The Minimalist Apartment

I love Youtuber Rachel Aust's minimalism videos, in this video she gives us a tour of her minimalist apartment. I like decorating our home according to a very minimalist style, I love the feeling of a clutter-free airy home filled with only our favorite things. When it comes to accessories I tend to focus on filling our home with pictures of family members or paintings with quotes that inspire me. Cleaning the home becomes a lot easier when there is less clutter in every room.

Relationships & Breakups

Chelsea Crockett and Lysa TerKeurst talk about breakups and rejection in different types of relationships. Rejection hurts us deeply, whether it's in a romantic relationship, a friendship or in your family. Chelsea and Lysa talk about what we can learn from rejection and how changing our view of breakups will enable us to go through the breakup without having a breakdown. Lysa also points out that what we learn from each breakup we can bring with us into the next relationship and we can let it make us even more kind and loving in that relationship.

Power to Redeem

Alan's Legacy

As I was reading the news story about Alan Kurdi's family and how they are doing one year after Alan's tragic death it made me think about where I should be going next. We were all upset one year ago and like the Toronto Star writes the conscience of Canada and the world was awaken to the Syrian refugee crisis after the news about 3-year-old Alan's death. Alan's aunt Tima Kurdi, who lives in Canada, says in the Toronto Star's September,2 2016 issue: "It was very hard and emotional for me with the reality we live it, that it took a tragedy until somebody would take action,"Kurdi said. "It's the power from God to wake up the world to help the suffering people," added Kurdi.

My husband and I decided to get together with a small Anglican church in Toronto and privately sponsor a family of four Syrian refugees to come to Canada last fall. Together we were able to raise enough money to sponsor this family with a mom, a dad, a toddler and a baby to come to Canada and to support them in every way for a full year. You can't help everyone, but you can help someone.

As the new school year begins next week it's time for us to start thinking about what our role should be for the upcoming year. As Christians we all carry a great responsibility on our shoulders, from the day we become saved by Christ we no longer live for ourselves, we live to serve God and to follow in Jesus' footsteps. God loves us dearly and because he loves us he saved us and healed us, but he didn't save us just so we could go on living "happily ever after" as saved Christians. God wants us to live joy-filled lives but our lives are no longer just about us. God saved us because He loves us, but God also saved us so that through us He can save and heal others. God doesn't just love us, He loves the whole world.

Every year each one of us has a responsibility to think about how we are spending our time, money, resources and gifts in our lives this year. How much are we spending on ourselves and how much are we spending on helping others? God blesses us so that we can bless others, not just keep it all to ourselves. Every year my husband and I make a plan for how we want to use what we have been given in three different categories. We ask ourselves: "What should we focus on in our inner circle, in our community and internationally this year?" Each year we want to take part in some form of outreach project internationally and in our own city where we live. We also ask ourselves what our focus should be in our inner circle this year. Who is going through a tough time among our family and friends this year that we might need to prioritize above others? What outreach program that does work internationally do we want to focus on supporting this year? What outreach project can we support and volunteer at in our own city this year?

It's a big world and we can't do everything. It's wise to pick three or four outreach projects per year where we can volunteer and support the ministry, more than that and the quality of the work will go down. When we all come together supporting different organizations and volunteering at different positions, together we will make a big impact. From the day God saves our souls our lives become a mission, a mission to serve the poor and needy around us wherever we are. Complacency is no longer an option available. Jesus demands us to love our neighbors as ourselves and we love others by serving them. Who will you serve and fight for this year?

Love your inner circle, love your city & love the world. That's the "job description" for life on this Earth.

Summer Moments

Today it's September 1st and next week the fall season starts. Last Weekend my husband and I enjoyed one of the last weeks of summer by taking a trip to Cobourg on Friday evening.

We got the chance to enjoy a nice evening swim in Lake Ontario in Victoria Park.

The beach has been "my gym" during the summer months, biking and swimming are my favorite workouts during summer. I love going to the beach in the evening so that I can take a 30-45 min workout swim in the lake and enjoy nature at the same time.

After I'm done with my swim I like to sit on the beach for a while and enjoy the beautiful sunset.

My favorite healthy breakfast during summer has been a bowl of Greek yogurt with a mountain of fresh fruit and berries on top. I've had this same breakfast on most days during the months of June, July and August.

On the weekends I've made it a tradition to treat myself to a sweet breakfast, usually a croissant or a maple pecan danish. I have enjoyed being able to have my breakfast in the park on Saturday mornings this summer.

After breakfast my husband and I like to take a stroll in our neighborhood and enjoy the summer breeze and being able to be outdoors.

Saturday mornings are very slow and relaxing at our house, a time to catch up and talk about what we've experienced during the week.

Next week when fall arrives it will be time to change out our summer routine with breakfasts in the park and beach trips for other things. I look forward to going on hikes in the fall and enjoying wearing something else than just dresses and skirts, I've hardly worn my jeans at all during the summer months.

The most exciting thing about the fall is that we will have guests from Finland come visit us in Toronto in September. I look forward to spending a lot of time with friends and family. I'm also very excited about our adoption journey entering a new stage this fall, we are getting closer and closer to getting to adopt our children every week. :)

Love The World

Give What You Want

During the last few weeks Steven and Holly Furtick have been teaching a series on relationships at Elevation Church called "The Other Half". This series brings up different topics that apply to not only romantic relationships but to relationships with friends, family, co-workers etc. The more we learn about relationships the better we can become at loving each other in this world.

In this sermon Holly Furtick teaches us about the rule of reciprocation. Here's a description of the sermon by Elevation Church: "When we keep score in our relationships, everyone loses. But since things are rarely 50/50, what are we supposed to do? How can we expect to receive what we need, when we feel like we're the only one giving? "