Learning from Bar-Jesus

Isn't it just so funny when kids are so sure about something that makes no sense? I mean - bless their little hearts - they just dig their feet in and it's so hard to convince them otherwise. Especially if it's something abstract that we can't actually SHOW them. Why can't they just believe us?! ;)

Well, we've been going around and around with Zac about Bar Jesus. He came home from a church class talking about how there are really "two Jesuses." Jesus, and Bar Jesus.

We've tried to ask him details about this character trying to figure it out. What are they teaching him at church?! lol!

So last night, after dinner, Brian and I both got our bibles (of course, Zac had to get his, too), and we all researched. We had a copy of ZZ's curriculum, so we knew which passages they've studied this semester. Zac just seemed so sure about what he was talking about.

He was so INSISTENT on what he knew to be true.

"Do you mean BAR-nabas?"

"How about AnitPAS?" "Paphos?" "Ephesus?"

All of a sudden, we came upon Acts 13:1-13, about Saul/Paul and Barnabas traveling.

Acts 13
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus.

The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, "You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun."

Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.

Yeah. So basically, Zac was totally right. This Bar-Jesus (also named Elymas) was a magician who didn't believe in Jesus and ended up temporarily blind - therefore leading the proconsul to believe. Bar-Jesus didn't want the proconsul to become a Christian, because then he wouldn't need magic anymore, and Bar-Jesus would be out of a job.

The Holy Spirit worked through Paul to humble Bar-Jesus. And he has a chance to repent, although he's not mentioned again in the bible, so we don't know what ever becomes of him.

We all encounter our share of "Bar-Jesus" characters.

In some ways, Zachariah already has one in his life.

Our prayer for ZZ is that he is able to overcome the influence of a Bar-Jesus. We pray that Zachariah, like the proconsul, will be amazed at the works of the Lord and follow His ways - rather than the entertainment of a magician.

And we pray for ourselves - that Zachariah's example this week will remind us to stay firm in our convictions. That we carry in our hearts the things we learn during our Quiet Times and Sunday sermons and Community Group counsel and Sunday School teachings - ready to stand up for what we believe and KNOW is truth.

Oh, and Isn't it just so funny when kids adults are so sure about something that makes no sense? I mean - bless their little hearts - they just dig their feet in and it's so hard to convince them otherwise. Especially if it's something abstract that we God can't actually SHOW them. Why can't they just believe us Him?! ;)

So many lessons for us to learn. Thank you Lord for the blessings of this precious four-year-old boy. He is truly a gift from You.

A Diva and a Warrior

Miss Priss had her photograph taken again today. She's already such a princess.

No Photographs Please.

And, I labeled them again. For those of you who have a hard time reading sonogram pictures.

Which would include me, b/c I kept saying things like, "Oh! Look at her little face!" And the sonographer would say, "Actually, that's her back."





Brian doesn't know yet the exact costs of competitive cheerleading... but since she is already practicing (and perfecting I might add) her flexibility and agility - I think we should start saving.

And - just like her Daddy and Big Brother....she's already a Red Raider.

Get Yer Guns UP!!

Speaking of Big Brother... we had quite a bit of excitement the other day when the tree in the backyard was trimmed. He was DYING to be out there with the two tree trimmers.

Loud noises, sharp tools, helmets, muscles.....

... and I'm pretty certain he dreamed that very night of climbing trees in his cowboy boots.

In case anyone at Brian's work wonders why he looks pretty worn out after coming home for lunch...

Such BOYS!! Both of them!

We often trade babysitting with some friends down the street. Jake is one of his best buddies. We had their family over the other day and saw this...

Brian and I couldn't believe it! He's such a little wrestler!! Apparently they do this all the time over at their house. Too funny!!

I have an obsession

.. and its name is ETSY!!!

Etsy.com is my little haven where I go to dream about all the things I want to make for this little baby girl. Things I had never even thought of!


Lately, if I leave the computer on and leave the room... Brian turns it off. Can you believe it? I don't know how he resists some of this stuff.


Who knew we could have a very girly car seat cover made to go over our current gray one? And I get to pick the fabric!!!



And then who's the genious that thought of this nifty little handle cover that is padded and oh so pretty? (have you ever carried one of these? this cover was such a fantastic idea!)
OOH! A matching burp cloth - LOVE IT!


And we simply can't go shopping without Miss Fancy Pants having a custom grocery cover.....

