Posts

Showing posts with the label 2018

Holiday & Christmas Haul


Hello, darlings!
I trust you all had a relaxing and special Christmas time, I sure did. My family all got together on Christmas Eve, shared a yummy meal, exchanged gifts and had a wonderful evening.

I thought in today's post I would share the things I was blessed with this Christmas and also the bit and pieces I picked up while my family was on holiday(or vacation as some of you might say!).



So while we were on our family holiday I splurged a bit...
(Left) 1. I found Season 2 of Downton Abbey while browsing a second-hand shop and I was thrilled because I already own Season 1. I wonder if I could collect it all from thrift shops...
(Center) 2. I couldn't resist this pretty pink notebook with gold detailing and it was cheap sooooo...
(Right) 3. I wanted to find a planner to help organize my school better so I found this pretty one which I love because there is a good amount of space for each day.

Sometimes you've got to treat yourself and get some nice beauty products! 
This strawberry body butter is heavenly and I can't wait to smell like a sweet berry this Summer.

I got some pens that I needed too, but I won't bother showing those. I just bought them because I noticed that I really don't have many and that a few to add to my pencil case wouldn't hurt!

Top: Another thrift shop find! My dad is a locksmith so when I saw these studs, I knew I had to get them.
Middle: I once saw earring very similar to these in a period drama (The Crown, Victoria or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society) and fell in love with them. Then I found these, in an art deco shop which was full of period style pieces, accessories and trinkets.
Bottom: This cute pin was a last minute purchase that I picked up while waiting at the counter and I love it. It is a geometric fantail, a native bird to New Zealand which I love.

Aren't these bookmarks adorable? I think so, and they are practical too. I am using them both in my Bible and in the books I'm reading.

Last but not least, I bought a bunch of postcards (these aren't even all of them) to stick in my holiday journal and use in my room.


C H R I S T M A S   G I F T S

I was given some lovely girly beauty/jewellery items, to begin with! The earrings are from my auntie who runs a small business called Happyful. I have worn them a lot already.

I'm pretty sure that when I opened this present I was beaming from ear to ear! I have been really enjoying  Audrey's movies lately and her style, so I am pumped to have this beautiful book. (Thanks Anna!)
This section is featuring pictures from How to Steal a Million, which is one that I really liked!

I am so excited to read through this sweet looking devotional! My dear Nonna gifted me this book as well as this other one...

I have already started reading this book and I am liking it so far. The writing style reminds me a teensy bit of The Book Thief. It has been a while since I've read anything historical of WW2 so I am curious to see how this one will turn out.

My brother said in his Christmas card that I had been fairly good this year and so out of the kindness of his heart he got me this present! Okaaay......
I love his sense of humour!

It makes me so happy to get clothes! The sleeves of this shirt are really cool and it looks quite cute tied up in the front.

And last but not least I have this stylish tee from my aunt.
I have already worn it a lot this week. Its soft, feminine and I love the cut of it!

I feel so grateful and blessed to have received these lovely things!

What did you get for Christmas that you are most excited about?


xoxo
Hannah



Behold Your King // Christmas Favourites Part 2

Hey Wildflowers!

I first would like to apologize that this post is a little late, due to computer issues and travelling.
But I am here now to complete this two-part Christmas Favourites post!

You can read Part One here.



For this part of my Christmas favourites, I wanted to focus on the spiritual part of the season.
This December I found a few great resources to get into the Word and fully prepare for the celebration.

The first one is a 3-part series by Revive Our Hearts called Unto You Is Born This Day.
In these three sessions, Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth take us through Luke 2 in a way I haven't ever read before. My eyes were truly opened to many new things about the Christmas story I thought I knew so well.

Next are three classic Christmas carols that I fell in love with this Christmas.
Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is a beautiful and sweet carol that is similar to Away in a Manger but has a different aspect.
O Little Town of Bethlehem is one that I never much liked when I was younger but I really quite like it now. It reminds me of Micah 5:2, here it is prophesied that the small town of Bethlehem is chosen out of all Israel to be the birthplace of the Mighty Ruler.
Come Thou Long Expected Jesus is also one that I came to appreciate and love.
So, now I strongly recommend that you go and listen to these carols and bask in their joy before the Christmas season is over!


