The Pearl of Great Price

I read a book last week that was apparently a big seller called The Shack. It is considered religious fiction and the premise is one man's experience with God. I would never recommend anyone actually read this book because of all the false doctrine presented in it, but I did glean one gem out of it, so to speak- a pearl.

In the New Testament Jesus tells a parable of the Pearl of Great price. (Matthew 13:45-46)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly
pearls: Who, When he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all
that he had, and bought it."

I had always thought the pearl was of such great price because of what the merchant was willing to give for it, i.e. he sold all that he had to buy this precious stone. Indicating that we should be able give all that we have in order to have the gospel in our lives. I never considered it before from the perspective of the oyster.




"Pearls, The only precious stone made by pain, suffering, and- finally- death."

Yes, we should be willing to give all that we posses in order to more fully follow Christ, but let us not remember that our sacrifice can never compare to the sacrifice He made to give us that pearl.

Facelift

So I've been feeling ambitious. My mom had a bunch of old (30+ years) Asian looking furniture that she got second hand when we were little. I told Zach that when mom sales the house and we move we are only taking this furniture if we can redo it. "Deal" On to step #2, get it done this summer while Zach is home and I'm not yet large with child.

After knocking off all the Asian wood trim, sanding, priming, spackling, two coats of paint and new holes/hardware later its finally finished. With the help of a self-made home improvement expert (Angie Davis) some wonderful babysitters, and Supportive Sam (Zach) the project is done. Of course instead of the 2 days you think the clothes are going to be all over the floor turned into a week, but hey, whats done is done right? Yeah! I have new furniture.

Just in time too, Zach leaves for Jerusalem tomorrow for 8 days. I have much more sympathy for all those wives who have ever sent their husbands off to war or off on a mission to stay home and hold down the fort. I don't know who had it worse, the husbands or the wives.

Kindness Quilt

So a few weeks ago we checked out a book from the library for Gabe called the Kindness Quilt. Its a sweet story about a class that is assigned to draw pictures of something that they did that was kind or that someone did for them. "Kindness is..." One little girl makes a type of colleague of multiple acts which she calls her kindness quilt. The teacher is inspired to put all the pictures up on to the small bulletin board, then it grows to the big bulletin board then it spills over onto the entire hallway as kindness spreads throughout the school. I don't know if it is the pregnancy hormones or my general sappiness (perhaps a little of both) but stuff like this makes me tear up all the time.

At any rate, this was the kindness quilt our family started for family home evening. Don't worry if you can't really see the pictures, they are pretty bad, but here are the descriptions: Kindness is...

Gabe sharing a toy with his friend Nathan
Grandma teaching someone to play the organ
A friend returning a book for Zach to Chapel Hill so he doesn't have to make the trip
Doing work for the dead at the temple
Visiting great grandma in the nursing home
A friend babysitting the boys
Making a card for Aunt Becky who was in the hospital

Here's our kindness quilt- how would you finish that sentence?

What Jesus and Bugs Have in Common:

The ability to walk on water.

Every week I (Zach) sit with Gabe while the sacrament is passed and tell him stories about Jesus. Last week I told him about the time when the twelve apostles were rowing across the sea of Galilee in the fourth watch of the night--which is a topic that deserves its own post, but my thoughts on that topic would exceed the word count on Alana's blog--during a great storm. Christ walked out on the water, and Peter joined him. I asked Gabe if he thought he would have enough faith to walk on water.

"Yes."

"You think you can walk on water?"

"I walked on water yesterday, Daddy, in a puddle!"

Then tonight, I was bathing Gabe and David, when I felt a small bug crawling on the back of my neck--apparently a stowaway from my time in the forest. I flicked him into the water, but he was so light that he failed to break the surface tension of the water, and was "walking" on top. Gabe said:

"Look, Daddy--that bug can walk on the water, just like Jesus!"

Yes he can, Gabe. Yes he can.

Oh Baby!

So tomorrow I am throwing a baby shower for a lady in our ward who is having her second child, a little girl. I volunteered to come up with a few less-cheesy games to play. Here is one to test your animal knowledge. I definitely couldn't answer all of them. Post a comment telling us how many you got correctly without help from the lists below.

