tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71020421404116133402024-02-21T02:39:31.616-08:00dreams waking upKristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-26154345902305364912017-03-19T09:19:00.000-07:002017-03-19T09:19:29.877-07:00miscarriage: Sarah Love<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Within 10 years we had 6 kids. Because of their age gaps, it's roughly two years between each child. My husband and I try to live our lives with an <a href="http://jenniferfulwiler.com/catholic-teaching-on-openness-to-life/" target="_blank">openness to life</a>, but we have also prayerfully felt for a while that there are many <a href="http://taylormarshall.com/2014/08/nfp-and-serious-reasons-what-are-these-reasons.html" target="_blank">good reasons we should avoid having another baby</a> (as a side note, while we are not both Catholic, neither one of us feel like <a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2010/12/sterilization-is-it-getting-fixed-or.html" target="_blank">changing our biology or using other forms of contraception is fully living in God's plan</a>). And with two years per child, we were approaching a mile marker in our lives - we were getting ready to celebrate our youngest child's 2nd birthday at the end of December, and this time we didn't have another pregnancy to announce at the 2nd birthday party. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or so we thought. My very regular 28-day cycle was super out of whack in December, and I was not prepared to read my <a href="http://www.naturalfamilyplanning.ie/fertility-indicators/" target="_blank">fertility signs</a> properly for a rebel cycle (I was still working on getting properly <a href="http://www.natural-family-planning.info/" target="_blank">educated in NFP</a>). Our doctor showed us a chart that calculated our conception date either on or right around our youngest's 2nd birthday. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wish I could say I was happy about the positive pregnancy test...that I was instantly excited that God had blessed us with another family member despite our feelings that we shouldn't have any more babies. But I'm human. And I'm self-centered. And I was looking forward to getting rid of weekly babysitter bills and diapers...of maybe having some extra cash for fun trips or a newer, more technically savvy car. I was looking forward to never going back to the toddler stage where they get into EVERYTHING. We had sold our crib two months earlier. I had been losing weight and wasn't happy about putting that on hold or even going backwards in my goals. I was ready for life to "settle down" as much as a family of 8 can settle down. We were dealing with some very tough issues in other areas of our lives, and a baby was certain to make things more difficult. I wasn't sure how much more I could handle. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But God. When I tremble with fear, God reminds me that I'm not alone. He reminds me how many other times I had been afraid of the new life that was growing in me, and every single time my heart became smitten with the soft skin and the vulnerable eyes that greeted mine the second my babies were born. He reminds me that His plans are ALWAYS infinitely better than I could have ever imagined. And so I held onto that hope that God was in control this time, too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My husband was so excited about another baby that he couldn't keep the good news from our kids. They were the first to know. And since they had been asking for a new baby, they were very excited. Their excitement helped to ease my fears, to remind me that this news was <i>good</i>. My daughter, who is 4 years old, is surrounded by a family of only brothers. She would tell us, "I'm SO excited to have a baby sister!" We would remind her that we don't know if it's a girl or a boy. We prepared her that it could be a baby boy. She would never accept our warnings. She only held on to her excitement and joy that a baby sister was on the way. Even our boys eagerly hoped for another girl in the family. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then the call came. With early DNA testing that is available now, we were able to find out that our baby had no chromosome issues. And it was a GIRL! I knew everyone would be excited to hear Zoë was going to get the sister she never had and earnestly desired. I knew our boys would be excited to have another sister as well. And I knew their joy would help change my self-centered heart and open it up to the joy of new life that would be coming.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We never really had room for another baby in our lives, but we were ready to make room. Because that's what loves does. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At 13 weeks, my belly was becoming more and more obvious. We had already told a few people in our closest circles about the baby girl who was growing in me. We had had two ultrasounds that showed our baby girl was growing properly. I was ready to tell everyone else about our baby girl. I work outside the home preparing taxes, and I decided to wait until after March 15th (a big deadline for us) to tell my co-workers and the rest of the world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I don't understand everything that happens in life. At 4am on the morning of the 15th, I woke up and felt strange. I got up to go to the bathroom, and was faced with a nightmare that I couldn't make go away. I was having a miscarriage. It happened very suddenly, and I was shocked and confused and heartbroken. My body had betrayed our baby girl. Our baby girl. Oh, how I realized in that moment how much I had truly wanted our baby girl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's been 5 days since the initial loss. I don't know if heartbreak fully explains what we are going through. I've combed through Facebook support groups and advice on the internet for ways to process the emotions and sadness and loss I'm feeling. We decided to name our baby girl because as a unique individual, she will always be a part of our hearts and our lives. I look forward to being able to hold her one day in heaven. We named her Sarah Love. It is true that we do not grieve for Sarah. She is with our heavenly Father. She has no pain, no sorrow - only the peace, love and joy that all of us on Earth desire. We grieve for ourselves. We are the ones who have the loss. I'm sad that she was only here a short time with us. I'm sad that I won't get to see each day how much her brothers love Sarah, how she would have brought out the tenderness in them. I'm sad that Zoë won't have the sister she longs for. I'm sad I won't get to kiss her sweet, soft face or hear her giggles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We waited until Friday evening to tell the kids so they wouldn't have to go to school with sadness in their hearts and the loss of Sarah on their minds. They are heartbroken as well, but I know they will eventually recover from this quicker than my husband or me. Zoë is only 4, so she is still trying to process everything. She still tells us every day that she wants to hold baby Sarah. We've tried to make a point to talk the last couple of days about Sarah and ask the kids to talk about what they are feeling. To let them know it's ok to be sad. To remind them that none of us have any guarantees about what each day in life will hold, and why that makes it very important that we treat others - especially each of us in our immediate family - with love. With love, we look for ways to turn something horrible into something beautiful. </span><br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-834554813654798462015-06-29T21:20:00.001-07:002015-06-29T21:20:36.070-07:00he's here - Asher JamesIt's been a while since I've written here. We've been blessed with another stinky boy. He's 6 months old so...yeah, it's been a while.<br />
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I love reading birth stories. But for some reason the ones I read are never anything like mine. First difference - I've been induced with all 6 births. The birth stories I read are always lovely 110% natural, laboring all day and night, with a caring husband calmly lending support, and a beautiful experience of birth in a warm tub or at least in a bed but <i>definitely </i>no cords stuck in your arms. This is like a foreign language to me. It doesn't compute in my experience.<br />
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At first our decision to induce was a conscious decision to have control over the situation. Plus, who doesn't jump at the chance to SEE THEIR BABY NOW!! Then, after the first two babies, we really started to change our thinking about inductions. Wouldn't it be wonderful to just let the baby come when he/she and God decides? Although I've never let myself go terribly overdue, I have decided - after 6 babies - that my body doesn't know how to go into labor without pitocin.<br />
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I tried so so so hard to let Asher come on his own. But there was this little deadline called the last day of 2014 that was insistent that we cave and induce. His due date was December 24th. We made it past Christmas Day, and I had already let my doctor know I'd like to go into labor on my own, if possible, but that he MUST come by the end of the year. The tax deduction wasn't as big a factor - but it was a factor - as the fact that since my oldest son had his appendix removed in June, we had for the first time ever in our lives met our maximum out-of-pocket for the year. So everything after June was F-R-E-E to us. Did I say free? So Asher just had to come. Because - FREE!<br />
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We planned our induction date of December 28th. But I really really really hoped he'd come on his own by then. December 27th came, and still no Asher. We prepared for the induction and took the kids to stay with family. And we took full advantage of the quiet and treated ourselves to a movie - the last <i>Hobbit</i> movie.<br />
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Labor started during the movie. Contractions were about every 15 minutes. Of course at first I assumed they were Braxton Hicks contractions. But these stayed pretty regular. I was very excited at the possibility of going into labor all by myself! After the movie the contractions continued. About halfway home the contractions stopped. I was bummed, but at least I got to sleep well.<br />
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The next morning we got up early and made that call to see if there was room for us in the <strike>inn</strike> hospital. They didn't have room for us. I can tell you - for a mom who is ready to have a baby and whose kids are at relatives' houses and everything was neatly planned - this was not welcomed news. Thanks to my über-supportive husband suggested we make the best of it and enjoy the morning. I think it was one of the best times I had just enjoying the quiet of our house with my husband.<br />
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The end of the story goes like this: we got the call that there was room at the hospital. Apparently the contractions were real the night before because I was dilated to 4 centimeters. I got hooked up to an IV and a bunch of monitors. They started the pitocin. I got the epidural (if you ever have pitocin - an epidural is a must. Unless you're Wonder Woman, which I am not.). I got happy (from the epidural). Enjoyed time talking football with my husband. Time to deliver. Per my instructions, the nurse turned down the epidural so that I could feel when to push (if you have an epidural - I <i>highly</i> recommend have the dosage decreased for delivery time. Trust me - the whoel process will go much faster and smoother.) Doctor arrives. Doctor makes some jokes about UK fans (seriously - best doctor ever). "Kristy, it's time to push." One push (I'm not kidding. Please don't hate me.) and Asher James is here!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3E3kFR-uJEh8_2Pd49wq5I497ZDyKhV5y0UYX1pES59hmo1Jx4ra7N-seWAoP24mKK4U74v6_QFVwcxvz7PtU1VRPK_dG2H_JiBhxeUu3n5qVoaNIL-A2k_o2iZ_S8wfOz74DcDpVNuhI/s1600/Asher+James.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3E3kFR-uJEh8_2Pd49wq5I497ZDyKhV5y0UYX1pES59hmo1Jx4ra7N-seWAoP24mKK4U74v6_QFVwcxvz7PtU1VRPK_dG2H_JiBhxeUu3n5qVoaNIL-A2k_o2iZ_S8wfOz74DcDpVNuhI/s320/Asher+James.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">gratuitous awkward just-born photo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmaWci7PaFPZIXHlMbaSrMdDXosZ7lzs9m5VGi7V8VYjuh3znrDzVisAmpxG7fCzpwv7mHX35VC3kUcXzdsktiNvgWVf79rzqycHVX3D8XkJYOb6Vn60vWtMMR4RO2qFvN5RGTTKzgNUG/s1600/Asher+James+Dec+28+-+8+lbs.+3.5+oz+21.5%2522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQmaWci7PaFPZIXHlMbaSrMdDXosZ7lzs9m5VGi7V8VYjuh3znrDzVisAmpxG7fCzpwv7mHX35VC3kUcXzdsktiNvgWVf79rzqycHVX3D8XkJYOb6Vn60vWtMMR4RO2qFvN5RGTTKzgNUG/s320/Asher+James+Dec+28+-+8+lbs.+3.5+oz+21.5%2522.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aw! I can almost still smell his newborn smell!</td></tr>
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He weighed 8 pounds, 3 and a half ounces and was 21 and a half inches long. The name Asher is from the Bible - he was one of the 12 sons of Jacob - one of the 12 tribes of Israel. Asher means "happy". And after the first 3 months of colic, he is nothing but infectious smiles! James is a family name - both my husband's father and brother have that name.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlsBEKDvg46hfvMJ6Eddl0QPBvvEmes4n29sI3KY6UlyJevwa_sTa6lEa86ARpKLRilJMn-quQj1S3fK-SVo7v9AKyFATbiMmcJM67oewTn8D03oqM7wuZB8pj1h25PQ0jS2IDhAj4nmD/s1600/Zoe+and+Asher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdlsBEKDvg46hfvMJ6Eddl0QPBvvEmes4n29sI3KY6UlyJevwa_sTa6lEa86ARpKLRilJMn-quQj1S3fK-SVo7v9AKyFATbiMmcJM67oewTn8D03oqM7wuZB8pj1h25PQ0jS2IDhAj4nmD/s320/Zoe+and+Asher.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from this angle, he already looks as big as his 2-year old sister</td></tr>
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As disappointed as I was that I didn't go into labor on my own, a friend who visited me after we came home made a good point - it's probably good that I am in a hospital environment where my labor can be monitored from the beginning since my deliveries are super fast and super easy. We live in a rural area, and it takes 30 to 40 minutes to drive to the hospital. And she's right. I'd rather be assisted by pitocin than having the baby on the side of the road! Although it would make for a wonderful birth story...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpi26QdvTIQB1F2kx_RCNJ1jxLpJDBqNTiH90hhhtAViGUb9gKq0WMI44_jbU1B0gmOY0IgIka6t8YPmDWpgI9jP02zBXJJ9yq9WhB3G0vmPM6PsL6Cnyt-qLxg7EW9jlbZJORBS_KEAE/s1600/Asher+and+Big+Bros.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpi26QdvTIQB1F2kx_RCNJ1jxLpJDBqNTiH90hhhtAViGUb9gKq0WMI44_jbU1B0gmOY0IgIka6t8YPmDWpgI9jP02zBXJJ9yq9WhB3G0vmPM6PsL6Cnyt-qLxg7EW9jlbZJORBS_KEAE/s320/Asher+and+Big+Bros.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">your brothers will always have your back, Asher<br /><br /></td></tr>
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kristy<br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-25291661753926829332014-09-22T06:58:00.006-07:002014-09-22T06:58:50.743-07:00best attitude ever!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">win or lose, it all comes down to ATTITUDE. Apollos Hester is going to win big in life with an attitude like this!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Put me in, Coach!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-82490532181162181332014-08-01T07:30:00.001-07:002014-08-01T07:30:59.457-07:00the perfect song for our fight for rights of conscience and religious freedom<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a great song, "Uprising" by Muse. I was listening to it one day and thought, gee, this sounds a lot like the stand we are currently taking against the government, who is actively pushing pills on our society like birth control and the abortion pill (all under the guise of "freeeeeedom for women"). <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/kristanhawkins/2014/05/28/untitled-n1843821" target="_blank">Don't fall for the P.R. machine.</a> Rise up!</span><br />
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<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The paranoia is in bloom<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The P.R. transmissions will resume<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They'll try to push drugs to keep us all dumbed down<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And hope that we will never see the truth around</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So come on</span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another promise, another seed, another<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed with all the<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Green belts wrapped around our minds and endless<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Red tape to keep the truth confined</span></i></div>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So come on</span></i></span><br />
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They will not force us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And they will stop degrading us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />And they will not control us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We will be victorious</span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />So come on</span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Interchanging mind control<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Come let the revolution take its toll<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />If you could flick a switch and open your third eye<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />You'd see that we should never be afraid to die</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So come on</span></i></div>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></i></span>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rise up and take the power back<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It's time the fat cat's had a heart attack<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />You know that their time is coming to an end<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We have to unify and watch our flag ascend</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So come on</span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They will not force us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They will stop degrading us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They will not control us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We will be victorious, so come on</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="verse" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hey, hey, hey, hey<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Hey, hey, hey, hey<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Hey, hey, hey, hey</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They will not force us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They will stop degrading us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />They will not control us<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />We will be victorious, so come on</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hey, hey, hey, hey</span></i></div>
