Last year I read an amazing, life-changing book. It's called One Thousand Gifts, and it was written by Ann Voskamp. In her book she talks about the importance of gratitude. God has blessed us with so many gifts, and the least we can do in return is thank Him. Gratitude takes the focus off of us and onto Jesus, because He is the giver of every good gift. If you really think about it, we have no reason to complain, because we can have the Creator of the world as our Friend. For about a year and a half I kept a gratitude journal where I wrote down everyday the things that I was thankful for. This summer I slowly stopped doing that, and I think that I have complained and wanted more because of that. I follow Ann Voskamp's blog and was recently reminded of the importance of giving thanks daily. For this reason, I have decided to periodically post some of the things that I'm grateful for. Here it goes . . .
~a hot bonfire on a chilly night
~building friendships and community
~silly games that are ridiculously fun
~fog that makes everything look mysterious and enchanting
~colorful leaves scattered across the ground
~a hot cup of Earl Gray tea to warm me up
~that God's mercies are new in the morning
~a clean, organized room
~encouragement at a much needed time
~a reminder that God has me where He wants me
If you have some extra time, you should definitely read One Thousand Gifts, and even keep your own list of things you're thankful for. Ann Voskamp's writing is in a little different style, but it is very impacting and meaningful. If you end up reading her book, tell me what you think! Are there any other great books that you've been reading? Let me know! I'd love to hear what you think about this subject of gratitude too!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Road Trippin'
So, I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy and out of town. Last Thursday and Friday I went on a road trip with my cousin Jessica. It was SUPER fun, and I'm going to share it with you. I hope you enjoy!
P.S.... Be prepared for a bit of a photo overload :)
We left Thursday morning bright and early for Kansas City. I was excited to be going towards the sunrise. It was beautiful!
We left Thursday morning bright and early for Kansas City. I was excited to be going towards the sunrise. It was beautiful!
It was the first time for both of us to drive in a big city like KC, so it was a little stressful, but fun!
One of the most important things on a road trip is snacks! We were definitely prepared in this area. There were so many delicious, fun snacks and candy that we munched on during our drive. My favorite was probably the Sour Patch Kids and Mike and Ike's! Yum!!
Getting into Kansas City was soooo cool!! We loved seeing the skyline and the river!
First stop was the Country Club Plaza for shopping! We stopped in Forever 21, H & M, Francesca's, Lululemon, and many more shops. After lots of shopping in the Plaza, we felt exhausted and hungry, so we went to P. F. Chang's for some dinner! It's one of my favorite restaurants, but Jessica had never been there before, so this was an exciting time. We ordered the chicken lettuce wraps to begin with. I love them because they are so light and fresh. Jessica got some wonton soup, and we split honey chicken with rice. The chicken was very delicious! Then, of course, we ended the meal with a fortune cookie. Overall we both enjoyed our food!
For a little pick-me-up before the BIG concert we stopped at Starbucks!
After a few months of waiting and a few hours of driving, we finally made it to the Rend Collective Experiment Concert. Here is our pre-concert excitement in the bathroom!!!
Well, this concert wasn't actually Rend Collective's concert; they just played at the end. The name of this event was called the Reset Movement. It is a movement with the purpose to empower a generation to live fully for Jesus. This event consisted of a speaker, a worship band, other artists, and Rend Collective Experiment. It was a great time to focus on Christ and 'reset' my life. The whole event was so worshipful and praising to God. I was challenged to surrender my life to God and start afresh. Even though I have messed up time and time again, God redeems me. The speaker did a great job of challenging us and showing us our need for God. Something that he said that stood out to me was that God is so powerful and almighty, that He can defeat what I'm struggling with. No pain or struggle is too big for Him to conquer! If He can move mountains, then He can defeat my pride and selfishness. It was such a great reminder of God's amazing power and grace.
