so much sweetness.

via tumblr

[i'm going to try to not focus on the fact that i feel like i'm seriously getting sick and focus on the sweetness thats been going on]


first its leap year. and its my birthday.  my "real" one! haha ;)  another year to live :)

2nd. THIS NEW AVENGERS TRAILER THAT CAME OUT TODAY. like for real. i think i passed out from awesomeness. to say i can't wait is an understatement. the 29th is a good day.




happy birthday wishes from my lovely friends via twitter, email and texting and a visit from a friend who we haven't seen in too long.

great gifts that i am enjoying. for example...my new Kindle Fire. loving it. it was a total unexpected gift.
and i've been able to watch Robin Hood episodes on it for free..yeah pretty sweet ;)

this 66 degree partly cloudy weather we are having. so gorgeous. might even go for a run later. *maybe*

via tumblr

colorful flowers from my mom and dad

the sweetness that i get to live another day, another year. for Christ. to love and serve him. to know Him better. To love my family and friends more. to take care of myself better. to enjoy the little things.  i will have bad days. but HE will give me the strength to get through.
here's some inspiration-

via pintrest

via pinterest

via pinterest

via pinterest

via tumblr

like i said, so much sweetness going on. {and lets hope i'm not getting sick because that would not be sweet}. 

now off to get some school done... 

love,
Samarah♥

some friday night love.

so i'm sitting here chatting with my 2 dearest friends, drinking tea, posting stuff on tumblr and listening to mat kearney on youtube. I did 30 mins of running/fast walking on the treadmill and then Bob Harper's hour of Yoga this evening and I feel really good! its amazing what a good workout will do :)

speaking of friends- i'm chatting with the one who is coming to visit me during spring break. we are talking about what we are going to do when she comes and all of our inside jokes. i really hate that some states have to be far away from others. *sigh*

and speaking of mat kearney. here's what i'm listening to. pure awesomeness.







love this one!!


my birthday is in a few days! on the 29th to be exact. and its a real birthday ;] I'm actually excited for it, i usually don't get too excited about it but this year i am. im looking forward to spending tomorrow evening with friends to celebrate :) (I'll post my little wish list later ;)

love.

alright i'm outta here. its almost midnight and i need to go to sleep!

much love♥

saturday randoms {well now its sunday}

I didn't finish this post on saturday, SO. just pretend its saturday when you're reading this and we'll be good.

 

obviously i didn't do tumblr Thursday or Friday favorites. fail. that was due to the fact that i wasn't feeling well{big surprise i know} and that if i did feel well i worked on school and then if i did get to blog i wanted to post about a certain song AND our Internet and phone went out yesterday around 3pm. thankfully it was fixed earlier this am around 9am. i didn't realize just how much i use the Internet! but i/we survived. mom mentioned to dad that we felt a bit Amish though ;) hehe.

anywho, here I am. i'm not going to catch up on tumblr thursday or friday favorites though. this post is going to be some random thoughts of mine ;)
First of all, I'm loving this song. loving.

I love the way You love like no other
It's got nothing to do with anything that I do
Time and time again You forgive me
So this time I choose to stay here with You

i desire to be able to not get over Jesus.

Tirzah Photography

--Have you all heard of/been to the blog Boho Baby Bump? no you haven't? well get over there right now. Its a lovely blog by a beautiful momma who loves her sweet family and Jesus, has fabulous taste in style and has such an inspiring outlook and love on life. On wednesday she posted a super sweet video announcing the news that she is pregnant! {read this post and you'll see why this pregnancy is extra special.} I'm SO excited for them! :) 

--I'm showing signs of the fact that I'm watching lots of Monk and Numb3rs episodes. Like the other day my mom said something about Asia maps and i thought she said "Agent Eppes is coming." yeahh and then my mom and I are just taking on some of Monk's traits. such as opening public doors with our sleeves randomly or straightening out signs{my mom was walking by a counter at the library and she fixed a crooked display.} its NOT obsessive and most of the time we do it out of fun but sometimes we do things that Monk would do without even thinking.

