Busyness!

Our first good snow this season

The new WigMobile!

Coleen with a wiggly Z, Molly and Lisa (Rachel not pictured)

This is the stuff memories are made of!

Well, we had a busy last week and a busier one yet to come! Ben flew to New York to pick up our new 1995 Volvo Station Wagon and drove it back. He planned to take a quick trip through downtown New York just to see Times Square and get some pizza. He accidentally left Ohio in his house slippers and ended up doing the whole trip (downtown New York and all) in them! Jamie and I got to try some of the leftover pizza. Soooo yummy! The Volvo is great! Very fancy inside! While Ben was driving back from NY, I was hanging out with some girlfriends in Sugarcreek (see pics above) at my friend, Molly's house. We had yummy food and some good talks! I'm learning all about the Amish culture several of them grew up in. Ironically, these are the girls that introduced me to the world of blogging and really got me started! We had lots of fun.

Ben's already had a full week and it's only Tuesday! He's busy refinishing our kitchen table, detailing the new Volvo, and he moved two pianos yesterday (with the help of several people)! Z and I just sit and watch him! He just doesn't seem to stop for a minute! Ben was moving pianos while we were at swim class, subsequently, no new little fish pictures, but Z did well and went under again. We've got a busy week ahead still, but I'm saving it to share with you next week. My friend, Melinda, helped me realize I shouldn't probably share too much of our future plans or personal info, since it is cyberspace and all. So, I blurred out the license plates on our cars, just in case there are cyberstalkers out there. Have a good week!

Ye of great faith

First off, thanks for all the awesome comments after "To the Pure...". Our discussion is so much more valuable than just my zerbik thoughts.

So, after the inspiration of one special Zerbik reader, I was reading my Bible, the first chapter of Luke, since one of the characters in a book I'd recently read was reading Luke. This is what stuck out to me: Zacharias was told by the angel Gabriel that his wife would bear a son (John), even though she was really old. The first thing out of his mouth was, "How can I know that this is true?" A thought I've often had after I've felt God speak to me or urge me to do something. Right there and then Gabriel gives him an old fashioned consequence for doubting and makes him mute until John's birth. In the same chapter, we have Mary and Elisabeth, stellar examples of faith! Mary is told she will carry God's baby (which is pretty overwhelming) and she says, "I belong to the Lord, body and soul, let it happen as you say." Elisabeth hadn't even been told of what happened, but when Mary arrives at her door she says, "What an honor it is to have the mother of my Lord come to see me! As soon as your greeting reached my ears, the child within me jumped for joy! Oh, how happy is the woman who believes in God, for his promises to her come true." Now get ready for my favorite part. Mary replies, "My heart is overflowing with praise of my Lord, my soul is full of joy in God my Saviour. For he has deigned to notice me, his humble servant and all generations to come will call me the happiest of women! The One who can do all things has done great things for me - oh, holy is his Name!"


I just had to share that with you!

Mommy's Big Week

Mommy and her little fish

Cousin Ally and Z

Sunday we had the January/February birthday celebration (for five people including myself) at Grandma and Grandpa Harris' house. We had cheesecake!!! Yum. Monday poor Z had to have more vaccinations right before swim class! Poor guy! I think the discomfort hadn't settled in quite yet and he mostly enjoyed himself. I got to be the big fish this time and I did dunk him once, and he did great again. Later this week, Grandma H is coming over to do an all day babysitting job for me as I attend a day long seminar for continuing education units. I'm dreading leaving him for so long! At least I can come home for the lunch break and feed him.

Our Favorite Fish

Up from his first time under

What a big boy!

In Aunt Bekah's arms over the weekend

I warned you there'd be more swimming pictures coming! Well, we sang "Ring a round the rosies" and when we all fell down, our little fishie went all the way under! We're so proud of him! He did really well again, in spite of Mommy's crisis at the beginning of class. I forgot his special 'Lil' Swimmer' diaper which we were told we HAD to have, and so had to drive back home and bring it back to two fishies eager to swim.

To the Pure all things are Pure

I've been immersed in the world of Christian fiction lately. It's been nice to have validation through how others portray a relationship with God, and what that's like. I find what I read invades my thoughts throughout the day, and I'll use words that the characters use or even find commonalities in our thought processes or interests. For this reason, I'm convinced, it's a good thing for me to be reading literature that encourages a healthy worldview and a relationship with God. I'm occasionally drawn to listen to the cheesy Christian music on the local station, and it'll get stuck in my head and be so uplifting. I need to listen to more uplifting music.

It's funny how I feel like I've come almost full circle in my view of the church and the Christian culture. I was so jaded for a while feeling that it all was so closed off to the people who needed in the most. Part of me still feels this way, but having lived without it for quite a while, I'm finding some respite in these things. I guess I'm able to see how it can benefit me to have a safe place to go culturally and socially, not just in my heart and mind.