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 16px;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span></span></i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-45755000736592377412014-07-14T04:35:00.001-07:002014-07-14T04:36:06.409-07:00well, hello again!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">so I've been a little...distant...lately. We had a rough year last year. Like seriously rough. And when things get rough, we go into survival mode. I've been retreating and healing. Here's a short summary of how the end of 2013 went:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">July: my husband's sister passed away unexpectedly at the age of 39 from MS</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">August: we found out we were expecting another baby (not bad news! but read on...)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">September: I suffered a miscarriage. We found out through an ultrasound. There was no longer a heartbeat. We found this out the day before my grandfather passed away. Then two and a half weeks after that my husband's brother was found unconscious on the sidewalk and rushed to the hospital. He was in a coma for two weeks, and a team of amazing doctors and nurses worked diligently to save his life. He is still recovering from that, and it was a most difficult time for all of us. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">October: just when I felt we couldn't handle any more bad news, my husband lost his job</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you ever felt like the punches will never end?! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At times like these we count our blessings and trudge forward. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here were are at the end of all of this heart-wrenching chaos. My husband found another wonderful job (thank you, Lord!), and we have been blessed with another baby (expected due date is December 24th). And it's another boy! While we were really hoping Zoë would get a little sister, we know that ultimately God has a plan and that's always better than anything we plan. And He must think we're pretty awesome at raising boys. Or maybe He knows we wouldn't be able to handle more than one girl. Hehe!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope to start writing more soon. Not for anyone but me. I talk myself out of not writing most days because I'm too afraid that someone might read it and will see I'm, well, amateur. I have to remind myself that I'm not trying to win any literary awards, so I need to learn to take it easy and don't try so hard and just say what I want to say. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If anything, I'd appreciate prayers. From anyone who thinks about us. We are still recovering from last year, and things can still be scary for us. </span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">kristy</span></i><br />
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Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-7362337947689260032014-01-09T21:01:00.002-08:002014-01-09T21:01:48.006-08:00"Amen, Amen, I say to you"<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I left the Catholic Church at the ripe age of 15, I didn't fully realize what I was leaving. I didn't know that the communion I received at my new non-Catholic Church was so fundamentally different from the communion I had been receiving at my Catholic Church. I'm not sure why I didn't realize this. I had been through my First Communion, but maybe it had just been going through the motions and doing what I was told to do. I didn't know when I left the Catholic Church I was leaving the body and blood of Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn't know.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am willing to bet at least 95% of Catholics who leave the Catholic Church for a non-Catholic church have no idea that they are actually leaving the body and blood of Jesus.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is one of the best teachings about what we believe about the Eucharist. The Eucharist has changed my life. I must share it! It would be unloving of me to keep this secret to myself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OfGw8G9P4_Y" width="459"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;">Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you." ~ John 6:53</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 17px;"><i>kristy</i></span></span><br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-78592535075081172882013-10-31T13:32:00.001-07:002013-10-31T13:50:17.058-07:00unity! pleeeeeeeeease, unity!Martin Luther has always been a fascination to me. His heart for God caused a revolution. I used to admire him with the utmost respect. But once I saw the fruit of the first division - which is division upon division upon division upon division upon division...and now we have 30,000 denominations, or divisions, I realized that the fruit of the Reformation doesn't necessarily tie to the will of God as seen in the Gospel.<br />
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About 8 years ago I met an on-fire Catholic named Sharon. I was married with one child at the time and working with her. I had never met a Catholic who was so excited about her faith or who knew so much of the "why" regarding the Catholic faith, and I had never met a Catholic who was able to explain things to me like she did. She marked me. One statement she said in particular really stayed with me,<br />
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<b>"Imagine what Christians could do against Satan if we were in unity."</b></div>
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I couldn't argue with her. I had never thought about unity in the body of Christ before. I had never even noticed the passage in John 17 when Jesus prays in the garden before his death. He prays for unity of believers (Christians) and the unity of the apostles. </div>
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That's when I began to question what Martin Luther did. </div>
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Martin Luther didn't intend to start a new church when he posted his <a href="http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/history/95theses.htm" target="_blank">95 theses</a> on October 31, 1517. The Catholic Church had some very corrupt practices going on. The Church needed to be reformed. When Martin Luther stood up and demanded reform, the Church leaders made sure he wouldn't be successful by excommunicating him and later condemning him as an outlaw. I believe Martin Luther wanted to change the Church, not start his own thing. He later went off course when he started <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Bible" target="_blank">changing the Bible</a> and becoming his own pope.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQmlQFecITHOt5a6VscRvwD0ljknTiuofi4_YaCWQQfG2F3ugZKWFRGjuCCtGM1xxmQeLnqUv2Z_OrGHdPnsyod4xWJAg66Pu_A0kte4ZplPHBgaRJ0mgN4zSYWAGsv96KTAeNdEUB1QX/s1600/Luther.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirQmlQFecITHOt5a6VscRvwD0ljknTiuofi4_YaCWQQfG2F3ugZKWFRGjuCCtGM1xxmQeLnqUv2Z_OrGHdPnsyod4xWJAg66Pu_A0kte4ZplPHBgaRJ0mgN4zSYWAGsv96KTAeNdEUB1QX/s320/Luther.jpg" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">www.catholicmemes.com</td></tr>
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The Catholic Church wasn't an innocent victim in the Reformation. The abuses in the Church were the root of the problem. <i>But others who also disagre</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>ed with the abuses that were going in the Catholic Church instead helped to reform it from within.</i> Great men and women of God </span> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignatius_of_Loyola">Ignatius of Loyola</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila">Teresa of Ávila</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross">John of the Cross</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_de_Sales">Francis de Sales</a> - risked their lives to make the Church what God wanted her to be. This is known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation" target="_blank">Counter-Reformation</a>. I had never heard of the Counter-Reformation before. I assumed the abuses that Martin Luther stood up against were still commonplace in the Catholic Church today.<br />
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<b><i>But they're not!</i></b><br />
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I'm not saying that the leaders of Catholic Church is always perfect. They're human, they can't be perfect. But no other church is as in line with the will of God in the area of unity as well as numerous other areas as the Catholic Church. Jesus gave us the Church and promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. 2,000 years later, this promise still stands true.<br />
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Jesus prayed for us all to be one - you could say it was his dying wish/prayer. He prayed this so that "the world will know that you sent me and have loved them..." Time after time the world recognizes the relevancy of the Catholic Church. It has been reported <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/31/nsa-denies-report-it-eavesdropped-on-vatican/" target="_blank">recently that the NSA may have been spying on the Vatican</a>. When the anti-christ comes, who do you think will be his first target? The Church who is the most relevant and strongest against him. Join us in our fight against evil.<br />
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If you love Jesus and hate the devil, please consider learning more about what the Church teaches and join us. I promise you that you will find that the Catholic Church is not what you thought it was.<br />
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<b style="text-align: center;"><i>Imagine what Christians could do against Satan if we were in unity.</i></b>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-44443420631449199072013-10-18T07:23:00.001-07:002013-10-18T07:23:28.254-07:00the time zoë almost spilled the blood of Jesus<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Did I tell you about the time Zoë almost spilled the precious blood of Jesus? She was about 6 or 7 months old, and I took her up for communion with me - just like every other time. Only she had become really grabby, and I forgot all about this new phase of hers. I held her on my left hip while holding the chalice in my right hand. As I was handing the chalice back to the server, she grabbed the rim of the cup and pulled it towards her. I could see the precious blood within centimeters of splashing out. I was so thankful nothing was spilled!<br /><br />Oh my goodness! Our Lord Jesus shed his blood for us, and my sweet baby almost knocked it to the ground! What if she had spilled it?! Would they wipe it up with a towel? BUT IT'S JESUS' BLOOD! You can't just wipe it up with a towel, can you? Surely it wouldn't be the first time someone had spilled the Blood of Jesus in the last 2,000 years!<br /><br />Well, as it turns out, there's protocol for this type of thing. So it's probably happened before. Because we've been receiving the blood of Christ for 2,000 years, and babies have been grabbing and pulling at things for even longer. <br /><br />So here's a quick answer from Catholic Answers to the question, "<a href="http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/what-is-the-correct-thing-to-do-when-the-precious-blood-is-spilled-during-distributio">What is the correct thing to do when the precious blood is spilled during distribution of the Eucharist?</a>" Then read here to answer the related question, "<a href="http://www.catholic.com/blog/jimmy-akin/can-you-pour-out-the-precious-blood">Can you pour out the precious blood</a>?"<br /><br />And since a person can receive only the host and not the cup and have received the full "<a href="http://catholicism.about.com/b/2008/04/11/reader-question-why-do-catholics-receive-only-the-host.htm">body and blood, soul and divinity of Christ</a>", I'll be passing by the chalice the next time I have Zoë on my hip. It'll relieve a little anxiety for me at least.<br /><br />If this all sounds crazy foreign to you - the way we think of the bread and the wine as being sacred and truly the Body and Blood of Jesus, read John 6. Read all of it. The entire chapter. A lot of people try to explain away John 6 as just being symbolic. You can read commentary explaining why John 6 doesn't mean what John 6 says. I mean, people do mental backwards somersaults to explain it away. The Bible warns us about men who make the Word of God void, "Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." (Mark 7:13 NIV) Before you read John 6 ask God to reveal the truth of His Word to you. He will.<br /><br />As some more icing on the cake, here is a little 7-minute video to illustrate how AMAZING WONDERFUL the Eucharist is and what we believe the Bible says about the Body and Blood of Jesus:</span><br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-32639017798397350072013-09-24T13:00:00.000-07:002013-09-24T13:00:00.719-07:0040 Days for Life starts tomorrow<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaPllAvn5lc6SNn0i1mhkHHgWRfsKB8UdVtHpFeNnrVFzpaoptxGYCQFRPXog37CRe79o5fezf4j9nbygvIxwIH89Kcj_USVb_GFwS6wNFNF40Dgh-1iSTrqddZs-dgtiTPQ54MSXFKAA/s1600/spiritualwarfare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaPllAvn5lc6SNn0i1mhkHHgWRfsKB8UdVtHpFeNnrVFzpaoptxGYCQFRPXog37CRe79o5fezf4j9nbygvIxwIH89Kcj_USVb_GFwS6wNFNF40Dgh-1iSTrqddZs-dgtiTPQ54MSXFKAA/s320/spiritualwarfare.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A prayer for life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">Heavenly Father, we have turned our backs on you and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">your principles in your Word. We have allowed man to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">usurp Your role as God over life and the number of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">our days. But we come to you in brokenness and</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">repentance over our sin.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">We cry out for Your mercy and ask you to remove the</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">scourge of abortion from our land.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">Use us as your vessels, Lord, to bring the light of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">Your Truth to our nation once again. Because of</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 22px;">Christ we pray, Amen.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px;"> </span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every time I step in front of our local abortion clinic to pray, I can almost feel the spiritual battle taking place. It is very surreal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The enemy hates life. He comes only to steal, kill and destroy. And he starts with the innocent in the womb. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sign up to join in the spiritual battle. Join others in prayer for life. <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=41111" target="_blank">It does make a difference.</a> <a href="http://www.40daysforlife.com/">http://www.40daysforlife.com/</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-59218322446074178072013-09-18T14:00:00.000-07:002013-09-18T14:00:03.591-07:00the apostles of The Apostles<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I say something like, "Catholicism is the oldest Christian faith and the only Christian church who claims to have been started by Jesus himself," it seems to ruffle feathers. The comment that I often hear in response is, "That's such an arrogant statement." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, I guess it would be an arrogant statement<i> if it were merely my opinion.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's true that the Bible does not say, "Then Jesus started the Catholic Church." But it does say in Matthew 16:16-18 that Jesus changed Simon's name to Peter (which means "Rock") and said he would build his church upon this rock. Pretty plain as day to me that Jesus appointed Peter as the leader of his church, unless you do a mental one-handed backwards somersault to explain this passage to mean something else.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm" target="_blank">Peter handed down his authority to Linus, who handed down his authority to Cletus, who handed his authority down to Clement...and it happened this way until we get to Francis. </a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peter was our first Pope. They didn't call him "Pope" at the time. "Pope" is a title that was coined later to indicate the head of the bishops. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But can we know this is true? I mean, it's not in the Bible!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Catholics have a different understanding of what a bishop is compared to the average independent non-denominational local church in America (I say "America" because only in America do we have small churches who do what they want with no authority to submit to. Could be the product of the "me" mentality of America drifting into our churches, I dunno. We can chase that rabbit later...) How can we know whose interpretation of the role of a bishop is correct?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We can look back at what the early church writers had to say about bishops. These writers were the apostles of the apostles. And then the apostles of the apostles of the apostles. In most cases these were the men who either knew the apostles personally or knew someone who knew the apostles (as in the apostles were a sort of a spiritual great-grandfather to them). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What did they write about bishops in the early church back then?