Moving on, another favourite of mine was Luke chapter 2. Have you ever thought about how real, beautiful and wonderful the Christmas story is?
It is real because it is from the Bible. Mary and Joseph were real, ordinary folk who God chose to serve a great purpose.
It is beautiful because of how it was all so carefully planned and came about so perfectly, in a way that only God can accomplish.
And it is wonderful because it holds so much joy, hope and peace for this day and age. In the midst of unrest, wars, trials and anger, God has brought peace for us.


I truly hope that you all had an AMAZING Christmastime with your loved ones!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

xoxo
Hannah

NOEL, NOEL // Christmas Faves Part 1


Guys! It's that time of year again!
Christmas time is my absolute favourite time of year. I love it even more than my birthday because the whole world acknowledges it. You see the festive decorations everywhere, everyone gets gifts(not just the person whose birthday it is) and it's a lovely, happy time together with people you love.

In honour of the Christmas season, I want to post some Christmas cheer on my blog during this month.
Today's post it Part 1 of 2 posts about some of my Christmassy favourites. From music to movies, books and Pinteresty Christmas aesthetic.
By the way, all the photos in this post are my own unless stated otherwise!


First off, this November/December, I have discovered some new and wonderful Christmas songs that I love. Here's my top 4!

Top 4 Fav Christmas songs this year:

1. Light of the World by Lauren Daigle - Makes my heart want to cry out in worship!

2. Unto Us by JJ Heller - Beautiful, soothing song!

3. O Tannenbaum by Andrea Bocelli - A lovely song sung by a great voice.

4. O Holy Night by Lauren Daigle - I adore this carol and Lauren's voice is so, so good singing it!




If you're anything like me, you love to be fully immersed into EVERYTHING Christmas, and of course, that includes movies!
Besides the cliche', slightly cheesy, but also decent Hallmark Christmas movies(that I do normally enjoy to some degree) I have some others that you may not have heard about to recommend.

I'll include a small list right here!



As for Christmas books, I actually haven't read many of those so I do not have any to recommend or fangirl about! One that I did read last year and loved was The Shoe Box by Francine Rivers.
It is a beautiful and sweet story that you should totally check out this season!
This is the short story of a little boy named Timmy whose only valued possession is a shoe box. His foster parents, a young Christian couple, are of course curious about this 6-year-old's mysterious box. What could be inside?
The Christmas pageant finale is a true heart warmer for all believers.
The Shoe Box on Goodreads



If you asked me what my favourite thing about Christmas was, I would not be able to give a straight answer because I seriously love everything about it! I will try to condense a small list of my main highlights of the event though.

• The family gathers all together and enjoys a sweet time of fellowship and sharing.
• ALL. THE. YUMMY. FOOD.
• Gift exchanging time! I generally make gifts for everybody but this year we drew names out of a hat I have my mum to shop for.
• Christmas music is THE BEST and I strictly forbid myself or anyone in the house to listen to it at any other time of the year. This year I officially started on Nov 1st!


I find it funny how even though Christmas falls in our Summertime, we still have frosty and wintery decorations and listen to "Winter Wonderland"(and other snowy songs)!


And that is all for Part 1 of my Christmas favourites/chat/lists!
What food is your fave around Christmas time?



P.S. I will be sharing some Christmas wallpapers of my photography with Christmas quotes, lyrics or Bible verses on my Instagram (@joy_and_wildflowers) so make sure you follow!

xoxo
Hannah

November Favourites


We are just about done with 2018 and I am very ready for 2019! New beginnings, new goals, new adventures and new growth!
November was an overall good month, but with much too much rain. It has even been flooding in some areas around where I live. And it is SUPPOSED to be Spring...
Anywho, I have a lot of favourites for this month, so I'd better get going!




