The Win/Lose Day!

An interesting thing happened to me over the weekend.. It was really fortuitous considering the blog post I wrote on Thursday regarding Cloth Diapering and how I carry poop proudly! Anyhow, The Husband and I had a great day on Saturday that ended in a calamity... at least for SOMEONE!

We started out the day by going to Chick-Fil-A and I have to say any day that starts with their yumminess is just going to be a good one. However, the bun to my Spicy Chicken Sandwich was a disgusting, buttery mess that fell apart in my hands. Unfortunately, that was the second time in two visits that that particular thing has happened and it was really disappointing. And ominous.

After that, we stumbled upon a Heritage Festival and Civil War Encampment being put on at the Thompson Brown House. Before we went in, we changed The Baby's dirty diaper. Ugh. Anyhow, the festival was pretty awesome as they gave free admission to see the artifacts inside the house and outside, they had a lot of demos, book signings, and people dressed up and a band playing, "Leaving On a Jetplane" (Go figure?) The thing I really enjoyed was seeing some artifacts from Kermit's house... no, not the green muppet of a man, Kermit. This guy was Kermit Caughron. He was the last descendant of the families that were allowed to stay living in Cades Cove, until his passing in 1999. (Read more about him: here.) As we were leaving, we again changed The Baby.

Next up, we stopped in at Little River Trading Company, by far one of the most fair and nice outdoor outfitters near the Smoky Mountains. As we looked around, I came to find The Husband checking out the ONE thing I really wanted for my birthday, which brought a huge smile to my face. Even better? He got it for me right there. I am now part-owner of a Kelty kid backpack carrier. Because of my bad back, I can't use traditional baby carriers, but this one puts all the weight on my hips! Even better? It's green! Happy Birthday to me! As we left, I again changed The Baby's diaper.

After we did that, we stopped to look at a property for sale near Townsend. We had seen it, in the dark, the day before. It was the kind of fading infatuation that one might experience as you party all night in a dark bar and after last call you are still chatting with someone who you think is pretty good looking. Then.... the lights are turned on and you realize the person you've been chatting with is about a 4 on the 1 to 10 scale, even with a couple of drinks in you. (Of course, these are from my pre-Christian days ;) We realized the property literally had nothing in it, besides walls. Also, it needed a new everything.. help with its foundation, new decks, new stairs, new siding, new windows. It pretty much needed a new house. Anyhow, after seeing this we fed and changed The Baby.

I was pretty psyched for our next location! We were going to an antique store in Townsend I've been wanting to go to for a long time. For some reason, we always say we want to stop in and then somehow miss its' open hours due to kayaking or hiking longer than expected. It was a sad disappointment. Everything in there was marked up for tourists at at least 50 percent! Our entertainment came from trying to find the most overpriced item in there to show each other! 

After the antique store, we decided we had better head back to Knoxville and go to the grocery store as our cupboards were BARE! We drove around for a bit trying to decide where to go for dinner first as we were St-ar-VING! At the last minute, we decided to reprise Friday's dinner at El Jimador. Oh man.. I love that Mexican restaurant in Maryville. It is, by far, my favorite Mexican place to go to! They have THE BEST monterey chicken, bean burritos, queso, tostadas.. the list goes on! The Baby LOVED the refried beans so as we left,  I had to change him one last time before heading to the store. 

Ever since having The Baby and the whole Pink Slime Debacle, we have been much more conscious of what kinds of foods and chemicals we're putting in our bodies. It is really scary the number of pesticides that are used on many foods that turn up in human breastmilk! Anyhow, because of this, we decided to try and buy as much organic as we could at the store. We spent my entire life savings  about DOUBLE what we usually do on groceries and ended up with far less. So, it is time for a change of plans on that. (Time to expand our garden!) We, somewhat shell-shocked, loaded up and headed home.

As soon as we got home, I began to load The Baby's diapers into the wash while The Husband brought in the groceries (in one load as we bought hardly anything..). As I was doing this, I looked for the wetbag I used that day to put The Baby's dirty diapers in. I could NOT find it. I searched high and low, in the car, in the house, in the washer (Did I already put it in?? No, I did not but I'm grossed out from touching these things), and then repeated my search. To. No. Avail. I was officially missing one wetbag full of wet and poopy diapers. 

Enter Crisis Mode. I have never left the wetbag anywhere. The only time I've ever even misplaced a diaper was when they got missing at grandma's house when she watched The Baby and when I accidentally lost one to the side of the washer for a couple weeks. Wearing my panic voice, I called the grocery store and tried to explain what I was missing. "Yes, uhmm, did someone find a zippered bag.. no not a purse... that is about the size of a gallon Ziploc. No, not plastic.... it is green cloth with blue and red dots on it. It is uhhh... full of dirty diapers." <LONGGGG silence> "Uhmm.. no... ma'am.. nobody turned anything like that in. They check the parking lot at night though, so call back again tomorrow morning."

Now repeat the above conversation, only calling EL JIMADOR!! THE MEXICAN RESTAURANT... and half in spanish. "Una bolsa? Purse?" "NO, not a purse.. a plastic type bag made of cloth with a zipper.. full of cloth diapers." "QUE?!" <sigh and a long pause> "No no no, no bag." 

Soooo, I'm officially upset. Nobody has turned in my bag of dirty diapers that I somehow knocked out of the car. The good news is that of all the diapers I could have been using that day, I lost the least expensive ones (a few Flip liners, a prefold and a purple cover, and a few WIPES.. sigh) However, I was still upset. The Husband comforted me, though and told me this story:

"Wife, just imagine the poor soul who found this bag and thought they had some goodies on their hands. Someone like my dad or dad's cousin, who would see this bag in the parking lot and their curiosity would get to them. They'd get the bag off the ground and bring it in their car in the low light of the evening, and perhaps their dome light was off or not working. They'd open the bag up and reach their HAND into it!!! Not having a clue as to what was in there since it doesn't have the typical diaper stench. They literally just found a BAG of SHHH.... crap!"

Of course, we just about died laughing thinking about this! So, for the poor person who found my bag: "Sorry but you should've just turned it in!!!" 

Losses on the day: Losing a bag of dirty diapers, going through a laundry washer full of diapers, realizing that house wasn't a great buy

Wins for the day: Spending a great day with my family, getting my birthday present, getting my favorite Mexican food, realizing that Organic Pop Tarts are The Bomb, Imagining the poor person who decided to open my bag of crap and giving me a blog post.

All in all... not too shabby.

This post is part of:

We Carry Poop Proudly!

The other night, at a game night at the Preacher's house, the Preacher said to another lady and I, "Bless you ladies for wanting to save the Earth and all that, but I can't get over the fact that, when you're out, you bring POOP home WITH you!" I have to admit, I am really (sinfully) smug over the fact that I pass the diaper aisle while I'm in the grocery store. (I'll repent tonight.) Perhaps, I should consider the fact that sometimes while I'm doing that, I am carrying a poopy diaper in my diaper bag. Now's your turn for the smug look!