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Ignatius of Antioch</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow your bishop, every one of you, as obediently as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Obey your clergy too as you would the apostles; give your deacons the same reverence that you would to a command of God. Make sure that no step affecting the Church is ever taken by anyone without the bishop’s sanction. The sole Eucharist you should consider valid is one that is celebrated by the bishop himself, or by some person authorized by him. Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as, wherever Jesus Christ is present, there is the Catholic Church (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]).</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In like manner let everyone respect the deacons as they would respect Jesus Christ, and just as they respect the bishop as a type of the Father, and the presbyters as the council of God and college of the apostles. Without these, it cannot be called a Church. I am confident that you accept this, for I have received the exemplar of your love and have it with me in the person of your bishop. His very demeanor is a great lesson and his meekness is his strength. I believe that even the godless do respect him (Letter to the Trallians 3:1-2 [A. D. 110]).</span> </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Irenaeus</i></b></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world, as we have already said (Against Heresies 1:10 [A.D. 189]).</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth: so that every man, whosoever will, can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life; all others are thieves and robbers. On this account we are bound to avoid them, but to make choice of the things pertaining to the Church with the utmost diligence, and to lay hold of the tradition of the truth. For how stands the case? Suppose there should arise a dispute relative to some important question among us. Should we not have recourse to the most ancient churches with which the apostles held constant intercourse, and learn from them what is certain and clear in regard to the present question? For how should it be if the apostles themselves had not left us writings? Would it not be necessary [in that case] to follow the course of the tradition which they handed down to those to whom they did commit the churches? (ibid. 3:4).</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Tertullian</i></b></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Where was Marcion then, that shipmaster of Pontus, the zealous student of Stoicism? Where was Valentinus then, the disciple of Platonism? For it is evident that those men lived not so long ago – in the reign of Antoninus for the most part – and that they at first were believers in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in the church of Rome under the episcopate of the blessed Eleutherus, until on account of their ever restless curiosity, with which they even infected the brethren, they were more than once expelled (On the Prescription Against Heretics 22,30 [A.D.200])</span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But if there be any (heresies) which are bold enough to plant themselves in the midst Of the apostolic age, that they may thereby seem to have been handed down by the apostles, because they existed in the time of the apostles, we can say: Let them produce the original records of their churches; let them unfold the roll of their bishops, running down in due succession from the beginning in such a manner that [that first bishop of theirs] bishop shall be able to show for his ordainer and predecessor some one of the apostles or of apostolic men,--a man, moreover, who continued stedfast with the apostles. For this is the manner in which the apostolic churches transmit their registers: as the church of Smyrna, which records that Polycarp was placed therein by John; as also the church of Rome, which makes Clement to have been ordained in like manner by Peter. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(On the Prescription Against Heretics 22,30 [A.D.200])</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b><i>Cyprian</i></b></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The spouse of Christ cannot be defiled; she is uncorrupted and chaste. She knows one home . . . Does anyone believe that this unity which comes from divine strength, which is closely connected with the divine sacraments, can be broken asunder in the Church and be separated by the divisions of colliding wills? He who does not hold this unity, does not hold the law of God, does not hold the faith of the Father and the Son, does not hold life and salvation (On the Unity of the Catholic Church 6 [A.D. 251]).</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Peter speaks there, on whom the Church was to be built, teaching and showing in the name of the Church, that although a rebellious and arrogant multitude of those who will not hear or obey may depart, yet the Church does not depart from Christ; and they are the Church who are a people united to the priest, and the flock which adheres to its pastor. Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if any one be not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another (Letters 66 [A.D. 253]).</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love reading this stuff. History is fascinating to me, and I can get lost to the world when I read this stuff. You can read more for yourself at <a href="http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/index.html" target="_blank">Early Christian Writings</a>. The writings are listed by the approximate date they were written, and there is a rating for each as to the reliability of the dating of each. Some writings are "more sturdy" than others. Some of the important writings in church history are from Polycarp, Tertullian, Irenaeus, Origen, Ignatius of Antioch. The entire collection of writings are at this website, not just bits and pieces and quotes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These writings cover a multitude of topics, not just about bishops. And please do not misunderstand me - I do not equate these writings with the Bible. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God. These writings are merely historical information.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peace and love to you,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
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Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-78471998190689730682013-09-12T15:30:00.000-07:002013-09-12T15:30:36.166-07:00Apparently now we don't have to believe in God to get to Heaven!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did you hear the one where the Pope <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-assures-atheists-you-dont-have-to-believe-in-god-to-go-to-heaven-8810062.html" target="_blank">wrote a newspaper</a> and said you don't have to believe in God to go to Heaven? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pope Francis said nothing new. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This has been in the Catechism for I don't know how long. Here's the deal - a snippet of a quote from his <a href="http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-letter-to-the-founder-of-la-repubblica-italian-newspaper" target="_blank">2,500-word letter</a> has been grabbed and taken out of context. Why? Why would reporters do this? Maybe because they are looking for the Catholic Church to change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The media. The media who hates Christianity and everything that it stands for. The media who hates anyone who is pro-life or who stands for traditional marriage. This is who you trust for your Catholic theology? </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The media grabs on to what they think drives their agenda, and their agenda isn't the teachings of the Catholic Church.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Catholic Church stands for truth and won't change according to the whims of the world. And the media and the world HATES this. So they hold on to every snippet of a quote that may point to the fall of the Catholic Church as we know it. Because this would mean the rise of their agendas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This stuff drives me bonkers. Then again, maybe I'm underestimating Pope Francis and his brilliant plan to u<a href="http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2013/07/donrsquot-tell-the-press-pope-francis-is-using-them" target="_blank">se the media</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leila Miller at the Little Catholic Bubble has a great series called "<a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/p/little-teachings.html" target="_blank">Little Teachings</a>", and she addresses the question, "<a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2011/12/can-non-catholics-be-saved.html" target="_blank">Can non-Catholics be saved?</a>" As she emphatically states, </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b style="background-color: white; color: #282525; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is no salvation except through Christ Jesus, and it is simply impossible for anyone to get to Heaven without Him.</span></b></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>And this is not a contradiction to what Pope Francis wrote in his recent letter.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Let's think of this in another way. I'll use an example. Amy reads in the Bible that love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Amy is a brand new Christian, and since she hasn't been in church long or read the Bible very much yet she interprets this verse to mean it's fine to sin all she wants. Jesus' love will cover it. But Amy is wrong. She hasn't read that verse with the context of the entire Bible, so she in mis-interpreting it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The same is true of what many non-Catholics are doing with Pope Francis' recent statements. The statements are snatched out and interpreted without an understanding of Catholic theology. The pope is not saying that you can get to heaven without Jesus. I know that's what it sounds like, but that's not what he's saying at all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But you shouldn't just take my word on the matter. Search it for yourself. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Catholicism is the oldest Christian faith, the biggest Christian faith, and the only Christian church who claims to have been started by Jesus himself. Isn't it worth further investigation?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And for God's sake, don't get your Catholic teaching from the unbelieving world or the general media.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leila's post that talks about <a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2011/12/can-non-catholics-be-saved.html" target="_blank">the salvation of non-Catholics and non-believers</a> isn't a full teaching on the matter, but it is a really, really, really good way for a quick start to understanding this topic (as are her other little teachings). Please read Leila's teaching (from a year and a half ago), and read what the Pope really said <a href="http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/pope-francis-letter-to-the-founder-of-la-repubblica-italian-newspaper" target="_blank">in his letter</a> to fully understand what was said. And here's <a href="http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-takes-the-faith-to-the-pages-of-the-secular-press/" target="_blank">a good piece from the National Catholic Register</a> that also goes into what Pope Francis wrote. That is - if you really want to understand what Pope Francis was saying in his letter. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Or you could just go on being ill-informed and using snippets of quotes from the Pope to use against him and the Catholic Church. Either way, it's your choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus gave us the Catholic Church to help guide us while we're here on Earth. He built his Church and <i>promised</i> that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Jesus <i style="font-weight: bold;">always</i> keeps his word. He's pretty awesome that way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-61257624314142850712013-09-05T19:45:00.001-07:002013-09-05T19:45:28.920-07:00losing baby #8<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We got some horrible news at my doctor today. The baby who was growing inside of me no longer has a heartbeat. Before we had a chance to tell the whole world about our newest surprise, we lost the baby.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I went to my OB last Tuesday for my first prenatal visit. It's amazing how things change from one pregnancy to the next. With my other babies we had to wait until around 15 or 18 weeks before we got to see our little blessing on screen. Now my doctor does an ultrasound to confirm a pregnancy on the first prenatal visit. So I got to see our little peanut on the ultrasound machine. He or she was measuring 6 weeks. I could see the heartbeat. The heartbeat measured at 128 beats per minute, which is right where it should be at 6 weeks gestation. It's the smallest little heartbeat I ever did see!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This Tuesday I woke up and saw that I was bleeding. I've had two miscarriages before. I knew this was not a good sign. I called my doctor's office and was told to come in Thursday for an ultrasound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I am 7 weeks along. Before the ultrasound technician even looked for a heartbeat, she measured the baby's size. I saw on the screen that it measured at 6 weeks 1 day. Same as last week. My heart sank but I still held on to hope. Within seconds the ultrasound tech looked for the heartbeat but found none. I cried and held on to my husband.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The option of doing a DNC was offered, but I chose to go through the process of miscarrying naturally. My second miscarriage was at 6 weeks, and I somewhat know what to expect. Over the next week or so my body will cast aside the life that once was.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today I have such a heavy heart. Over the last two days I've had ample opportunity to go through the questions wondering if I did something to cause this. Did I drink too much caffeine? Is this due to my age? Was I not thankful enough for this gift who was growing inside of me, too focused on the part of my self that I would have to give up to love another baby?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is one thing I know to be true. My God is a good God. He creates life; He doesn't destroy it. The loss we are suffering now is because <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin" target="_blank">sin entered the world</a>. The nature of this world was altered to include death when Adam and Eve believed a lie and brought sin into this world. Some mysteries of this life we will not understand until we get to Heaven. This will be one that we will have to wait on to fully understand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had already told our kids that we would be welcoming another baby into our family. So tonight we had to tell them that I had a miscarriage. Our oldest son, Todd, took it the hardest. He loves having brothers and a sister so much, and he was obviously looking forward to loving another sibling. He also understands that "we'll see him or her when we get to Heaven" can feel like an awful. long. time. He even asked us tonight if we can adopt a brother or sister for him. He's trying to fill the space in his heart that was left now that his baby brother or baby sister is gone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My husband is my dearest friend. I am so thankful that my husband and I are on the same page when it comes to <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/catholic-teaching-on-openness-to-life" target="_blank">being open to life</a>. We want to be smart about having more children (whatever that means). Maybe we shouldn't have any more. Maybe we should. We know that right now isn't the time to lament over these decisions, but to mourn our loss and count our blessings. We have been so blessed with five gorgeous, perfectly healthy children. And we will have the opportunity to get to know the souls of our other three children when we meet them in Heaven. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can be sure that my kids got extra kisses from me tonight!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyrie eleison!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christe eleison!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyrie eleison!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-84574340576018542152013-09-02T20:44:00.005-07:002013-09-02T20:47:16.890-07:00on unity<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seeing that unity was the will of Jesus is one of the main reasons that I <a href="http://dreamswakingup.blogspot.com/2013/08/dreams-waking-up-aka-my-conversion-story.html" target="_blank">came home to the Catholic Church</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One thing that always bothered me once I got serious about Christianity and started attending a Southern Baptist was the denominations within Christianity. The wonderful people I met in my new church were very helpful in teaching me the importance of the Bible. We had a wonderful youth group, and I learned more about the Bible than I had ever known before. It became part of my life. A part that I couldn't live without.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was one Holy Bible - the inspired Word of God. Yet there are an estimated 8,000...or 30,000 denominations. I get dizzy at some of the figures I see, but the latest Wikipedia reports 41,000 denominations, so I'll go with 41,000. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To be correct - it's actually 41,000 </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and counting</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. Churches aren't finished splitting.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I could not reconcile how one Holy Word of God could translate into 41,000 denominations. Every single one of those 41,000 use the same Bible, and every single one of them would say they were the most accurate in their interpretation of Scripture. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Does anyone else think that maybe <i>someone</i> might be wrong here? How on earth could 41,000 people be right using <i style="font-weight: bold;">one</i> Bible?! The Bible is THE WORD OF GOD!! And God isn't schizophrenic. There is only one Truth. And 41,000 denominations. It just doesn't add up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One day I read some passages in John 17. I am sure I had read them before, but for the first time I really saw them for what they were (emphasis mine). </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="text John-17-20" style="background-color: white;"><span class="woj">“I do not pray for these alone, but also <b>for those who will </b></span><span class="woj"><b>believe in Me </b>through their word;</span></span><span class="text John-17-21" id="en-NKJV-26781" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </span><span class="woj"><b>that they all may be one</b>, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, <b>that the world may believe that You sent Me</b>.</span> </span><span class="text John-17-22" id="en-NKJV-26782" style="background-color: white;"><span class="woj">And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, <b>that they may be one just as We are one:</b></span></span><span class="text John-17-23" id="en-NKJV-26783" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="vertical-align: top;"><b> </b></span><span class="woj"><b>I in them, and You in Me</b>; that they may be made perfect in one, and <b>that the world may know that You have sent Me</b>, and have loved them as You have loved Me." ~John 17:20-23 (NKJ)</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is Jesus' prayer after the last supper, right before He was betrayed by Judas. Luke's account of this time of prayer says that Jesus' sweat was like drops of blood. This was a very difficult time for Him as He prepared for His sacrifice. And he prayed for us. For us to be one. He cared that much about the unity of His believers - Christians. Not only that, but He also prayed in the following passage of John 17 for the Apostles - the leaders of His church - to be one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus' will is for us to be one. Disunity is against His will. I believe it grieves Him to see the state of disunity within His bride, the church. I don't want to be out of Jesus' will. I don't want to grieve Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgraIijJDZt1jh4xTRi9Bt_ztPVjByf4cpmHEsffvM8xfsgX0W0vZfp1bdruVVBhoolpw4jidrcGnhAOURpfiAHJJiRmsM7a27gwdK3H4PQtgishueIkXJ9ySmgLpszSpUmiw4osjTBdWVd/s1600/Mass+in+Brazil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgraIijJDZt1jh4xTRi9Bt_ztPVjByf4cpmHEsffvM8xfsgX0W0vZfp1bdruVVBhoolpw4jidrcGnhAOURpfiAHJJiRmsM7a27gwdK3H4PQtgishueIkXJ9ySmgLpszSpUmiw4osjTBdWVd/s320/Mass+in+Brazil.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3,000,000 Catholics participate in Mass in Brazil. <br />