Baby Shower Animal Babies

Directions: Write down the name for every animal that has a specific and different name for its young. The mothers are listed above. Correctly match and write baby’s name from list below next to mother’s name.

SWAN ____________ RABBIT ____________

FROG ____________ GOOSE ____________

SHEEP ____________ CHICKEN ____________

TIGER ____________ DEER ____________

MONKEY ____________ COW ____________

ALLIGATOR ____________ DUCK ____________

APE ____________ HORSE ____________

BEAR ____________ GOAT ____________

DINOSAUR ____________ EEL ____________

TURKEY ____________ DOG ____________

KANGAROO ____________ CAT ____________

DOVE ____________ BUTTERFLY ____________

EAGLE ____________ HAWK ____________

JOEY BUNNY BABY

INFANT POULT LAMB

DUCKLING WHELP KID HATCHLING

ELVER EYAS CALF CATERPILLER

KITTEN SQUAB PUPPY FAWN

CYGNET JUVENILE FOAL/COLT CHICK

TADPOLE CUB GOSLING FLEDGLING

SWAN __ CYGNET ____ RABBIT __ BUNNY __­­

FROG __ TADPOLE ___ GOOSE __ GOSLING _

SHEEP __ LAMB ______ CHICKEN ___ CHICK

TIGER __ WHELP _____ DEER __ FAWN ____

MONKEY __ INFANT ____ COW __ CALF ____

ALLIGATOR __ HATCHLING _ DUCK __ DUCKLING

APE _ BABY _____ HORSE __ FOAL/COLT

BEAR __ CUB _______ GOAT __ KID _____

DINOSAUR __ JUVENILE __ EEL __ ELVER ___

TURKEY _ POULT ______ DOG __ PUPPY ___

KANGAROO __ JOEY ______ CAT __ KITTEN __

DOVE __ SQUAB _____ BUTTERFLY _CATERPILLER

EAGLE _ FLEDGLING __ HAWK __ EYAS ____

Baby Jesus would want a white cake

Since Gabe's birthday was coming up I asked him if he wanted a white cake or a chocolate cake. He said a white cake. Later on we were talking about the cake again and he said "Baby Jesus would want a white cake." Why is that Gabe? " Because Jesus wears white" That's right sweetie- I bet Jesus would want a white cake.


Yesterday was the big event. We had Gabe's 3rd birthday party here at the house. We had a train theme because he has always really liked trains and wanted a wooden set for his birthday. As the first time party-throwing parent I've learned a few things for the future.

1. Don't have the party at your house if you can help it, you have to clean the entire thing in addition to decorating it. It almost feels like lying to all your guests
2. Make the cake when they are sleeping. Little helpers aren't much help when it comes to decorating a cake. The cake turned out OK but it could have been better. Gabe didn't care, he loved it and that thanked me for making him a cake with a train on it.That's the real point isn't it?
3. Less food, more activities. When kids get together the last thing they want to do is sit down and eat, unless it is a sucker they can hold while they play. The grilling took way too long so no more lunch-birthdays but the balloon animals that Zach does are always a hit.
4. If you feel you are going to be busy, designate an official picture taker. We got one shot of Gabe and that's only because a friend volunteered to carry the cake while I took a picture.



5. Don't buy 59 cent party favors off the internet. You get what you pay for. Not all the train whistles I ordered actually whistled when we opened them.

Next year- Gabe and 3 friends at Monkey Joe's inflatable gym + cake, period.

P.S. In non- party related news, I'm Pregnant! 14 weeks, due Nov. 15. Two more appointments until we know if it is a boy or a girl. Surprise!

"Mom, I'm finished writing my dissertation"

My husband Zach is officially ABD- All But Dissertation. He is done with his course work and defended his dissertation prospectus a few weeks ago before a panel of professors.

Our almost-3 year old Gabe has asked on numerous occasions to move into a new house. A house where we can have bees and chickens. Zach explained what a dissertation is to Gabe and how we will not be moving anywhere until he is finished with it. The other night Gabe was typing on his toy keyboard and then looks at me and says:

"Mom, I'm finished writing my dissertation, now we can move into a new house." It was too cute.
I have since explained to him that moving would also involved leaving his friends and he is not so thrilled about that. For now he is content with looking forward to his birthday and presents next week.