Well, this concert wasn't actually Rend Collective's concert; they just played at the end. The name of this event was called the Reset Movement. It is a movement with the purpose to empower a generation to live fully for Jesus. This event consisted of a speaker, a worship band, other artists, and Rend Collective Experiment. It was a great time to focus on Christ and 'reset' my life. The whole event was so worshipful and praising to God. I was challenged to surrender my life to God and start afresh. Even though I have messed up time and time again, God redeems me. The speaker did a great job of challenging us and showing us our need for God. Something that he said that stood out to me was that God is so powerful and almighty, that He can defeat what I'm struggling with. No pain or struggle is too big for Him to conquer! If He can move mountains, then He can defeat my pride and selfishness. It was such a great reminder of God's amazing power and grace.
Finally, after an hour and a half, Rend Collective Experiment came of stage!! This group is from Ireland, and is more like a family of musicians coming together to make music for the Lord. I love their heart for worship and desire to praise God! Their music is kind of a folk style, and they sound a little like Mumford and Sons. I just LOVE Rend Collective's music!!! I was disappointed that they only played for 20 minutes, but those 20 minutes were AMAZING!! There was so much energy and joy in the room. Everyone was jumping, clapping, singing, and praising God! During their time on stage, they played one of their news songs that hasn't even been released yet. It's called My Lighthouse! I videoed it, but the quality isn't very good (and you can hear me singing in the background :)), so I decided not to post it. To end the night, Rend Collective played their most popular song, Build Your Kingdom Here. All of the other performer and artists came up onto the stage dancing and singing, and it was such a joyful time!! If you're looking for some great, fun, worshipful, not cookie-cutter Christian music, you should definitely check out this band! I would recommend listening to their album Campfire first!!
Pics with the band mates afterwards!!
After a wonderful time in Kansas City, we headed back to Nebraska on Friday. On our way back we stopped for gas and spotted this gorgeous little pond. These pictures are definitely my favorites from the whole trip!
I had a wonderful time spending time with my cousin Jessica on this adventure! We were able to go shopping, eat great food, hear some amazing bands, and grow deeper in our relationship with Christ. I'm so thankful for her willingness and enthusiasm to go on this trip with me, and hope we have many more fun memories like this!
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Blast from the Past
Welcome back!!
This blog post came up on accident. I was planning on blogging on something else, and I wanted to take some pictures, so I got my camera out. I got my camera about 4 years ago, and I still have pictures and videos on there from awhile ago. As I was looking through some of the pictures and videos, I stumbled across a few things that were kind of hilarious and embarrassing, which is what I decided to blog about today . . . They actually do play a role in the name of my blog though . . . you'll see. :)
Here's a little background . . . In 9th grade I had to take a speech class. One of the speeches that we had to give in this class was a demonstration speech. After much deliberation, I decided that I would give a demonstration on how to make these special cookies that I loved. Baking is one of my favorite things to do, so this was a perfect opportunity to show that off! For my speech I pretended like I was on a cooking show. It was a pretty fun time, so I guess I decided that it would be fun to make some videos of me doing another cooking show. Well you know what? I did! If you're up for a few laughs, and maybe a few cooking techniques watch the following videos!! While you're at it, see if you can pick up the connection between these videos and my blog title :)
Oh boy, survive that?? Well here are the funniest parts of Cooking With Suzy Sunshine - Coffee Brownies :) Just remember, this was a few years ago, and I obviously did not have the best cleanliness when baking, lol :-)
I hope you laughed as much as my family and I did when watching those wonderful shows! Seriously though, after I made these my siblings would watch them over and over again, laughing hysterically. Then, they would show other people and laugh anymore. I just think it's hilarious that I tried to be serious and good at putting on the show. Suzy Sunshine, has been used as a nickname for me a few times since then. When I was thinking about starting a blog my sister joked that I should name it Suzy Sunshine. Instead, I decided to call it Tidbits of Sunshine. Not only did I decide on that name because of my cooking show back in the day, but also because there are so many bits of sunshine in my life that I want to share with you!