What a statement of hope to the world!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've heard the response that we all somehow share in an invisible unity by being believers in Christ. Yet Protestants can't join worship services for a month before they start arguing about interpretations or who our leader will be. And then they split over disagreements. I think this "invisible unity" is a way to justify the status quo. I wonder what the world thinks about the unity of C</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hristians? As the author of the blog </span><a href="http://carpeveritatemcatholic.blogspot.com/2013/06/unity-between-denominations-part-i.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Carpe Veritatem</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> writes, "[divisions] causes people to look at us and say, 'How can Christianity be true, they can't even agree amongst themselves!'"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Human pride has caused the body of Christ to divide. I don't blame one side or the other - the pride and resulting problems started before 1517. Please read on at <a href="http://carpeveritatemcatholic.blogspot.com/2013/06/unity-between-denominations-part-i.html" target="_blank">Carpe Veritatem posts about unity between denominations</a>. There are 7 parts to the topic, and the author describes in more detail the unity that Christ desires and why we have the divisions that we currently have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a huge topic to my heart, and I wonder if there are people "out there" who have given division within the body of Christ any thought? How do you think we can achieve unity within the body of believers?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-80166907098471274712013-08-30T06:22:00.000-07:002013-08-30T06:22:08.364-07:007 Quick Takes Friday (#3)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HJH9Vd7hwlWG_JBqggy8ylmg-NcXCq_wo5FotKya6O7yq8xY1ZvBOIlO9VtMAlqHaO70KPq4x-r3qV7fZYMcmdyIZ6_YGwb4JzKVSuL71IqbuVHHIUPhmK0abUaJ_S_1UV0hyiUxlUtH/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HJH9Vd7hwlWG_JBqggy8ylmg-NcXCq_wo5FotKya6O7yq8xY1ZvBOIlO9VtMAlqHaO70KPq4x-r3qV7fZYMcmdyIZ6_YGwb4JzKVSuL71IqbuVHHIUPhmK0abUaJ_S_1UV0hyiUxlUtH/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/08/7-quick-takes-friday-vol-230.html" target="_blank">Jennifer Fulwiler for hosting</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. This is an awesome story about a man who had a seemingly perfect life. His wife got pregnant with their second child, and they learned the child had Down Syndrome. The man pressured his wife to have an abortion. The rest of the story will require a box of tissues.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It reminds me of a similar story I heard this week on the radio about a dad whose fifth child was born with Down Syndrome. The father on the radio admitted that at first he hoped his daughter would die. The baby had to have some surgeries right after birth, and the mother couldn't take the baby to the operating room. So the father had to take her. He described how his heart was transformed as he walked his new baby girl to the operating room. He began to love her with a deep love, and he cried and cried and begged God to spare his daughter's life. He is now so thankful that he has his daughter with Down Syndrome and recognizes how his daughter has enabled him to love in a fuller way than he ever loved before.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. I have a problem. I can't read <a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/woman-gave-birth-in-bar-bathroom-stashed-baby-in-toilet-returned-to-watch-f" target="_blank">stuff like this</a> and not let it deeply affect me. As in - it affects me <i style="font-weight: bold;">all day, all night, </i>and sometimes well into the next couple of days. And then it drives me crazy that no one else seems to care. It makes me want to scream at people (but I don't). I can't help think about this baby being born, and the first thing he wants and needs is the loving embrace and caresses of his mother. Instead he gets thrown in a trash bag and stuffed in the toilet. As a mother, I cannot understand how someone can have their own flesh and blood come out of her body, touch the sweet skin and delicate bones of her infant with her hands and within seconds stuff him in the toilet. Does no one want to get to the bottom of why stuff like this is happening?! Maybe they don't want to know the answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. As long as we're on the topic of things that bother me all day long, I read Wednesday that Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, signed into law a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/chris-christie-signs-bill-banning-gay-conversion-therapy/" target="_blank">ban against gay conversion therapy</a>. Even for homosexual teens who may want to be heterosexual. So let's make sure we have the logic of this perfectly clear. If a boy decides he should be a girl - meaning he's a homosexual boy who wants to be a heterosexual girl - that's just fine. We'll help you along your way and support you. But if a homosexual boy decides he should be a heterosexual boy, then sorry dude - you're on your own. I don't want to get into the ins and outs of either side of the arguments for or against "conversion therapy". The gap in the logic right here should be reason enough for people to take a stand for kids out there who are confused and need guidance! Can someone please explain to me the logic in this??</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. I am constantly seeing people who try to live in their own, new, nontraditional ways. But in being different they all end up conforming to the same "different". Conforming isn't different at all. Living "green" was for a short time the new different. Now it's the way to conform (not that conforming to being "green" is bad). Wanna see a couple who <i style="font-weight: bold;">really </i>lives in a different way? Jase and Missy Robertson of the show "Duck Dynasty" <a href="http://www.godvine.com/Why-Jase-Missy-from-Duck-Dynasty-Saved-Themselves-for-Marriage-3723.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=8-2-2013" target="_blank">were virgins until their wedding night</a>. <i>Gasp!</i> That's crazy! Being a Christian and living it out is now the new <i style="font-weight: bold;">different</i>. Seriously. We get more looks walking around as a family of 7 than this guy probably does.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. One of the difficult things for me as an introvert having 5 kids is the way we are gawked over when we go out. I don't think people are being rude. It's really not them - it's me. I am not comfortable being in the spotlight <i>at all</i>. When we go to a restaurant, I am very aware that people are staring. And our kids are good kids, so people aren't looking because we just brought a bunch of loud, squawking kids in to ruin their nice quiet meal. I don't like eyeballs on me, and it makes me want to go hide in the corner. But you know what? I'm gonna have to get over it. Because that's what happens when you're different - you get looks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. We really should carefully consider the version of the Bible we are reading. I mean, this is the Word of God. We put an awful lot of trust in the individual who translates the Word of God for us. Have you ever looked at a verse in the NIV and compared it to, say, the Message Bible? Too often the verse has a whole different meaning to it. The first Bible I ever bought was an Contemporary English Bible. I liked that it used English that was easy for me to understand. I would take it to my Baptist church with me and follow along as the pastor gave his sermon. I was very uncomfortable with the wording used in my Bible compared to the translation he was using. Sometimes it seemed like my translation was saying the <i>opposite</i> of his. The Word of God is Truth. I don't want anyone's interpretation stuck in there ready for me to mistake the author's opinion or interpretation as God's Truth. I'm not saying some of these Bibles aren't a useful way to get a deeper understanding on a particular verse. But don't go all quoting it as if God had said it. This is a good <a href="http://www.catholic.com/tracts/bible-translations-guide" target="_blank">Bible Translations Guide</a> to explain the difference between a translated Bible and one that has the author's interpretation integrated within.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Peter started speech therapy this week. He turned two in July, and the pediatrician recommended that we get the state-sponsored child development program to assess his speech (and they decided he needs some help). The therapist comes to our house, and he took right to her. He is using substitution for words (such as snorting instead of speaking a word that he doesn't want to try to say), and he doesn't say the end sounds of words, which seems like all the experts agree could be because he has had ear problems resulting in two sets of tubes so far. The therapist taught me some <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwtpWCFBtpU" target="_blank">tactile cues</a> to help him understand some of the sounds he needs to be making. He's already showing signs of learning new sounds, and my husband and I are pretty excited about it! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Happy Friday!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
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<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-79860984570942345652013-08-29T05:06:00.000-07:002013-08-29T05:06:09.881-07:00Agápe<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nearly 16 years ago I exchanged marriage vows with my husband. They were traditional vows, promising to love each other no matter what. Yet, I didn't know what love was at that point in my life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although I had been a Christian for several years and tried to live my life like Jesus, I bought into the world's view of love. I believed love was more of a give and take. As long as my husband was meeting my needs, I loved him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We went to a Christian marriage retreat weekend the first year or two of our marriage. The speakers reminded us not to buy into the world's view of marriage. The world's view of marriage is that it should be 50/50 - fifty percent of the love and responsibilities should be covered by the husband and the wife should assume the other fifty percent. The problem with this is that someone will always be coming up short, likely leading each other to frustration and disappointment. Instead, we learned that God calls us to be 100% the spouse that we can be. When we are both giving 100% of ourselves to our spouse, never asking for anything in return, that is when marriage works according to God's plan. This made perfect sense to us, and we tried to live this way in our marriage. Still, I don't think I had opened my heart to the fullness of this message. I understood it in theory, but unfortunately it didn't "click" with me until much, much later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The world's understanding today seems to be, "as long as my spouse makes me happy, I will love him/her". But this isn't true love at all. At it's very core it is self-seeking. Me, me, me. And a marriage will not work if the object of my love is me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I've been reading <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22http://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?t=dreamswakingu-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1934217859&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr%22%20style=%22width:120px;height:240px;%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20marginwidth=%220%22%20marginheight=%220%22%20frameborder=%220%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E" target="_blank"><u>Theology of the Body for Beginners</u> by Christopher West</a>. This is crazy good stuff (and from the title it apparently gets even deeper after you've grasped the "beginner" part!) West describes how original sin twisted our hearts and the focus of our love. God made Adam in his image. God is self-giving, so Adam was designed to give himself to another human being. Yet Adam had no other human to whom he could give himself. So God made Eve. Adam and Eve were made naked and were not ashamed. Their passion for each other was pure and mirrored God's perfect love. They gave themselves freely to each other. Along came sin, and they immediately covered their bodies. Their nature and hearts had changed. They went from self-giving to self-seeking. Instinctively they knew they could be used as objects, and they had to cover themselves to protect themselves from being used and hurt.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was self-seeking in my marriage. I wanted it to please me, to make me happy. I got married for <i>my </i>"happily ever after". One day God revealed to me that my life was not meant to just be about me, me, me. If I were to truly live out the way I was designed to live, I must give, give and give of myself. Jesus gave himself fully to us in his Passion. We beat him. We mocked him. We betrayed him. But he loved us anyways. Not only is his Love patient and kind and gentle, but it also is perfect in <i>giving </i><b>no matter what</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am called to love like Christ. Once I allowed this reality of what true Love is, I became a better wife and a better mother and better person. My attempts to love are not perfect by any means. Loving by giving of myself is one of the hardest things for me to do. When it's late in the evening and I've finally sat down after a day full of chores, my body aching for some rest, and one of the little guys asks for some milk - love gets back up out of the oh-so-comfy chair and gets the glass of milk for my son. When my husband and I have a disagreement, love doesn't insist on being right. Love embraces humility and gives from the innermost depth of ourselves. Love <i>does</i> for others instead of <i>taking </i>from others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What would Love do? It's not easy, but then again being a slave to self-seeking desires is a prison in and of itself. So it's not easy, but it brings peace and joy that we were intended for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-75938066070533491912013-08-20T15:00:00.000-07:002013-08-20T19:20:58.510-07:00we all need baptism, including infants<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Infant baptism was </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">not </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">one of the big doctrines that lead me to the Catholic Church. I focused on studying theology on things like apostolic succession, visible unity of the church, sacred Tradition, the papacy, and the Eucharist. Once I had these things settled in my mind and my heart - once I saw that Catholicism lined up with Scripture more than any Protestant denomination I had ever been a part of, I looked into things like baptism, prayer of the saints, and contraception (just to name a few). But no Protestant ever asks me about apostolic succession or visible unity of the church or even the Eucharist. I can understand why - as a Protestant I never even heard of these things much less considered them very important. When I'd be in a group talking about the anti-Bibleness of the Catholic Church, people always brought up infant baptism and prayers to the saints. Oh, and Mary worship (which is feels odd to even write this because Catholics don't worship Mary). Now <a href="http://www.dreamswakingup.blogspot.com/2013/08/dreams-waking-up-aka-my-conversion-story.html" target="_blank">as a convert</a>, infant baptism is often the thing I get questioned about the most.