If there is any reason to celebrate life with your kids…I’m in! And February being Valentine’s I can’t help but pull out the fun. So last night we began celebrating the love in our house by making chocolate covered pretzels drizzled in red icing. YUM! We used both big and small pretzels (we used these for the big pretzels…)
And they sure do make for pretty treats–but they are harder for little teeth to bite into. Richard and I both agree (along with the kids) that the smaller pretzels are way better (and more addictive…so do the big ones if you are trying to watch your sweets;)
We grabbed white chocolate bark from the baking section at the store…
We used a double boiler to melt the chocolate which I highly suggest! The easiest way to melt chocolate…and fastest clean up too. While we waited for the water to boil, we made up a little recipe for our glaze (powdered sugar, a bit of melted butter, milk and red food coloring…yum! Being inventive in the kitchen with your kids is way fun!)
Then we dipped…
Glazed and sprinkled…
And my sweet husband wanted me to point out my “KIDS DON’T PANIC” moment (thanks honey;). I had a “brilliant” idea of putting the red home-made icing glaze in a ziplock bag with one of my icing tips—and it BURST. Nice, huh. My hubby just wanted me to show you one of my many goofs in the kitchen lest you thought these crafts don’t have many bloopers with them too…
The kids grabbed little kabob sticks and went to town tasting our glaze. Yum:). BUT even goof ups and messes are worth it if in the end you end up with yummies like these…
Wow. SO much good stuff in today’s reading. Seriously, I could park it here all month just on today’s scripture verses and still need more time to talk about the meat here. Oh to condense into 2 cents…
The book of Exodus is about a DELIVERER. How I need one! How thankful I am that I have one! Put on your seatbelts as we travel from Eqypt to the Promised Land…
Exodus 1 I love how this first chapter starts out with a recap of “where we have come from” which adds so much more power as it reminds us of God’s faithfulness…and then WAM–after all of Joseph’s accomplishments through the hands of God…we get slammed with “eventually the new king knew nothing of Joseph or what he had done”. Instead, the king filled his people with fear that the Israelites would overpower them. One of my favorite verses has always been verse 12. The more they oppressed them, the more they grew. Makes me think of the song during the Civil Rights movement “We Shall Overcome”. Something powerful has always happened during oppression. We are strengthened. Believers put more of their faith and trust in God. Unbelievers turn desperately to Him. Pharoah should have known putting a heavy hand on them wasn’t a good idea.
And when that didn’t work, Pharoah decided to put the midwives Shiphrah and Puah in charge of killing the boy Hebrew babies at birth. BUT THEY FEARED GOD! So they didn’t kill them. They risked their OWN lives to save them. I love verse 20 “So God was good to the midwives” and verse 21 “he gave them families of their own”. Weren’t you so proud of Shiprah and Puah for doing the RIGHT thing, fearing the Lord and following Him over Pharoah!
But since Pharoah couldn’t trust the midwives to obey his orders–he gave orders to ALL people…throw all Hebrew boy babies in the Nile.
Exodus 2 If you didn’t have time to read, you can see Laney and Parker’s recap on this chapter by clicking here. We love felt stories:) The story that speaks most to my mommy heart in this chapter is how God made a way for Moses’s mother to be the one to nurse him, care for him and raise him. I love how his mom could see he was special from the beginning…but I have to wonder what this meant…I mean, don’t we all think our children are special! But what made her know and see that Moses was a bit different than the others?! Wouldn’t you love to know!
Wow–so much happens in chapter 2—Moses birth, being raised, going back to live with Pharoah’s daughter…and then Moses seeing one of his fellow Hebrew brothers being mistreated. He killed him and buried him. And I have to wonder how this story could have been different had he done the right thing. Could he have more easily persuaded Pharoah to let his people go? But instead, he was chased by Pharoah as he tried to kill him out of the kingdom. Moses fled to Midian which scholars believe to be Arbia—and some argue Ethiopia (you know I had to throw that in;). Moses married one of the priests of Midians daughters—which again many say was an Ethiopian woman. And we all know how BEAUTIFUL Ethiopians are:) Later, the king of Egypt died—yet the Israelites continued to be oppressed.
How do verses 23-25 make you feel? I have some thoughts—but I’d love for you to ponder these and share yourse.
Exodus 3-4:17 – Moses and the Burning BushIn this chapter, God appears to Moses and speaks to Him in a burning bush. Reading the Bible chronologically has more of a WOW to me here after being AWED by God’s greatness in Job. Job LONGED for the Lord to speak. ANYTHING. A word. Desperately. Then centuries later—here we have Moses, and the Lord appears to him out of no where. It wasn’t like Moses was desperately begging the Lord to appear. It wasn’t like Moses was living this life of purity and servanthood like Job. But the Lord appeared and gave him an order. And how did Moses respond?
Didn’t you want to squeal, “NO Moses!!! Just say yes! Just fall on your knees and say that you will do anything for I AM! Be awed that I AM chose you! Know that He will go with you! You need no more signs…you have Him talking to you in a burning bush! Isn’t that enough?! Job would have died for this! Oh please don’t speak again Moses…don’t you know who is talking to you?!”
But instead–Moses says, “I’m a nobody, I don’t know your name…and they won’t either, the elders won’t believe me, I’m not a good speaker, somebody else should do it.” And God became angry. In His anger He appointed Aaron to go with him, and we know that Aaron wasn’t always a help to him. Oh, how I wish Moses would just obey and trust the Lord. Oh, that I wouldn’t be quick to only look and shake my head at Moses but to also look in my heart and life. What are you telling me to do Lord that I am not bravely following and trusting you in? I want to follow you Lord.
THE WILL OF GOD WILL NEVER LEAD YOU WHERE THE SPIRIT CAN’T ENABLE YOU! Did you hear that?! WALK BY FAITH. He will lead, guide and empower you!
Let us not give up on the reading of His word! It is living and active…and it will change your heart and life!
XOXO!
Andrea
by admin
I feel like such a Moses a lot of the time…self doubt creeps in and I forget how God so beautifully uses our weaknesses for His glory. Like Moses I’m so often afraid to speak (or write) because I fear I’m not eloquent enough but He says “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” I pray He will do this for me…that He will equip me and give me the courage to step out for Him. As always…thank you for your words!