At least its pretty.

Choosing joy even when there's still inches & inches of fresh snow and it is now March. 
At least it looks beautiful. 

Thankful Thursdays Part 2.

Once again I am linking up with Erin & Amy to share things we are thankful for. No matter what season life it in, thankfulness is so healing to the soul. 

This man. 

For all that this week has held, I have no words to describe the feelings behind it.

Except I am thankful.

&

For the precious words of some very beautiful souls in a dark world. They have touched my heart this week in ways they will never realise. 

'The One Piece of Advice I wish People Told Me Before I Got Married' - Jennifer Smith

'The Mythical They' - Jen Hatmaker

'Well Spent' - Nicole Neesby 

'The Sweetest Revenge' - Michelle Lazurek 

'Marriage isn't for you' - Seth Adam Smith

'Its ok to not be ok' - Erin James

'The World isn't about You and Love Still Wins' - Hannah Brencher

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Guy I know.

Happy Birthday to this gorgeous guy I get to do life with! 

I still can't believe you picked me at times. I'm thankful for the adventures we have been on, the growth we've had to walk through and the many years of more fun together.

You are my shoulder to cry on, my encouragement when feeling overwhelmed and the calm one in the relationship.

You make being a wife such a joy.

Hope it's a great day even if we are super busy this week! 

I love you! 

The ever-continuing Life Lesson.

I love this idea. I saw Kerrie write about it today and headed over to see what it was all about. The idea of writing every day for September. Not realistic at this point in life unfortunately but I love the idea of it. Since I had planned to share a little more personally today, I went ahead and went with today's prompt.

Blogtember Day 3. Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

I don't know that I would necessarily call it advice, more like something I have learned am learning. I don't know that I can classify it as something I always remember, but its something I hope to always remember.

I saw myself learning it when I first got to college and experienced heartache (more on that soon I promise, but here's what came before). I found myself falling flat on my face before a choice right after I was married. Then last year it was on my heart a few times here and here. There was a choice to be made, to choose to dwell on things and allow myself to fixate on what had been taken away from me by the Lord, or the choice to trust that He knows what He is doing, even when I think I know better.   

To choose contentment with where He has me.

I really do believe it is a choice. We won't overnight become those pretty girls that always look so happy, whose lives seem to be perfect in all the ways we hope for. The ones we see living our very own dreams. We all too easily fall into the habit of comparison and longing (I know I can!).
But I am beginning to think that each of us makes this choice daily. No-one's life is perfect, as evidenced by pop culture today and those in our generation that may have everything the world tells us we need. Money doesn't buy happiness, popularity doesn't seem like all its made out to be and trends soon die out before most of us may even be on board with what is currently 'in.'

But we can choose to be thankful. To embrace what the Lord has blessed us with and given to us, even for a season. Even if we are in the midst of a rough season, thankful He has given us a season of clinging to Him.

So I think the only information I would pass along today friends, is that. Contentment is a choice, one I am always trying to work towards. I know I always need a little more practice.
But somewhere in between the practice of rejoicing with others, seeking God's heart for others and crying out to Him when needed....I hope to learn it fully.

Contentment. 

Having a Presence. In Real Life.

I am going to stop apologizing for being absent here in this space. Every time I login I feel the need to say how sorry I am for not being here. But honestly, I'm not all that sorry. You see I have been making a choice for several months now. 
One that involves saying yes more. After reading this post by Casey Wiegand, this one by my sweet friend Brit and this one by sweet Nicole. All these beautiful ladies have voiced what I have been feeling the past few months and why being on here has just not fit in with the time I have available.


I have been saying yes more. To real life. To people the Lord has placed around me for the here and now. To those who I wanted to get to know more at our church but perhaps didn't have time because I was heading home to blog. To those trips we wanted to take and haven't been able to before. To time with my husband in the middle of our busy weeks. To the two precious babies who I care for during the week. I have been saying yes, to real life. 


Because one thing I have learned in my transitory life is that in a very short space of time, we could be living somewhere else and called to another place. And I don't want to miss the opportunities in this place. The times where I could be a part of the body of Christ physically. Part of a real life community with all its ups and downs, experiencing the messy parts together.
I love this online community, but I don't want it to replace my real life presence where the Lord has me. 


So I will (hopefully) stop apologizing. I will still be here in and out. Hopefully more than I have been lately. But for now....I am enjoying real life. Where God has placed me.
Experiencing family time with extended families which happens once a year or less.  

Much Love!

L

  

Niagara Falls.

Our summers have always been crazy, ever since we got married.

That's what happens when both your families live overseas and visit for a month at a time.

This is the week before families arrive and we are super excited to see everyone.

But realise that it will probably be really busy while everyone is in town.

So we took a little trip a couple weeks ago for some quality time together.

That super hot hubby of mine is pretty amazing in general, but also at finding sweet deals.

He was super sweet with this one as he knew I had wanted to go to Niagara Falls for a couple of years now. But for various reasons this trip had never happened.

So he found a groupon deal and we headed out after work one Friday to spend the night in Ontario.

We had such a great time, enjoying each others company and God's beautiful creation!

And well....that was a lot of water.

So I thought I would share some of our photos from our trip.

What's on your bucket list this summer, friends?

Much Love!

