dande.lions.

Oh that lovely verdant carpet stretched across my land

Clovers and dandelions

 

Saluting the sweet bees with landing pads

I want to dance in that sunlight

Quivering in the white fuzz

 

Forgetting all harms and forbidden causes   

- G E Barr

much love♥♥

Day 4- A favorite band

There are many bands that I really like but there are a few that I love. Switchfoot is one of them.

this group is truly amazing. they have such beautiful hearts and music.

their lyrics speak right to my heart. each song centers around Christ.

they have slower and thoughtful songs then upbeat and fun ones. 

the guys are awesome. i have an honest respect and admiration for them.

they have a funky fabulous true style

i saw them in concert a few months ago and they were amazing to say the least. i would give a lot to see them again.

"What do we really want to say to the world? Three main themes. The inability to find completion in our modern society, the inability to find completion within ourselves, and the new way to be human in what Christ offers us -- His love and His perfect plan of redemption for us."--Jon Foreman 

I have this poster on my wall and i love it :)

here are 2 of my favorite songs by them. enjoy lovelies :) 

 ~Samarah

*fun side note*
the other day my 8 y.o. sister said that Jon Foreman {lead singer} has a beautiful face. can i say she has good taste? ;)

gluten free girl,what I'm listening to and blog design!

 {yes I keep adding songs after I published it ;)}

wow, February 1st is tomorrow! Wasn't it just January 1st? well I really want to be in good health by birthday at the end of this month. the best gift I could receive would be my health. and I'm going to work hard to do that. I'm not making any promises but i will try. and I took the first step towards that today!

Today I officially became a gluten free girl :) and its feeling great!

(soon I'll be doing some blog posts about going gluten free, recipes etc.)

I haven't done a "What I'm Listening To" post in a long time! :/ my bad...anyway, here's whats rockin' my world ;)
(I'm not going to post the videos on here but I'll post the link to the video)

ok seriously I'll stop adding songs ;) 

love love love this song!! such a catchy song and its an awesome song to start your day off with! i am posting the video to this one because its soo good! please take a listen :D 

No Plan B by Manafest

I'm not a huge fan of Manafest and some of his songs are a bit too much but I like this one. it really applies to my life right now. I have changes I need to make and I'm not looking back :] 

music video here

Closer by Shawn McDonald
I've heard this song a lot on Air1 and its been stuck in my head for past few days. and its such a good song so I think I'm gonna buy it so it can be stuck in my head all the time ;) this is my prayer-

{chorus}

I just want to be closer to you

I just want to be closer, I am yours

You can have all of me anything, everything

I just want to be closer

listen to it and see the lyrics here

Echo of Love by An Epic No Less
ok seriously. this is one beautiful song. this is what I want my life to be. an echo of love. Go here to watch the music video.

{chorus}

I hear an echo of love
We are the echo of love
I feel an echo of love
We are the echo of love

{verse 2}
You are the strength when we are weak
You are the breath inside of me
You are the love that pierces hearts
You are the light thats shown into our darkest parts

A powerful song right?!

This is the Stuff by Francesca Battistelli

a fun, catchy song and oh so true :)

listen and see the lyrics here

Outcast by Kerrie Roberts 

kinda reminds me of Jesus Freak by dcTalk. same idea, I don't care if people cast me out because I know who I am in Christ. Let no one stop you from loving Christ with all your heart and living for Him :) 

video with lyrics here

Ground Zero by Mr. Talkbox{aka Byron Chambers}

sadly there isn't video or anything for this song. so you can only listen to it by hearing it on the radio or buying it. its such a good song and I gave in and bought it ;) which is saying a lot because I don't spend itunes money on any 'ole song! ;)

Hope you check out those songs and enjoy them :)

Also, I'm working with Lulu from Polka Dot Blog Design on a new look for my blog! so be on the look out :)

Hope you are having a nice start to the week :)

with love,

Samarah

and I'm proud to say that there a quite a few of you that are cheering for my Packs! thank you very much ;]

something is going on right here in the USA and it breaks my heart....

Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery. When I first heard of it, I thought it only happened in other countries, Africa, Mexico, India etc. But its not. Its right here in the United States, the land of the"free". 100,000 to 300,000 people exploited in America every year. Its the fastest growing illegal trade. Its a horrid nightmare that is reality and life for the enslaved women and children. that's right-children. I have 2 younger siblings, 5 y.o. brother and 8 y.o. sister and my heart breaks just thinking about what precious little kids are forced to do. These people are crying out for help and we need to take a stand. We can help to stop it.
Did you know that we can use the Superbowl has a platform to increase awareness of trafficking and slavery and decrease the demand for it?? well neither did I until I watched this video by Natalie Grant and Tenth Avenue North. please take a few mins and watch it. it will open up your eyes and who knows, maybe God will use you to help stop it :) 


Untitled from Deena Graves on Vimeo.

Charity Anne at Footprints in the Sand is having a giveaway to raise awareness of this issue. To read more about how you can help go her blog post here. 

She is giving away The Freedom Cd featuring tobyMac, Natalie Grant, Sara Groves, Jon Foreman and more.The artists united for International Justice Mission.

Click here to enter!

Now if you feel like you can't actively do something right now,pray. pray for the captors, the enslaved people, and those who are working to rescue those people.

with love,

Samarah

Confessions

Confession- I hate bananas. I've never liked them.they.are.disgusting. end of story. 

Confession- I really want a NFL Jersey. either a Packers, Bengals or Vikings one. But they are so expensive!! I'm hoping to use my birthday money to buy one.

                 

Confession- I don't like Chick-Fil-A. I know its shocking. The last time I ate their food, I was so sick. But I love the fries. and I really like the service and the music they play. I have nothing against the idea of Chick-Fil-A, its the food. 

Confession-  I haven't posted pictures of My Animal {aka Frodo}in forever!! here's a recent one :)

Confession- I've been struggling reading my Bible everyday

I read a few verses yesterday but wasn't able to do the whole chapter. I really need to make it a priority to get into the Word everyday. But it is difficult and honestly most days I don't feel like sitting down and reading or I say to myself, I'm too busy or I'll do it later. I know I need to do it and I pray that God would give me diligence and perseverance. He will give me circumstances that test those things. and I know it will be hard. but its something I need to work on. 

Confession- I love these quotes: 

 

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

 -Audrey Hepburn

"You can't live for God until you learn how to live because of God. And you can't go and make good choices for God until you understand the gospel that says the choices you make don't make you who are, what Christ has done for you makes you who you are." Mike Donehey



If you have anything to confess, go ahead. it feels good.

with love,

Samarah

Winter Snow

We got some snow during the weekend and since its been a while since I've posted pictures, I thought I'd take some snow pics just for you :)

I posted a song by Audrey Assad a while ago here about her song Restless. Audrey Assad's lyrics are just beautiful. and I mean that.(and she is gluten free, I think that is so neat! :)

Her songs are so calming and thought provoking to me. I hadn't really listened to her since I had posted about her song but during Christmas I heard about her song Winter Snow and I just had to check it out. Lemme just say is an amazing song. please take a listen:

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
with all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
with the power of heaven in your flame

Chorus
But you came like a winter snow
quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
to the earth below

and check out this song!! its my new favorite :)



Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great start to the new week!

with love,

Samarah

oh yeah and great job Packers!! (even though I really don't like you guys' colors!) :)

Confessions

I was inspired by the lovely Carlotta to do a Confessions post. I'm not perfect and I want to be real about my life and myself :)

confession- I feel like crud today. I woke up around 11:30 this morning, feeling terrible. ugh

confession- I'm really failing my "working out everyday" and "eating gluten free"New Years Resolutions.