Books


Wonder by R.J. Palacio
I really enjoyed this book and I have seen the movie twice. The movie is quite accurate and it's a great story of a boy with a facial deformity who has to go to public school after being homeschooled most of his life. Overall a lovely story of kindness and friendship. The way the story is presented in the book, going over the point of view of the main characters. I totally recommend both the movie AND the book!



Music

I Dream of You Vol. II by JJ Heller ~ JJ Heller is a favourite singer of mine and most of my family. She has just released a new album with lovely easy listening songs. Her music is directed at mothers and children but I still love it! Here is a snippet of the album:
Edelweiss is one of my favourite, favourite songs!


Days Gone By by Hillsong Young & Free ~ I love this song so, so much that I plan to attempt (important word here) to learn it on piano. There's a challenge for me!

Fall on Me by Andrea Bocelli & Matteo Bocelli  ~ This song and the way these two sing it is AMAZING! I have listened to it so much since! I have also listened to more of Andrea Bocelli's music and I am in love with his voice.
I'll just leave this here...


Those are the songs I'll be share in this particular post. I have discovered a lot this month and I will be dispersing them through some future posts. Look out for that soon!



Movies


The Star
I had no idea that I would love this film as much as I did. I thought, "Oh it's going to be a cheesy little kids movie", BUT I was wrong!
I adored this cute retelling of the Christmas story through a donkey's perspective. I can't recommend it enough!
There are some cute funny parts(like when Bo/Boaz, the donkey meets a sweet sheep and her name is, wait for it,.......... Ruth! I cracked up when I heard that).
And it's just a new perspective of the story that brings it to life in a different way.
I never realised till I was thinking after seeing this movie how beautiful the Christmas story is.



Mansfield Park {1999}
If you saw my review of this, you know how much I liked it. But if not, I'll put it here.



Other bits & pieces

- Revive Our Hearts Unexpected Grace series
I discovered this month the treasure which is the Revive Our Hearts ministry. I love all of their stuff, as it is all so inspiring and encouraging. But today I specifically wanted to share the Unexpected Grace series, which is all about the founder, Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth's love story with Robert Wolgemuth. It is a 16 video long playlist and I haven't seen all of them yet. They have a beautiful story that is full of grace and very Christ-centred.
Another short 3-part playlist on Revive Our Hearts is Unto Us Is Born This Day, perfect for this time of year!

- Coffee! I started to drink coffee again and I am quite enjoying it, to say the least(especially with the yucky and wet weather we've had recently).
See you next month!

Adieu! Au Revoir! Goodbye, my friends!

xoxo
Hannah


6 Simple things YOU can do that have Eternal Value


Hello, Wildflowers!
So lately, this topic has been on my mind and it has been prompted about it by some different sources too. The topic of making a difference, doing things for God's glory and changing this world a little bit at a time.
As Christians, we are called to live lives that bring all glory and honor to Him. What I lot of people don't realize is that you don't have to do anything super amazing to achieve this. You don't have to go and serve in a foreign country (if you're called to do this then it's a different story but don't feel like you have to just to be a good Christian), you don't have to be noticed for what you do, you don't have to give all your money to make an impression.

~ The simplest, most mundane acts can bring glory to God if done with the right heart and intent. 

And so in this post, I wanted to share some ideas that have come to my mind of simple ways you can start doing things that matter. Things that have eternal value.



1} Sponsor a child
This is something my parents have done with a couple of children. One of them actually became a doctor and he is now married and has a beautiful little daughter. Though my parents don't sponsor him anymore we still keep in touch.
It's a great and simple way to impact another person's life. I would absolutely love to do this once I get a steady job! There are a few organizations that do it but one, in particular, I have heard about is Compassion



2} Pray
Yes, I said pray. Small word, big impact. Prayer is so, so, so powerful. It's such a seemingly small and simple act but it changes everything.
It is a weapon, a comfort, a personal and beautiful part of your relationship with God and a brilliant way to spend time.
Prayer is also a way to serve others. Praying for others is giving up a small amount of your time to bring requests to God.
I am not perfect at this but lately, I have been challenged to purposefully pray for my Christian brothers and sisters as well as other things, people and situations. I challenge you today to take a little moment daily to pray for people.




