cbs sharing day {5.9.13}

Praying over the day.

Mom did an AMAZING job decorating the CM tables.

YUM.

So many thank you notes...I should've been thanking THEM.

Today really was our last day...sharing day. Up until two years ago, I didn't come to sharing day, but the ones I have been able to come to I have loved. This year was obviously pretty dang full of memories and emotions since it would be the last one I'd be at. We were thanked for our work, got to hear some of the moms CBS testimonies, and eat some REALLY good food. And then it was over and I cried.

I was so blessed by this ministry, and will continue to be because I know that I'll still have these people in my life whenever I need prayer or a chat over a cup of tea (thank you second mom, Miss Beth!). All I can say is a huge THANK YOU to everyone at CBS, no matter if they were in the leadership or if they simply attended, and most of all to Him.

Onto a new chapter in life...kind of excited, kind of nervous. But I know that the foundation CBS gave me with help me through all of it.

cbs last day practice {4.25.13}

Mom watching 'her' homeschool kids practice.

Sweet feet that were so excited to be on stage.

I've said it before and I'll probably never stop saying it: watching the CBS kids praise Jesus brings me so much joy and makes me praise Him as well. Since this is the last time I'll see these kids practice before they get up on stage and sing for their mommies & daddies, it's even more special.

Man, I'm gonna miss this.

grace

Grace. It's a beautiful thing.

Until a couple days ago, that word was just a word to me. A word that I knew was something big in Christian faith. Sure, I was extended grace by many and tried (and failed) to extend it to others. I took grace for granted. After tonight, I won't ever take it for granted again.

Kaley and I were oh so late to our last day of babysitting. We stayed late, obviously, and had a total toy bomb gone off to clean up. Most of the moms picked up their kids and were hurrying to get home since the Bible study was late getting out (our fault) and we looked at the mess we had to clean up. One of the moms walked in and started helping us.

We told her she didn't have to, we were late anyways, etc. We apoligized. She said "No need girls. There is grace, grace for all." I love her and almost cried because I felt so loved when I was the one to blame for being late. I didn't deserve the grace.

Then tonight happened. I was being mean and digusting myself with my human emotions because I was being bitter and harsh on others. I chatted with a friend and she told me she loved me. I was being less than friendly to her, dumping all my problems on her. I apoligized for being such a meanie, and she said "Sarah-Anne, there is grace. I am extending grace to you because I LOVE YOU."

I cried. I don't deserve God's love, my family and friend's love, and for sure don't deserve the grace they all extend. It's so overwhelming, and so comforting. Anytime someone says "Oh it's okay, don't worry about it!" that's grace being extended.

Grace. It's a beautiful thing.

purity ring

Remember when I mentioned I had purchased something on Etsy a couple Hello Mondays back? It came last Saturday. And "it" was my purity ring, purchased from DonnaODesigns!

I had been searching for a purity ring for awhile now...and the reason it took so long was I didn't want it to be the typical purity ring. I wanted it to be just a ring that symbolized what my single years meant to me. Therefore, that a ring that wasn't really considered a purity ring. Fast forward to ye ol' days of browsing Pinterest and I found this ring. Fast forward a couple months and I had enough monies to buy it. So I did!

Simple gold box and business card. Love.

Yep, it's on my right hand. My left ring finger is for my wedding ring only...just preference is all. I'm also that girl that wears her watch on her right arm.

Guys. It's so amazing. Inside it says now & forever (WITH an actual ampersand), which means a lot to me personally because I am a patient person. Normally. But I can't help but wonder what my future husband is doing right now and I find it pretty hard to be patient for the X amount of years I'll be single. Now all I have to do it twist that ring around my finger and I know God's in control.

Give DonnaODesigns some love...check out her Etsy shop here!

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Speaking of things I received in the mail, my sweet VA friend Emily sent me one of her gorgeous photos in the mail this week! Thanks girl!

Hangin' out on my beside table until I can get it a frame of it's own.

like vs. love

Remember Blimey Cow? If so, proceed. If not, then get thee to this post, then click through to YouTube and watch the hilariousness that it Jordan and his take on life. If you have been introduced to this something funny, sometimes rude, but always true video series, read on.

Love. It's a word that as SUCH a powerful meaning...that is overused in today's culture. Just watch this video. It rings true.



What do I like vs. love? Well, I'm glad you asked.

I like...food. Movies. Dance parties. My Bruno Mars Pandora station. Day trips up to Fuquay. Laughing so hard I snort. Yep, I snort. I'm also crazy about Instant Netflix, blankets, clean sheets, Dr. Pepper, and fires. 

I love...My family, friends, God, the Doctor and Peeta. Those things are the ONLY things that deserve such a strong word.OK, maybe not the last two. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day, readers. I hope your day was filled with the things you like & the people you love.

the wedding feast.

