Be merciful to me, O God

"When I go to work, I’m going to the Kingdom. I’m not working for the King, I’m working with the King. The Kingdom is not restrained to the walls of the Church.” Kris Vallotton 

57 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
    for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
    till the storms of destruction pass by.
² I cry out to God Most High,
    to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
³ He will send from heaven and save me;
    he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah
God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

⁴ My soul is in the midst of lions;
    I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows,
    whose tongues are sharp swords.

⁵ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

⁶ They set a net for my steps;
    my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my way,
    but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
⁷ My heart is steadfast, O God,
    my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
⁸     Awake, my glory!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰ For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.

¹¹ Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!

Psalm 57

Claiming this verse every day this week as we pray for peace.

*Photo taken on the big camera, on the dunes in Rio, August 2015

uma tarde na praia

If you read our New Years post, you may remember that this year one my goals for this blog is to share more memories. More than that, I want to share them in new creative ways. I want to challenge myself to think differently, write differently and express more of what God is doing in my soul. I want to invite Him in so that He flows out of me, and a new creation unfolds.

For the blog, some creative juices have been flowing as we make way for change. Like these blog post titles, some of them will now be in Portuguese. I just love the authenticity of writing in the language my parents first spoke to me; it's the language I learned to speak as a baby. And it really just makes me happy! So if you can't read Portuguese and you're wondering what these titles mean, google is the next best thing! Lately, I've just been inspired. To use my hands creating new things...I think some of that comes from watching Joy the movie (love you Jenn! Yes, we're on a first name basis) but mostly I miss/love expressing creativity and being artistic. This year I'm focusing less on screen time and more on real moments. For the blog that'll mean less photos per blog post = less time editing = less time on my phone =  more time in the present, and more posts (because I wont be spending so much time working on each blog post). I also won't be announcing every post I share because some will just be personal although not private. I'm excited and so ready to live more intentionally this year! Here's short a snippet of today:

Woke up - energized

Afternoon - grumpy

Late afternoon - happy

Evening - coffee 

p.s. working on a way to make the vertical images not pixelated when they post!

It's the little things.

showing off my brand new pink sweater from my favorite place (Anthro) and my favorite MIL (Denize)

Ended the day with one last favorite thing, THIS coffee. I feel like I'm always dreaming of honey latte's since having one of these. Today's was too sweet thanks to not having any sugar for a week (thanks Whole30...I mean 6?!) -_-

THANKFUL. BLESSED. IN HIM, ALL THINGS BY FAITH.

celebrating 25!

KEEP CALM

AND

DRIVE ON

 * A ROAD TRIP TO PALM SPRINGS *

4,000 feet above sea level

Our first stop was a looooong  awaited (2 years to be exact) visit to Salvation Mountain! It was breath-taking and more than everything I hoped it would be. But before getting to the mountain we had to drive through a little abandoned town called in Niland, CA. Let's just say, even in the light of day G and I felt like we were in a zombie movie! Seriously! It was such a freaky looking town I was surprised to have never read about it in all the posts I see from people visiting the site. I only got a few pics from the shady scenery, but in all honestly, we had a sigh of relief when we say the colorful mountain from afar, and in big bold letters - GOD IS LOVE.

 ^ Can't you see zombies coming out of this thing?! ^

There she is!

^ The amazing artist himself, Leonard Knight ^

Saying goodbye was tough, but the gorgeous drive to Palm Springs during sunset made up for it (a little) 

When we arrived at our hotel it was already dark, and we were hungry! So we got dressed up and went out for a fancy birthday dinner. After restaurant hoping, we ended up at this little Italian place called Riccio's. The food was delicious and the company, the best.

The next morning we woke up to clear blue skies and warn sunshine! Although we didn't hop in the pool this time, just having this view was perfect.

Cookie Butter Latte at The Coffee Bean? Say no more! And yes, it was delicious!

Moorten Cactus Garden

I really wanted to take this one home with me!

#thatpinkdoor - I was probably too excited to see this house in person. And it was fab!

When we were almost home, we stopped by Rubio's for some Mexican take out to end the best birthday I could've asked for. If you're ever in Cali, their tacos are the best!

 The day ended with a Christmas movie, pink skies and staring at our tree. So thankful for another year of life, and a very memorable birthday weekend, to say the least. Being a December baby is a very sweet thing. There's already so much joy that comes in celebrating the birth of our Savior, adding on a some more birthday celebrating makes this month all things merry and bright!

Feeling thankful and blessed (and old) 

:)