Um... hello?! Those pastel rubber Bumbos are SO last year. My little princess should be rockin that bumbo in some classy Damask print. :)

And did I mention that Etsy has caused me to have a baby girl SHOE OBSESSION?

Burberry!!

On the crocs?! Fabulous!!

A girl's gotta have bling, you know...




And don't even GET me started on crochet and/or knitted hats with BIG FAT FLUFFY FLOWERS on them!! I thought I'd have a bow weakness - but I'm not sure which she'll have more of... hats or bows!

Time to start saving my Joann's coupons so I can try to make some of this stuff myself!! :)

Weekend ramblings and sonogram pictures!

Our sonogram pictures!!!

Unfortunately, Brian was out of town last Thursday. This sonogram was a total last minute opportunity and we both were *really* excited. So I had them put the gender in an envelope that we would open when Brian returned. But he wasn't supposed to return until Sunday! As I was driving home from the appointment, he made the executive decision to OPEN THE ENVELOPE - we just couldn't stand it! :)

I was super shocked, but he had been wavering lately... saying that he just had a funny feeling it might just be a girl after all. Well - he was right!

His intuition is a little better than mine - proven by the plane ride last year where I was sure we were on our way to crashing into the ocean. And I mean sure. Sure enough to try and CALL people. Yeah. I just don't have that sixth sense thing.

Well - ANYways. I remained in a bit of shock.

Until the next day when we decided to play at the mall since it was raining and I discovered the plethora of girlie things available for purchase. I - the woman with baby girl sonogram pictures - was their dream customer.

Brian happened to call in the middle of my credit card euphoria and begged me not to buy anything. Was it coincidence that he ended up coming home early that night with car trouble?

B/c Brian was out of town, I made two copies of each sonogram picture. The original, and one that I marked up to make it easier for him to see and undertand.....



Here is Miss Thing sucking on her hand and looking away......

Her little teensy weensy feetsies!!

She flipped over during the sono (I still can't feel her at all), and now her head is on the left. Kind of skeleton-ish. On her belly, you can see a couple black marks - those are some of her little organs (heart, etc).

Here she is (head on the right again) waving to Mommy!

Brian came home on Friday night. Just enough time for me to beg him plead with him use any means possible to get a free pass to a consignment sale the next day.

It was pretty much the last one of the season AND it was half-price day AND I promised just to buy socks and pajamas.

Until I called him 2 hours into the sale and told him just HOW much we would save if I bought a little bit more. AND that I promised NOT to go shopping ever again. For my whole entire life.

Here is all the loot!! I just love it all!!! I sorted it all out before washing it.

Then we folded it all - only losing 2 socks somewhere in the washer and/or dryer. (forgot how small baby socks are!!)

And we set up the crib in the nursery and put it all in there. HOW CUTE IS ALL THIS?!

Although.... I'm not sure what to do with the baby boy stuff I *already* bought. You know - b/c I had that amazingly accurate and confident feeling that this little princess was going to be a prince.

And the one maternity shirt - that I actually spent *real* money on....

ZZ updates!

Can't forget my sweet little angel baby #1!!!

For Christmas, we got Star Wars Monopoly (thanks Nana and Grandad!!). We hadn't broken it out yet, but Zac saw it the other day - having totally forgotten about it. We've been playing an ongoing game for about a week now. It's really the game that never ends.

And it feels that way when you are losing really bad. Zac's properties are on the left and mine are on the top. I keep having to pay him rent and I just feel like this is all really backwards and unfair.

But, he is getting to be very good at his math facts with all this dice rolling. Such a smart little guy!

He's a creative little squirt, too.

He just walked up to me (while loading the above pictures) wearing this. He tells me, "But Spiderman is in a snowstorm!" when I beg for a super-quick picture.

It's the little moments like that that I relish..... I love this little guy!!!

wow. just wow!

I was able to get a sonogram from a friend's mom last night.
So much for my woman's intuition!

Official Guesses

We aren't scheduled for our sonogram for two more weeks... but we're ready to make our official guesses!!

We both are guessing..... BOY.
(I'm about 90% sure and Brian's about 70% sure.)

Here are some stats so you can make your own guess (and take our poll to the right!!)

(these are from old wives tales I found online...)

* Baby's heartbeat has been 166 and then 154 (says girl)
* Mom is carrying mostly out in front (says boy)
* Morning sickness from week 5 to week 16 (says girl)
* Chinese baby chart (says girl)
* Mom prefers salty over sweet stuff (says boy)
* Mom's face is rounder (says girl)
* Dad hasn't gained weight (says boy)
* Mom's hair is not shiny or full (says girl)
* Age at conception + Month of conception = an odd number (says girl)
* Mom is already too swollen to wear wedding rings. Not sure if that's boy or girl, but it is kind of uncomfortable! ;)


That's all I can find that aren't too weird. I'm not pouring Draino into the toilet or anything like that!