3} Serve right where you are
You can serve in your own home. Go the extra mile with the chores. Offer to cook dinner. You get what I mean, where ever you are right now you can find simple ways to go the extra mile and give up your time to help and serve.
Just because I am saying this doesn't mean I am good at it mind you! Most times I would much rather paint or read or watch YouTube videos instead of making dinner, doing extra jobs or helping out elsewhere. But




4} Donate to a Christian ministry
Again, I would love to support my favourite Christian ministries and what they do if I had a regular paying job.
By supporting ministries, you can help them to continue, grow and do even more impacting things.
A few ones that I love are:
Girl Defined,
The Bible Project,
and Coffee & Bible Time




5} Listen to that little voice
You are probably wondering what on earth do I mean! I mean, do you ever have times where there's a little whisper in your mind that prompt you to do things, you might shove it away or act upon it.
(I should mention here that there are two types of "little voice". The evil one and the good one. I am talking about the good one here.)
The good little voice that tells you to go and help that person with their bags, or go and play with your siblings instead of on your phone, or wash those dirty dishes instead of your mum having to do it. The voice that tells you to do those things that you could choose to leave or obey. Obeying it might have amazing results. It might create a domino effect (see the movie I'm Not Ashamed for examples of this).
I hope you get what I mean! If you are confused, I can elaborate in the comments!




6} Invest your time in others
This point is pretty self-explanatory really. Spend your time with others and encourage them, treat them to cake and coffee, pray with them etc. It means a lot when you go out of your way to spend time with family/friends/other people.
This goes especially for the younger generation. I know for me that I want to invest time in my younger sister. To be there for her and support her. As older siblings, this is an important role we have.




Note: These are only ideas. I am by no means perfect and don't always do these things. But I have been challenged to and I hope you are challenged and inspired too.


There you go, people! I hope you are inspired and will take away at least one thing from this.
Have a great weekend!


xoxo
Hannah

October Favourites


What a wonderful month this has been! Spring in full swing and the promise of summer in the breeze.
And while the springy things grow, I have been doing some growing too.
This month flew by and I find it hard to believe Christmas is just around the corner! But for now, I'm going to chat a bit about my favourite for the month of October.




Books


Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Payson Prentiss
I read this as an audiobook and I really enjoyed it. The narrator did a great job and the story was sooo good.
Each chapter is made up of diary entries by our leading lady, Katherine(Katie). The whole book covers her journey to Godliness and her experience walking the Christian life. It's very good and I highly recommend it. My favourite chapters were Chapters 21 & 23. They just stood out to me the most.
Now please go and read it!





Music
Got lots of music faves this month!


Sovereign Over Us by Shane & Shane ~ This was one of the song I discovered at a youth retreat I attended this month. I love these lyrics sooo much and it just speaks to me.

Control (Somehow You Want Me) by Tenth Avenue North ~ This song is soo good too. I also heard about it from the retreat. The words are just sooo good and touched my heart.

Your Hands (Annie LeBlanc Cover) by JJ Heller ~ Don't tell JJ, but I actually like Annie's cover of her song better than the original. Annie has a very nice voice. I'll leave her video below!

Perfect by Ed Sheeran ~ I never thought I would like and Ed Sheeran song as much I love this one. I listened to it nearly 7 times in a row just after I heard it for the first time.
I love the original version but the one with Andrea Bocelli(a favourite singer of my Nonna) is beautiful too. I'll put the Ed Sheeran/Andrea Bocelli here for you to hear!




Movies

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers {1954}
After hearing a lot about this movie recently, I decided we should finally watch it. Guys, let me tell you that this movie is really good! It's funny, it's a musical, it's old and it's clean. I loved it and we have already seen it twice! It's great for the whole family and I highly recommend you watch it as soon as possible.


