I heard this poem many years ago as a very new mother. I don't even think I had Mason yet. It spoke to me powerfully back then and I have wondered where to find it for years since. I'm not sure these are the exact words as I copied and pasted them from another blog/forum. I hope it speaks to you as deeply as it does to me.


JESUS MAKES GOD VISIBLE

He is enduringly strong.
He is entirely sincere.
He is eternally steadfast.
He is immortally gracious.
He is imperially powerful.
He is impartially merciful.
He is the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizons of the globe.
He is God's Son.
He is the sinner's Savior.
He is the captive's Ransom.
He is the Breath of Life.
He is the centerpiece of civilization.
He stands in the solitude of Himself.
He is august and He is unique.
He is unparalleled and He is unprecedented.
He is undisputed and He is undefiled.
He is unsurpassed and He is unshakable.
He is the lofty idea in philosophy.
He is the highest personality in psychology.
He is the supreme subject in literature.
He is the unavoidable problem in higher criticism.
He is the fundamental doctrine of theology.
He is the Cornerstone, the Capstone, and the stumblingStone of all religion.
He is the miracle of the ages.
Just give me Jesus! He makes God visible!

Our women's ministry at church had pancakes Tuesday night and we were asked to bring our favorite pancake topping. I usually only eat syrup on my pancakes, so I tried to think of something that sounded yummy. I decided I wanted to make a butter pecan type sauce and began to look for a recipe. This is what I came up with and it was super yummy. It tastes a lot like pecan pralines.

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Melt the butter and sugar together and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add remaining three ingredients.

That's it. It's that simple. Of course you want to make sure your sugar is disolved, so you may need to continue to stir for a bit after you remove it from the heat. It was really good on pancakes. I think it would be really good on french toast, ice cream and maybe even as a sticky bun topping. You can also leave out the pecans if you wish.

I heard this song today. I may have heard it before, but if so I'd forgotten. I love the words and these are questions I ask of Him often. I so want others to see Him in me. I want to exude His presence. Hope you enjoy the music and the lyrics and I pray that they will inspire you as they have me.

(You will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the screen to hear this song.)

Is the face that I see in the mirror
the one I want others to see
Do I show in the way that I walk in my life
The love that You've given to me
My heart's desire is to be like You In all that I do, all I am
Do they see Jesus In Me
Do they recognize Your face
Do I communicate Your love, and Your grace
Do I reflect who You are In the way I choose to be
Do they see Jesus In Me
It's amazing that you'd ever use me
But use me the way You will
Help me to hold out a heart of compassionate grace
A heart that You're spirit fills
May I show forgiveness and mercy
The same way You've shown it to me
Now I want to show all the world who You are
The reason I live and breathe
So You'll be the One that they see When they see me

I heard this song today. I may have heard it before, but if so I'd forgotten. I love the words and these are questions I ask of Him often. I so want others to see Him in me. I want to exude His presence. Hope you enjoy the music and the lyrics and I pray that they will inspire you as they have me.

(You will need to pause the music player at the bottom of the screen to hear this song.)

Is the face that I see in the mirror
the one I want others to see
Do I show in the way that I walk in my life
The love that You've given to me
My heart's desire is to be like You In all that I do, all I am
Do they see Jesus In Me
Do they recognize Your face
Do I communicate Your love, and Your grace
Do I reflect who You are In the way I choose to be
Do they see Jesus In Me
It's amazing that you'd ever use me
But use me the way You will
Help me to hold out a heart of compassionate grace
A heart that You're spirit fills
May I show forgiveness and mercy
The same way You've shown it to me
Now I want to show all the world who You are
The reason I live and breathe
So You'll be the One that they see When they see me

