Bill,
You can check to see if the ZOrder controls the order, but it's not worth it IMHO. There's too many things you can do at design time that will mess with the ZOrder and would thus break your form.
If you need some specific ordering of Refresh() you should explicitly code it in the form Refresh() method.
>Is there any way to set the order that controls on a form are refresh()ed?
>
>Specifically can a control set itself to be refreshed 1st?