Marriage has been on my brain lately. And no, it's not because I've been browsing Pinterest...OK, maybe a little. But the main reason is because every Bible study (CBS and WOL) I am involved in has been teaching me about the wedding feast in heaven. I firmly believe that my wedding is going to be a PARTAY (capital everything, obvi)...no monkey suits for my hubby. There will be dancing, good food, the guests will not be forgotten, and just a general sense of celebration that we're married. That's cause enough to have a good time.

At CBS, all the classes had a wedding celebration (they were learning about Jesus' first miracle at the wedding where he turned water into wine) and the little 1 year olds even had cupcakes. I died from the cuteness. I saw the wedding pictures that one of the teachers and immediately went over what I was thinking about for my wedding colors.

Baby hands covered in frosting...you should've seen their precious faces.

Then, at WOL on Sunday, we talked about the wedding feast we'll have when we we get to heaven. I paid attention and even took notes, but my mind wandered again to my wedding. It didn't help we watch the infamous wedding dance YouTube video and there where plenty of bride/groom pictures in the hand book.

If I think MY wedding is gonna be fun, I can't WAIT to get up to heaven and have a celebration with Jesus that will blow my mind.

regeneration 2012

Remember Regeneration? Yeah, that. PS Pleaseee do not look at those pictures, just read the words. I can't believe I even posted such blurry photos but it was before I ever took my camera off of Auto. Ah well, you live & you learn. It was my first experience with the WOL youth group here in my town. After going to Regeneration, I started attending WOL and it's been the best thing that ever happened to me. For serious.




And the best part?! It's happening again this year, just a three weeks from today. If you'd like to come, let me know & I will get you a FREE ticket. FREE, people. In addition to hearing great music, you can see us running around the gym like crazy people...because we are. We're crazy about our Savior.

Wanna learn more about it? Check out their FB page. 

new year and all that.

Peoples. It's 2012. But I'm sure you already knew that. ::whispers:: Because...ya know, the world's supposed to end and everything?! Nahhh, I'm just teasing ya. I like to joke about the end of the world, remember?

If the world really IS gonna end this year, I want to do some stuff. Like, bungee jump and all that. Nope, kidding again. I hate heights. But I really do want to challenge myself in some areas of my life, so here's my list of things to do in 2011.

{1} Do a Project 365 blog. I know, how cliche of me. But really, I'm the person they had in mind when they invented P365; I go days without taking a picture then end up taking 100 over the weekend and photobomb my readers. Therefore, a picture a day is my solution. I think it's going to be so awesome to see not only my photo skills evolve, but see my year in pictures.

{2} Challenge myself in my youth group. Something you might not know about me since you're never met me IRL is that I'm deathly afraid of doing things in public. I hate doing sports when people other than my family is watching, I almost pass out when I speak at WOL, and I can't even imagine singing in front of someone, although my shower head is my biggest fan.

I want to not be afraid & kick a soccer ball even if I flat on my backside, to share what God's been doing in my life without my voice cracking & breaking out into a cold sweat, and sing my heart out up on stage. I feel like God's calling me to challenge myself in these areas, & I know I can do it.

{3} Do a WOL QT every day (on time!) and have a word of the day relating to the devo as well. OK, so the QT a day thing is probably unattainable, but the WOTD per QT is going to happen. It's something that started at camp...we'd think of what the QT meant to us personally and summarize it to just one word then write it on our hand to remind us what we learned about God that day. I fell off the wagon when we got back from camp (HA) but with the new year I'm going to start again!

 That's it. Three simple things that I know I can stick with...that's not to say I'm not going to accomplish other things but these are the ones I want you, my readers, to keep me accountable on.

And, since I love Doctor Who/David Tennat (ohhh, DT), I'll leave you with a little parting gift...

Pea ess: I cried when he said this. To know why, you HAVE TO watch Doctor Who. No exceptions.

Oh yes, it's gonna be a great year indeed.

worship music wednesday

Ya'll. This is probably my most favorite Christmas song EVER. I heard it on the radio yesterday for the first time this season and basically cried. Yes, I'm emotional and no, I'm not sorry for getting choked up about my Savior coming to Earth as a little baby.



Even though you can clearly understand the words, I'm posting the lyrics because I think they stand alone and tell a story without the music.

Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath
I don`t know what to say when I look in your eyes
You made the world before I was born
Here I am holding you in my arms tonight
Noel, noel, Jesus our Emmanuel

You`re here, I`m holding you so near
I`m starring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
You could`ve left us on our own, but you`re here
 

Don`t know how long I`m gonna have you for
But I`ll be watching when you change the world
I look at your hand, they`re still so small
Someday you`re going to stretch them out and save us all
Noel, noel, God with us Emmanuel

You`re here, I`m holding you so near
I`m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
They could`ve left us on our own, but you`re here you`re here
someday I`m gonna look back on this
 

The night that God became a baby boy
Someday you're gonna go home again,
But you leave your spirit and flood the world with joy

You`d be here, I`m holding you so near
I`m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator
They could`ve left me on my own, but you`re here you`re here
Hallelujah you`re here hallelujah
You`re here 

Happy Wednesday readers! I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas season so far.

happy birthday Simply Sarah-Anne!