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Baptism was not a big deal to me before. I believed that the Catholic Church relied on this man-made tradition of baptizing infants because they were backwards and never thought it fully out - that Catholics were just mindless sheep doing what they were told to do and never reading the Bible to find out what it actually said about needing to be of an accountable age before you can be baptized. (What I didn't realize is that there was no verse about being at an accountable age before deciding to be baptized.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I was learning to evangelize, one of the arguments we prepared for non-believers went something like this, "If I'm wrong about my belief in God, what's the worst that will happen to me? I will have lived a life of love and charity the best I could and then I die and get buried and that's the end of that. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But what if you're wrong?" </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The implication was that if the non-believer was wrong about the good news of the Gospel not being true, well then he was going to have hell to pay for being wrong. This argument was not used to scare people into believing in Jesus, but rather as a way to spur them to some deep thinking on the solidity of their beliefs about truth. The same question rang through my mind when I didn't believe in baptizing infants. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What if I'm wrong?</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> As any other parent, my children are precious, priceless gifts to me. The answer to "What if I'm wrong about not baptizing infants?" scared me enough that I wanted to know the other side of the argument to see if truth was there.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vv1hfVv4Pdxd1vGFDZ7CXJe3NjQgUSb1WgpPVb9VVZhb1hn0SEDoevg3XvmE09v9pIfDpNWhw45MIqskG5ArNGXY097QrSSFyLUmjhWoQZci_9c3duBxxJ-Tyh26dbMhXijZs4trEIea/s1600/Infant+Baptism2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1vv1hfVv4Pdxd1vGFDZ7CXJe3NjQgUSb1WgpPVb9VVZhb1hn0SEDoevg3XvmE09v9pIfDpNWhw45MIqskG5ArNGXY097QrSSFyLUmjhWoQZci_9c3duBxxJ-Tyh26dbMhXijZs4trEIea/s320/Infant+Baptism2.jpg" width="212" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">This isn't my baby, but it looks just like my Zoë</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Catholics aren't the only ones who believe infants should be baptized. There are many Protestant faith traditions that believe in infant baptism - Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopal/Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Reformed Christian churches all believe in infant baptism. Of the 800 million Protestant Christians in the world, at least 540 million believe in infant baptism, or 68% of Protestants. Take the entire world of Christianity into consideration - Catholic and non-Catholic - at least 87% of Christians believe in infants baptism. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_denominations_by_number_of_members" target="_blank">I came up with these calculations using Wikipedia's number of Christians by faith tradition.</a>) This of course doesn't mean that majority rules. But it is at least worth mentioning. If you are in the 13% minority who do not believe infants should be baptized, do you feel you have some sound evidence to take this position?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>Baptism is not optional for salvation.</i></b> The Bible stresses in verse after verse the necessity of baptism for salvation. In John 3:5 Jesus says, "Verily verily I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit." Mark 16:16 says "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he that does not believe will be condemned." 1 Peter 3:21 says baptism saves a person "this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus." Peter insists baptism is integral in salvation in Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." Acts 22:16 "Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord." In fact, in every instance in the Bible where people learn about Jesus, they are immediately baptized. It wasn't optional.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3XfbP0HJ4s2CNWyb_Nm4W78DeBxd1d1E4gBtiwkmNfaOnjzVEWscx-Ub3LCkX5nhy6KFhnj5NYwC_DsTqIvMM1q6kv2AmY3te5M-IG5ODB4IchlQOKWA-jE0tFodH7mDixVoMHY-Kxg0/s1600/Infant+Baptism1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju3XfbP0HJ4s2CNWyb_Nm4W78DeBxd1d1E4gBtiwkmNfaOnjzVEWscx-Ub3LCkX5nhy6KFhnj5NYwC_DsTqIvMM1q6kv2AmY3te5M-IG5ODB4IchlQOKWA-jE0tFodH7mDixVoMHY-Kxg0/s320/Infant+Baptism1.jpg" width="249" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i>We are all born with original sin.</i></b> We can't help it. We inherited our sinful nature from our parents, Adam and Eve. Psalm 51:5 says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." Ephesians 2:3 says that we're "by nature all children of wrath". Jesus says in John 3:6 that "Flesh gives birth to flesh." We were stained with sin from the beginning. 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 says "death came through a man (Adam)...For as in Adam all die..." Without salvation, our sinful nature inherited from our first parents is a death sentence. It's a death sentence as soon as we enter the earth. Babies need forgiveness. They need it at birth.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The Bible does not exclude infants from the promise of baptism</b>.</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The objection that is often brought up against infant baptism is that there is no reference to an infant being baptized in the Bible. However, there is </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">no objection </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">to infant baptism in the Bible, either. So if we are to discuss infant baptism, we have to agree that the Bible does not spell out the words "thou shalt not baptize thy infants". Actually the Bible has several verses that show that baptism was not restricted to adults. In Acts 2:38 Peter commands, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Then in 39 he says (emphasis mine) "This promise is for you </span><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>and your children</i></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">..." Jesus himself did not turn away infants when they were brought to Him. In Luke 18:15-16 people brought their infants to Jesus and when the disciples saw this they rebuked the people </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for bringing their infants </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(after all, the infants cannot themselves make the decision for Jesus). Jesus corrects them instead welcomes the infants of believers into the kingdom of God, "Let the little children come to me, and do not forbid them, for of such in the kingdom of God." In 1 Corinthians 1:16 Paul says that he baptized the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">household</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> of Stephanas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jesus instructs the disciples in Matthew 28:19, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." The term "all nations" has always been understood by Church fathers to </span><strike style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">exclude infants</strike><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> mean everyone. The promise does not leave infants out.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Baptism is to the New Covenant what circumcision was in the Old Covenant</b></i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. In Colossians 2:11-12 Paul equates baptism with the old circumcision, saying, "you yourself were circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands, by putting of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism..." </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Christians have no need for physical circumcision. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> T</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">hey have already received that inward circumcision, that spiritual cleansing of the heart, that is effected by the Holy Spirit, given to us in baptism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Circumcision under the Abrahamic covenant was applied to infants on the basis of parental faith. Galatians 3:29 says "</span><span style="background-color: white;">if you </span><i style="background-color: white;">are</i><span style="background-color: white;"> Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." We've already seen how Paul explains that baptism is the fulfillment of circumcision. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Now, i</span><span style="background-color: white;">magine a father who was Jewish and newly converted to Christianity in 70 A.D. He brings his baby to be included in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of the covenant of his father Abraham. Do you think the Apostles would have turned away his baby because his baby could not choose Christ for himself? Of course not! If it were so, then the man would have been turned off by the new covenant, which was preached as a fulfillment of - as better than - the old. Infants were included in the old covenant. They are not to be turned away in the new covenant, which is a <i>better </i>covenant than the old.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Please don't get me wrong.</i> I am not claiming that baptism alone will save someone. But it is necessary.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Baptism is a sacrament, which means it is given to us by Jesus to give us a powerful grace in our lives. Remember, it is only by God's grace that any of us have faith, adult or child or infant. And for an adult or an infant, faith should grow after baptism. The faith required for baptism is not a perfect and mature faith. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I hope I've at least spurred an interest in some to investigate further into the theology behind infant baptism. If I'm wrong that infant baptism is right and true (I don't believe I'm wrong, but let's just ask for argument's sake), what's the worst that would happen? But if you believe it's wrong to baptize infants, what if you're wrong?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And here's a little completely interesting fact. Do you know how Catholics dip their finger in holy water when they enter and leave church? There's meaning behind it! It's to remind us of our baptism! I get sooooo excited about this. I love the opportunity to relive, in a way, my baptism each and every time I go to church and to remind myself that I am His.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some additional resources: </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.scripturecatholic.com/baptism.html"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.scripturecatholic.com/baptism.html</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.catholic.com/tracts/infant-baptism"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.catholic.com/tracts/infant-baptism</span></a><br />
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<a href="http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02258b.htm</span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, of course the <a href="http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm#" target="_blank">CCC</a> (with Bible references) - start in the section called "The Sacraments of Christian Initiation."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Kyrie, eleison</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Christe, eleison</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Kyrie, eleison</i></span><br />
<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-14436719083728748882013-08-16T06:34:00.004-07:002013-08-16T06:34:49.684-07:007 Quick Takes Friday (#2)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNqk89PYJgQ2Xqx0tjOgo_nPy1BabJ_tkZE_R3V2hZjKJm7GuUWOhv6XfZ2v-VhNUmtOEigoWeHwcBZ2DvbaTkkqsM5EtMhKlN4rUp5xKd-_mRNY-_TJebKjC8xdpr47J3X_TcFJ5K9yOh/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNqk89PYJgQ2Xqx0tjOgo_nPy1BabJ_tkZE_R3V2hZjKJm7GuUWOhv6XfZ2v-VhNUmtOEigoWeHwcBZ2DvbaTkkqsM5EtMhKlN4rUp5xKd-_mRNY-_TJebKjC8xdpr47J3X_TcFJ5K9yOh/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is it Friday already? I can't believe I made it through the week!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks to <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/08/7-quick-takes-friday-13.html" target="_blank">Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes Friday</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. We started football practices this week with my sons. Todd is in tackle football for the first time this year, and Eli is still in flag. There is something about that first tackle practice that was like my son crossed over to the journey of becoming a man. He had to eat a piece of humble pie and do 5 push-ups when he fumbled a ball. During his first practice. He was pretty upset, and he was ready to quit football. But now he has had three practices, and he loves football. I LOVE football, too, so I can't wait to watch their games. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. I spent a little time eating some humble pie this week myself. Or conviction pie. Either way, it was hard to swallow but I know it will be good in the end.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. My 4-year old, Isaac, enjoyed a home visit from his pre-K teacher this week. We had to switch preschools this year because our Catholic school shut down in May, and he went to preschool there last year. I am very impressed with this new preschool so far, and I'm really impressed they do a home visit before school starts up in September. At the end of her visit, his teacher, Miss Linda, asked me a few questions about Isaac, including if Isaac had any fears she should know about. Isaac spoke up and told her that he is afraid of the dark and...something else. He acted like he was nervous about this "something else". He finally told her. He is afraid of getting a swirly. She acted like she didn't know what that was, so he explained his understanding of a swirly (which originally came from his older two brothers). "It's when someone sticks your face in the toilet and flushes the toilet and then poops on your head." Unfortunately I couldn't find a table to hide under. And just for the record - he's never had a swirly.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. <a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2013/08/04/indiana-set-to-withdraw-from-common-core-national-assessments/" target="_blank">Indiana is withdrawing from Common Core!</a> I am so relieved that we won't have to go to D.C. if we don't like what our kids are being taught. Other states are starting to withdrawal, too. Subsidiarity wins, thank God!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. This video is powerful. Watch the whole video beginning to end. It is amazing to see the change in the countenance of the people being interviewed when they start to realize the state of their souls and their need for a savior.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I used to think there were two kinds of people in the world - those who believe God exists and those who don't believe God exists. But there are probably people who believe there is a God and don't want to admit it because then they'd have to give up their will...they don't believe the promise of the gift of joy in following God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. There was a <a href="http://www.wdrb.com/category/163829/fox-41-video?clipId=9203006&autostart=true" target="_blank">horrible crime committed against a newborn this week</a>. A woman went into a Kohl's bathroom and gave birth to her child then intentionally murdered it. She was eventually caught and arrested and when she was charged with the crime she had no expression on her face. I cannot believe that a woman could have a child - flesh of her flesh - come out of her and then murder it. It is so dark and twisted. This is a bi-product of abortion, of course. Abortion has devalued the preciousness of human life. <i>Kyrie, eleison</i>!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. I can't leave on that note. I miss the 80's. Now worries, by the looks of the fashions today, the 80's are making a big comeback. Here is an old classic. "Kyrie" by Mr. Mister. "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrie" target="_blank">Kyrie</a>, eleison" is Greek for "Lord, have mercy". Enjoy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/XNKbHJ3PTu4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Lyrics</i>:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyrie eleison<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The wind blows hard against this mountain side<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Across the sea into my soul<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />It reaches into where I cannot hide<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Setting my feet upon the road</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My heart is old, it holds my memories<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />My body burns a gemlike flame<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Somewhere between the soul and soft machine<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Is where I find myself again</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I was young I thought of growing old<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Of what my life would mean to me<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Would I have followed down my chosen road<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Or only wished what I could be</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light</span></div>
