Are you in college or know someone in college? Did you know you can RENT your texbooks?/ Operation Smile

Operation Smile is an international children's medical charity that heals children's smiles, forever changing their lives.

Did you know that every three minutes a child is born with a cleft? — often unable to eat, speak, socialise or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected.

 And in too many cases, their parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life!

Here is one of many touching stories :

Abandoned by both her parents, Maria Eulália Cabralda Costa faced incomprehensible pain during her first five years of life in Brazil.

She was born with a cleft lip that scarred her beautiful features. Her parents separated when she was just a baby, and her father chose two of her siblings to live with him. Her mother chose two others. Neither of them wanted Maria, a beautiful little girl with huge eyes that reflect her emotions.

When Maria’s parents left her, the city’s Child Protection Council called her grandmother, who chose to raise her small granddaughter.

As Maria grew older, she begged her grandmother to allow her to skip school. Her classmates taunted and tormented her, yelling, “You are crippled. Stay away from me.” Maria was too embarrassed to even play with children in her neighbourhood. If she ventured from her home, she covered her mouth with her hands.

Maria’s grandmother was determined to find help for her granddaughter. She first approached the mayor of her city, who was also a doctor. Eventually, a government official directed her to Operation Smile.

When she arrived at the medical mission in Fortaleza, 5-year-old Maria immediately captured the hearts of all the medical volunteers. After her surgery, she was bursting with laughter and smiles.

“I’m so very happy,” said her grandmother. “She plays, runs, talks. She is completely different. Everything has changed for the best. She is not ashamed anymore. Now, she is always looking at herself in the mirror. She always says that she is beautiful, that she is gorgeous. It was everything we have ever wanted.”

Here is how you can help and benefit from it as well...,

                                                     

                                                                    

 CampusBookRentals.com is a company that rents textbooks, saving you money in college and they donate to Operation Smile with each textbook rented!

So if you know someone in college or have a kid in college you can save money and make a difference in someones life at the same time!

Here are some more perks :

-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
-free shipping both ways
-can highlight in the textbooks
-flexible renting periods

 

Here is an example on how you can save 72% on a book!!

...I mean,how great is that?!!!

Girls Wear.

I have a confession to make. This mama loves fashion.

 ( not a big surprize to some of you).

 Not crazy in love about it , but I like to be creative and resourceful when it comes to clothing.

Here comes in my passion for thrifting and DIY.

Having two girls doesn't help my husband very much.

 I sometimes most of the time put the girls outfit together and at the last minute I throw something on and out the door we go. So, on  that note, I thought I'll share some outfits ideas for ....my girls.

Oh well...that's what happens when you become a mother. You put your kids first. 

Now, some of these are quite pricey so just feel inspired  by them, that is what I tell myself every time I go crazy on Pinterest. 

I don't know about where you live but in England the weather is bleah most of the time. So the outfit selection is mostly for a colder season. I know it's summer in Australia now...not at all jealous. 

 

Enjoy.

 

 1. 2. 3.

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On my heart...

 

 

It's late in the night, but I want to write this down now as it's fresh in my memory.

Every night we sit together  as a family and we come before the Lord in prayer.

I love hearing my little girls sweet voices thanking the Lord for their day, things like: thank you God that mummy played with me, or that daddy tickled me and we lough so hard,  little things  that are high lights of their day.

Tonight Emma prayed : Thank you God that I have a mummy and a daddy and a sister, and hank you for everything you created and that you painted the flowers so beautifully.

Oh, my heart! 

 I was reminded trough a child of the things we sometimes take for granted.

 

 

 

LIFE LATELY, ACCORDING TO MY PHONE PICTURES.

Instagram.

 

Coombe Abbey

 

This Summer, together with a group of ladies from our church I visited Coombe Abbey for tea. Yes, I had high tea in  a very posh Coombe Abbey. I can't believe it either.  It is a magical place.

I 'm a big fan of Pride and Prejudice and recently, a big fan of  Downtown Abbey, so this was like Disney land for me, but much better, real and full of history.

