Sunday, October 31, 2010

BOO! BOO!

A Halloween "Boo!" to you! Today, I simply must chronicle a different kind of boo, or boo boo as it were...

This is the mouth of our little girl after a rather rough month of slips, trips, and falls.


It was a time of getting to know her balance and figuring out what kind of speeds she can safely attain on those still fairly, newly discovered tools of transportation. This particular boo boo was created by tripping on someones own feet and falling straight into a wooden step at her boyfriends house after a late night of playtime. It truly just capped off the month of several scares and wailing bloody falls that all seemed to involve her mouth.

"Hey... are you talking about me?"

So, even with all the concern from Mommy, Daddy, Grandma's, and Grandpa's...

It appears her inner woman will still overcome the pain and uncomfortableness to spend some time on the phone... what... a... shock...



I'm sure all of my male readers are truly surprised. :o)


"What a second... I think I heard you picking on me, Dad."


"You were! You think you're funny!"
Oh, well. We might as well get used to it... I'm pretty sure it's not the end...




...and somehow she still manages to be adorable!

The Z's hope your day is filled with lots of BOO!'s and hopefully no boo boo's!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Does Jesus Use Facebook?

The answer is YES!
Hold on... wait a minute. You Facebook users... don't go looking to be "friends" with Jesus on Facebook. Of course He doesn't use it in the sense that you or I might spend time on Facebook, but His presence can certainly be felt and He does "keep in touch" with his many children.

There have been several situations that Facebook has been a tool of the Holy Spirit in my life and prompted conversation, thought, or pondering within myself and with friends and family from or on Facebook itself. Recently, a friend that I have not had much faith based conversation with mentioned to me that he sees my facebook posts and often wonders how he could find "what I have". I was excited to hear this from him and I quickly identified "what I have" as faith and peace in God! What a great opportunity to speak about the life giving Lord! 

I have heard much criticism and many comments about the "waste of time" and occasionally "awful things" that occurs on Facebook. Just like any other blessing the Lord has given us on this earth, Facebook can be abused and also be a tool of Satan to encourage be a facilitator of sin. However, when God's blessings are used with the good Lord in mind... wonderful and simply miraculous things can happen as well! We need not to be a pastor or teacher to inspire others through the work of the Lord and if living a life with Jesus in mind is exposed through Facebook, then who are we to do anything other than thank the Lord for another opportunity to share his life giving word!

Below is a "thread" from Facebook that occurred when a friend from my high school shared an experience she had with the Lord and one of her friends recently. Her shared story inspired me and many others as you can read below. This is just the beginning of some of the conversation that spread outside of this "post" on Facebook. Keep in mind that this copies rather poorly from Facebook to the blog, but the message and responses are accurate to what occurred that day on Facebook (minus last names).


Facebook status update...

Hannah: I brought a friend to church with me on Sunday, he showed up on my doorstep with tears in his eyes asking me if he could go with me to church because he needed some guidance. Whether he was motivated by the joy I receive from my faith or God opened his heart, all I know is that when the pastor started his sermon I star...ted to cry - God spoke thru my pastor directly to my friend, saying........
October 18 at 8:56am

12 people like this..

Diana: Praying for your friend!
October 18 at 8:58am

Hannah: ‎"Don't focus on the healing, focus on the Healer" Come to me so that I may bless you. I am here for you and all I ask is that you give me thanks and praise, and live your life for me. The sermon goes on and on and it was beautiful. My brot...her was an instrument of the Lord yesterday and it brings tears of joy to my eyes even now. God IS amazing and he loves us all. He spoke DIRECTLY to my friend and he was moved....and so was I. I pray that everyone is able to see the joy and love that God offers, that the veil of sin that covers our eyes...our ears...our hearts is lifted that we may hear and see and feel God's love. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him.
October 18 at 9:01am

Terisa: That's an amazing experience Hannah! Thanks for sharing!
October 18 at 9:02am

Dawn: wow that is great praying for him see it's not just me you help a lot of people i bet!
October 18 at 9:02am