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Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-64418483179644902262013-08-15T19:45:00.001-07:002013-08-15T19:45:59.461-07:00the Assumption of Mary - is it Biblical?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marian doctrines take me a looooooong time to wrap my head around. <a href="http://blog.adw.org/2013/08/some-biblical-roots-of-the-teaching-on-the-assumption-of-mary/" target="_blank">This post at the Archdiocese of Washington</a> is really, really clear and concise and helped me a little further along in my faith walk today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If God assumed Enoch and Elijah into Heaven, why is it so difficult to believe He would do any less for the mother of his son? "All generations will call me blessed." (Luke 1:48)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We can all have the hope that we will one day be body and soul united in Heaven, just as Jesus did for his mother! Because He is good and loving and merciful. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Glory to God!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-41102940155568367662013-08-09T09:14:00.000-07:002013-08-09T09:14:45.084-07:007 Quick Takes Friday (#1)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoSXzyXuPn1fO7Po65-tCyn5E0LkqeCqmKa0slBy6dq1PlkEjPkl0uPhaWH69grPN3-wnbVpoXRDZndwF8cFNRn_ADtuJrk7vWpJZo4sxSye-Gqw2G1LFlya25nQcsTf4Kxa4Yc-lfuGp/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoSXzyXuPn1fO7Po65-tCyn5E0LkqeCqmKa0slBy6dq1PlkEjPkl0uPhaWH69grPN3-wnbVpoXRDZndwF8cFNRn_ADtuJrk7vWpJZo4sxSye-Gqw2G1LFlya25nQcsTf4Kxa4Yc-lfuGp/s1600/7_quick_takes_sm1.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/08/7-quick-takes-friday-vol-228.html" target="_blank">Thanks to Jen for hosting 7 Quick Takes</a>. I'm excited to join in the fun today!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Protestants struggling to keep Millennials in church. son lays prostate with his priest father. Awesomely funny blog: Momma Knows, Honeychild. New school starts for the older two boys. Jim Gaffigan quote. Thoughts on "sending positive thoughts your way". Pat Robertson devalues the lives of poor children (who are also blessings from God in <b><i>my</i></b> Bible!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. A message I keep seeing recurring in the evangelical Christian world is that the flashy mega churches aren't working. Sure, they might be bringing people in the doors with their concert-style "sanctuaries" and night club-style worship services and casual lobbies, but what they are teaching people isn't sticking. The youth are falling away at higher and higher numbers. Once they leave their homes and go out on their own, they leave God, too. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/07/31/how-to-keep-millennials-in-the-church-lets-keep-church-un-cool/" target="_blank">The Washington Post ran an interesting article about this frightening trend</a>. The author points out that the effort to make Christianity "cool" is not making disciples.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The part that struck me most from the article was the summary in the last paragraph (my emphasis in bold):</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 26px;">As a Millennial, if I’m truly honest with myself, what I really need from the church is not </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 26px;">another </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 26px;">yes-man entity enabling my hubris and giving me what I want. Rather, <b>what I need is something bigger than me, older than me, bound by a truth that transcends me and a story that will outlast me</b>; basically, something that doesn’t change to fit me and my whims, but changes </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 26px;">me </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2c2c2c; line-height: 26px;">to be the Christ-like person I was created to be.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Folks, <b>this is the Catholic Church that people are longing for</b>, and this is why 18 to 30-years olds are converting to Catholicism more now than ever before. They crave the Truth of Jesus that was given to us by Jesus 2,000 years ago and that will not change - <i style="font-weight: bold;">cannot</i> change - to fit the world's fleeting whims and trends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. I saw <a href="http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130720/PC1204/130729998" target="_blank">this article</a> about Father Patrick Allen, who is the second Episcopal priest in South Carolina to join the Catholic Church through the Anglican ordinariate. The picture of him laying prostate with his son beside him really really blessed me.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfhTdAHvDLg_ZWtS0LYe98wllxW5Vwqyi1mxA4my0qplXkgnK2LhuGpqoyISiFwTa3ASZIeA6Aig1KqtBZ7k0k3Kb6IOcjC8xbUf0gQi2XHP9fHKIAYqH0UgOrpbKAZGcleNBMqlWqWCd/s1600/Priest+and+son.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZfhTdAHvDLg_ZWtS0LYe98wllxW5Vwqyi1mxA4my0qplXkgnK2LhuGpqoyISiFwTa3ASZIeA6Aig1KqtBZ7k0k3Kb6IOcjC8xbUf0gQi2XHP9fHKIAYqH0UgOrpbKAZGcleNBMqlWqWCd/s320/Priest+and+son.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think I need to lay prostate before the Lord. And not because I have five kids who exhaust me most days. Can laity just go and lay prostate before the Lord? Someone who is Catholic - please tell me! I need this!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. So one of my favorite bloggers, Jennifer Fulwiler, let her readers in on a little gem-of-a-blog called "Mama Knows, Honeychild" Now I have added Heather to <i>my </i>list of favorite bloggers! I read through some of her posts yesterday and I was laughing so hard that I was crying. I even lost my breath and worried for a couple of seconds that my lungs weren't going to be able to inhale. I worried I would die from laughing. Literally. <a href="http://mamaknowsithoneychild.blogspot.com/2013/07/warm-it-up.html" target="_blank">"Warm It Up"</a> especially hit me hard. I cannot tell you how many times we've sat our hineys on the couch and ate fattening snacks while "getting inspired" by watching the "The Biggest Loser". So I knew by the first picture of the blog it was going to be something I could relate to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. My sons' Catholic school shut down last year (don't want to talk about it - makes me too sad), so they have started their new school and have been there for a week. It's the closest public elementary school to our house, and we had heard great things about it. So far I've been thrilled about it. And my sons are adjusting pretty well considering. My oldest son says that everyone there is really nice (big sigh of relief for a momma!) I have mixed feelings - super happy about the school, super sad that they don't pray or learn about Jesus during their school day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. My new favorite comedian is Jim Gaffigan. Our pediatrician told me about him because he has five kids. I looked him up on the internet, and really liked his acts. He's come out with a new book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dad-Is-Fat-Jim-Gaffigan/dp/038534905X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376064721&sr=8-1&keywords=my+dad+is+fat" target="_blank">My Dad is Fat</a></i>, and I love that he is bringing attention to the crazy wonderful that comes with a big family. After all, what is the point if you can't laugh (hysterically) at yourself? <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/08/quote-of-the-day-55/" target="_blank">Here's quote from Jim Gaffigan that I love</a> (emphasis mine): </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: whitesmoke; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I watch the faces of single people in their twenties after I bring up that I ‘have children.’ I imagine them taking a small step backward as if to avoid contagion, with a look of ‘Sorry to hear that’ on their face. Like I naively volunteered to contract leprosy, forever quarantining myself from the world of having fun by having children. <b>Well, why not? I guess the reasons against having more children always seem uninspiring and superficial. What exactly am I missing out on? Money? A few more hours of sleep? A more peaceful meal? More hair? These are nothing compared to what I get from these five monsters who rule my life.</b> I believe each of my five children has made me a better man. So I figure I only need another thirty-four kids to be a pretty decent guy. Each one of them has been a pump of light into my shriveled black heart. <b>I would trade money, sleep, or hair for a smile from one of my children in a heartbeat.</b> Well, it depends on how much hair.”</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He <i>gets</i> it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. One comment I see over and over on Facebook from my non-Christian friends is something like "sending positive thoughts your way!" This is mostly used to try to comfort others who may have posted that they are having a difficult time with this or that in life. I asked the question, what does this phrase mean? How does one send positive thoughts to another person in such a way that it would benefit the other person? I got all kinds of answers. One person even equated it to telepathy. Someone said I was over thinking the phrase (which is probably true, and as a real nerd I have to over think <i>everything</i>). It seems to me it is just a phrase that people say to say something nice, but it doesn't have any power behind it. I think it is interesting the lengths the world will take to sound like Christianity, but with all fluff and no power. As for me, if I am having a hard time in life, please <i>pray for me. </i>I would appreciate to know that you're thinking about me, but that doesn't really help me with my problem, does it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Boy, Pat Robertson made a lot of people mad this week by insulting the dignity of poor children and taking a dump on the value of their lives (not to mention fanning the flame that is the division between Catholicism and Protestantism). If you didn't catch what he said on his program about birth control and ragamuffin kids, <a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pat-robertson-says-birth-control-very-important-to-limit-appalachian-ragamu/" target="_blank">you can catch it here</a>. It is hugely offensive what he said about God-given life, and many people have pointed that out. I'd like to point out something else he did that is anti-Protestantism in a big way. When I was an evangelical Protestant, what your pastor preached was a big deal. He's your pastor, he's your shepherd charged with guiding you through this earthly life. So this woman who wrote to Pat Robinson says her pastor taught that contraception is a sin against God (which it is). And Pat Robertson trumped her pastor and said he was wrong and he didn't even give any Bible verses to back it up. Didn't Pat Robertson just make himself the pope of the Protestants? I mean, who gave him the authority to trump a pastor? Furthermore, what version of the Bible he is getting his answer from? I think Pat Robertson thinks too highly of himself and needs to get his brain back in the Word of God. Division within Christianity makes me ill (and was one of the things that lead me to the Catholic Church), and he is promoting division, he is promoting the killing of children for the idol of self. Maybe he should read Jim Gaffigan's book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-10076153908788256912013-08-05T20:17:00.001-07:002013-08-05T20:17:43.241-07:00dreams waking up (a.k.a. my conversion story)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbml_rShDIBZanPaboziJk3JqVqLskRFJORI24QJxfuva7VWjWtNW_fp5v-ez2071dW6EaOX5_ZHHQkGjdVRj9hTz16iiJBO0jDOkr3nOtB11bWjNCHRNde8-0rJC-AWiVrgD9AQxLNHD/s1600/Color+Prism2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKbml_rShDIBZanPaboziJk3JqVqLskRFJORI24QJxfuva7VWjWtNW_fp5v-ez2071dW6EaOX5_ZHHQkGjdVRj9hTz16iiJBO0jDOkr3nOtB11bWjNCHRNde8-0rJC-AWiVrgD9AQxLNHD/s320/Color+Prism2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My journey back to the Catholic Church started in mid-2008, although I had no idea at the time that the Catholic Church is where my journey would lead me. That isn't to say there weren't seeds planted before then, but the seeds began to take root when a popular flamboyant preacher named <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Bentley" target="_blank">Todd Bentley</a> gained popularity within the Pentecostal faith traditions. This tattooed preacher was seen as a fresh breath of air, with his unconventional and theatrical style. He was asked to lead the Lakeland, Florida Revival for one week. The revival became a phenomenon that lasted much longer than one week, and Pentecostal Christians all over the country were buzzing about the rock-star style revival meetings. The meetings aired on GOD TV, and there were numerous healings claimed by the evangelist.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some Pentecostals we knew were head over heels excited about what God was doing through Todd Bentley. Others were cautiously optimistic and dove into their Bibles to verify what was happening on the TV screens wasn't in conflict with the Word of God. Generally, my experience was that those who dove into their Bibles to check the revival came to the same conclusion - this guy doesn't jive with Scripture.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still others that we frequently talked to and greatly respected couldn't stop talking about how everything that was happening at the Lakeland Revival was amazing. So we were sort of left scratching our heads. My husband watched several of the revival meetings on TV to see for himself. He prayed and watched. His report to me, his feelings toward what he had witnessed - this cannot be of God. It's a fraud.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We waited and watched. In August 2008 it came out that Todd Bentley had an affair on his wife, his marriage was ended in divorce. The Lakeland Revival meetings ended and when the truth came out, guess what? It was all about money the whole. The whole thing was a sham.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My husband and I were greatly bothered by the stark disagreements of the two camps of people we talked to - those who were "all in" on the goings on at the Lakeland Revival - even after the thing came to a screetching halt - and those who saw the Lakeland Revivals and Todd Bentley for what is was - a wolf in sheep's clothing. Or in this case a rock-star's clothing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-weight: bold;">God, this can't be what you have for your church.</i> There must be truth out there somewhere that doesn't contradict itself from one day to another.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We prayed together, "Lord show us <i><b>your </b></i>will for your church. We are open to anything outside of our current experiences. We just want something <i>real</i>."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We asked ourselves - why do we believe what we believe? Because of what we were taught growing up? What if those over us while we were growing up were wrong? There are many different denominations that we've never looked into; what if one of those denominations were more accurately teaching truth and we never knew it just because we were taught that our denomination - or lack of denomination as sometimes had been the case in our lives - was the correct one? What if the people teaching us that our denomination was correct...were <i>wrong</i>? What if Methodists interpreted the Bible more accurately and we just never knew it because we were never taught what the Methodist faith taught? Or Baptist? Or Church of Christ? Or something else?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We were attending a wonderful small Assemblies of God church with wonderful people. I mean <i>wonderful</i> in the kind of authentic Christ-like mercy-giving loving kind of people that we never wanted to think about leaving. But what if the Assemblies of God church wasn't what God wanted His church to be? Which church should we look at first? I mean, as we would soon find out in one History Channel program, there are 8,000 Protestant denominations. I don't have the ability to research 8,000 different sets of beliefs. My mind was spinning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My husband had an idea. To find out what God wanted for His church, my husband would look back at the beginning...before Jesus was born, died and resurrected...he would study Judaism to find out what the earliest church would have been like. But it had to be Orthodox Judaism, as Reform and Conservative Judaism seemed to be evolutions of the Judaism that would have been on Earth 2,000 years ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wasn't quite convinced my husband's idea would work, but I didn't have any plan at all as to how I would look into 8,000 different Protestant faiths, so going back to the beginning - <i>way</i> before 8,000 Protestant denominations came about - sounded like an acceptable plan. I went through a kind of burned out period where - although I loved Jesus - I was feeling disillusioned by all of the divisions within Christianity. <i>God, isn't your Truth out there somewhere?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So my husband turned started attending Orthodox Jewish services. It turns out an Orthodox Jewish service is about 3 hours long. I was pregnant with our third son, and a three-hour long service did not sound like the kind of research I was up for. So he went alone. He loved it. He soaked it in. He was excited about everything he learned. He started going to daily morning prayer services whenever he could find time in his schedule. People thought he was crazy, but we were OK with it. We knew the unsettled feeling we were dealing with, and we were OK with crazy for a while if it meant finding God's true desire for His church.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, my husband wasn't interested in denying Christ <b><i>at all</i></b>, so he took the knowledge he found to look for something similar in Christianity. Maybe it was the Messianic Judaism movement? We went to a couple of Messianic Judaism services. They were...long. And too many things just didn't add up to me. It just seemed like another Protestant <strike>division</strike> denomination to me. I couldn't see how something that started as a movement 30 years ago could be anything remotely similar to what God's church was like 2,000 years ago. Plus, in the Messianic Judaism services we went to, we never met anyone who had actually been to a Jewish synagogue. It was almost like they were making it up as they went and trying to base things on what someone told them happens in a Jewish synagogue service. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">All this time my husband would go and spend three hours every Saturday morning at the only Orthodox Jewish synagogue in our area. He begged me and begged me to go. In December 2008 I finally agreed to endure the three-hour long service with him one Saturday. I dragged my month-and-a-half-away-from-delivery butt over to the synagogue to please my husband. I didn't think anything would come out of it except maybe getting the best wife in the world medal for a day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I experienced made my palms sweaty and and heart race. What I saw was very...Catholic...except without Jesus. From the prayer book to the tabernacle to the chanting to the singing of the Psalms even to what the leader of the service was wearing and the way he kept bowing at the altar and the way the leader and the others read written prayers - it was more like what I remembered from my childhood days in a Catholic Church than any Protestant church I had ever been in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No. Not the Catholic Church. I'm sure truth couldn't possibly be in the...