--a tweet from Thursday: confession-- i just drooled on my algebra paper. i was looking at pictures of Thor on tumblr. mmhm. ~i have no words.




-- When did it become FEBRUARY? really. my birthday is at the end of this month. and i actually get a real birthday! and i ordered my dad a birthday gift and i *may* of ordered a birthday gift from me to me also ;)

--please read this post- "How does a bar of soap rescue a Child?" Its about the Superbowl and human trafficking. the numbers and statistics are shocking and terrible. we must pray and help raise awareness. {read my post about this from last year here}

i hope you all are having a great weekend!

much love♥

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Happy 6th Birthday to my little brother T-man! 

I can't believe you are 6! You are growing up so fast. Even though you can drive me crazy like no other, you are a sweet blessing! i love you!

--"Sis" :) 

2 bithdays and mother's day! {late}

I know I'm late posting about these events but I did celebrate them but I didn't get around to posting about them. well I'm here now, posting about the 2 birthdays and mother's day. its all good :)

*not my image*

On April 27th my not so little sister turned 9 years old! We celebrated her birthday with cherry delight pie and I Love Lucy. And then the next day we had her Awana leader over who shares the same birthday date with her and enjoyed dinner with her.
Okay now for a word about my sis, she is so gracious, loving, compassionate, friendly, loves the outdoors and getting her hands[and clothes ;] dirty, smart and wants to be a missionary. She loves God and loves telling other people about Him. She loves making handmade things and giving gifts. When she hears someone is sick, she sends them a colorful, bright and cheery card or gift. Like me, she loves music and good ole' tv shows and movies,  I Love Lucy, LHOP, Andy Griffith, Anne of Green Gables etc. Right now we are watching Little House on the Prairie from the very beginning, at nights :)  When she gets older, I look forward to introducing her to Dr. Quinn, The Waltons and more!
She is an example of grace and love in action. I pray I never take her for granted.
♥I love you!♥

* I own this image*

On May 7th, my dear friend, Sarahlynn celebrated her birthday! Gosh, I really love this lady. We have been friends since...well forever! Even though she lives far away now, she is one of my closest friends and one of the most beautiful souls I know. She has been an amazing blessing in my life and has encouraged and inspired me so much and continues to. She loves Christ with her whole heart and strives to glorify and serve Him. She loves her family so much and it shows. She is a faithful friend and is always there. She is hil.ari.ous. Put us two together and you have a crazy fun duo! ;]  Ah, I miss her. but I know we are both where we are supposed to be :) Love you Sarahlynn!♥

*not my image*

Aaaand on May 8th is was Mother's Day! My mom. Is amazing. the best mom for me. always there for me. funny. loving. caring. a great comfort. wise. strong. forgiving. has a beautiful heart for Christ. a lovely example of a wife and mother. a wonderful friend. of course she isn't perfect, we all have our flaws but we serve a forgiving and merciful Lord! Without our mom's we wouldn't be here, literally. [quote by Lauren Barlow] :)
thank you mom for everything! I love you to the moon and back! 

And a huge thank you to all my other mom figures in my life. Thank you for being there for me and for caring about what kind of lady I am and will become :)

 I am truly blessed by my sister, friend and mom♥ 

much love,
Samarah♥

preview of whats to come! :]

birthday...

spring!...

more spring!!....

blue sky breakin' through...

songs on repeat....

AND...

a fresh new look to the blog coming this week!! 

much love,

Samarah

♥this beautiful life♥

Life is beautiful. because Christ is beautiful and mighty and I'm so thankful that He gave me this life to live and glorify Him and love others. Ah, the gift of love is beautiful and fulfilling. I'm SO blessed to to have many people I can love and who love me.

Today I am celebrating life and beauty that God gives us :) 

Day 28: Hopes, Dreams and plans you have for the next 365 days-

I pray in the next year I would draw closer to Christ and serve and glorify Him in everything I do and say. That I would live my life out loud and love like crazy. To reach out to those who God puts in my life who are in need and that I would show mercy and compassion. 