A Walk to Remember {2002}
This movie made me cry and that doesn't happen very often so I had to include it here. In the beginning, I wasn't so sure if it would be good or if Id' like it. But as I kept watching I liked it more and more and then there was a big plot twist that I was NOT expecting! There were somethings that would have been better not being in it but the story is so lovely I overlook that.




Other bits & pieces


-Ti Ora Tea! This is a New Zealand line of teas and they are really delicious. One of my particular favourites is the Cinnamon Chai Tea with Horopito.

-Accepting Chivalry video
I like the points she makes in this video and I think it is a little challenge for us girlies.



Thus ends October, leaving barely two months till the happy Christmas season!
Have a great November, whether you be snuggled up inside drinking too much pumpkin spice latte(as y'all seem to do over in the States!) or enjoying every bit of summer sun on this side of the world!

xoxo
Hannah

September Favourites


Hello, Wildflowers!
Can you believe it is barely 3 months until the Christmas season will be on us? My family is going on holiday the week before Christmas so I'm looking forward to that. But in this post, I'm not talking about what is to come but what has past and a recap of the things I enjoyed this month.
So without further ado, here are my September Favourites!



Books

Kilmeny of the Orchard by L.M Montgomery
My sister and I listened to this as an audiobook and we really enjoyed it. It is a very sweet love story and beautifully written, with lovely springy descriptions. During the first chapter we weren't quite sure if we would carry on but after Chapter 2 we were hooked!
I definitely recommend this book for pretty much all ages. L. M Montgomery really had a talent.


The Noble Servant by Melanie Dickerson
Melanie Dickerson has made her way onto my list of favourite authors for sure. I have a review on my book blog for it so if you want to see my thoughts on it, it's here.



Music

This Beautiful Fantastic Soundtrack by Anne Nitkin ~ For a long time Spotify didn't have this soundtrack and I was disappointed by that. But then the other day I searched for it again and I found it. It has the perfect Springy tunes that remind me of all the lovely plants and flowers in the movie.
I have added some of the tracks to my Spring 2018 playlist.

Poldark Soundtrack ~ Of course! What more can I say? Demelza's songs are lovely and the theme song makes me excited.


Your Wings by Lauren Daigle ~ I saw a lot of people raving about this artist's new album so I listened to it and this song was one of the only ones I liked.
"You got me under your wings, under your wings". A nice song inspired by a lovely scripture!


Love Like This by Lauren Daigle ~ The other song that I  loved from Lauren Daigle's album, Look Up Child, was Love Like This.
"What have I done to deserve love like this?"



Movies

To be honest, I don't have an actual answer to this. You see pretty much all of this month the only thing we have watched was Poldark!
I am enjoying it though. I must also say that it takes a lot in a movie/TV series to make me cry but Poldark has brought me to tears multiple times!
Like when Caroline sees Dwight after Ross rescued him from France!
I couldn't find a picture of that particular scene but this one is just as sweet and beautiful!


Other bits and pieces

- Coffee & Bible Time's latest FREE printable, an In-Depth study on Romans 12:2 (Link here!)

- Snippets of spring: the sight of fluffy pink and white trees bursting out everywhere, daffies and other blooms sneaking out form their cozy holes in the soil to catch the sunlight and the sweet, light scented air.

- Putting flowers in my room. I had no idea how delightful it is to have fresh lovely flowers adorning a nook or cranny of one's room, but it is!

- Period dramas influencing my speech! Wait, is that a good thing? To be talking a bit like a 1700's gal? (Example: Trying to put 'ye' in a sentence and called your siblings 'brother' or 'sister'! Do you get my reference? ((Hint: Drake Carne!))



Anyway, dear wildflowers! I hope you enjoy this rambling, slightly too Poldark influenced post!


xoxo
Hannah
Awwww! They're soooo sweet, I might have a toothache!