Honestly, I want to tell you that cloth diapering is not as dramatic as everyone makes it out to be. For us, it has been a really easy choice. I'm not joking about the "US" part either.. they Hubby has been on board from DAY 1! (As soon as I mentioned the money savings, of course!)

Here's the deal: I do a couple extra things every week that someone who uses disposables doesn't have to do. In return, I am saving over a thousand dollars and I don't ever have to worry about running out of diapers. Also, my baby has only had a significant rash (one that didn't go away by the next change) ONCE when I was on an antibiotic and nursing and he ended up with a yeast rash.

Let's get to the root of why people are mostly opposed to cloth diapering: the thought of having to deal with poop on something you don't throw away. Now, I have used both disposables and I'm a 6 month user of cloth diapers so I'm semi-qualified to tell you this: Poopy diapers are not nearly as big a deal when they are cloth. We used disposables for the first couple weeks while letting the umbilical cord heal and twice when we were in the Hospital with The Baby. We also used them the whole weak of the yeast infection to let us know immediately when he was wet.

We are so stinkin' spoiled in cloth! Disposables are literally crappy. For one thing, they do not absorb the liquids from the "semi-solids" well. The solids clog the holes where the liquid normally passes through and the whole mess just sits on top. Disgusting. Cleaning up after a poopy disposable is equally disgusting. You use about 10 flimsy wipes if you're using disposable wipes as well. Yuck! After this experience, it is no wonder why people dread the thought of bringing all that home.

Cloth poopy diapers are a totally different experience. The cloth allows the moisture to be wicked away from the solids. The result is, you have a somewhat small, dry mess sitting on top of the cloth. If you're baby is not completely on solid foods yet, you can pretty much get away with throwing these directly in the wash! So, to me, this isn't a big deal. Plus, you use less wipes to clean up with. If you're using cloth wipes, it is even easier. Cleaning a baby with a washcloth is way easier than a flimsy disposable wipe!

Now the one caveat to the whole "throw the poopy diaper in the washer" routine is when the baby gets more solids in its diet and more "solids" appear at the other end. This needs to be gotten rid of in your sewer system before going in the wash. BUT! There are great solutions to this other than the old nasty "dunk and swish" of your mom and grandmother's era! (More on that later!)

You really don't even have to carry poopy diapers around with you if you don't want to. There are so many different choices, from liners to hybrids, etc. (More on that later, too!) But, you may be still trying to get over the fact that I carry poopy diapers around with me. Perhaps you're thinking about how flippin' nasty your baby's diapers smell in the can or Diaper Genie even. Here's a little secret: Diapers don't stink nearly as much when they are cloth. The chemicals (chlorine, etc) in disposables make everything smell soooo much nastier when they combine with the smelly poop. But, poop itself does stink some, so I carry a wetbag. Basically, this is like a watertight REUSABLE, WASHABLE ziploc bag! It keeps all the smell in (As long as you don't leave it in the car to marinate for a couple days).

So, if you're still following along and haven't been too grossed out yet, I commend you! Before I became a mom, I thought, "How am I going to do this? I am so disgusted by grimy kid-fingers, slobber-covered drooly faces, crusty yellow noses, and dirty bare feet?" But, something inside me changed when I had The Baby. I grew Christ-like love for him. Jesus washed all those disciples' dirty feet with love, even though he knew that they would, the next day, betray or condemn him. I guess having a baby is similar to that... You are disgusted by all the other kids, just not your own, because you LOVE them and want to take care of them (except Jesus loved all the kids, whether they were his own (saved) or not (unsaved)).

So here's another secret of cloth diapering (time for my smug look again): I've had only a handful of blow-outs, in cloth, The Baby's whole life. They occurred only in times where I made a mistake. Either The Baby was growing out of the size cover I put on him or I didn't set the size setting properly, or I didn't "prep" a diaper properly (more on this later, as well). Seriously, the way I hear my friends talk about blow-outs, it sounds like it is a weekly occurence in their life. For people who don't like touching poop or dislike the thought of cloth diapering because of the "dirty" factor, this is pretty nasty. I even have friends who have admitted to throwing away clothing because of this!

Not having rashes, not having those chemicals touch baby's skin, not having as many blowouts are all great reasons to cloth diaper, but the primary reason we do is to SAVE MONEY! I've had a friend and read studies that try to dispute cloth diapering as a money saver, but there is just no way that it isn't in our lives. I will one day break some of those studies down, but we have figured out that cloth diapering costs us (on average) $1.75-$2.00 extra per week for laundering costs. Now, the initial investment on our part was about $300.00. (We did get about $200.00 in free cloth diapers from our family and friends for our shower, but we could have bought everything we needed for $300.00 if we had been pickier).

Most of the diapers we chose were One-Sized diapers meaning they fit from about 8lbs(a couple weeks old) to 35 lbs (potty training). They also all have a one-year warranty on them for defects. They are truly designed to not only last from one child, but MULTIPLE children (Music Minister: I hope you're reading this. With all the kids you're wanting, you may need this!). Even if we don't get blessed with another child, we will probably spend about $600.00 total on diapers and washing and drying. If you shop the sales and get bargain disposable diapers, you would still be looking at spending a minimum of $750.00 to $2,500 until your child is potty trained!!! So, no matter what, you're going to save money if you use cloth. That is, unless you get seriously hooked from all the seriously cute patterns and end up having. an. addiction. to. buying. new. fluff. <ahem, no problem here of course)

The secondary reason why we cloth diaper is the environmental impact. God has charged us with taking care of his Creation! Psalm 24: 1-2 (NIV) says "The Earth is the Lord's and everything in it; for he founded the seas and established it on the waters." The majority (over 90%) of the 20 BILLION disposable diapers that are sold each year, do not biodegrade. In fact, it takes the average disposable CENTURIES to biodegrade. Also, the chemicals in these diapers is NOT a great thing (see this Wiki about Dioxin) To me, this is not being a responsible steward of the great and magnificent Earth that God has entrusted us with.

So, you get all that, but you just can't get over the "rinse-factor" once things get more solid? Read a package of disposables. They tell you that you must get rid of solids in your sewer before disposing. Have you ever rinsed a disposable? Ha! Anyhow, there are all kinds of things you can do to take care of this matter in cloth. There are flushable liners that you lay in the diaper to "catch" solids. There are hybrid diapers that are waterproof cloth cover and contain a disposable insert. A friend I know uses these while she is out and uses cloth at home.

Or, just get over the poop thing and deal with it, much like wiping a nose. There's a diaper sprayer ($20.00) that attaches to your commode water line and you can easily spray it off into the toilet. You can do it at the time of the changing or do them all at once before wash time. I will keep a wet bag hanging on a hook in the bathroom to put them directly in. Then you just empty the wetbag directly into the washing machine at wash time! Easy Peasy!

