Baby Schoenbein Is 2.7 cm Long

Arrived a bit late to Dr Hoffman's office this morning where she did a sonogram of the baby. She measured the baby at 2.7 cm which is roughly the size of a cherry or strawberry. She's moving around wiggling her arms too which is a good sign.

We are now 9.5 weeks into the pregnancy and by all accounts everything is right on schedule. We saw the two brain hemispheres along with her arms and legs.

I will be administering daily shots to Amy for prevention of DVT as she has a slight history of blood clots.

Before we arrived at the doctor's we hiked around Crown Hill Open Space which is only a few blocks away from the doctor's office located at Lutheran Hospital.

Coincidentally, Crown Hill is only a couple of blocks away from the home I lived in from 2003 to 2006. I used to hike there almost daily. So, it was a nice homecoming of sorts for me.

Today was a spectacularly beautiful sunny, warm spring day, perfect for a walk around the lake.

Seeing the baby wiggle on the sonogram screen was a delight and it really hit home for me today that I'm going to be a new father all over again! It's scary to tell the truth, but looking forward to the big event regardless.

I can't wait to introduce the baby to his half siblings. I'm sure they will be estatic.

Amy seems to be coping very well despite her daily nausea. She is eating very healthy and is reading up on the latest trends in raising children.

The first pic shows the sonogram rendition of Baby Schoenbein. And, if you look at it just right and magnify the pic it looks like the baby is laying on his side with one eye visible and a pug nose wearing a Brooks Brothers cashmere flat hat...which would be perfect as everyone knows I love wearing hats. Maybe it's just me but I can see it.

Other pics show Lutheran Hospital and Crown Hill Open Space.

I'm thinking back now 3 years ago when I started this trek and I remember the fear that welled up the night before tossing and  turning in bed thinking of all that could possibly go wrong along with the dangers involved...getting  hit by cars, dangerous people, vicious animals, bad weather, little food, no water etc. That fear I felt creeping up in my gut is absolutely nothing compared to the fear I am experiencing right now. Primal fear. Having a newborn at almost 60 years old! Yikes!! 

And, yet, I am reminded that I went through this 3 times before and should do relatively well. And, there is God, of course. Why should I fear?

I am being given a great gift here. I'm getting a " do over." I wasn't a good father back in the day...but I do learn from my mistakes...which is comforting.

So...it's on to tomorrow with a forward look to the horizon coming up in November. It will be here in no time. Diapers. Car seats. Crying at night. Crying in the day. Night feeding. Earaches. Doctor appointments. First day at school. Homework! Yuk! Then dates. Graduation from high school. College. Bills. OMG. I'm getting hives just thinking about it.

But, I can't look at that way. Gotta take it one day at a time. One prayer at a time. It's a marathon not a sprint. The old days of hiking 10-20 miles a day for months on end looks pretty tame compared to what's in store up ahead.

Grace and peace to you all.

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 18, 2017- Tuesday

Easter Sunday At Calvary Evergreen

Inspiring Easter morning at Calvary Evergreen. Pastor Craig sermonized on the story in Luke regarding the two disciples walking the road to Emmaus following the Resurrection.

For Amy and me this was our first Easter together as a married couple as well as our first Easter together being pregnant.

I couldn't ask for a more blessed day. We then went home and cooked dinner together celebrating by watching "Ben Hur" and "The Passion."

Early next week we have appointment with Lutheran Hospital in Denver to take a battery of genetic testing.

What a strange destiny these past three years. On April 28, 2014 I headed out of my hometown walking down Rt 24 on my way to the Pacific. This milestone is coming up soon and you can bet I'll be remembering all of the events that eventually led me to Idaho Springs, to Amy and to my own true self.

Pics show Amy's baby bump while sitting in Church today, and last pic is of Pastor Craig Babcock my boss.

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 16, 2017- Easter Sunday

Baby Bump!

Amys very noticeable baby bump today in church on Resurrection Sunday...The 8th day...the day of new creation.

So full of awe!

Passover Seder Was Fantastic!

Trey treated us to Or Chiam's Passover Seder last night at Gateway Church on Lookout Mountain. Or Chiam is a Messianic Congregation.

It ran from 6pm to 9:30pm, a bit long, but it was very moving with the singing, the dancing, great food and Christian fellowship with our Jewish family.

The Seder illustrates how the entire Tanakh, the Old Testament, points to Jesus the Christ.

The Rabbi, Stuart Lieberman, was the assistant pastor at Church In The City in Denver during the time I attended there briefly in 2004.

Thanks to Trey for giving us this great opportunity!

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 11, 2017- Tuesday

May Revive My Donkey Project

I preached my sermon on Palm Sunday yesterday. Spoke about why Jesus used a donkey's colt as opposed to a warhorse. All my talk about donkeys and their symbolism made me think of reviving my old Donkey Project from 2015.

I spoke yesterday briefly about the donkeys I encountered 2 summers ago when I camped on rancher Bill Lee's spread up in Spring Gulch. "Bandit" was the name of the donkey I trained with. I had planned on using a donkey as I ventured through the canyons of Clear Creek County to bring the Good News. I never did go through with the project; but, I am keeping the idea open.

I found donkeys to be highly intelligent, sensitive to criticism and resolute.

I also found out I could use certain counter-intuitive techniques to circumvent their stubbornness. For example, when Bandit suddenly sat his butt down and refused to continue walking, I learned that I could just say, "ok, do what you want. I'll just sit down myself and take a nap here alongside the trail until you get so bored that you get back up and start walking again." Lo and behold, Bandit would give me this disgusted look and clamber back up and start down the trail again.