 I was day dreaming the whole time I was there. I might have seen Mr Darcy walking in the garden ...or the sun might have been in my eyes, not sure. 

I had such a great time, and it such a  romantic place that we went with the kids the next weekend. Lets just say I know exactly were we are going to spend our 7 year wedding anniversary .

Oh, I just want to live there!

 

 Thank you Coombe Abbey for being so amazing!

 Can't wait to see what you have in store for us at Christmas time!

Garden party. & some news.

Last week I had the opportunity to decorate for my pastor's wife birthday party. I had free hand with the décor so knowing it was going to be a  garden party , I went with an enchanted garden, using different shades of purple and orange with moss and candles and some twinkly lights.

 

 

Totally not on the subject, but I wanted to share something.

I love the hole process that goes around decorating for an event/party. Brain storming ideas, all the DIY, putting every thing together and the smile of the one  celebrated.

I think I mentioned before that I used to have an event planning business in Romania, together with my sister in low, we did mostly weddings. Moving to UK three years ago, I left that behind, thinking that I will never do that again, that there is no way for an immigrant to be able to do what they  are really  passionate about ( create, design, decorate ) in a foreign country, and the stories that you hear or read about, of people that do succeed are just exceptions, ideals that inspire the "little people" and give them hope not to give up, not to crumble and go back home.

When I imagined my life in UK, the thought that I will forever carry the " immigrant " label never crossed my mind, I think if I would have known , I wouldn't have left Romania. What still keeps me here is that God put me here, He put us here, He holds all the Earth, we are His children, I can live wherever He so wishes.

 

I some how fell back in to it, decorating for friends and sisters from my church.

This particular party gave me the push that I needed and decided to give it a go. I'm going to start my own event planning business.

 I'm the only one in it. The budget?...I'm not sure I have one, I should ask my husband.

 Supplies? For now, just stuff I have around the house that I got from charity shops, car boots or Ikea. 

All I have is an add on Gumtree, oh and God on my side, so I guess I'm good to go. My strategy ? Work even for free .

DIY Bee Hive Diaper Cake - What will it BEE? Baby Shower

As promised yesterday, here I am with the instructions for the diaper cake

from the "What will it BEE?" baby shower. 

When I started thinking about the cake I had no specific idea of what it will look like, but I knew I wanted something with bees, yellow, so it will go with the theme of the party. 

Hmm, big and yellow with bees...? A bee hive! ... boy that took me long enough.

 

 

I tried covering the hole thing in yellow tissue paper and ended up looking like a big yellow mess.

So I just went the traditional way and just added the bee hive on top of the cake.

 

Right, this is really easy to put together, you will need:

 

- around 40 new born diapers

-2 toilet paper rolls

-rubber bands

- one cereal bowl

- yellow tissue paper

-one marker

- ribbons ( I used washi tape, the grey dotted one)

- two small metallic spring ( from a pen)

- yellow card

-scissors

 

 

  Role the diaper, from where it folds in half , so you will end with the fastening part. I tried with the fastening part on the inside and it didn't really make any difference, so no mater how you go about it will do fine. Secure the diaper role with a rubber band.

After you have done all 40, arrange one row of diapers around one of the toilet paper roll as pictured.

Secure the hole thing with a rubber band or twine.

Repeat the process for the second layer, this time going twice around the toilet paper roll, as pictured.  Secure it.

 To make it more secure and not having the top layer slide off , you can place some diaper rolls in the toilet paper roll, or instead of a toilet paper, you can use a kitchen paper roll, I used what I had.

Wrap the bowl in tissue paper and place it on top of your cake. Wrap some ribbon around your cake covering the rubber bands. Now get your marker and  card and start drawing some cute bees, you can print some of Google if you wish so. Stretch the springs you got from your pen, glue a bee on one end and glue it to your bee hive like pictured, as if they were flying around.

I got a bit carried away with the marker and gave the bee hive a hobbit door. 

 

:)

 

There you have it, wasn't that easy?

 

Thank you for reading.