Honestly, I think that this only adds about 30 mins of actual time to my routine each week as I have everything set up well. I would save even more time if I only had one type of diaper, my favorite, the Bumgenius Freetime. The payoff in money and "warm fuzzies" in my heart and on my kiddo's bum is really worth it!

Surprisingly, my husband is 100% on board with all of this. He loves that we are doing this and that I took the initiative to learn about it and do it! He loves that we save money and he will even do diaper laundry if I'm not feeling well. He also does a lot of diaper changes in our house and he will tell you that everything I've said about disposables being "crappy" is true! He HATES them and loves our cloth, especially the BG Freetimes, as well!

Here's a photo of The Baby in a BG Freetime! It's not your mama's Cloth:

Next up: I'm going to tell you HOW to CLOTH DIAPER if you are sold on this. If you aren't, I am not going to judge you. It's not for everyone, especially as some daycare facilities don't allow it. (Which I think is ridiculous because it is seriously so easy that all the daycare workers at our church do it with a 30 second lesson!) Also, it would be VERY hard to do this if you don't own a washer and dryer, although I have heard of people who do it.

If you're not completely sold and you want a little try-out, let me know! I would be so happy to show you things in person and let you test a few out for a bit and see how easy it is!

Happy Earth Day, Readers!

I'm the UNLUCKIEST person!

Yesterday, I spoke about what a crappy person I am (and we all are), and I want to thank you for your prayers.  It isn't easy adjusting to a new little person in the house, but it is one we all, who are blessed with children, have to make in order to continue on the path to a "successful" marriage! But, there is something else I must confess to you....

Do you know someone who is always finding money? Do you know someone who goes on a walk and finds THIRTEEN four-leaf clovers? Do you know someone who is always winning things from a radio station that they were caller number nine and had the correct answer? Do you know someone who won a rubber duck race and won a JEEP? Do you know someone who goes to a basketball game and is sitting in the seat that is called to have a chance to win $50,000 by making a half-court shot and then DOES? Do you know someone who won the trip of a lifetime in a contest they didn't enter?

Aside from the basketball winner, I know someone in all of those circumstances and that person is NOT me.

I am one of the most "unluckiest" people I know. When I was growing up, I remember having raffles at school and the more tickets we sold for the adult raffle, the more tickets we got to enter in the "kids" raffle. The prizes were usually something like a brand new bicycle or basketball goal. I could have sold all but one of the tickets in the raffle and I NEVER won.

When I got older, I can remember my grandparents putting lottery tickets into the adult "kids'" stockings. I remember scratching them off and the only thing I ever "won" for my mom or dad was a FREE ticket! Wooo!

In high school, I only once was on the honor roll. (I was a lot more focused on figure skating than I was school at the time.) There was a nearby Ford dealership that gave entries to win a Ford Mustang if you were 16 or older and on the Honor Roll. Nope, no winning here.

When I was 17, my mom got a call on St. Patrick's Day and I was sitting in the room at the time. The person on the other end of the phone said, "Is this Mrs. B?" My mom answered in the affirmative. The person then went on to tell her that she had won an all-expenses paid TWO WEEK trip to Ireland for two people. My mom told the person that they must be mistaken, because she hadn't even entered a contest and then hung up. The person called her back to tell her that she was with the Purdue Alumni Association and when my mom had donated to them, she had been automatically entered into the contest. My mom was, of course, very shocked! My sister and I were going to be watched while my mom and dad went on the trip together. My dad fell very sick with the flu a week before the trip and my mom offered to take me instead. We went to look at my passport, which had expired, and unfortunately there was no way to renew it before the trip. So, I sat at home while my mom went to Ireland.

I have played the lottery just a few times in my life, partly because it's not a very good thing to get wrapped up in (Note: Gambling is not specifically talked about at any point in the Bible, but the Lord does say that the love of money, and inherently the love of trying to gain money, is the root of all evil. 1 Timothy 6:10) and mostly because I know I will NEVER win. However, I did win once. I bought a ticket on my eighteenth birthday because I COULD. I won $2.00 that I never even turned in because in my youth, I was dumb enough to want to keep it as a keepsake because the lottery ticket had my birthday as the draw date. <sigh>

I have called in probably a hundred times to radio stations, on land lines, cell phones, payphones, work phones, doesn't matter... I have only once even been given a "caller number" and that was three. Nope, never even won so much as a CD at a radio station.

Recently, I've been spending a few free minutes each week to enter contests to win some FREE cloth diapers! Blogs are giving these out all of the time. I have just about given up because I've entered a couple hundred contests and have yet to win.

Basically, until this point in my life, the only thing I've ever won in life was the 4th Grade Science Fair, my 5th grade class Spelling Bee (lost miserably against the other classes), a contest to sell the most Girl Scout Cookies (after my parents bought 200 boxes), a few figure skating competitions, a contest to sell the most items in my Sales class in college (didn't even use the prize), and a photography contest sponsored by the National Ski Patrol (I won 3rd in one of several categories). So, everything I've ever won, UNTIL NOW, I have done it by merit alone (mine or someone else's). I've never won anything that was based on pure "luck".

But folks, I have great news! A few weeks ago, hubby and I got some FREE tickets, from a friend, to go to a home and garden show downtown. We entered a few of the contests while we were there to win different prizes. A few of the contests we entered were to win things like: a free patio set, a free bathtub renovation, and free gutters. Oh, so exciting!

A couple weeks after the show, I got an email stating I had won something! I couldn't believe it! In fact, we thought maybe it was a hoax and I even asked on Facebook if anyone else had "won" this prize! But, it was not a hoax!

HERE IT IS! IN ALL OF ITS GLORY!!!!

BEHOLD:

Out of all the contests I've ever entered to win (cloth diapers, bicycles, lifetime trips, music CDs), I have won a DUMPSTER! What does this say about my "luck"?

Well, I have to be honest here.. I think in all of this God is just protecting me by not allowing me to win. In the Bible, God cautions us against worshiping fate or "luck" in Isaiah 65:11-12. Here's the NIV translation:


"But because the rest of you have forsaken the LORD and have forgotten his Temple, and because you have prepared feasts to honor the god of Fate and have offered mixed wine to the god of Destiny, now I will 'destine' you for the sword. All of you will bow down before the executioner. For when I called, you did not answer. When I spoke, you did not listen. You deliberately sinned--before my very eyes--and chose to do what you know I despise. Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "My servants will eat, but you will starve. My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. My servants will rejoice, but you will be sad and ashamed."


Whoa, buddy! Those are scary and powerful words from the Lord! So, if we forget to worship the Lord and instead place all of our focus on "fate" and "luck", thus worshiping fate, we are destined to be executed! I guess I'm actually glad I haven't won enough of anything to be tempted by Lady Luck into an addiction of worshiping fate like a god or idol. That is definitely something to rejoice in! 