I will say this though: almost all of those were happening during ZZ's pregnancy - and he is definitely 100% boy.


So far, everything is going really well. I'm out of the sick phase (thank you Lord!!!!!!) and I feel great. My feet are already swollen. And if I open my hands up all the way, they turn totally white. I remember that freaking me out, but now I know now that's just from being swollen, too.

I'm already having some Braxton-Hicks contractions. So I should probably be drinking more water. But Brian thinks it's cool to how my stomach gets really super hard for a couple minutes during them. They don't hurt and I got them around this time with ZZ, too. (Definitely not a sign of early labor if you know ZZ's story! lol)

We decided to switch doctors and are extremely happy with that decision. Turns out it's the same doctor as Michelle had with her twins! And he's a wonderful man who we feel very safe with AND he is a strong Christian who offered to pray for us. We absolutely LOVE him. He said a VBAC was a "no-brainer." He has a 90% VBAC rate and has over 30 years experience - so we totally trust him.

That's all for now! Go take our gender poll!! :)

Easter weekend

First of all - HE IS RISEN!! Allelujah!!! This is my FAVORITE holiday!!! I just love it!!!

ZZ knows the whole easter story and we are so proud of him. He is asking such great questions. Today, he asked - what does Salvation mean? And we answered. Then he says, "Well, really it means you should build your house on Jesus' salvation." (he meant "foundation" but it kind of makes sense this way too!!)

When ZZ was first born, I had a little sewing business. I called it My Little Blessing - after him. Little did I know back then how TRUE it was!! He is such a total blessing to everyone around him. Truly a gift from the Lord!


We started off our weekend with an easter egg hunt at the nursing home. Some other moms and I are trying to teach "serving" in an age appropriate way. And on the way there, I talked a lot with Zac about showing Jesus to the older residents at the home.

I can't even express how proud I was of him. He hugged the residents and even kissed some on the cheek! He held some hands and walked around with me talking with them. The nursing home was so gracious. They hid eggs for the kids, dyed eggs, had candy and treats. Zac was given a little bunny by one of the sweet residents there - which he has slept with all weekend.


He proudly wore his Policeman badge - which was really cute and funny. :)

We made that "basket" before we left. It's an egg carton decorated with stickers. I didn't want him to be the aggressive egg stealer kid - so I thought limiting him to 12 would be a good way to prevent that. And to Zac, 12 eggs is a LOT. :)

It was at this Egg Hunt where I saw what a sweet little egg hunter he was. He made sure the littler kids had more eggs and he only brought home about 5 or 6 eggs. I was so proud of him. He didn't race around with a take-take-take attitude. He was so giving and kind. LOVE HIM!!

I didn't say anything. But this sweet lady was clearly not the easter bunny. What you can't see is her cell phone in her basket. Zac was sweet, but I knew HE knew it was definitely not the "real" bunny when he didn't even bother telling her his one easter basket request: Elefun.

After we left the nursing home, he asks, "Mom? Why did that Easter bunny have a cell phone?"

We were on our way to the mall to meet some friends, so I told him she was just a sweet lady who dressed up - and we'd see the real one at the mall.

YAY!! This bunny got to hear all about Elefun and how much fun it would be to receive it on Easter morning. :) Thank you Nordstrom's kid's shoe department! :)

Saturday morning, we had another Hunt to go to. But we've been *really* putting off putting the final touches on that silly bathroom of ours. You know - the one we started about a year ago? :)

So, we vowed to get the toilet paper holder and towel bars hung before the Egg Hunt.

The problem is... Brian and I are both so very independent!! Thankfully Zac provided some comic relief as we worked through that. ;)

Although, working on the house with a 4yo underfoot is not always easy. The hallway was destroyed as we gave him toy after toy after project after project to keep him out of the way.

Here he is with an allen wrench tightening all the screws on his Ikea table and chairs.

Of course, we were running late at that point. Brian finished up while I raced to get ready and get to the Easter Egg Hunt - not exactly something you can be late for!

But - right when we were about to leave - I couldn't find Zac's easter basket ANYwhere!! I was stressed and Brian was stressed and we both felt rushed and frustrated.