I grew up in a very judgemental home and have really had to work at becoming different and not judging people. I will not begin to say that I succeed at that everyday, but I am at least to a point that when I am being judgemental I feel the Lord's conviction and am able to repent and learn from that mistake. That being said, I have realized recently how guilty many of us are of judging other peoples convictions and walk with the Lord. Especially in the area of family planning or lack thereof. Why do we think that it is okay to judge people about the size of their family if it is something they feel like they are called to. Would we judge someones calling to be a Pastor, Missionary, Worship leader, etc. What if someone is called to adopt, do you judge that? The Word does not speak of modern day forms of birth control, so did we all just deccide that since it is available we must all use it? I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with using birth control. We to some degree planned the size of our family (although now that we are living for the Lord I have some regrets about that). God designed things a certain way and if he enables people to get pregnant and give birth many, many times, maybe that was His plan for their lives. I was unable (because of a miscarriage and difficult pregnancies with pre-term labor and delivery) to have a large family (although the four children that we have is large by many peoples definition) so maybe that wasn't His plan for me. I'm not trying to be on a soap box or say that everyone is wrong. I just hope that people will begin to think about what they are thinking or saying and how God would feel about those feelings or words. I happen to be friends with or aquainted with many large families and several people that desire to allow the Lord to determine the size of their families and I'm telling you I respect them greatly. For the most part these families bear good fruit. You can see Jesus in them and their children. They typically lack selfishness and have the heart of a servant. They tend to be very polite and respectful and have the kind of children that you want your children around because they are such good examples. I guess I'm just saying, look at your attitude about such things, commit it to prayer and ask the Lord if you've had a right heart in that area. I know I haven't always, but I'm sure glad that He has and is changing my heart in that and many more areas and that He has brought some of these families into my life, they truly sharpen me and I am blessed immensly by them.

Here is another great parenting resource. It is a very thorough approach to parenting. The gist of it is, as in probably almost anything that I would advocate, that the goal in parenting is raising godly adults, not good children. So, everything that you do should be to that end. These people (Michael and Debi Pearl) have practiced what they preach and their children are the fruit of that labor and the proof is surely in the pudding. I recommend their books "To Train up a Child" and all of the volumes of "No Greater Joy". You can read the Introduction and first chapter of "To Train Up a Child" HERE and sign up for their free magazine HERE .

I came across a very good article from Focus on the Family about communication in marriage. It has some really good points. Will cause you to think for sure.

Read it HERE.

Today is my husbands birthday and I just wanted to take a minute to tell you all how amazing he is and how blessed I am that he was chosen for me.

We met and fell in love almost immediately. It wasn't love at first sight, but Patrick who was recently divorced and said he would never marry again, says that he knew immediately that I was someone he could marry. Within a month we were pretty sure we were in love and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Minor problem, he was 29 years old, divorced and had an 8 year old and I was almost 18. Our parents were none too happy to say the least. We had a really hard time when we were dating becaause of the negative pressure from everyone else. Honestly, it didn't make sense to me either. I even tried dating other people that were closer to my age, but it was not to be. Even when I was seeing someone else (which he encouraged me to do) we could not go a day without speaking to each other. We got married just a few months after I graduated from high school. Things were definitely hard for a lot of years (largely because of my insecurities and anxiety and the fact that we were not living for the Lord), but through all of that he was so patient. It is a joy to wake up every morning next to him and I can't wait to see him at the door every afternoon. He is such a hands on Dad and my children absolutely adore him. They have the relationship with him that I could have only dreamt of having with my dad. He doesn't mind a bit helping with the housework or homeschooling. He's just all around a fabulous guy. Our beginning may not have been as conventional as others, but there is not doubt in my mind this is exactly who I was supposed to be with for the rest of my life. Happy Birthday, my sweet man. I love you more and more each day!!!

I have decided to move my blog.  Homeschoolblogger just isn't that user friendly for those of us who don't know that much about computers and don't have much time to sit in front of them.  It also seems to have been really slow lately.  So, I've decided to move ot blogspot.  It seems much easier to use and runs a good bit faster.  I'm hoping that the ease of use and quickness of it, will enable me to actually post more regularly.  Come visit me at www.squeeli2.blogspot.com .

I'm gonna be an aunt again!!!

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting!  They were pregnant last year and lost the baby around week 12.  Obviously, it was extremely traumatic.  We are extremely excited and would really appreciate your prayers.  The baby is due mid-January.

I recently had the opportunity to share my testimony and more specifically how the Lord has delivered me from anxiety.  I thought I would  share my notes about what the Word says about anxiety.  Hope you find it helpful!  (My notes are italicized)

I came through surgery well today.  Of course I am in pain and am struggling with the pain meds keeping me from resting.  I do have a praise report though.  When I went to the Dr. last Thursday they expected to schedule my surgery for 2 - 3 weeks from then.  While I was in the office someone called in to cancel their own surgery and I was able to get my appt. for this Tuesday.  I knew that the Lord must have had a hand in that, but received even further confirmation of that today.   While doing the surgery the Dr. found that my knee cap had begun tearing the cartliage (meniscus).  It was a very small tear and he was able to clean it up and does not expect me to have any long term isssues because of it.  The thing about the timing is that if I would have had to wait a few weeks the tear would probably have been worse and would have required a more intensive repair and in all likelyhood would have caused some arthritis in the joint.  Thanks for all of your prayers, please keep them coming.