Now, excuse me while I go finish filling my free dumpster!

Confessional: I need your prayers.

I am a crappy human being. Just when I think I'm doing good to get rid of sin, I am reminded I am even more sinful than when I started. Ughh..

This past Sunday in our morning Sunday School Class, we talked about how becoming "saved" as we Baptists like to call it, is just the beginning. The question was posed by our leader, "Once we confess our sins and proclaim Jesus to be Lord, why don't we just go to heaven then?" One could argue that sometimes this indeed is the way it goes and that just in the nick of time, someone confesses their sin on their deathbed. Thank God for moments like this because otherwise I would not be confident that I would see my mother again.

For others of us, we are "saved" at a young age, or middle age, or even old age, and yet we remain here on Earth. God does not call us home immediately. We have more work to do! We're here to raise and cultivate and fish for more Christians! Another question was raised, "If God's grace covers our sins, why not commit more sin because we are 'all good'?" The preacher's wife (who is in our group and I just adore) said, "Because when we are truly saved, we are filled with the Holy Spirit which then gives us convictions."

Yep, so the whole time I'm thinking in my head, "I'm such a good Christian. I am filled with the Holy Spirit and it keeps convicting me to be a better person." Then on the way home, I proceed to argue with my husband about some things and think nothing of disrespecting him.

Self-righteous pride, much?

Ugh.. so in the past three years of marriage, God's been pruning me so I can bear fruit. It has been painful, to say the least. But sometime in the past few months, I got this attitude that I was "all good to go" and that it was no longer me that needed to grow and get pruned, but my spouse.

Reality check time.

I have felt, especially in the past, that I had a Christ-like love for my husband. Despite any wrongdoing or hurtful statements to me, I have tried to continue to respect and love him. It turns out, that's pretty easy to do when the mental illness you're experiencing constantly reminds you of how much you suck. (Especially at controlling your anger and emotional "crap"). I was constantly doing stupid stuff against my hubby and so I was constantly in need of his forgiveness. During that time, it was probably a lot easier to forgive him of hurtful things because I was really bad to him.

The past year or so, life has gotten easier in some ways and I've stopped doing as many stupid, hurtful things to my husband (or so I thought), and with that I have become self-righteous. I have tried to demand love and security from him, while not giving him the respect he deserves (regardless of any hurtful actions he may do intentionally or not). So, it turns out, I didn't have a Christ-like love for him. I just forgave him because I needed forgiving.

After realizing this thanks to a lot of not-so-gentle prodding from my preacher and others, I have really realized how passive-aggressive, self-righteous, and horribly sinful I've become. I have so much empathy and forgiving spirit towards everyone but my husband. Without even realizing it, I have done and said things that demonstrate disrespect and humiliation towards him. The worst part is, I've done this while demanding he show his love for me.

I have no dog in this fight. I want to love my husband as Christ loves me. I want to be the wife the Bible asks me to be. But for this, I need prayer. Because sin becomes so ingrained in everyday patterns, it isn't easy to break this bad habit. I am asking you readers for your prayers for our marriage. I have always believed that God chooses us the perfect partner who is specifically designed to give us the opportunity for growth that God wants us to have. The book I was given to read is a definite reminder of that need within me.

I love my husband dearly and want to spend the rest of my life with him. I am so thankful for the human being he is. I adore his intelligence, creativity, and spirit. But most of all, I love that he has given me the perfect opportunities to grow as a person and to mature as a Christian.

Today, I also thank God for this inner compass with the Holy Spirit that dwells within me, and the faith that I'm forgiven even though I keep on sinning, as unintentional as it sometimes is, and as intentional as it sometimes is. I thank God for the grace I don't deserve, and pray that I use more in my own relationships.

Thank you readers for listening to this. I am sorry for all the ways I've jabbed my husband passive-aggressively. Thank you for your prayers and I hope you keep reading this sinner's blog.

Disproving Carbon Dating

We have a property, near where we live, that we've been working on for over a year now that has got us in a holding pattern. We bought the nearly 2 acre property back in 2010, thinking that there was obviously room to put in a septic system. When we first bought it, the land was filled with JUNK everywhere, rocks, and brush. Little did we know that in 2006, the property had been denied a permit for a septic system (you live, you learn).

Scared of the mistake we might have made, we even called the owner of the adjacent property to see if she would agree to a payment for use of her property for septic or to see if we could outright buy her adjoining property. However, after a long time spent cleaning up the property, filling in a few spots, and planting grass, the Husband decided he thought the land could work with a drain field. He called in a private soil scientist who said initially that he did not think it could pass. He said he could do testing on it, but he wasn't optimistic.

For whatever reason, we waited and prayed about it. A year later, we found the name of another private soil scientist. He also was hesitant about the ability to pass it, but he came out anyway. On his drive to the property, all he saw were rock quarries, cedar trees (sign of rocky, poor soil), and huge boulders and rocks scattered throughout neighboring yards.

When he met the Husband at the property, he was shocked to find a reasonable place for the drain field just where the Husband had said it would be! He was able to give us evidence of a proper drainage area by taking soil samples and providing a map to give to the county.

This story would be great and praiseworthy if I ended it right here. It gets better. The soil scientist that we met is about the Husband's age and had known the Captain a long time ago through his love of outdoor things like kayaking and rock climbing. He is now a Christian with a science degree from the University of Tennessee, two things which are not normally compatible. He had all kinds of tracts explaining how Creation did indeed happen the way the Bible said it did and that Biology actually DOES support that!

It was such an answered prayer for me. I had been battling, for a long time, the "evidence" presented in my college Biology classes. I had asked God for several months to send me some answers to how Evolution can't be true and to resolve my last hesitations about the Bible. God delivered, in amazing fashion, as he often does when we WAIT! The soil scientist sat with me at our kitchen table for over an hour answering all of my questions and gave me more tracts to read. Later that week, I learned that my own church was going to be putting on a mini-series on Creation and would finish with a trip to The Creation Museum, where the tracts from the soil scientist came from.

My biggest hangup with my own faith had been Carbon dating. How could scientists give us "evidence" the world was millions of years old, yet the Bible state the Earth was relatively young? How could the scientists claim that we evolved but the Bible claim that man was created in a day? I'm going to explain the problems with Carbon dating as best I can in short, written form.

Here is what an atom of Carbon looks like:

Carbon is an atom that is found in every living creature as well as plants and other things. This atom that I have shown you is known as Carbon-12. That means that it has 6 protons plus 6 neutrons and its atomic mass then equals 12. This is the "stable" version of Carbon.