Bill Lee doesn't allow anyone to ride his donkeys but you can rig up a carrier of sorts or use saddle bags to carry provisions or whatnot.

Another interesting thing about these weird animals is that most of them have two stripes of darker hair on their backs that crisscross like an actual cross which is bizzare due to the fact that a donkey carried Jesus on its back during his entry into Jerusalem to be crucified on a cross some 1984 years ago.

Who knows...If Amy and I are still in Idaho Springs this summer I may resurrect my idea to proclaim the Gospel in Clear Creek County using a donkey and dressed in vintage 19th century clothes.

I can become the 21 century version of that old itinerant country circuit rider from Illinois, Peter Cartwright.

Pics show rancher Bill Lee along with pics of "Bandit" and Circuit Rider Peter Cartwright (second to last pic).

Will see.

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 10, 2017- Monday

Some Pics Of My Wifey

The many faces of Amy Schoenbein!

Preparing For My Palm Sunday Sermon

Writing up this blog post finds me studying and preparing for my sermon tomorrow at the Calvary Evergreen- Idaho Springs Campus.

My topic concerns the significance of Jesus's humble entry on the colt of a donkey into a politically charged and volatile Jerusalem on what we Christians call Palm Sunday 1984 years ago.

I'm sitting with Amy here in the courtyard at our residence on Wall Street in Idaho Springs, Colorado contemplating that event almost 2 millennia ago wherein the God of the Universe incarnated in human form and flesh sat atop a lowly donkey colt and rode into Jerusalem and into his "hour" and ultimately into his agony.

This procession was a royal one in which Jesus accepted the crowd's acclamation that he was the "Son of David" and their shouts of "Hosanna in the highest" is literally translated... please save us! Save us!

The crowds are coronating him the King of Israel indeed the King of all the Earth. King of Kings.This all hearkens back to the prophecies in Genesis 49:11, Psalm 118, Numbers 24 and Zechariah 9:9,10.

Unfortunately, the Jews were only looking to Jesus to throw the Romans off their backs and re-establish David's Kingdom. Jesus, on the other, had larger more important and more structural changes in mind. He was bent on destroying Satan's Kingdom, and death itself while providing blood atonement for our sins.

Jesus knew that if the Romans were eliminated that the Jewish political/religious establishment would merely replace Roman oppression with Jewish oppression.

No! Jesus stated clearly that the Jews must repent, change their minds. Without a change of heart and mind liberation from unjust oppression from any quarter would be impossible. John the Baptizer said as much too.

The Zealots were intent only upon changing governments not minds or hearts.

Had all of Israel repented and showed love and compassion towards their Roman occupiers Rome would not have destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Israel would not have had their nation taken away from them in 70 AD.

It was only because of Israel's rebellion against Rome in 66AD and of course the rejection of their true King that they were destroyed. And, it wasn't until 1948 that Israel was re-established as a nation-state.

All the while the Temple establishment namely the chief priests who were the Sadducees and the Pharisees as well were coming unglued at the possible prospect that Jesus was intent on provoking a rebellion against Rome by claiming to be a King which was in opposition to Caesar and to Herod Antipas, Rome's client King. This coupled with the raising of Lazarus and overturning the money changers tables in the Temple netted Jesus the death penalty. He had become too dangerous to the religious elite in Jerusalem.

Thus, they begin conspire to entrap Jesus, try him and then turn him over to the Roman prefect to have him crucified.

The events of Palm Sunday directly causes Jesus's death. His coronation parade into Jerusalem ends with his enthronement...not on a King's throne in Jerusalem but on the Cross on Golgotha.

Later, after his Resurrection he ascends into Heaven where he is enthroned yet again. Thus, he is enthroned in both Heaven and in Earth echoing the Lord's Prayer.

Peace and joy to all as we begin celebrating Holy Week tomorrow.

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 8, 2017- Saturday

Amy And Me And Baby Makes Three!

Breaking news from Wall Street in Idaho Springs, Colorado:

Amy is now officially 2 months pregnant. We got the news at her doctors office yesterday; but we suspected as much 2 months ago with the onset of reoccurring nausea and other symptoms.

Starting soon Amy will be undergoing genetic testing to determine the probability of certain genetic abnormalities that sometimes accompany women over 35 years who become pregnant. Amy is 37.

Amy and I were stunned to see the image of our baby up on the sonogram screen. To think, that we are bringing a new life into the world is amazing to us!

Please pray for us that baby Schoenbein will be born without genetic abnormalities and that he or she will be completely healthy.

The baby will be Amy's first and my fourth. I will have to relearn how to take care of a newborn which is a daunting prospect for a man of my years. The baby's due date is November 16 which coincidentally is my birthday. On that date I will turn 58 years old. I never thought I would become a new father this late in life. But, that's how life is. Full of new possibilities and forks in the road as it were.

Amy and I are embarking on yet another new adventure...a new road is looming up ahead. As I have said ad nauseum life is all about saying hello and goodbye.

Soon, in 32 weeks or so we will be saying "hello" to our new son or daughter who will change our lives forever. And, I will be saying goodbye to continuing my walk across America for good which for me is a sad development.

But, I have gained so much more than I ever thought possible when I stepped out of the house in Illinois and threw on my backpack and ended up a thousand miles west in a little mountain town in Colorado.

We are looking forward to this new advent of life as we set our faces towards November.

Please, again keep Amy, me and the baby in your prayers.

Yours,

BR Schoenbein
Amy Schoenbein
Baby Schoenbein

April 7, 2017- Friday