Hannah: I've heard God speak to me through sermons, friends, just life in general... but this day will never be forgotten. My faith grew yesterday. We left church and he said to me "how did God know I was going to be in church???" I said, "He kn...ows everything about you, He KNEW you would go even before you were going to go and he put the words he wanted you to hear in the heart of the Pastor for him to share on this very sunday." Tears streaming from his face - God got through to him. It was amazing. God is amazing. I will pray for him and anyone, and I will say a thanks to God for amazing friends like you guys that pray for those I pray for and encourage me to be strong.
October 18 at 9:08am

Jolynn: What an amazing experience and testimony! Thanks for sharing! Praying for your friend.
October 18 at 9:29am

Hannah: What better way to show God that you love him - just by simply "thanking him"!!! Thanks for all the feedback, it's so encouraging to me! ♥
October 18 at 10:19am

Adam Zastrow: Thanks for sharing! Awesome!
October 18 at 11:54am

Brian: Thank you, Hannah. One can not hear enough of these accounts. I deeply appreciate it.
October 18 at 12:14pm

Mark: Goes to show that even if we are not "preaching" the Gospel, all we do and say preaches it... a great experience for the BOTH of you.
October 18 at 12:31pm

Dana: absolutely wonderful that you were able to witness like that. I have seen so many opportunities to do so myself and from so many unexpected places. When we ask God to strengthen our faith often he does so in ways that use our strengths. You have so many strengths and even though we don't expected to be recognized for showing our faith...I just want to tell you that you are a wonderful light to many and you're not afraid to be one! Thank you.
October 18 at 12:42pm

Joseph: LOVE THIS. Praise Jesus. "In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears."
October 18 at 9:44pm

Amy: Love you Hannah! Thanks for sharing ♥
October 19 at 3:41pm

Renee: What a fantastic story of how wonderful God is and how he uses each of us to spread the joy. Thanks for sharing this story.
October 19 at 4:09pm

Traci: I love this story, Hannah! How uplifting! God is good!
October 19 at 8:39pm

Nathan: I posted this sermon message in my notes on my page.
October 21 at 9:23am

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Monday, October 18, 2010

Teach Me How to Bucky

The Badgers came off with a big win this last Saturday and like every other faithful Badger fan, I became interested again when the bandwagon went rolling by. Posts on Facebook are present x50 and this was one that I enjoyed. If you've heard the real song and are familiar with its beats its even better.



Saturday, October 16, 2010

Goodbye Midnight

A couple weeks ago Avery took part in her first burial!  
...
...and I'm not sure why I am using the explanation mark as if this is another exciting "first" of Avery's!

It was a much more notable experience for reasons of actually taking care of the burial that we had been putting off rather than Avery being present for it.


Still, it appeared that there were some sad feelings as we said goodbye to Kathleen's childhood "man's best friend"...




Wait... are they BOTH really THAT upset?



Ok. No tears here. How would she know whats going on?

Maybe Mommy is having a hard time with it...



I think she'll be okay...



...and that's because she knows that Midnight is going to rest in peace!


Golf ball graciously found and then donated to Midnight's memorial by Avery.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

A Not So Old Young Love

 One of the things that occured on my "leave" of the blog was my and Kathleen's 3 year anniversary! A special time and great reminder of how wonderfully blessed I am to have my lovely wife. Here is a picture of the night we became engaged about 4 1/2 years ago. Awesome memory. We made rounds to the parents house's at about 11pm at night. They were fine with getting out of bed to hear the news. :-)



It was emotional as you can see on our faces... a fond memory that will never leave me.



Notice the goofy shirts? What can I say? We just might be a goofy couple...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Whoa! Where Ya Been!?!

I've been gone. I know. It's not right. This blog is suppose to reflect everything going on in the life of the Z's... what happened? Well, what happened was an exhausting, long, and in the end very rewarding experience. It consumed me and took a lot of mental focus. Don't get me wrong... things other than that were going on the last couple of weeks, and I do intend to catch up. However, my brain was fried on to many evenings to even think about posting a blog post. 

So, to you, random blog reader, I pledge to recap the family and fun stuff and return to more predictable posting. A routine can again be set and normality will return soon. I hope. :)

Thank you to all those who have been so supportive, full of advice, and gracious with your time that made my success possible. More than any other... thank you Lord for your undeserved love and blessings.


The timing was official on my birthday as well! What are the chances!?!