A living organism also takes in a different type of Carbon, though, which is not stable. It is called Carbon-14. Carbon-14 differs from the picture shown because it has an atomic mass of 14, because it has 6 protons, but 8 neutrons. Carbon-14 is constantly being added to our atmosphere and every living thing (plant and animal) is constantly taking it in through the atmosphere and through breathing and digestion.

Remember, Carbon-14 is not stable over time though, so as the organism dies and begins to decay, the Carbon-14 atoms convert to Nitrogen through a process called "beta decay". Scientists then use an AMS, or Accelerated Mass Spectrometer to determine the ratio of Carbon-14 in the organism.

Now, we need to know how fast the Carbon-14 is decaying. A half-life is simply the amount of time it takes for half of the atoms to decay (in this case it is how many C-14 atoms have decayed into Nitrogen-14 by converting a neutron into a proton, which I'm not going to go into but you can find more (biased) info here: How Stuff Works: Radioactive Carbon Dating).


So, to use Carbon-dating to find out how an organism died, scientists need three things:
1.) How much Carbon-14 was present in the organism at the time of death
2.) How much Carbon-14 is present now (we found this out using the AMS machine)
3.) The half-life of Carbon-14 (found in our experiments to determine decay)

We're still missing how much Carbon-14 was present in the organism at the time of death. We now have 2 out of 3 (which ain't bad if you're Meatloaf), so we need some more information. How can we determine how much Carbon-14 was present at the time of death? Scientists solved this problem by comparing the amount of Carbon-14 (unstable, changes after death) to the amount of Carbon-12 (stable, doesn't change after death).

Okay, so we're good, we have the amount of Carbon-14 present now, the half-life of Carbon to find out how fast the Carbon-14 is decaying, and a ratio of the stable isotope to the unstable isotope that will tell us how much should have been present at death. Bingo! Now we have a date.

Or do we?

We just did something that in another scientific field would never be allowed, EVER! We just made an ASSUMPTION! We just assumed that the ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 has always been stable.

But, has it?

If this assumption is not true, then we can't use this dating process.

I know what some people might be thinking, "Well, we weren't around then with our spectrometer machines to test it, so we'll never know."

Well, I guess that is somewhat true, but lets look deeper. What could cause this ratio (currently 1: 1Trillion) to change over time? If the production of Carbon-14 doesn't equal the amount of removal of Carbon-14.

Time Out Here: Now, I'm not a scientist and I don't claim to know a lot about this, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if there are either a lot less or lot more living organisms (plants + people) there is going to be a lot different ratio. In fact, I would hazard to guess that this ratio could have changed a little bit in my lifetime.

Anyhow, the tract I got from the Creation Museum, written by Mike Riddle, talks about Dr. Willard Libby, a physicist who was the FOUNDER of Carbon Dating. In his studies, he SAID that the atmosphere DID NOT appear to be in EQUILIBRIUM. IE at the time of his founding OF THIS METHOD used to DATE things, the ratio of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 did not appear to be stable ratio.

In fact, Dr. Libby's calculations concluded that it would take about 30,000 years to get to equilibrium.

ANOTHER Time Out: The guy who invented Carbon-dating decided to completely ignore the fact that it would take 30,000 years to get to equilibrium and the Earth is still not at equilibrium? Whuuuutttt??? Why would a scientist completely ignore that data?!!! Ohhhh yeah... because he wanted to become famous and rich and the guy thought he could ignore that data because HE thought that the Earth was actually millions of years old and his Carbon-dating scheme could help prove that.

Okay so guess what! Those calculations he chose to ignore are actually totally true! The rate of production of Carbon-14 in the Earth's atmosphere is higher than the rate of decay and not stable at all!

So, guess what else! There are scientists out there that are figuring out that a HUGE FLOOD (umm see The Bible, Genesis 6:9) on Earth could have caused a major disruption to the Carbon ratios!

This Tract, "Doesn't Carbon Dating Disprove the Bible" by Mike Riddle talks about this group of scientists, "RATE" who set out to discover the age of the Earth. Now, granted these researchers were sponsored by the Institute for Creation Research, who believes in the Biblical account of Creation. However, if they have been honest and truthful in their research findings, then they have many found many powerful findings that support the "Young Earth Theory", that Earth was created only a few thousand (less than 10,000) years.

Here are some of the things that support a Young Earth and oppose the "Millions of Years of Evolution Theory", as listed directly in the tract mentioned, "Doesn't Carbon Dating Disprove the Bible" by Mike Riddle:

1.) Helium in the Atmosphere
2.) Helium in biotite
3.) Meteor Dust
4.) Buildup of Carbon-14
5.) Human Population
6.) Natural Plutonium
7.) Sodium in sea
8.) Sediment in sea
9.) Erosion of continents
10.) Earth's magnetic field
11.) Oil leaks in earth
12.) Natural gas in earth
13.) Orphan radiohalos
14.) Neutrons and strontium
15.) Coral reef growth
16.) Oldest living plants
17.) Human civilizations (This one is a big topic of discussion in our house. How can people have been as smart as they are for "millions of years" and only now be getting to electricity usage?)
18.) River delta growth
19.) Undersea oil seepage
20.) Uranium in sea
21.) Neutrons and lead
22.) Rotation of spiral galaxies
23.) Interstellar gas expansion
24.) Carbon-14 in Metiorites
25.) Decay of comets
26.) Interplanetary dust removal
27.) Lifetime of meteor showers
28.) Peat Bog growth
29.) Multi-layer fossils
30.) Hardening of rocks
31.) Decay of Saturn's rings
32.) Potassium in the sea
33.) Titan's methane loss
34.) Internal heat of Io (moon of Jupiter)
35.) Leaching of Chorine
36.) Radiogenic lead
37.) Niagara Falls
38.) Stone Age Burials
39.) Seafloor calcareous ooze
40.) Uranium decay
41.) Squashed radiohalos
42.) Carbon-14 in diamonds
43.) Carbon-14 in coal
44.) Magnetic planetary fields
45.) Recession of the moon
46.) Hot spots in the moon
47.) Helium in zircons
48.) Heat in rocks
49.) Blue stars
50.) Rings in trees

Need I give you more examples (to google of course) of things that appear to disprove that the earth is OLD!??

And what about this? Why is nobody making a big deal about this in the media? <Raising Hand> I know, I know!! Because, if we start to look at these assumptions being made in a lot of "science", then all of a sudden a LOT of things we are assuming to know are no longer "provable" and we have to admit that GOD MIGHT EXIST!

I know what you're thinking now.. How in the world is she going to take these "Random Thoughts" and connect the dots. Well, hold on to your hats and glasses, folks, because here it comes:

The Husband and I know for certain that the Earth is not millions of years old. If it was, that danged property with its millions of years of rocks would have been covered with a lot more topsoil from decaying plants given its location near the bottom of a natural hill. Then, there would have been no question as to whether or not a drain field would be permitted!