I would be healthy and fit and would feel confident about myself. Continue to be gluten free {almost, just staying away from flours, breads, pasta etc.} and working out regularly. Find joy and strength through the pain. Do my school work will diligence and perseverance. 

And that I would take time and enjoy the everyday blessings and pleasures :) 

 

 thank you so much for all the happy birthday notes :) they made me smile♥  y'all are awesome :) 

much love, 

Samarah

forever 21, eyes, sick and birthday :)

Ah I just got back from an fabulous afternoon with my lovely and amazing friend! She took me out to lunch for my birthday and then we walked around and shopped :) ok, I'd been hearing so much about Forever 21 (great things!) and I'd never been there but I was curious to see why it was popular. well... I found out today! And now I know why everyone loves it. it has super cute and stylish stuff for really reasonable prices! :) 

I got this lovely necklace!  

My friend and I both got the same cardigan :] its long and has pockets, its so cute! I'll post a picture of it later :) I'm need of spring/summer clothes so I'm always excited when I find clothes that are reasonably priced, I like and that look good on me ;] I had such a great time with my friend! love her♥

Onto the 28 day challenge which is ending tomorrow! I think its kinda cool because its also my bday ;) I have had lots of fun with this :) 

Day 27: A physical feature you love-

A lot of people are picking the same feature but its such a good one! so I couldn't resist ;) 

eyes. 

   its usually the first thing that I recognize about a person

they convey a lot about what a person is feeling  
happiness
sadness
nervous 
relaxed 
etc...

 

they are all kinds of beautiful colors. I'm partial to blue :]

 

really partial ;)

The creator of eyes had to be someone so great and powerful. No man could ever create something so beautiful and lovely. Only God :) 

but I do have some sad news... my whole family is sick. We've been healthy all winter and then yesterday we got sore throats and today all 5 of us have headaches, sore throats and stopped up sinuses :( Needless to say its gonna be an interesting week... praying we all get better soon! 

Can tomorrow really be my birthday?? seriously, time is just flying by! Wow, well be looking for a post tomorrow answering these question; Day 28: Hopes, Dreams and plans you have for the next 365 days which is a great question for a birthday :) 
oh and real quick I want to explain my birthday just a bit, its a lil' confusing! 

• I was born on February 29 
• the 29th comes once every 4 years 
• so I celebrate on the 28th and March 1st 
• fun fact: my "real" birthday lands in the year of the Election AND the summer Olympics :] 
• I'm not saying my age but I'm between 14-18 ;)  
• I love being a leap year baby :] its so fun and unique! 

  
till tomorrow! :)

much love,
Samarah

Day 25: A recipe, workout fail and friday anthem!!

day 25- a recipe-

to be honest, I don't cook/bake very often. It requires me to follow directions and because I'm head strong, I don't really like that. sometimes it just takes so much time and energy that I don't really have.But when I do, its usually enjoyable and the food usually comes out pretty good and now that I'm gluten free I usually have to actually make my meals. So I'm trying  to embrace the idea of being in the kitchen and creating yummy food ;) but I'm having a hard time thinking of a recipe that I've tried and I've liked *think think think* I still don't have anything...oh I know! I'm gonna post a recipe of a gluten free treat that I want to try :] very soon! ;)

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Brownies from Celiac Teen

*please note that this image from celiacteen.com I do not own it.  I'm only using it for the purpose of showing you what the brownies look like*

don't they just look delicious I cannot wait to try them! and when I do I will definitely let you know what I think of them :] Lauren has a bunch more lovely recipes for gluten free goodies that I can't wait to try out!