<i>but what if...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No. I was sure that's not what God is showing me. I started to look into what the Catholic Church taught. And it made sense. A lot of it was difficult for me to understand right away. I had to mentally chew on it. And I would get these moments of repulsion at the very thought of considering that the Catholic Church most accurately contained the truth that God wanted for His people. (I had, after all, very thorough and deep training in anti-Catholicism since becoming Protestant at age 15. And we were still fresh in the news of the priest sex scandals.) I even looked into the Lutheran church, since it was a direct shoot off of the Catholic Church and was very similar in liturgy and doctrine. So if it were a directly branch off of the Catholic Church, I thought, then it would be most like the original thing - sort of like a copy from an original is less contaminated than a copy from a copy from a copy from a copy...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I had a dream one night. I can't remember any of the dream except this - a Bible opened up in front of me, and there was such an amazing light and the most wonderful colors that you could ever imagine beaming out of the pages of the Bible. And there was such a joy and peace that only comes from knowing God and His holy Word. I knew during the dream that God was trying to tell me that <i>there is more in His Word than we will ever be able to comprehend with our natural minds.</i> That's what the incredible colors beaming out of the pages represented - all that God has for us in the Bible that we cannot fathom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's funny when you have a dream like that. There was such a joy and excitement in my heart and I tried to tell a few people about the dream only to get a nice smile from them and a, "that's nice, dear" response. But I knew the dream was a promise from God that He had more for me. More for us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I kid you not - becoming Catholic has made that dream of Biblical awesomeness come alive to me. I never even knew the Catholic Church believed in the Bible. It's true! I thought the Catholic Church didn't want its laity reading the Bible. It was a lie told to me years ago and I believed it. The Bible brought me home to the Catholic Church. Apostolic succession, the papacy, their view of marriage (it's deeper than any Protestant has ever been able to explain to me) as a sacrament, confession (yes - confession!), visible unity of believers (a.k.a. the Jesus' church being ONE as opposed to 8,000 divisions), and the Eucharist (this is where I give a <b>big</b> shout out to John 6 - why had I never seen that whole chapter before?!), oh the Eucharist! It turns out </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(And have I mentioned - the Catholic Church doesn't teach that a person can go to Heaven by works!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not Catholic because of RELIGION!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not Catholic because of old family ties.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm not Catholic because I went through a difficult time and "lost my faith" along the way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm Catholic because God's grace touched my heart and opened the Bible up in a way that had never happened before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm Catholic because of the Bible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(Just in case anyone had to stand on their head backwards to <i>not</i> read that last statement I'll say it again.)</span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I'm Catholic because of the Bible!</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I often imagine what people think of my conversion. I know the mindset I was in before. I would've thought someone who converted to Catholicism just didn't understand the love God had for them and the freedom from religion that His love provided. "Religion" had become a dirty word in our faith circles. It implied a faith void of any relationship with God, only rules and rituals. Mostly the word "religion" referred to Catholicism when I thought of it in a negative sense. But that's not at all what has happened to me. My relationship with Jesus has<b> amplified</b> since becoming Catholic. I know this is such an oxymoron to many.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I guess I can be thankful that Todd Bentley ignited a fire within me for my faith. I have been through a revival of my spirit through the washing of the Word. And I will never be the same again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To God be the glory!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">kristy</span></i>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-48585957935103635862013-07-27T19:04:00.000-07:002013-07-27T19:04:12.710-07:00authenticity and truth<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There was a refreshing opinion piece written at the New York Post, "<a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/mass_appeal_X7cCjGIpnVDpuf3VnSBVXP" target="_blank">Mass Appeal</a>". A million people are in Brazil this week for World Youth Day. It makes sense that a million young people would gather in the nation with the largest Catholic population to see the world's first latin American pope. But the author points out the large attendance at previous World Youth Days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a world where we continuously hear the mantra that the Church is irrelevant and outdated, how can World Youth Day continuously draw large numbers of attendees?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.578125px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Then again, maybe the anything-goes culture that so many of our young people are growing up in hasn’t been as uniformly delightful as we’ve been led to believe. Perhaps some have tasted the loneliness and emptiness Pope Francis spoke of in Brazil."</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The world makes all sorts of promises to our youth of happiness in possessions and prosperity. But young people are left disillusioned and empty after obtaining these promises. They long for something more.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.578125px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They may be unable to explain the theological details, but they plainly thirst for authenticity and truth, of the kind that sustains those who have nothing and can fulfill those who can find themselves bored and self-destructive because they have too much.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found in shopping malls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found in fancy new cars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found in partying and having a good time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found in your boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found on Facebook.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth cannot be found in your 401(k).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth can only be found in Christ.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Truth can only be found in Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-4618164248163524312013-07-26T10:31:00.002-07:002013-07-26T19:29:39.829-07:00the beautiful grace of confession<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A dear Evangelical Protestant friend asked me,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"I have always wondered about confession. We have a direct line to God, so why do Catholics need a priest to absolve their sins? Why does the priest have this power to forgive on God's behalf?"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>GREAT</b> question!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I wondered the same thing for many years. I thought, "Oh those poor deceived Catholics and their man-made rituals - they don't even realize they could just go straight to God to confess their sins." I thought that the Catholic Church had at some point in history invented this man-made ritual of confessing their sins to a priest when what the Bible really said was that you could go straight to God to have your sins forgiven.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Catholic Church teaches that you can go directly to God for forgiveness of sins. Yes, you read that correctly. Technically, you don't <i>have</i> to go to a priest to have your sins forgiven. You can go straight to God through our "direct line".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope you don't think I'm kidding. I didn't believe it myself when I first learned this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">We can go directly to God, but because of our fleshly nature, Jesus gave us another way to help us with special graces granted by God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Penance on the first Easter right after He appeared to the Apostles. In John 20:21 Jesus says to the Apostles, "As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." Here Jesus passes on His authority to the Apostles to forgive sins.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">John 20:22-23 goes on, "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." The only other moment in the Bible where God breathes on man is in Genesis 2:7 when God "breathes" life into man. When this happens in Genesis, there is a significant transformation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In order for the Apostles (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostolic_succession" target="_blank">this is where I should mention that today's Catholic bishops are direct succession to the Apostles, which can be traced back through history</a>) to exercise this gift of forgiving sins, the penitents must orally communicate their sins to the Apostles (they aren't mind readers).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So I've just shown where the Bible tells us that we are to confess our sins to a priest, and Jesus in fact instructs us to do so. Can we go to God directly? Sure! So why should we confess our sins to a priest?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Let me pause for a moment and tell you about a growing trend in Evangelical Protestantism. A popular mens group, Promise Keepers, was started in 1990 and brought back the idea of accountability for the purpose of breaking the strongholds of addiction that sin can take on us when we keep sins hidden. Since then, other Christian groups have caught hold of this idea of accountability. You can mostly find confession to an accountability partner encouraged in cases of frequent, recurring sin, often times when the sin has taken root and lead to sinful addictions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For example, on the "<a href="http://www.purelifeministries.org/free-resources/whats-new?ei_mr_TopicID=7488&ei_mr_ResourceID=0" target="_blank">Confession and Accountability</a>" section of Pure Life Ministry's website, ministers emphasize the importance of accountability when it comes to overcoming sexual addictions. They stress is in absolutely key to escaping the darkness that comes with hidden sin. Unconfessed sin leads to self deception about their sin, which in turn causes them to be "quite satisfied with their current spiritual progress, they don't see their need to repent, nor do they even detect the weight of sin which has stagnated their walk with the Lord." (from "The Weight of Unconfessed Sin")</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The trend of rising popularity of Accountability Partners in Protestant faiths is due to a timeless truth - the special graces given to us by God - also fully available in the Sacrament of Confession instituted by Jesus on the first Easter. We can confess our sins directly to God, but He also give us a special grace through His Sacrament of Confession. Some benefits of this special grace of confession are:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">genuine self-knowledge is increased</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Christian humility grows</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">bad habits are corrected</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">the conscience is purified</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">the will strengthened</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">a salutary self-control is attained</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">grace is increased in virtue of the sacrament itself</span></li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I cannot condemn Accountability Partner for Protestants. In fact, I feel they are a <i>type </i>of the real thing. But I'd rather have the fullness encompassed in the real thing - confession as it was designed by Jesus. I can tell you from experience that the grace God gives through this sacrament is extremely liberating. By the grace of God I have been able to overcome sins which had become habitual. Jesus knew it would be this way - that confession to a priest would be a special grace in our lives - and He gave it to us out of His perfect love. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I hope this clarifies questions that may arise about the sacrament of confession. Feel free to bring up any further questions you have. I know this is a lot to chew on, and I'm quite sure that my brief explanation will not answer all questions about the sacrament of penance!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">kristy</span></i>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-49749648948301946122013-07-25T20:24:00.000-07:002013-07-25T20:24:39.645-07:00why on Earth would Catholics be having better sex?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was honestly surprised when I read the US News and World Report article that <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/07/17/devout-catholics-have-better-sex" target="_blank">"Devout Catholics Have Better Sex, Study Says"</a> that came out last week. Who knew that a bunch of devout religious people were the ones who knew how to have the most fun in bed?! I mean, this goes against all "conventional wisdom" of the world's view of married sex, especially Christian sex. The study shows that weekly church-goers have better, more frequent sex than couple who do not attend church weekly.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Devout, married Catholics have the best sex of any demographic group, the Family Research Council said at an event Wednesday, pointing to a collection of studies from the last several decades.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a Christian, this makes complete sense. When couples are sitting in church pews week after week, they are learning about Jesus and the way He loves us. Jesus' love is total giving of <i>self</i>. Couples also hear ways they can mirror their love to Christ's love. Only when we understand the author of love, God himself, can we begin to show love to others. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But why would Catholics be leading this group in the amount and quality of sex? It must be in the way they understand Jesus' love. One way that devout Catholics are different than any other Christians when it comes to marital sex is the absence of contraception. God designed sex to be the total and complete physical and spiritual given of one another. If you hold back your fertility from your spouse (contracept), you are holding back a part of your self and therefore changing what God designed sex to be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Believe me, I know this doesn't make sense at first. How could holding back your fertility - something you can see or touch - hinder sex with your spouse? Even if you put all of the side effects of hormonal birth control (nausea, weight gain, abdominal pain, chest paid, headaches, eye problems, blood clots, cancer, and chemical abortion just to name a few) aside for argument's sake, contraception goes against God's <i>design </i>of the marital act. You are mutilating your body in some form in order to experience the pleasure of sex without the God-designed life creating potential that is intrinsic to sex.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Come on! Is contraception really that big of a deal? The Catholic Church teaches as an infallible doctrine (<a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2010/09/catholics-you-must-understand-this.html" target="_blank">my friend Leila at Little Catholic Bubble explains infallible doctrine concisely here</a>) that contraception is intrinsically evil. That is, in its very design, in its very makeup, it is evil. I don't know about you, but when someone calls something evil, they aren't playing with words. (And since this is infallible doctrine, no one - <a href="http://littlecatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2010/11/pope-is-not-as-powerful-as-you-think.html" target="_blank">not even the Pope</a> - can change it.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My point is that contraception is no trite matter. It is sin, and sin separates us from God. So if we are separating ourselves from God, how could we experience the full potential of the God-designed marital act? The marital act is not only physical, but it is also spiritual. <i>Not</i> contracepting allows couples to open themselves to the full physical and full spiritual benefits of the God-designed martial act. And when we open ourselves up to the fullness of God in any in life - especially in marriage and sex - we experience tremendous freedom and joy and peace.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peace to all!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span><br />
<br />Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-27195674474086893082013-07-23T20:25:00.001-07:002013-07-23T20:25:24.408-07:00day #2 of 7-day blog post challange<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Here's the deal - I'm participating in Jennifer Fulwiler's <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/07/7-posts-in-7-days-a-blogging-challenge.html" target="_blank">7 posts in 7 days challenge</a>.