L

A Wonderful Mommy, A Birthday and A Purpose Project Completed.

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful Mommy!

I miss her very much as she is the other side of the world and I only see her a few times a year at most. 

She has taught me so much about love, life, faith, patience and relationships.

Walked me through some really tough seasons of life and been there for me to call day and night when I needed someone. 

She's awesome! And I am so thankful I am her daughter.

I apologize for not being around much here. To say life has been crazy is a little understatement.

Its as though life suddenly spun on its axis in the last month and I've been holding on for dear life.

We are moving this next week into our more permanent home (can I hear a unanimous woohoo!) so every spare moment is spent trying to pack our home again ready to move on Saturday. 

But this past Friday I celebrated a fun year with my gorgeous best friend and other half.

Birthday decorations. Free Starbucks. ManiPedi. DIY Magazine.

Dozen red roses. Walk near harbor. Dinner together.

Pretty perfect day. 

So thankful.

But while I'm updating.....

Here's how the Purpose Project 5k run went.

Our awesome team before the race. Not sure why I made a dorky pose haha.

My time for the race was even with my high school record.

So even though I didn't beat it. Thanks to this project I am at least back in shape again!

Which I couldn't be happier about. 

 Oh and just in case you were curious, the uni brow did wash off ;)

Although my hair still has a slight pink tint to it.

Much Love & THANKYOU so much to all my amazing sponsors!

L

Glorious Angel Moments.

I apologize for not being on top of the #GloriousAngelMoments posts for the last couple of weeks. There is a reason, but I will save my thoughts on the blogging schedule I had going for another post coming this next week :)

I am so thankful for each one of you readers, your interactions and support are what make this community here. And as thankful as I am for how much this little blog has grown, there are some changes in mind coming up. I'm excited and hoping this will help each of you grow in friendship with one another and really create an encouraging community here.

So anyway...moving on to the recap of the week, although some of these are from the last few weeks.
My biggest Glorious Angel Moment this week came in the form of a washer and dryer.

(apparently I felt the need to watermark our laundry appliances. Cause I'm sure someone will take that picture right?)

We weren't expecting to have these appliances while in this house. I had worked out a deal to do laundry while I worked. Yes, it was frustrating to take the laundry with me whenever I headed out but it worked well and it made sense. So when the hubby headed out last weekend to help a friend move, and came home with appliances that were just given to us. I was kinda surprised to say the least.
So these beautiful appliances are actually ours. About five years old and in amazing condition. Apparently the Lord felt like we should be blessed with our own washer and dryer. Not complaints from this girl :)
So thankful! And it might seem strange that something like laundry could be blessed by the Lord haha. But it is so true that you can do laundry and housework all for His glory :)

What way did you see the Lord in the little things this week?
Let me know by using the hashtag #GloriousAngelMoments.
(You can find me on instagram @GloriousWithin)

Here were some of the things shared by you sweet friends. 

Join us for the goings-on over on Instagram.

Much Love,

L

http://allgloriouswithin.storenvy.com/

Friday Favorites.

I may have decided to start using my Instagram account. Now I know how much fun everyones been having. 

If you would like to follow along...you can find me:

GloriousWithin

These have been some of my weekly favorites.

What are you guys enjoying?

Much Love,

L

10 Things I'm Thankful For.

1) Date nights with the hubby.

2) Starbucks now have their red cups out. Must be Christmas is almost here.

3) This amazing version of One Direction's song.

4) Nerdy glasses and time with my sister.

5) Turning this song up loud in the car while driving through rush hour traffic.

6) Twinkle Think time with a little friend.

7) Pretty nail colors in which to paint fingers and toes with.

8) New washers which look pretty enough to sit and just watch the clothes go round in.

9) A clean basement with lots of space. This week has been crazy busy with all kinds of house projects like painting walls, cleaning spaces and organising. The hard work is starting to pay off.

10) Quiet time on a Saturday afternoon.


Sorry for posting this a little late, this was yesterdays post =)

Much Love,

L

10 Things I'm Thankful For.

When Lisa from Momma's Me Time mentioned the new idea for a new post series called 10 Things I'm Loving, I knew I wanted to get on board. 

This series 31 days of Thankfulness has come to an end. See all the posts HERE.

I want to make sure this attitude continues after the series hits the archives and dust starts to gather.

The changes in the way I see each day now is remarkable. I may even continue to write about the idea behind the series with the posts.

It's as though I can finally see all the gifts the Lord gives, or a lot more of them anyway. 

So this week's 10 things:

1. Crockpot meals which help make a day productive.

{Via}

2. Pretty paper to make beads from.

{Etsy Store}

3. Wise words from a dear friend HERE.

4. Minion costumes from thrift store finds. (As in the guys from Despicable Me. See video if still not sure what in the world this is haha.)

5. Cute kids to be 'aunt'/'uncle' to.

6. Playing 'school' with Littlest Pet Shop with kiddos. The preschool class always cries for their mommy lol.

7. Designing cat costumes for the 'little black cat.' Also known as a kiddo.

8. Baked butternut squash looking shiny in the pan ready for dinner.

9. This encouraging scripture verse:

{Via}

10. Amazing books to read, like these ones.

What are you guys loving or thankful for this week?

Much Love,

L