Thankfully, it wasn't that way though, and the Hubby and I had to pray about it and meet the nice soil scientist who helped me figure out that just science is supposed to based on observable facts, it doesn't mean that assumptions haven't been made along the way. He also managed to help us do the impossible: Get a permit on a nice piece of property that had previously been deemed unfit! Two HUGE prayers answered!

God's Blessing: Getting Bear Back

When I was growing up, we had cats. Morris and Muffy were typical cats in that they didn't do anything that kids wish they would, like coming when called, performing tricks, or generally anything else requiring energy. Pretty much the only thing my cats ever did that was cool was when I was in 4th grade. I chose to do a science experiment on Muffy. The question I posed was, "Do cats prefer one color of food over another?"

Every morning and evening, my parents would help me put the other cat away and mix the same flavor of wet food with food coloring for four weeks. We changed the positioning and timing of the food so that it would be unbiased. The one thing that I did accomplish was that I established that my cat definitely did not prefer either color over the other. She appeared to choose which food to eat completely randomly. After my  research, my next question was to find out if cats could see in color or if they were colorblind. Definitive research only came a few years ago, so I wasn't that far off base in my thinking.

Anyhow, my science experiment was met with great applause at my elementary school. I had come up with the question, the experiment to test the question, and most of all of the other parts of the experiment on my own. My parents helped me to carry out some portions of the experiment (like helping to mix the food and put data on graphs). I ended up getting the Grand Prize amongst 4th and 5th graders, which sent me on to Regionals.

I got to the Regional Science Experiments and deadpanned very quickly. It was impossibly easy to notice that the judges were looking for "environmentalist" experiments, AKA not tested on ANIMALS. The ones that they seemed interested in were things like displays explaining acid rain and plastic biodegrading. I was upset because those weren't even EXPERIMENTS! They were just visual demonstrations. I didn't get even so much as an Honorable Mention at Regionals and went home to curse the cat.

When I got home, I researched color-blindness in cats. One of the studies I read about had thought that cats were color blind because they didn't care if a fish was grey or multi-colored. It turned out, after over 1,700 times the researchers could teach a cat to choose the colored fish. They weren't color-blind, just extremely unmotivated. From then on, I begged my parents for a dog. Dogs were so much cooler than cats. You could TEACH them things!

My parents never gave in on the dog thing though, no matter how much I begged. They told me that they didn't want to have to worry about the dog whenever we went on vacation. Honestly, I think they were just scared what kinds of things I would teach  experiment on the dog.

When I got to college, I finally had a place of my own and I was determined to get a dog. My mom's best friend had the most amazing kind of dog. It was sort of like a cat in that it liked to cuddle and lay around a lot, but still very teachable and not too big. So, I researched and found an Italian Greyhound that I adopted from a breeder. He was the best dog (only 12 pounds!), but unfortunately he was one of the many devastating byproducts of my later divorce.

When the Husband and I got married, we contemplated dog ownership. Prior to knowing me, he had the  most untrained  craziest dog ever, Joe. Joe was a Jack Russell Terrier with a bad reputation for doing just about every single thing you did NOT want him to do. Unfortunately, that reputation came to fruition when one day he ran away and got ran over. So, the Husband and I were a little leery of getting another dog that might break our hearts.

Well, our holding out on a dog could only last so long. I was descending into a very deep depression since my mom had died the year before, and both of us thought a dog might help me to focus on something else (especially since we were proving to continue my history of infertility). The Husband stated he didn't want an Italian Greyhound since they weren't really his style (all dainty and such). So, I began to look for dogs that had the short hair I liked, were small in stature like we both liked, and had a little more rugged personality that the Husband liked. It was then that I found DACHSHUNDS!

After looking for a young (1-3 yo) weiner to rescue, we found a lady in our town with a solid black boy who was thought to be 5 years old. After hearing that his owners had kept him as an outside dog and had turned him over to rescue due to a paralyzing back injury, I was hooked. I really sympathized with the back problems.

The next week, the lady brought the dog, named Bear, for a home visit. He literally jumped out of her arms, got out of her leash and ran right up to me wagging his tail! He was no longer paralyzed and after some physical therapy he was almost new. My only hangup with Bear was that he was 5 years old. He sat in my lap the entire time of the visit. As he was leashed up to go, he looked back at us when he got to the door. The look said,"I guess I will leave, but I really don't want to." It melted my heart and I began to rethink his age.

The next day I got a call from the rescue lady. She said that she had looked back at Bear's paperwork and that he was only 2 years old, as estimated by the vet. We were immediately sold and picked up Bear 2 days later for our "2 week in-home trial". I laugh about it now, remembering the Husband's insistence that we be able to return him, if necessary.

So, Bear has been our baby through our 3 years of babyless infertility. We took him everywhere! He was such a great companion throughout my depression. Then, all throughout my pregnancy, we dreamed of how Bear would react to an actual baby. We couldn't wait to bring the baby home to meet Bear!

Then, tragedy struck as I was struggling to deliver our son! At 9:30am I informed the Husband that I was ready to push and not to go too far. When I began pushing, I had no clue that my pushing would last over 2 and a half hours! At around 11:30, after 2 hours of my pushing, the Husband got antsy. He called his brother, who was nearby our house and asked him to let Bear out, even though Bear had already been let out once that day.

The problem was that Bear didn't know the Husband's brother very well and his voice and stature scared him. He ran out of the house and towards the neighboring property. This worried the Husband's brother, so he chased after him and yelled some more, further frightening Bear. Bear then ran to the garage behind our house, his other safe place. Unfortunately, the Husband's brother chased him again there and yelled for him. The last time, Bear ran to our back porch and when the Husband's brother tried to capture him, he took off running for good.

Bear kept on running right up until the time I delivered at 11:59am. Our news of delivering our baby boy (surprise as we were kinda thinking girl!) was dampened by the news that our precious dog was missing. Later that evening, the Husband returned home to try and locate our missing dog, to no luck. He left the door open with some food, hoping that sometime in the evening, Bear would return.

The following two days, the Husband returned home and back to the hospital several times, via a 30 minute drive. It had been an all-out search by the neighbors to try and locate our precious wienie, but with no luck. On the second day, Husband put up all kinds of brightly colored posters up, offering a reward. I thought to myself that Bear would definitely be found and tried to remain calm and joyful over our new baby.

On Sunday morning, the Husband spoke with one of the people he knew that went to a nearby church and asked him to make an announcement. Unfortunately, he didn't make it to church in time to make the announcement in the morning, but was sure he would that evening. By Sunday afternoon, Bear had been gone for 3 days. I was losing hope and so was my Husband. The next morning, we would be bringing our precious new baby home to an empty house, a house that we had entered so many times before, greeted by our dog.