Who knows, maybe I'll find some more old gems on this camera of mine . . . and maybe they'll show up on here! Until next time, happy baking!!
This blog post came up on accident. I was planning on blogging on something else, and I wanted to take some pictures, so I got my camera out. I got my camera about 4 years ago, and I still have pictures and videos on there from awhile ago. As I was looking through some of the pictures and videos, I stumbled across a few things that were kind of hilarious and embarrassing, which is what I decided to blog about today . . . They actually do play a role in the name of my blog though . . . you'll see. :)
Here's a little background . . . In 9th grade I had to take a speech class. One of the speeches that we had to give in this class was a demonstration speech. After much deliberation, I decided that I would give a demonstration on how to make these special cookies that I loved. Baking is one of my favorite things to do, so this was a perfect opportunity to show that off! For my speech I pretended like I was on a cooking show. It was a pretty fun time, so I guess I decided that it would be fun to make some videos of me doing another cooking show. Well you know what? I did! If you're up for a few laughs, and maybe a few cooking techniques watch the following videos!! While you're at it, see if you can pick up the connection between these videos and my blog title :)
Oh boy, survive that?? Well here are the funniest parts of Cooking With Suzy Sunshine - Coffee Brownies :) Just remember, this was a few years ago, and I obviously did not have the best cleanliness when baking, lol :-)
I hope you laughed as much as my family and I did when watching those wonderful shows! Seriously though, after I made these my siblings would watch them over and over again, laughing hysterically. Then, they would show other people and laugh anymore. I just think it's hilarious that I tried to be serious and good at putting on the show. Suzy Sunshine, has been used as a nickname for me a few times since then. When I was thinking about starting a blog my sister joked that I should name it Suzy Sunshine. Instead, I decided to call it Tidbits of Sunshine. Not only did I decide on that name because of my cooking show back in the day, but also because there are so many bits of sunshine in my life that I want to share with you!
Who knows, maybe I'll find some more old gems on this camera of mine . . . and maybe they'll show up on here! Until next time, happy baking!!
Thursday, October 10, 2013
New Beginnings
Hi everyone!
I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile and finally decided to do it. I don't know tons about having a blog, but I've followed several the last few years, so I'm going to jump in! One of the main reasons that I want to blog is because I just started college this fall, and I want to document it. I want to share about the fun, stressful, and growing times in this new stage of life, and also be able to look back on them.
Well, here's a little about me: I have an amazing, kind of large family that I LOVE!! I am so blessed to have such supportive, loving, godly parents, and such fun, encouraging siblings. God has also given me some great friends! It has definitely been different and hard being apart from my family and friends, but it has made me reach out and build new relationships. I am in love with Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, who loves me unconditionally! I am extremely passionate about teaching kids and speaking Spanish, which are the two things that I am studying in college. Something else that I love is food! I love to cook, bake, and eat. Some of my favorite things will probably be what I blog about as well.
I hope that you enjoy my tidbits about life!
I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile and finally decided to do it. I don't know tons about having a blog, but I've followed several the last few years, so I'm going to jump in! One of the main reasons that I want to blog is because I just started college this fall, and I want to document it. I want to share about the fun, stressful, and growing times in this new stage of life, and also be able to look back on them.
Well, here's a little about me: I have an amazing, kind of large family that I LOVE!! I am so blessed to have such supportive, loving, godly parents, and such fun, encouraging siblings. God has also given me some great friends! It has definitely been different and hard being apart from my family and friends, but it has made me reach out and build new relationships. I am in love with Jesus, the Creator of the Universe, who loves me unconditionally! I am extremely passionate about teaching kids and speaking Spanish, which are the two things that I am studying in college. Something else that I love is food! I love to cook, bake, and eat. Some of my favorite things will probably be what I blog about as well.
I hope that you enjoy my tidbits about life!
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