I don't know what I was thinking. I work part time during the day and
my husband is 14 hours away at his sister's funeral with his family. So
the only time I can write is at night after the 5 kids go to bed. So I
took up the challenge thinking that I'd be able to write the next day's
post the night prior. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">All five of my kiddos go to bed pretty good (I'm blessed!), but of course Zoë decided she <i>wasn't</i>
going to go to bed last night. (She never does this.) All she wanted to
do was cuddle on my lap. So I got nothin' for today. Nothing, that is,
except for a tiny nugget of the cuddlefest that took place until late
last night:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/zEU3VV-q78A?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Why would I want to write instead of cuddle-time anyways...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Peace out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>kristy</i></span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7102042140411613340.post-11911068219904431352013-07-22T09:39:00.001-07:002013-07-22T09:42:51.255-07:00Zoë Allison<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I guess I should mention that we had our first baby GIRL (you know, since she's 8 months old now)! She's our first baby girl after four consecutive loud, stinky boys.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She was born November 18th of last year. (Yes, last year. That's how far behind I am.) She looked so much like her brothers when they were born that I accidentally called her a "he" a couple of times to the nurse. I had a hard time getting it through my brain that first day and a half that I had given birth to a daughter this time, not another loud, stinky boy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Her name is Zoë Allison. Allison is my sister's middle name, and Zoë became "the name" when we found out it is Greek for <i><b>life</b></i>. <b>Life</b>. It is a beautiful word that I am still gaining understand of. I <b>do</b> know that life is uh.maze.ing. I just don't think I fully comprehend the depth of that awesomeness, yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was induced with all four of my sons for different reasons. And fitting of a female, Zoë decided to shake things up a little for her entrance into the world. She decided to come on her own a week early. So even though she was baby #5, this was my first dance with that little experience called "going into labor".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was a Saturday evening and we were going out to eat at Texas Roadhouse with the boys so that we could use the free kids meal coupons they had earned at school from having perfect attendance. I was having contractions that went from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart pretty quickly and fairly regularly. And since this was my fifth baby and I had no idea how fast labor would be without pitocin, the doctor wanted me to go immediately to the hospital. Do not go home. Do not get your clothes. Do not take the four sons to the relative's house. Go. to. the. hospital. now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It turned out not to be that urgent. I got to the hospital and the contractions slowed waaaaaay down. We decided to stay and be put on pitocin. It seemed like Zoë was determined to do things her own way, and we weren't sure how crazy this girl wanted to do things. We didn't want to go pick up four boys (who were at my bestie's house by now) and drive 45 minutes home just to have to turn around and rush back to the hospital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our excitement for the upcoming birth of our first daughter came to a screeching halt. We called my aunt to tell her we were getting ready to have Zoë, and my aunt had some incredibly bad news to tell us. One of our relatives (third cousin) who is the same age as my oldest - 7 years old - was involved in a tragic, freak accident in his grandpa's yard that same day. My aunt had been at the hospital all day with the family. The little boy was on life support at the children's hospital, it didn't look good for him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My body was numb. I knew instantly that I had to try to shove this news to the back of my mind and the back of my emotions. I couldn't let this make Zoë's birth more difficult for her or me. I did a fairly good job putting it behind me for the moment, but I never lost that numb feeling. It was impossible for me to be excited or feel any of the emotions I felt when I was laboring with the boys.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The birth was smooth and very normal (except for the epidural which caused a spinal fluid leak and therefore a spinal headache that was excrutiating for the next few days and I had to get a blood patch for - but nothing life threatening). I was with a different doctor this time around than I had for the boys, and this was the first time I had given birth in this particular hospital. The epidural was cranked up so much that I couldn't feel <i>anything</i>. I didn't like that. At the last hospital - for all four of the boys - the doctor lessened the epidural enough so that I could feel what was going on "down there". I couldn't feel a thing this time. I couldn't feel that it was time to push. I was just told to push. How is a person supposed to push when you can't even feel muscles with which you are supposed to be pushing?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So pushing took a lot longer with Zoë. With the boys, I was a champ at pushing. I pushed with Todd (my first) for only ten minutes. Then I pushed twice with Eli and Isaac (and the first push with both of these boys was just a "practice push" so that the doctor could see where they were. During my "practice push" with my fourth son, Peter, I was told to stop pushing so that the doctor could get ready for the delivery, but there was no stopping. I could feel him coming without me pushing, and he basically just fell out. And I'm glad the doctor was able to catch him!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Zoë liked doing things her own way, and I was going to push and push and push with this girl. I actually got irritated after about 20 minutes of pushing because I really felt like I was out of sorts with the epidural making everything senseless. So I don't know if I could blame the extra pushing on Zoë being the drama princess or if it was the extra power of the epidural. She waited until early the next morning to arrive and was born on Sunday, November 18th. She weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce and was 19 inches long.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wish I could say I was excited when she was born. My first thought was that she looked Asian, and neither one of us are of Asian decent. We did the kangaroo care, and it was interesting and neat. But when I got to my room she laid there in her bassinet and I felt nothing towards her. And it really scared me. I love being a mom and I love the first days in the hospital getting to know this little person who had been kicking me from the inside over the last few months. I love holding my newborn and kissing that fresh skin over and over and over. But with Zoë the numb emotions made it impossible to enjoy anything. I was going through the motions. She was my fifth child, so I knew what to do and I was just focusing on doing what I was supposed to do to care for her. I prayed to God that He would help me get out of this funk so that I could feel something for my daughter. I was afraid if I didn't feel something towards her soon that I wouldn't ever feel anything towards her. I was really just an emotional wreck over my third cousin. I was crying on and off just thinking about him and the last time we saw him and what his mom must be going through. I prayed for a miracle for him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He didn't get the miracle I hoped for. On the same day as Zoë's birth - November 18th - my second cousin and his wife had to watch their little boy pass from their arms and from this world. I am still grieving. Every time I celebrate another month with Zoë, I know that his mom is remembering an entirely different kind of anniversary. The anniversary for an event no mom should have to experience. I think there is maybe no other way for it to be for me. This is just the reality of it. I think when we celebrate Zoë's 10th birthday, 20th birthday, 34th birthday I will have the thoughts of the other mom and the son she lost on my heart as I celebrate Zoë's life.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As for the good news - I got over my lack of emotions towards Zoë. I am so glad that it didn't take long - about one day (it was a weird, scary first day for me). Then the emotions came and I fell head over heels in love with this little princess who has brought sweet smells to our family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now for some "oooh"s and "aaaaah"s:</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvrP8ipvYY0PPYITwQhbETT5dltd9Zsdtm0UByVdZD-jQeDFhKyDnF64DLnQX9BxRw0rZQ6eY3AiVLRLBrA3Cdh78rCEdSInwG-F2c2SJeeoue5-ATdflrItdgz1mj7CvBl5GfaIHucD8/s1600/zoe-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKvrP8ipvYY0PPYITwQhbETT5dltd9Zsdtm0UByVdZD-jQeDFhKyDnF64DLnQX9BxRw0rZQ6eY3AiVLRLBrA3Cdh78rCEdSInwG-F2c2SJeeoue5-ATdflrItdgz1mj7CvBl5GfaIHucD8/s320/zoe-13.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Welcome to the planet! One day old.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdOxFaSfwQ7237vvc3cBHwlFE1kp_A8iwYPjjFtX8p8hl-Uo5IhD-gdedhAlmHEJcscLeFvgwmJRNr_2saBhfE5ZtNOuFt-eOYjDMXgGB8tvzpvg88zwnzQuP2GZoGEakmwdRe42YcXHO/s1600/IMG_6374.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEdOxFaSfwQ7237vvc3cBHwlFE1kp_A8iwYPjjFtX8p8hl-Uo5IhD-gdedhAlmHEJcscLeFvgwmJRNr_2saBhfE5ZtNOuFt-eOYjDMXgGB8tvzpvg88zwnzQuP2GZoGEakmwdRe42YcXHO/s320/IMG_6374.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cuddling with Isaac</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_524750571"></span><span id="goog_524750572"></span><span id="goog_1330933884"></span><span id="goog_1330933885"></span><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cPJn8_MxemdCLIGM6Ufx_mNihk-hwJm4KaBh5zdnVrlS4ZNTi2olAybesN8O2M9EjNQdHazX4CHeo6nhHB77tPDvaxC2j4P3_5wKC99GpGr1ASGjFMx9fsnk5qORbKoRpHIBdGg89s8j/s1600/IMG_6426.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2cPJn8_MxemdCLIGM6Ufx_mNihk-hwJm4KaBh5zdnVrlS4ZNTi2olAybesN8O2M9EjNQdHazX4CHeo6nhHB77tPDvaxC2j4P3_5wKC99GpGr1ASGjFMx9fsnk5qORbKoRpHIBdGg89s8j/s320/IMG_6426.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love this sweetness! 3 months old.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiiT2Cd0nLeCrzIKqOmFeTbPQLZ-hVPs89oWAlOEK_XJBhw1KNAe2XCC7aQ4PfJ5Hs9BIAk5O30iTHmf5B83oILc19qgAmtuO0rpinEGURbBkFlzMQxslUyqb7Vl5UX_2v04gncW-P70i/s1600/IMG_6593.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipiiT2Cd0nLeCrzIKqOmFeTbPQLZ-hVPs89oWAlOEK_XJBhw1KNAe2XCC7aQ4PfJ5Hs9BIAk5O30iTHmf5B83oILc19qgAmtuO0rpinEGURbBkFlzMQxslUyqb7Vl5UX_2v04gncW-P70i/s320/IMG_6593.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mom is having fun with BOWS!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Summer swimming at 6 months old</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span id="goog_1527406927"></span>Life is uh.maze.ing!</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">kristy</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(I'm posting every day this week. For a list of other bloggers doing the same <a href="http://www.conversiondiary.com/2013/07/7-posts-in-7-days-a-blogging-challenge.html" target="_blank">check out this list</a>.)</span>Kristy Z.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13072875223809773979noreply@blogger.com1