Wow, time flies doesn't it? Seems like just yesterday I was pulling together Etsy sellers & writing up the giveaway posts for my first blogoversary celebration, waiting in anticipation to see who won what giveaway. But in reality, that was a year ago and you're 2 now. So, happy birthday Simply Sarah-Anne! Here's to many more blogoversaries over the coming years. 

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Yes, I just wrote a birthday post on my blog FOR my blog and yes, I realize that I do the same thing with human friends. I'm certifiably crazy and you can commit me to the mental institution now.

But, this blog connects me to my human (blogging) friends and I'm so grateful for that. Simply Sarah-Anne is like that mutual friend that introduced you and your best friend. Through my blog I've met so many inspiring, Christian, gorgeous (Yes, I just pulled the beauty card, but I seriously follow all the blogs that have the prettiest authors out there.) bloggers. Is it possible to be in debt to something that's not alive? Because I am forever in debt to my blog for leading me to all these wonderful ladies.


This blog means friendship to me and through that I'm encouraged on a daily basis, both in my walk with Christ and life in general. I hope it means the same to you and my readers stick around for another year...and another and another and another. 

In addition to the friends I've made, I've grown as a writer and challenged myself in so many ways. From my photography (I bought a DSLR and just this year, switched to shooting in all Manual), outfits (I used to wear blah stuff over and over again no matter what), and projects (like i said, inspiring people inspire you) I've grown so much. Call it peer pressure, but it works for me...seeing someone else do something so I can take the plunge and do it yourself.


So, happy birthday to Simply Sarah-Anne. Here's to many more friendships to be made and blog posts to be written!

STORM 2011

Last Friday Word of Life had one of the two main events of the year: STORM. It was so amazing to say the least. The whole premise is to bring our unsaved friends to a meeting...without really saying it was a Christian gathering. No, we didn't LIE to them! We told them that there were going to be games {true}, singing {true; it was WOL praise songs}, and a speaker {also true; Tom Phillips delivered a great message}. And there was 50 lbs of ice cream involved for after the speaker. 

Once we ate & had watched THE MOST cheesiest intro video to everything you needed to know about STORM, it was off to find a driver and go pick up your friends you had been praying about asking to come.

sign-in table. 

Margaret Katherine, Sam & Jack {camp friends}, and I stayed behind since we didn't have anyone to go pick up so we got to hang out with Rekindled and watch them set up.

Kinda loving the effect my pictures get when I lay my camera on the floor and snap away. What do you think?

I also took pictures of my crazy friends.

Say HI Rachel! 

MK and Emmylou. Are they scared of me & my camera? Methinks so. 

Rachel named her pet monkey after me. I was honored.

Blog readers, meet Jack. He's not very photogenic {as you can see}...I'm not sure our friendship will last. Kidding, kidding. He steals my camera every now and then so at least he's not totally allergic to the sound the shutter makes. Most of my pictures of him turn out like this...

...but sometimes I catch him being goofy just like the guy he is... 

..and sometimes I get his brother to bully him into taking a semi-decent picture of him with his "sister"...

This pictures does not do either of them justice but it's the best I have of 'em. 

Told ya we had games!

I love how Lauren and her friend matched. I also love how beautiful they are! 

This was the sweetest thing...this guy had to be, like, 17 and he picked the littlest guy to play air hockey with. Adorable. 

More people! 

I stink at cornhole...just ask Jack. Thus, I took pictures instead of actually playing it. I think everyone was glad I decided to do that.

SO MANY PEOPLE. Ok, so there probably weren't as many people there as I though there were. But still, lots of people. 

I have no clue who these people are but I thought it was too great a photo op to pass up.

I think it was at this point that MK grabbed me & Erika saying we were going to pick up one of her friends. As in, 10 mins before it was supposed to start. Sure, we were late getting back but it was totally worth it.

The ensemble was AMAZING guys! Like, really amazing. I sang my heart out and I'm pretty sure Erika's ears were bleeding from listening to me. I'm a bad singer like that.

See?! There was ice cream. We're not lying.

Catherine & Kaley. 

Darcy, MK's friend that we ran out to get. She's awesome. 

photo by Jack.

She licked the bowl when no one else had the confidence too. 

PHOTO FAIL by Jack.

Me and my bestie {photo by Jack}

Next up? Rengeration. Get ready guys because it's gonna be AWESOME.