I haven't worked out since Friday and I've eaten more food with gluten in it than food that's gluten free.I'm.so.unmotivated. and that ice cream was really good ;)

confession-I really love my skinny jeans.When they first became popular, I said to my family and friends, I will never wear those! they are hideous.(skinny jeans are "tightest" jeans i will wear, jeggings are over the top) but when SarahLynn was visiting, we went shopping with my mom because I was in dire need of jeans and I just tried on a pair of skinny jeans for laughs. but the more I had them on, the more i liked them! they weren't skin tight, if they were tight there's no way they would passed the Dad test ;) and they make look more slender which is nice ;) I wear them 3-5 days out of the week. you should really try them :) 

confession- twitter my 3rd favoritest online hangout. You can find me at @overcome1496. my tweets are protected and I'm trying to keep my followers, people that I know fairly well either through blogger or in real life. so if I don't know you through through blogging or real life and basically you're a stranger wanting to read my personal tweets, sorry no can do. 

confession- I love Carrie Underwood's There's a Place for Us from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. love.it. Its such a beautiful song and Carrie's voice is one of the best and powerful voices out there. seriously go on itunes and buy it. 

confession- As I read other girl's blogs I sometimes feel like my blog is so small and well boring. I know I'm not supposed to compare my blog to others but I do and I am. I mean, some of these girls have like 200 followers and get 25 comments per post. I'm not all saying that I'm not thankful for my followers and comments, I love you all and love your comments! but I still feel like my blog is blah. Is there something I'm missing?? Do you girls feel like my blog is boring? Are there subjects that I could post about more? please be honest :)

confession- My room needs some organizing. Going into the 2011 school year with an organized room with be great. but I really don't want to go through my school books,notebooks,papers,ring binders etc. and throw away old stuff etc. I wish I was Mary Poppins and I could just snap my fingers and everything would have a place and my room would be clean.

confession- Etsy is dangerous. seriously it sucks you in. There are so many cute and lovely things to look at. 

Confession- I really want to like Taylor Swift.

 

and she does have a few songs that I enjoy and she's "ok". but most of her songs are about boys, breakups, you belong with me, yada yada etc. I don't my head filled with those type of songs, not that they're bad but they're about young love, crying because of a broken heart and then maybe getting revenge on a boy that broke your heart or something. I really like her voice and the way she writes her lyrics but I wish she would write more songs not about boys and love. Because I really want to like Taylor Swift.

Confession- I love history, I especially love the World Wars and the Depression.

 

I love reading and learning more about the Depression. I know that my sound mean, that I "love" the Depression, such a sad and extremely hard time in history. But I love reading about how people lived through such a terrible time and got through it. I know tons of people suffered and died but I just love that time period.

well as Carlotta said, that felt very freeing :) Do you have any confessions? Don't worry I won't judge you ;)

with love,

Samarah

Do you hear what I hear?? lovely songs I'm getting for FREE!

A lot of the songs in my iTunes library I've gotten for free, legally! :) If you really look for them, you can find some awesome songs without paying a penny :) Over the last couple days I've found some new songs from artists I've never heard of before that I've really liked and I thought some of you would enjoy them also :)

These songs I just found tonight.
3 songs by Josiah James. I'd never heard of him before tonight and I really like his voice and his lyrics are powerful. Click HERE to get his Christmas song Heaven Came Down. Click HERE to get Chasing The Wind ( I love this one already! i keep playing it over and over again :) Click HERE to get Stringless, listening to it and loving it.

I've found some new sites that offer free, legal Christian music. ♥ :)
Indie Vision Music ( where I got the Josiah James songs) and M-brio the blog and the main site.Where I got THIS really fun Christmas song. oh and this mixtape album... I'm still listening to it, not sure what to think of it yet ;) last but not least, NoiseTrade. I got Sara Groves album-Oh Holy Night Tour Live:The Prison Show from there. I haven't downloaded much from there that I've liked very much but I've found a few songs that I've enjoyed :)  definitely check out those sites, im still finding goodies :)

Ok here are sites that I found quite awhile ago, they have kept me supplied with some really great songs! some of them you have to sign up for (for free) but its so worth it! please check them out! i bet you'll find something you like :)

New Release Tuesday you sign up and every tuesday you get a newsletter with free songs!