Be Blessed!

Thanks for all of the prayers and encouragement.  My testimony went really well.  In my preparation the Lord revealed to me many things in his word about anxiety that I didn't already know.  It was great!  Praise the Lord.  He is so good and He answered all of my prayers regarding this.  I hope to share my testimony here soon!

I also need more prayer.  I am still struggling with my knee and am in therapy twice a week with it.  Also, today I will be taking my daughter to the doctor.  She has a bad cough and is complaining of rattling in her chest.  This is my daughter that has asthma, so something like this could get bad quickly.  Please pray especially for her. Thanks!

We just took a field trip to Helen Keller's birthplace "Ivy Green".   While we were there I read an article that someone had written about her.  It had one of the most profound quotes from Helen Keller that I have ever read. 

It said that as a child she had never learned about the Lord, obviously, because no one could communicate with her.   After Annie had been with her for, I believe, a year she traveled with Annie to her former school for the blind.   While there a minister came to speak  and she was told about God.  Her reply to this was (please don't shoot me if this is not exact) "I always knew He was there, I just didn't know His name." 

That gave me chill bumps.  To think, this little girl couldn't see or hear anything.  All she knew of what God had created was what she could feel and smell and yet she felt His presence and knew of His existance.  Wow!  It just made me realize that maybe witnessing is not as difficult as we sometimes believe it to be.  Maybe this is really just a world full of people who already know He is there, but just need us to tell them His name (Jehovah Jireh-the Lord who provides; Jehovah Nissi-the Lord is my refuge; Jehovah Shalom-the Lord of  peace).

.My friend Jordan asked me to list out my morning routine.  So, here goes.  First let me make clear that this is my ideal routine.  We are very busy and often are not home in the mornings, so it's a different on those days of course.  Some days I don't get to everything and sometimes I do.  Also, remember that my children are old enough to be pretty independant and that makes a huge difference

6:30  I wake up, this is my few minutes with Hubby before he goes to work and time just for me to get awake and going.  I also check my email here.

7:00 My time in the Word and prayer before the kids wake up.

7:30 The kids wake up and eat breakfast.

8:00  This alternates.  Somedays we start school here and some days we start chores here, depends on how bad my house is making me feel.

Next, we do whatever we didn't do earlier, school or chores.

Then lunch and whatever else we have going that day.

The only times that really matter to me are the wake up times.  My kids are older and are not allowed to come downstairs until 7:30.  I'm just a much more cheerful Mommy when I have time to wake up really well before I have to meet demands for the day.  Other than that I'm more concerned with the order of events for the day than I am exactly what time it is when we wake up.  I actually didn't adjust their wake-up time to accomodate this, I adjusted mine.  The 7:30 is just when I set their clocks, so they all come down together.

If we oversleep on occasion we still do this same basic routine.  It is pretty basic, but it seems to work pretty well for us.  Hope that is what you were looking for Jordan!

I was watching TV last night and the author of the "Bad Girls of the Bible" books was on.  She spoke about Leah in a way that was truly profound to me.  So, I wanted to share it here.

Brief story in case you don't remember all of it.  Jacob saw Laban's daughter Rachel and was immediately taken with her.  He went to Laban and offered to work 7 years (which I am told was double the custom) for Rachel to become his wife. At the end of 7 years they had a wedding.  Back then the brides were heavily veiled, and the brides were switched.  Jacob was tricked into marrying Leah.  Jacob was of course angry but was willing to work another 7 years for Rachel.  So, here you have Leah who has been pawned off by her father to a man that does not love or want her. 

Ok, now here is the part that the author was pointing out.  1st-When God saw that Leah was unloved (or despised), He opened her womb.  Back then that was the measure of a woman, whether or not she could bear children and how fruitful she was.  The Lord saw her in her darkest place and blessed her with an open womb, exactly what she needed to feel accepted by those around her.