That afternoon, my Husband got a phone call. Someone thought they had spotted Bear running down the middle of a busy road near our house. Husband rushed home and promised me he would call if he found Bear. Forty-five minutes passed and I didn't get a phone call. When I finally called an hour later, I knew he hadn't found Bear. He told me that the person couldn't even verify it had been Bear that he had seen. There was another black dog on the loose.

I broke down in tears, but tried to shield it from my husband, knowing that he had felt it was his fault that Bear was gone. I told him to just stay there for a little while longer and to turn his dump truck on for a bit. Perhaps the sound would get Bear to return, since he was famous for hearing the dump truck coming from a quarter mile away.

After I got off the phone, I noticed it was after 6:30pm, beginning to get dark and I began weeping uncontrollably. I looked at the innocent baby in the clear hospital bassinet and cried aloud. I then pulled the bassinet to the side of the bed and began praying with my hands covering The Baby. "Please God, I have been patient and faithful. If you are going to return Bear to us, please just do it now. Bear has been such a good helpful servant in my time of need, and if his season is over I will be so sad, but I can handle it. I want him to return, Oh God, but I understand if it is not your will." I prayed and cried out like this for several minutes. When I was done, I picked up The Baby and held him closely.

Ten minutes after I began praying, I got a phone call from my Husband. Bear was in his arms!!! Three teenagers had seen Bear run through the parking lot of the nearby church, and remembering the lost dog announcement at church that evening, they coerced Bear into getting into their vehicle. The preacher then called to say, "I think we've found your dog."

If them finding Bear in a church parking lot after my sincere prayer is not a testimony to God's love and faithfulness, I do not know what is. I pray that Bear will live to a ripe old age, perhaps even old enough so that our dear miracle son will have his own science experiment on our miracle dog.

The Low IQ Geyser

When I was 18, I got my first job and it was my DREAM job! I worked as a Lifeguard for Disney World at their Wilderness Lodge Resort. It felt like I was out West somewhere with this amazing lodge built on a lake. I was at the prime age to enjoy it too. But, in the winter there was this ONE feature that I did not enjoy. Every hour on the hour, they had a GEYSER that would go off.

I know what you're thinking. It is one of Three things. First) How powerful could a man-made geyser be? Second) Why does that Disney spend so much money on crazy things? Or Third) Why did that geyser bother you? Lucky for you, I have all those answers.

A man-made geyser, whether intentionally or UNintentionally made, can be pretty darn powerful, as I discovered while in Indiana this week (more about that later). Anyhow, the one at Disney is called Fire Rock Geyser. I have included the video for your viewing pleasure. Sorry, I don't have the accompanying stadium seating, popcorn machine, and candy for you. (Except if your name is Uncle.. if it is then go watch this in your basement!)



Seems harmless in this video, doesn't it? Well, imagine that it is not sunny outside. In fact, imagine that it is 40 degrees, with 20 mph winds, and already drizzling. You are sitting under an umbrella at the nearby pool guarding the many Canadians who are swimming the family of ducks that is trying to get out of the waterslide's current. You're wrapped up in the warmest layers of "costume" that Disney will provide you, a pair of track pants and a thin jacket. At least they also gave you some gloves and a scarf. Now that you have this image in your head, go ahead and laugh. It probably does look pretty silly to see a lady huddled up guarding an empty pool, save for the ducks, with a scarf and gloves on.

As you're guarding the pool, you glance at the clock across the pool. Crap... it's 5 minutes till... you then hear the rumble to your right and you stare at the rocks begging the weather station to determine it is too cool to let Fire Rock Geyser erupt. No. Such. Luck. The geyser erupts anyhow and you are then drenched by sideways spray from the 40 foot geyser for FIVE MINUTES. The only good news is that at least the weather station determined to only put out a 40 foot geyser instead of the 80 it usually gives.

So, that was the worst part of my career as a lifeguard/ pool towel girl/ boat rental clown/ supervisor of fun/ babysitter/ pool bar tester/ college program CPR instructor. I tried to find out why Disney installed that crazy geyser in the first place. At first it was without a weather station so no matter the temp or conditions that thing would be BLAZING into you! The answer is apparently, when guests pay 3-5 HUNDRED DOLLARS a NIGHT, they expect to see a little Disney Magic.

Well, while I was Indiana, there is another person I know that likes to see a little Disney Magic of his own. His name is Uncle. He and his late wife have been Disney FANatics! They have a lot of really neat Disney memorabilia from my aunt's office that is decked out from the carpet to the ceiling in bright colors with a Mickey Mouse TV and blanket, to a Margarita sign from Disney's old Pleasure Island, to even the bath towels with "hidden Mickey's" in their cloth.

One night, while we were there visiting and my back was killing me from all the car travel, I decided to go down and enjoy my Uncle's hot tub. My uncle helped me pull back the cover on it and turned on the jets for me. I then began to ease my sore back and relish the relief. Then, I decided the jets were a little too rough on one spot and I noticed a lever that said, "Comfort Control." So, I twisted it a little. It didn't do much. In fact, it seemed a little stuck. So, I twisted a little harder. With not so much as a rumble as a warning, the lever popped off in my hand and a VERY powerful geyser was created right in front of my face!!!!

I've never been to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful, but let me just tell you, I'm pretty sure what I experienced rivaled that! The spray of water went STREAMING up to the 10 foot porch ceiling covering the hot tub. In 2 seconds, it had washed that down pretty well. I looked up and it was, in fact, so powerful that it was going sideways up past the 2nd story windows. My immediate reaction was to try and put my hand over the stream. HA! That clearly didn't work. Nothing was stopping this thing! Thankfully, in the recesses of my brain I remembered my uncle stating that he was turning the jets on and reaching forward towards the front of the tub. I looked over the tub and spotted a blue button marked, "JETS". Oh. Thank. You. GOD!

As I pushed the blue button, I'm pretty sure I simultaneously prayed that it would work to shut it off and that the break was not before the water gets to the "JETS" control. Two seconds later my UNintentional Geyser petered out. Of course, my girly screams had beckoned both the Husband and Uncle. <sigh> Captain actually witnessed the geyser as he was nearby, but my uncle just got in on the tail end. He came down to a freshly flooded deck. Hey, at least the cobwebs were rinsed free, right?

I was pretty sad that I broke the hot tub, but thankfully my Uncle was really easygoing about it. He mentioned, "Don't worry, you've just created the new geyser feature I've been wanting." Later, I noticed that the Hot Tub's model was named "IQ 2020". Apparently, it required a higher IQ then I'm sporting to operate it.

So, Uncle now has a little more Disney Magic to call his own and he didn't even have to pay those Imagineers a million dollars to create it. I'm just glad he didn't charge me 3 to 5 HUNDRED dollars to stay there since I made him the Low IQ Geyser. And didn't bring more Mickey Mouse towels to clean up the water. And Bear got sick on his nearly white carpet within minutes of getting there.

His only win? That he will have something to tease me mercilessly about for the next millenium.