We've been attending a new little church for a few weeks, we go every other week, so as to not overwhelm ourselves, I guess. It's not my dream church, it's a little apostolic, which is so not us. But, we have good friends that go, and it's so comforting to worship with them. It's nice to get to sing to God with others, not just in my car alone. I still don't think we HAVE to go to church to have the necessary relationship with God. It's just helpful.

Ben and I would love to learn Greek and Hebrew and learn what the original text of the Bible says about church. We're pretty sure what we understand of our translated version that it never looked like churches do today. Communion was always a meal, not a little wafer taken while looking at the back of someone else's head. I won't go off on all the things that we could do better in churches, but I think these issues are correctable. Most churches need an all-too-trendy "Extreme Make-Over".

Here's some things I've heard that I liked about other's churches. Lana says her church in Maryland is focused on recovery, and subsequently has quite a rough group in attendance, but this changes the whole atmosphere of the church family. I imagine it's very humble and subsequently moldable. Matt says his church in Utah is awesome because they are very community based. He says they're constantly involved in service projects. My grandparents in Tennessee attend a rather large church but they understand holy reverence, and know when they walk into that great sanctuary to be quiet and solemn. A LeTourneau professor of ours, Dr Batts, used to drive once a month to a church in Dallas that actually had a discussion group after the service to discuss the sermon. That would make the pastor pretty prayerful about his message, wouldn't you think? The new little church we're going to now, doesn't have a worship leader, and yet, in someways I've found it to be the most worshipful church I've been to. I like that there's no distracting self-conscious people up front. I love that everybody sings to the worship C.D. together. Something happens while we're making our joyful noise together unto the Lord that is definitely...church.

Little Fish

Yesterday, Z had his first swimming lesson at the local YMCA. There will be seven lessons, and subsequently, more pictures to come. Ben was the "Big Fish" while Z was the best little fish in the pond. He was the youngest little fish by far. Mommy and Daddy were going to take turns being the "Big fish" but next week we're planning on having him go under all the way, and Mommy's not so sure she can do that. Z did so well, he kicked and flailed his arms constantly and never cried once. Needless to say, he fell asleep before we got home and slept for a good hour and a half.

In other news, Z is mobile now, he just goes backwards. Just now I was folding laundry in the laundry room with him on his belly next to me, and before I knew it, he was in the little bathroom! He sits up very well now, and his second tooth came in (on Jan. 2nd)! So many new things in his little world. My cousin, Jamie, returned from vacation and will be staying with us until she leaves for bootcamp on February 21st. It's nice to have an extra pair of hands around the house with the little one needing so much attention.

Great quotes collection

"For it is waking that understands sleep and not sleep that understands waking. There is an ignorance of evil that comes from being young: there is a darker ignorance that comes from doing it, as men by sleeping lose the knowledge of sleep." C.S. Lewis in Perelandra

Do what you're told

I'd like to preface this post with my presupposition that "Our fight is not against flesh and blood but against rulers and authorities, against the world-rulers of this dark night, against the spirits of evil in the heavens." Ephesians 6:12 Basic English Bible. We are fighting daily, and daily being fought against.

The latest lesson I've been learning has to do with obedience. I was a good kid, thought I had this one down. I sense God telling me to do something and I admit I thought it was my choice to obey or not, without consequence. But, now, I'm finding that there is consequence, for better or worse. In fact, when I do the smallest thing He tells me, like call someone, say something, don't say something (more often), write this person, etc. I have this overwhelming sense of fulfillment! How wonderful to feel, even if just for a moment that I served God Almighty and served Him well. If someone wants to discuss why I'd want to be subservient to anyone, e-mail me, I'd be glad to share some of the perks of being a bond slave.

I knew this couple, went to school with the lady, who were the craziest Christians I'd ever met. I think crazy in a good way, though. We'd get together with them, and ask if they'd want to sleep over as it was a long drive for them, and they'd whisper between themselves, and finally tell me that they didn't have a word from God about that, so they would be driving home that night. Every little decision they made was like that. It was really amazing.

I just tried for a few days over Christmas to be obedient in the few little jobs I knew I had to do. As I said before I was on a mountain top high those days, but then, I crashed. For no apparent reason I was struggling spiritually with self-pity and selfishness, like in destructive ways that cause arguments. The timing was too obvious, after two and a half days of obedience, someone was not happy about it, and determined to disrupt my efforts.

So, I encourage others, if you sense God telling you to do anything, do it. But, be prayerful about it and ask for His protection. Just as a person who has just received Christ as Savior will be attacked, so are His children who are growing up and learning to be obedient.

Our Little Christmas Carnivore

There it is! Z's first tooth.

At Great Grandma and Grandpa H's house on Christmas night

Great Aunt Val with Z, cousin Emily, Great Aunt Wendi and Grandma C. with Orea

Somebody's got a tooth! It took three weeks to come in, and it took another two for us to get a picture of it! We had a great Christmas and New Year! Lots and lots of family. Happy New Year to you all!