So, of course she conceives a child and she thinks surely Jacob will love me now.  Not so.  So, she bears two more sons, still desiring that love from Jacob, still desiring His acceptance, but not recieving.  But....2nd point....She bears a 4th son and this time she gets it and she says now I will praise the Lord, so she named her son Judah.  Now, did the Lord choose Rachels son to be in the lineage of Jesus?  No, he chose Judah.  Here is this poor woman, living in a loveless marriage and when she finally gets it, when she is finally willing to let go and just praise the Lord in the midst of her circumstance, that son becomes an ancestor of Christ.  Which makes her an ancestor of Christ.   Wow!  What a lesson.  Look at how blessed we can become and how we can truly walk in our destiny when we just start praising him in the midst of our circumstances.  Maybe not just in the midst of them, but also in spite of them. 

Our pastor mentioned in service Sunday that we just have to stop complaining, we have to stop whining, griping and bellyaching.  He was speaking on Psalm 103.  Verse 1 says "Bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless His holy name."  If we are spending time complaining then we can't be blessing Him at the same time.  With all that is within me I am to bless Him.  So, good, bad or ugly I'm meant to bless Him regardless.  There are so many examples of this in the scripture.  What about Paul and Silas in prison, singing praises to the Lord?  Would we be praising and blessing the Lord, or would be be whining?  Just thought this was eye opening and convicting and I wanted to share.

Be Blessed!

I came accross this list of ?'s at www.reviveourhearts.com .  Some of them were surely very convicting to me.  I encourage you to read them with a prayerful attitude, that the Lord would show you any areas you need to work on, not a defensive one.   Ask Him to help you be honest with yourself about your answers.  I would venture to say that most of us would answer yes to at least some of them.  Hope you find them helpful.

?'s to Help You Determine if You are Prideful

Just wanted to share my schedule for the upcoming week so you will understand if I don't make it on here anymore this week.  I am planning on working on managing my time a little better this week, though.

Monday - Possibly having afternoon company.

Tuesday - Afternoon company and prepare main dish and bread for men's ministry evening at church.  Take meal to church.  Set up and clean up afterward.  Meet with a friend for about an hour and a half.

Wednesday - Take care of my Pappaw and church.

Thursday - Co-op from 8:45 - 12:00.  Errands.  Orthopedic Dr's appt. for me at 3:45.  Choir practice at 6:30.

Friday - Field trip about 1 1/2 hours away.

Saturday- Home (Hubby goes to men's breakfast w/ our homeschool group)

Sunday - Church and my brother's Birthday lunch.

So, as you can see it's a bit crazy this week.  For that matter I think this month looks pretty busy.  Please pray that I manage my time well and do not become overwhelmed.  Hope you all have a great week!

I'm still here.  Life's been a bit crazy though.  I'll give you a run down of our days since I last blogged.

Monday 11th - The girls 10th Birthday we had a party with friends at lunch time.  I made spaghetti and homemade pizza and cupcakes.  The kids and Mom's decorated journals.  Lots of fun, but lots of work.  My parents came over for supper that night as well.

Tuesday - I think we were home.

Wednesday - Left home at 7:30 a.m. to take care of my Pappaw.  Then church.  Home at about 9:30 p.m.

Thursday - Co-op at 8:45 a.m. Errands in town. Home.  Got a phone call at about 7:30 to let us know that my in-laws had decided to come up for the girls birthday and they would be here in two days!!!!

Friday - House cleaning and packing.  Delivered the kids and dogs to my mom's.  Hubby and I went out to eat and then spent a night away in a chalet at a local state park. 

Saturday - Walking and driving at the state park.  Had breakfast buffet at the park and went to a local tourist area with antique shops and such and had lunch there.  Picked up our children around 5:30 p.m. and headed home.  When we arrived we were greeted by Mother and Father-in-law and 2 nieces.

Sunday - Get up and prepare lunch in two crock pots for family birthday dinner.  Headed off to church.  Then back home with a houseful of people for lunch.  We had taco soup and white bean chicken chilli along with a cookie cake and birthday brownie.  It was a huge hit!  I think we had about 18 guests. 

Monday and Tuesday - Home trying to return to normal.  Then Tuesday night we went to some friends house to help them get some stuff done and took them a meal.

Wednesday - Pappaws and church again.

Thursday - Co-op, Errands and a visit to my friend Brenda at Wisescrappers.

Today - HOME!!!!

So, as you can see things have been so crazy around here.  I'm sad to say that it seems when our lives are so busy that what suffers the most is my time with the Lord.  I'm going to be working hard to get that back in order.  I'm also missing spending time with some of my dearest friends.  Hopefully, I will be blogging a little more often as well.  I pray you have a truly blessed day!