Was Jesus's Death Faked?

While I was gone in Indiana, the Hubby and I saw the 2009 movie of Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. I thought it was INCREDIBLE! I loved all the hidden details and the mysterious plot. Plus, we watched it in HIGH style in my uncle's movie theater basement. Not kidding you, his basement is decked out like no other. He has three rows of the most comfortable reclining stadium seats, projector with Bose surround sound. For snacks, we made Jiffy Pop (instead of using the actual movie theater popcorn machine) at his full bar and had our pick of about 20 different candies in movie style boxes. It was AWESOME!

Anyhow, in case you haven't seen the movie, Robert Downey Jr. plays Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law plays his sidekick Dr. Watson. In the movie, the nefarious character of Lord Blackwood uses black magic to plot his own demise and RESURRECTION! Although Dr. Watson pronounces his death after Lord Blackwood is hanged, he is seen a few days later by a shocked undertaker as his huge tomb is broken through from the INSIDE.

Days later, Lord Blackwood has turned many members of parliament to his side and is promising to take over the new world (America). Anyone who doesn't join him, will of course be killed. Sherlock Holmes comes in to save Parliament when he discovers the machine that is going to release cyanide into the Palace of Westminster. Of course, Lord Blackwood's newly believing cronies have already taken the antidote (unbeknownst to them) to the cyanide treatment and they would be seen as surviving because they BELIEVED in Lord Blackwood.

Throughout this story, Holmes and Watson discover how Lord Blackwood faked his resurrection, in amazing fashion. Lord Blackwood was in cohorts with the man who was hanging him and the noose had a metal hook in it that would keep it from collapsing. Lord Blackwood had taken a special potion that would render him pulse-less when Dr. Watson declared him dead, but would bring him back to life when in his grave. The large stone placed over his grave had been glued in a way that would weaken when London's infamous rain falls.

So all of this thinking got me to THE RESURRECTION, just in time for Easter. Now, I'm a firm believer in Jesus Christ and that he rose from the dead 3 days after he was killed, just like the prophets and Jesus himself said he would. However, I got to thinking: Could Jesus's death and resurrection have been faked?

The bottom line of this question is, "Yes." The reason is because it has been 2,000 years since Jesus lived and died. It is impossible to prove that ANYONE existed 2,000 years ago, without a body.

Now that we are clear on that, given the eyewitness accounts and the number of people present, it is very easy to believe that a man named Jesus was crucified and died. This year, I finally found out how crucifixion kills people. You actually die because you are asphyxiated. For hours, you hang with your arms outstretched, and as you get more and more tired, your body sags lower and lower. Then you no longer have room for your diaphragm to expand your lungs.

Have you ever heard the saying, "Stick a fork in me, I'm done"? Although this saying probably comes from actual meat and checking its doneness, this is literally what they did to Jesus after he was presumed dead. See, the Jews didn't want any bodies hanging on crosses on their Sabbath day, especially not Jesus, since he was trying to go against their rules and claim he was God's son. They actually asked Pilate to break his legs and have him taken down from the cross. Breaking the legs would hasten death because a person couldn't continue to support himself with his legs at all and would sink lower, causing asphyxiation sooner.

The soldiers broke the legs of the other two men crucified with Jesus, but when they got to Jesus, they realized he was already dead. Faking his death would've gotten a lot easier if the guards had taken Jesus down then. (Could he have still been alive?) Instead, the guards pierced Jesus's side and blood and fluids began flowing out. Popular speculation is that perhaps the guards pierced Jesus's pericardium which is a fluid-filled cavity around the heart, which resulted in both water and blood flowing. In any case, the guards were doing their job to ensure Jesus was indeed dead. Little did the guards know that by doing this they had ensured Jesus's prophecy that he would perish "with no bones broken".

It is presumed that as evening approached, one of Jesus's disciples, Joseph came to retrieve the body. The Sabbath begins as the evening arrives, so Joseph was worried that the Jews would destroy Jesus's body as the Sabbath approached. There was a nearby fresh tomb (speculated to be made by Joseph) and he and another man, Nicodemus prepared his body in the Jewish custom and rolled a stone to cover the doorway.

Next, Jews who remembered hearing Jesus speak that he would be resurrected on the third day, begged Pilate to post guards at Jesus's tomb, to ensure the Christians would not steal his body. Pilate sent guards, and together they somehow put a seal on the tomb and guards were there to protect it. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb after the Sabbath. As they sat there, a violent earthquake happened and an ANGEL appeared and rolled away the stone and sat on it. Then the guards, being terribly afraid, fell into a dead faint. The angel told the women," Do not be afraid,  Jesus isn't in the tomb, he had risen already! You'll see him where he's gone ahead of you in Gallilee."

From there, Jesus appears to many other people throughout Gallilee. In fact, eyewitnesses number in the hundreds, including the guards who were converted. EVERY PERSON who came in contact with the resurrected Jesus became a Christian.

The plot thickens though. The Jewish leaders and Pilate hatch a plan and tell the guards they must tell people that they were approached during the night and paid off by Jesus's followers to be permitted to steal Jesus's body.

This story is better than Sherlock Holmes's story! So, it seems that Jesus was most-likely dead and killed by Pontius Pilate. Could his resurrection have been faked? It's possible, I guess. A lot of things would have had to have lined up, though. Why would an earthquake happen that third day and guards who were "guards of guards" or the king's best men shout that Jesus must have been God's son? Why would hundreds of people report seeing Jesus in the following days? Mass Hysteria? Possibly. Were people payed off to steal Jesus's body? Maybe.

The real thing that gets me is this: The scripture that was written hundreds of years ago was completely fulfilled. Everything that prophets have been claiming would happen, DID happen. Could that have been faked? Possibly. The Roman church decided which documents to keep over the last thousands of years, and of course those are supportive to the Christian cause.

So, how can I be sure and believe? The Holy Spirit fills me. There have been entirely too many things that have happened in my life, directly after praying, to have been lucky coincidences. My dog's return, the meeting of me and Adam, the birth of my son. (Some day I'll tell you exactly how these contribute to my testimony.) Are there things that I've prayed for that I've not gotten? Yes, but an answer from God has always come as to WHY I can't have what I've asked for. When I see people surrounding me with the true joy of Jesus in their heart, I cannot help but believe. I have seen so many lives changed, including my own.

In history, it seems that every "false claim" has always been disproved. Yet, this one mystery keeps on going. From just a few hundreds of people who saw Jesus to 2 BILLION Christians worldwide. So many transformed lives. I wonder what would have happened had Sherlock Holmes met Jesus. Surely, we would no longer have to live by faith alone. Now THAT would be a movie I would want to see....of course only in my uncle's home movie theater, surrounded by Jiffy Pop and Skittles!

Updated: Just for kicks, here's a photo of Downey Jr. from Sherlock 2! I realllly need to watch that soon!