We never did find that darn basket (and now we are wondering if we ever brought it home when we bought it the other day b/c it's NOwhere in our house!!)

I was so embarrassed that he had to bring his ghetto egg carton to this really nice Egg Hunt. I had picked out this really cool, really BIG brown woven basket JUST for this hunt!! Grrr!

BUT. Zac never fails to amaze me.

I joined him in the car (where he was waiting patiently while his frazzled parents raced around on our OWN hunt for this basket). Brian had to meet us there since he missed any time to get ready.

I hand Zac his lame old sticker-covered egg carton.

And Zac says, "Mom? I'm so lucky to have the coolest basket of everybody."

Is he not the most beautiful child?!?!

We got there - and ended up being early b/c the actual hunt didn't start for an hour. We went to the petting zoo, which he LOVED.

Brian and I cracked up at these poor chicks. Bless their hearts. But the children sure loved their pretty colors!

That silly donkey just cracked him up. :)

And, although we've never been able to convince Zac to get his face painted, he sure loves the balloon makers! A SWORD!!

He played some games and got a really cool ring (which we promptly lost at Target that afternoon...lol).

And he got to make a great little bunny bracelet.

He made his own cookie concoction (notice that great egg carton).

Girl Scout cookie with icing and gummy bears anyone?

Then came the Easter Egg hunt.

First they called the 2-3 year old kids outside. I knew Zac was a very gentle egg "hunter" so I kind of wanted him out with the little kids. But we waited for the older group to be fair.

Then they called the 4-5 group and we headed outside.

Brian stayed inside b/c he had found some old friends and was busy talking. No biggie - what could go wrong at a little kids' easter egg hunt?

One rule was given to everyone: Only 10 eggs per kid. The lawn was covered in eggs, so we were all assured that everyone would get enough.

Well, the 4-5 year old group doesn't mess around on an egg hunt. It's a ruthless hunt-or-be-hunted mentality out there. When the eggs were all gone, Zac had ONE.

ONE EGG.

Being pregnant and completely hormonal, I admit, I did confront a mom whose child's basket was overflowing with eggs.

I'm not proud of this. But I gave her a friendly little clenched-teeth-smile reminder that the kids were only supposed to get TEN eggs each.

But she didn't speak english and smiled sweetly right back at me and walked off.

I'm not mad anymore. Now, I am holding back my tears.

Like a crazy pregnant lady, the field is clearing, and I'm with my sweet little boy who has ONE egg, and my eyes are filling up with tears.

I say, "Zac - I'm so proud of you."

And he says in the saddest little voice, "Why? I only have one egg."

**omg.... self control!!**

I found the director and I don't know what he thought was more pathetic - my wavering voice, Zac's egg carton, or the fact that there was only ONE egg in there. So he gave Zac a couple of the extras in a bag he was carrying. We were very thankful and ran in to find Brian and open up all the eggs.

Now I just wanted to go home. We were having an easter party that afternoon and I needed a NAP.

Our party was so much fun. We are so blessed to have such sweet sweet friends with wonderful children for Zac to play with.

Brian even got to hold baby Caroline!

(He tells me later that babies are soooo easy - he has no clue what an ANGEL Caroline is!! Hopefully our new baby will be HALF that good!!!)

The weather was so beautiful and all the kids stayed outside the whole time. They are SO cute! :)

Then we had an egg hunt for the kids. I made Brian buy 160 eggs so Zac would have more than one this time. :)

He started with his egg carton...

But ended up with a Walmart bag because there were SO many eggs!! YAY!!!

After everyone left, we set out to make Easter Cookies. My camera was acting TOO good all day and this is the last picture it chose to take for the day. I was hoping to get a picture of each step of the cookies, but oh well.

Didn't really matter anyway, since they didn't even work. (they were supposed turn out hollow and they didn't)

The next morning - it was FINALLY EASTER!!!! During our morning cuddle time, Zac was sure that the bunny had his basket on the back porch.

But it wasn't there.

And -of course - it wasn't a basket either... LOL

It was on the fireplace!! And the Bunny left ELEFUN!!! Hooray!!! And we were early for CHURCH!!!

Easter Sunday - truly a day full of miracles. :)

We got great seats at church and Zac took our picture. He was AMAZING during the service. He loves the songs and he lifts his hands up while singing to Jesus. How could that not make a Mommy cry all over again?! The people around us LOVED him. He just blessed so many people that morning!

Easter, 2009 - a blessed wonderful amazing weekend for our family.

Thanks for visiting!! :)