I haven't worked out all week :/ I was doing so well but then I don't know what happened, I just stopped! and I'm regretting it. Why do I do this??!! I am going to workout today and get back on the every other day routine :] I'm praying God gives me strength, consistency and diligence in this :)

My birthday is in 3 days! 3 days!! wow, time has flown by! :)

hope you are having a great friday! I shall leave you with my friday anthem :]

much love,

Samarah

happy birthday dad {and 3 other people! }

Actually there are 3 other people that we know whose birthdays are today. My Aunt S and Aunt A and then a friend.

Happy Birthday Aunt S and Aunt A!! I miss you both very much! much love ♥ 

This isn't going to be a long birthday post. just something short and sweet :] my dad is: a great man of God. loving husband. awesome dad. my hero and protector. hilarious.caring. smart. generous. wise. creative. lover of a great variety of music. (I get my great love of music from him). and much more but i don't have time to list them all :) he is the one person that can make me laugh when I'm in the worst mood. he is down right hilarious. loves to make jokes. I get my sense of humor (if i have any ;) from him. put him, my mom and i together and we can be pretty funny! A lot of people say I look like my dad and i believe 'em. sometimes dad does something or makes a facial expression and I say "oh my gosh! you look SO like me!" we are so alike its creepy ;] we both have a great love for history and music. we can go from Kj-52 and Skillet to Carrie Underwood and Brandon Heath. He has a great memory and has a lot of information stored up in his brain. He and I remember the oddest things, like what kind of car somebody drives or what shoes they were wearing. yeah weird, but i love it ;) We've had great times together and I know we will have many more! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

with love,

Samarah♥

Day 9 & 10, new camera and new blogger :)

 First of all, thank you SO much for all your sweet comments on my last post {really on the past few posts}!! you girls are so encouraging and sweet. love you all so much :)


sorry I'm a bit behind on the 28 day challenge. I was really feeling bad yesterday, I even had to stay home from Latin class. I think I've only missed 1 other day in the entire 2 years I've been taking Latin. Today I was exhausted. exhausted. I took two 1 hour naps. that's NOT like me. We even had 3 extra kids(almost 1, 3, and 5 y.o.) and I managed to sleep for 2 hours amidst the very loud little people. I still feel really weak and tired. I didn't get any school done :/ I really hope I'm not getting sick.

Day 9-A photo you took- 

this is a hard one because I've taken like tons of photos :P I have lots of ones that I'm quite proud of that I took of my siblings and my "adopted" sisters but I can't post them on here because their faces are just too cute to share with the blogging world ;] So I'll choose another one (or 2 or 3) 

none of these have been edited. straight out of the camera :)

I really love this one. my good friend's converse :) i really love the purple

ahh the lovely sight of spring!

took this on a hike. love God's creation

pure beauty

having a little fun ;) 

Day 10: A photo of you taken over ten years ago. 

I can't do this one or tomorrow's because I don't post pictures of myself (my face) on my blog. Maybe in the future but not now. I'm just too gorgeous, ya'll aren't ready for me yet ;] But for Day 11 I will post a picture of me but not showing my face. 


Ok onto the exciting camera news!!! We(my family) are getting a new camera! the one we have now is really old and the zoom stinks. see? 

We've gotten by with it and gotten some really good shots but its just time to look for a better one. One of the reasons we are getting I'll share with ya another time. so excited :) so be on the look out for that! anywho, I'm really pumped about the one we're getting because it has a super sweet zoom and stuff like that. I will be able to put off my efforts for a more "professional" camera because this one is sooo sweet.and the cost is really reasonable.  I really want to explore photography. I love beauty and photography can capture it. wanna see it??!! here its is....

 Nikon Coolpix L110

ain't she a beauty??

I'm really excited to get my lil' hands on it!! ;D And getting it means that I'll post a lot more pictures! :]

I want to welcome Stephanie, Emily's {Grace Like Rain}sister to the blogging world! Check out her blog, While I'm Waiting. She is super sweet and her blog posts are encouraging and inspiring! :)

hope you are having a good night and I don't know about you but I'm glad tomorrow is friday! oh yeah, its my dad's birthday! :D I'll be doing a special post for that ;)

much love,
♥Samarah

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 ;]