I Love your Presence

Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary. ~ 1 Chronicles 16: 27(AMP)

the most common hebrew word for presence is panim which is literally translated as “face”.

To seek God's presence is to seek his face, or even better- to seek him. How can you seek someone's face without looking for them personally?

You see them-you greet them-you engage in conversation with them-you laugh with them- you cry with them-you are involved with them.

The presence of God was sometimes feared in the Bible. People tried unsuccessfully to hide or escape from his presence. Adam and Eve hid from the Lord in the Garden of Eden in Gen 3:8. Jonah got on a boat in Tarshesh to hide from the Lord (Jon 1:3)

More often, people called out to God and his presence brought peace and comfort in times of need.

When we seek God's presence we are seeking an encounter with him. We are seeking to hear him, to feel him, to know him more.

In order to pursue his presence, we must

1)die to ourselves and our own agenda.

You can't visit family if you are too busy to make the trip to see them. You can't visit with God deliberately if you are too busy to stop and seek him.

2)desire to be like Christ. The people you want to be like are the people you associate yourself with. If you want to be more like Christ, then you will desire to be around him more.

Just as a child watches and copies their parents, then you will watch and copy The Lord. But you have to observe and examine him to know and understand him more. Let him be your guide.

3)Make it permanent. Don't only desire God's presence in time of trouble, desire him to give him Thanks for his presence. Seek him to love and adore him and worship Him. Enjoy spending time with him when you are not in a place of wanting. Love and thank him not only on Sunday and Holidays, give thanks everyday for what he has done.

At the end, God's immediate presence is the reward for our searching here on earth. There will be a day when we are with Him and will see him face to face.

1 joh 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is

When he returns-we will walk with him in the cool of the day again. But don't wait until the day we are gone from the earth be Thankful that he is not far away, that his presence is with us.Give Thanks to the Lord, for he is Good, his love endures forever.

Turkey Time Countdown

Thank you God for a sound mind and the breath of life today.

Since we are spending Thanksgiving this year at Aunt Nancy's house there will be lots of food and family and fun.
She is so excited to go that she keeps telling me "Thanksgiving is tomorrow". Since we are working on her numbers (she can count, but can't recognize the numbers just yet) I wanted to make a Turkey Counter to show how many days are left until Thanksgiving.

We used some foam and leftover decorations from last year to build this turkey. Each day we pull of a tail feather until the last one is gone. Then when the turkey is tail-less, we get to grub!

Allergy Update

So Lily got a rash again. Not early as bad as the one I posted about before, but still and obvious one. I took her to the doctor forfood allergy testing. He was sure it was not food related but did the test anyway. Sure enough-everything came back negative. So now I have to do more research and checking around. He told me to change soap, but that does not seem to be the case. I mean, why switch from 99% natural soap to Aveeno crud? (IMO Aveeno is overpriced and should not even say "Oatmeal Soap" since it is the last ingredient, therefore the least amount)
I am still using Bert's Bees and her rash is going away. It seems to come and go. She ate some pasta and pizza and it got redder. I am beginning to think acidic foods are causing it but she is not testing allergic to them. She has a sensitivity-but not a strong allergy maybe.

My poor girl. But she is excited to say "I am not allergic to anything! Not Strawberries, not chocolate milk, not watermelon or tomatoes"

First Hair Cut

Lily got her first real hair cut. I did it myself, outside which was not as smart as I thought. She kept getting distracted by the dogs next door, the butterfly fluttering by, bugs, trees and everything else that would catch her eye.

Corey wanted it cut off for months now and I kept fighting it, I mean a little girl should have long silky hair, right? Sure! Except Lily never would keep hers in a pony tail, or leave her barrettes or headbands on. So she more often than not looked unkempt.

Here is the before-in her beloved Buzz Lightyear Jammies. (This was me brushing it so I could take the picture too)


This is now-she looks like a big girl now. I really do like it and think it suits her really well.

Also, I had to throw in the photo with Chloe's bald headed face covered in her first teething cookie.

Random Truths

Did You Know...

1. The Bible, the world's best-selling book, is also the world's most shoplifted book.

2. Someone paid $14,000 for the bra worn by Marilyn Monroe in the film 'Some Like It Hot'.

3. Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

4. More than 1,000 different languages are spoken on the continent of Africa.

5. In the U.S.A over eleven thousand people (up until the end of 2003) have visited a tortilla chip that appears to have the face of Jesus Christ burned into it?

6. A kiss lasting one minute can burn more than 30 calories.

7. Buckingham Palace in England has over six hundred rooms.

8. There was once an undersea post office in the Bahamas.

9. Abraham Lincoln's mother died when she drank the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous snakeroot.

10. After the death of Albert Einstein his brain was removed by a pathologist and put in a jar for future study.

HAppy Birthday Lily!

Lily Turned the BIG THREE On 10/4/20101

We had an Ice Cream Party for her complete with

decorated cupcakes in cones so they looked like ice cream. We offered a smorgasbord of candy, sprinkles, cherries, whip cream and junk to add to bowls of ice cream. The kids played ice cream run, they made foam ice cream hangers and colored ice cream cones.

Although Chloe could not have any cake or goodies, she was very content spending the day outside looking at the fig tree.

I am sure each one was very happy and hyper. Some of the moms I talked to said their kids didn't fall asleep until about 11pm- SORRY! Surprisingly, the chocolate ice cream was not as big of a hit as the vanilla. In Fact, I think one child got Chocolate by accident!

Lily ate so much cake and ice cream over the weekend that she actually threw up in her sleep. Then she got into our bed with her puke hair. So we were up at 4 am giving her a bath and changing sheets. I'll know for next year to minimize the goodies.

A book seach returns crazy results

When I was a child I loved spending time at my Grandma & Grandpa's house. She always had great food, cartoon network, a computer, a horse and so many books. One that I recently remembered was called Jelly Beans for Breakfast. Since I have two girls and I remember two girls in the book jumping on beds I thought it would be a great book for the girls.
I searched online to see if anyone had theirs (Amazon, Ebay, you know) and to my amazement it goes for
$199!!!
I immediately called Grandma to see if she still had the beloved book. It has long since been bought at a garage sale or sent to Salvation Army.
I have to wonder if any of those books is mine from years ago!