As kids, my siblings and I would often ask each other "If you had to be blind or deaf, which would you pick?"  Then a friend recently asked on facebook "How do you describe color to a blind person?"

Try to imagine for just a moment what it is like not to hear anything.  At all.  Ever.  Most of my day has some kind of noise.  If I am in a conversation I obviously hear voices and speaking.  If I am down in the daycare I hear the babies jabbering or the bigger kids pretending.  When I go to bed at night I hear the fan and the humidifier.  When I first wake up in the morning I hear the Preacher telling me I've NOT heard the alarm clock!  I usually have music playing wherever I am even if I am alone and just relaxing.  I cannot imagine a world without sound. And I cannot find the words to "explain" sounds.

Then try to imagine a world of darkness.  Even in my own home where I decide the placement of every piece of furniture, I cannot walk around with my eyes completely closed and not bang into something.  My favorite color is pink, and while I know how it makes me feel, I don't think it looks the same or feels the same to everyone else.

I can't imagine how it feels to live without something I have had my whole life.  And the same is true for my Christian walk with the Lord.  I accepted salvation and gave my life to the Lord when I was four years old.  My whole life has been lived in a Christian home focused on pleasing God with our actions, words, and thoughts.  I have "always" had the confidence that I was a child of God with a home in Heaven.  I have "always" been able to call out to my Father in prayer and give Him my burdens.

I can't imagine how it feels to live without God.  How do I explain to people that their hopelessness and their despair does not have to rule their lives?  How do I explain what God's love feels like when others are hurtful to me or disappoint me?  How can I explain why I always have a smile ready to share?

The only way I can describe what I have "always" had that others do not understand is to take them to the One who gave it to me!  God is how I keep pushing on when other people think it's time to give up.  God is the One who shows me love when I'm fed up with everyone else.  God is the confidence I have to do things that others think are upside down and backwards.  God is the peace I feel when life is upsetting.

I don't think I can really describe what music sounds like or what color looks like, but I can describe what makes me have such a different life!  It's God.

Jesus loves me                                   Jesus knows me
This I know!                                      This I love!
For the Bible                                      Watches me from
Tells me so.                                        Heaven above.
Little ones to Him belong                    Sees my heart and hears me pray
They are weak                                   Guides my footsteps
But He is strong.                                 Lest I stray.

Yes, Jesus loves me!                           Yes, Jesus knows me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!                           Yes, Jesus knows me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!                           Yes, Jesus knows me!
The Bible tells me so.                          He knows and loves me so!

"Jesus is all I need" has been playing on the Pandora station I am listening to this morning.  My time with God this morning was about keeping the first things first.  Matthew 6:33 instructs me to "Seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God..."

There are days when I feel like I need to be rescued from pressures and stresses of life.  But Jesus is all I really need.

I am often so busy working down my "to do" list that I resemble a head with my chicken cut off.  But Jesus is all I really need.

I hear of the struggles others are facing and my heart grows heavy with concern and sorrow.  But Jesus is all I really need.

One of my very favorite verses is Psalm 73:26.  It says "My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  My flesh fails me at every turn because I just don't have what it takes to override sin in my life.  My heart fails me when I become discouraged and disappointed in myself.  BUT GOD!!!  God has the strength and power that my heart needs.  And He has all of it that I could ever use up!

Whatever is happening in your life, your attitude can determine whether it destroys you or not.  So if God is the strength my heart (attitude), I can get through ANYthing!  And He is my portion forever.  I will never run out of His strength, I will never use up my allotment, it will never expire.

Yuppers.  Jesus is all I need.  "The Lord is my Shepherd - - what else could I want?"

My name is Missi and I am a homeschool mom.......and I'm proud of it!  We began homeschooling 10 years ago when our "job" in the ministry was to travel around the nation.  We could never expect our kids to attend a week of school, miss two weeks, attend three weeks, miss one week and learn anything.  That attendance record would also be very frowned upon by any school administration!  So after much prayer and research we began our homeschooling journey.

I figured it would be a little slice of Heaven since I was such a dedicated student myself.  Well, let's just say there were SOME  days when it was heavenly and my two kids were angelic in their dedication to the acquisition of knowledge. And then there were other days when it was just yucky.

But we had decided at the very beginning that if we were going to take this non-traditional track that we were going to do it with gusto and see it through to the very end.  We have set high standards for our kids.  They have both learned that sometimes not making it all the way to mom & dad's expectations is how they find out their limitations.  Exceeding our expectations has given them, and us, the thrill of finding their strengths and talents!

And in eight short weeks it will all be over.  Yup, the baby of the family is getting ready to spread her beautiful wings and fly the coop.  I am so proud and happy and anxious!  In fact, I feel quite a bit like I felt the day she was born.  This milestone in her life has been prayed about and planned for just like her birth was.  It marks a huge change in the dynamics of our home and family.  It is, in so many ways, MY graduation too!

So here's to you Sweetie!  Let's have a great party to celebrate what you have accomplished!  And here's to all the other homeschool families out there........keep the goal in your sights.  When I look back, the journey has been incredible for all of us!

We've been busy, just like everyone else.  We've been so busy, in fact, that I haven't gotten to be creative in a very long time.  Now, we made a trip two weekends ago to put vinyl lettering on a church van but I was honestly quite nervous about that project.  This weekend's project was just for fun and relaxation!

I picked up a set of metal electric burner covers at the local thrift shop.  I then modge-podged some of my favorite scrapbooking paper to the inside of the cover.  I made a couple of pockets out of complimenting paper.  Add a few silver metal clips (glued on with Ailene's Tacky Glue) and a handful of bling gems and woooo-hooooo!
One of the pockets holds cards with dinner entrees written on them.  The other pocket holds blank cards for future use.  On the back of each entree card is a list of the needed ingredients for that dish.  As you plan your menu for the week, take the card for each night's dinner and clip it onto the board.  Just a glance at the board in the morning and you will have a clear reminder of your dinner plans for that evening.  The list of ingredients on the back should help any sous chefs in your kitchen be able to get things set up for you!

I'm thinking this is a great way to upcycle old cookie sheets too.  My daughter liked mine so much that she made her own version with rustic styled paper and used wooden clothes pins to hold her cards.  It is the perfect chore or appointment board!  We got the original idea from Pinterest but made a few changes so it would be more suited to our personal style and needs.