Hear It First right now they are having a "25 Days of Christmas" event where everyday up to Christmas they give away some thing free, like a free song or a Christmas videos with different music artists. its really cool! Click here to check it out.

Free CCM

The Free Christian Music Blog sign up for the newsletter and you get an email everytime he has a new blog post with free downloads
and Amazon is having a "25 Days of Free" You can get a new free holiday song everyday through Christmas. like Francesca Battistelli's song You're Here and BarlowGirl's I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Hope you find a song or two that brightens your day! (or should I saw night? its 10:40 ;)

with Christ's love,
Samarah

the new narnia movie and Christmas music :)

I am very very excited because..... I'm going to go see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!

my dad is taking SarahLynn and I to see it tonight with some other dads and their daughters (aka my friends ;)
We are so excited! :D

The Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. I absolutely love everything about. Especially the music. here are some Christmas tunes I've been enjoying :)

BarlowGirl's Home for Christmas CD

seriously these girls have such wonderful hearts for Christ and gorgeous voices. My little sister loves listening to these songs :)
Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs ever. Carol of the Bells. Is there anyone else who totally loves this song?? BarlowGirl does such a beautiful job on this song :)

tobyMac's new Christmas single- Christmas This Year (feat. Leigh Nash). it has a catchy beat and I've had it stuck in my head ever since I first heard it :)  take 4 minutes and take a listen ;)

SarahLynn is leaving tomorrow :( while I'm very sad and will miss her, I've had a complete blast with her and I'm glad to return her back to her sweet family :) but we still have the rest of the day with her :) I'll be back sometime this weekend with lots of pictures from the past 2 weeks!

till then,
love.samarah

my awesome t-mac shirt :)

Here are some pictures of my tobyMac shirt that I edited in Picnik! :)

I think this picture came out pretty cool... its the first picture of me I've posted here on my blog!(without showing my face... which you'll never see ;) well maybe someday.... ;)


(ignore the dot on my arm, it was a pimple and it wasn't that big but the editing made it look bigger and much much worse than it really was! ;)

here are some closer up pictures:

Here's the top of it....



in the middle there's the outline of a city...





the bottom of it....


I love my tobyMac shirt :) ( thanks mom and dad!!)

I love the lyrics to "Tonight"... I was going to just post the chorus but the whole song it so good I couldn't resist putting it all up!

Every time I try to go it alone
I get shut down
Locked up and held captive in the clutches of my doubt
We go back
We go forth
We go back
I’m sick with vertigo
Weary of my ways
My days
My ebbs and flows
So

I wanna feel a new day
(There’s gotta be more than this)
I wanna live a new way
(There’s gotta be more)
I wanna feel a new day
(There’s gotta be more than this)
I wanna live a new way
(There’s just gotta be more)

Right here, right now
Under the stars
I promise You my heart
‘Cause it starts tonight

We wanna rise
We wanna touch the other side
(It starts tonight)
We wanna soar
We wanna reach right out for more
(‘Cause it starts tonight)

Tonight

Can’t feel like any night before
Under a sky full of stars
With hearts that want more (Tonight)
Like a river no dam can hold
Being driven by a source overflowin’ our souls (Tonight)
Won’t be like any night we’ve seen
It changes everything
Everything

Under a sky full of stars
With hearts that want more (Tonight)

So let us seize this night
Let us make our play
It’s on like the break of dawn
Come what may, let us

Tonight
(‘Cause it starts tonight)
I wanna feel the new day
I wanna live a new way
(‘Cause it starts tonight)

We want more tonight
We want you tonight
Tonight

well that's it for tonight ( get it... from the song??) its ok if you don't laugh, its not that funny ;)

:)Samarah