will discover His will, His plans, and His blessings in new found strength as we face adversity, 

and in the comfort of His presence as we communicate with Him in prayer. 

[proverbs 31 ministries]

 

over the weekend.

5 activities i did over the weekend:
- finished crocheting my first scarf. and then a second one!
- saw a rainbow and got soaked trying to take a picture of it.
- enjoyed a full day of no makeup, top knot hair, and jammies.
- chased a butterfly for 15 minutes just to get a picture. it was fun until the kamikaze bees also wanted their picture taken.
- watched the season premiere of my favorite show, the walking dead.

4 lessons i learned:
- any kind of article or video with a touching story WILL make me cry. if it involves a soldier coming home, the tears don't stop.
- pretty girls with dirty mouths aren't so pretty. cursing doesn't make you awesome, sweetie.
- when you say you're gonna do something, DO IT. if you don't wanna do it, then don't say you'll do it. end of story.
- it's time for me to simplify my life. (more on this later)

3 things i'm thankful for:
- old pictures with good memories.
- finding something you thought you lost.
- discovering the leak in my closet before it soaked everything.

2 things i'm currently diggin':
- crocheting. it's so relaxing and fun.
- waking up early and talking to my parents before the daily activities begin. i'm not a morning person, but those moments make me want to try.

1 quote from something i read:
"nothing in this world — people, things, circumstances — can take your joy because the world didn’t give you that joy; Jesus did."

this is actually something i wrote on my tumblr.

over the weekend.

5 activities i did over the weekend:
- payed for a stranger's meal. i've always wanted to do it, and the opportunity arose while at starbucks!
- enjoyed the smell of turning the heater on for the first time.
- switched my closet from summer to fall/winter.
- broke out the fall boots.
- baked pumpkin spice cookies with white chocolate chips.

4 lessons i learned:
- i think it's okay to say what's on your mind, but make sure the delivery of your opinion is nice.
- research a book before you buy it. aka, make sure it's not laced with profanities. (ps: what is the point of using curse words? so unnecessary).
- being stuck in a photography rut isn't necessarily a bad thing. to discover new beauty is good for the soul.
- older people need to feel needed. throughout their adult lives, they have taken care of their spouse, children, etc. we shouldn't forget to let them know we still need them and their wisdom, even if they aren't as sharp as they used to be.

3 things i'm thankful for:
- having a warm bed to sleep in.
- taco soup on a chilly day.
- kind words.

2 things i'm currently diggin':
- feedly. it's an app that lets you have google reader at your fingertips. this has saved me a lot of time.
- kelly needham's bible studies. ladies, kelly is the real deal. her heart for the Lord motivates me to dive deeper into scripture and strive to know my Savior more.

1 quote from something i read:

"anything you feel you need to be happy besides Jesus is an idol."

"the myth of 'the one'" by kelly needham.

sunday school, weeks 10 & 11.

i had good intentions of posting last week's sunday school lesson, but procrastination got the best of me.
so now you get 2 sunday school recaps. :)


WEEK 10:

jonah and the whale.

memory verse:

 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." 

-psalm 46:1.

to help them learn their memory verse, i had them go "fishing".

now i realize that you can't actually catch a whale with a fishing pole, but i told them to have a big imagination.

when i originally had this idea, i was worried they would think it was too "baby-ish", but they never cease to surprise me.

they loved this game and ended up standing on a chair to make it harder to "catch" the whales.

because jonah and the whale is a story that kids usually learn at a younger age, i asked the boys to tell me their version of jonah and the whale by acting it out. this was comical. their reenactments were hilarious. but i wanted to go deeper into the story by showing them how we can learn valuable life lessons from jonah.

jonah 1:1-3. 

the Lord told jonah to go to ninevah, which was 500 miles from his hometown. that would be about a month-long journey to get to ninevah. i asked the boys to give me several examples of why they think jonah ran. 

• he was scared.
• he didn't want to travel that far.
• he had other plans.
• he knew how wicked ninevah was.
• he was lazy.

jonah wasn't running from his assignment, he was running from God.

jonah 1:4-10.
in this passage, we see that God caused a great storm. jonah knew the storm was happening because of him.

jonah 1:11-17.
picture this: you're on a boat. a rough storm blows through. some crazy dude who's been sleeping claims that throwing him overboard will calm the storm. what would you say/do? i asked the boys that question, and they said they would think he was crazy.

ultimately, they threw jonah overboard and a great fish swallowed him. he was in the fish for 3 days and 3 nights.

chapter 2 is jonah's prayer to God while he is in the fish. can you imagine being in a large fish? like, gross.
after running as far away from God as he could, jonah hit rock bottom and had nowhere else to turn.
i love what he says in verse 8: "those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."


we can learn some valuable lessons from jonah.

• you can't escape God.
• running from God makes the situation worse.
• God's plan for us is better than any plan we could have for ourselves. 
• faith is taking a step in the direction God wants you to go, even if you can't see the whole path.

while i read the story to the boys, i gave them pipe cleaners to make a whale.
they had a lot of fun with this project. here is one of the boys' whales:

he even made jonah in the whale! 

--------------------------------------------------------

WEEK 11:

this week's lesson was about the creation, as requested by the boys.

memory verse:

"in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

-genesis 1:1.

genesis 1:1-2.
God created the heavens and the earth. nothing or no one, except God, existed before creation. the boys, like myself, cannot comprehend that God has always been here. as humans, we have the mindset of a beginning and an end. that's always been something that i thought was astounding and beautiful all at the same time.

creation:
day 1: day and night. (vv. 3-5)
day 2: the sky. (vv. 6-8)
day 3: sea, dry ground, vegetation. (vv. 9-13)
day 4: sun, moon, stars. (vv. 14-19)
day 5: fish and birds. (vv. 20-23)
day 6: land animals and humankind. (vv. 24-31)
day 7: God rested. (ch. 2, vv. 1-3) 

one of the boys asked why God rested.
"when God rested, he endorsed all of creation. there was nothing more to do. the sabbath was intended to celebrate God's finished work; the seventh day would be set apart as holy and dedicated to the Creator, who also rested." -nlt study bible.

the bible teaches us that

• God created the heavens and the earth.
• God created everything from His word or from the earth.
• God said that His creation was 'very good'. 

genesis 2:7 & 22.
God created adam from the dust of the earth and eve from adam's rib.
they thought that was cool and gave me the visual and sound effect of God putting punching his fist into adam's side to get his rib.  
oh, boys will be boys.

while i taught the lesson, the boys made a "creation diorama" using play-doh, stickers, and pipe cleaners.

there was a penguin on the play-doh box. i mentioned how cool it was.

next thing i know, one of the boys MADE ME A PENGUIN.

i could've cried tears of joy. (the kid has some serious talent)

i informed him that he could take his diorama home, but had to leave the penguin. :)

one.

happy birthday to my little blog!

on this day, last year, i started writing in my own little corner of the internet.

i feel as though i've found my voice, silent for so long out of fear of what others might think. 

but it's okay to have an opinion that's not popular. it's okay to be open and honest. it's okay to be me.

thank you so much to those who read {beauty in humble places}.

your comments and kind words mean so much more than you will know.

here's to another year of finding beauty in humble places.